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Australasian/FX Superbike Championship

The exciting series final of the 2014 SWANN Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship Series ( ASC ) and the YMF Loan Australian FX-Superbike Championship series ( AFX-SBK ) was held in sweltering conditions on November 22 – 23 at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Terry O’Neill, event director, stated that “..this year’s Championship series has been huge with some of the most exciting racing ever seen in this country. Every Championship category is up for grabs this weekend, and it will be hard fought, that’s for sure. We’ll see very close racing this weekend.”

Both the weather and the racing was fierce and hot. Ambient air temperatures on Friday qualifying and Sunday racing hit the 40 degree mark, and racers had to contend with track temps nudging 70 degrees. It was a true test of man and machine in these extreme conditions. Many teams had blow up kiddies pools in and around their garages, in order to keep their racers cool between races. Others used the showers for a cool respite.

Qld based Mark Carlsson, team boss for Jordan Carlsson Racing commented “…on Friday the track temp was 69.4 degrees. We had to deal with trying to set the bikes telemetry to allow for this. At these temperatures the bikes handling feels like riding on marshmallows. We’ve got plenty of straight line power, but the handling into corners is where you pick up places or lose them.”

In the Ninja 300 class, Brandon Demmery and Kyle Buckley have been the hottest riders all year. Coming into this weekend, Buckley only had a two point lead on Demmery. The round and overall championship was eventually won by Demmery who was just too strong for Buckley and showed incredible consistency with a race win and two second places to win the Championship and a brand new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.

Sophie Lovett won the womens class in the FX 300 Ninja Cup with a clean sweep of the series and won the Championship by 58 points. She was so strong all year that she came fourth outright in the Championship.

In the Pro Twin/Naked class KTM’s two-wheeled testosterone machine, the 1290 Super Duke R, now has an Australian Road Race Championship title under its belt.%u2028In the hands of master blaster Angus Reekie, the Super Duke R came from behind to claim the Australasian Superbike Championships Naked Bike category, while Reekie was also awarded the winner’s trophy for Pro Twins combined classification.%u2028

For Reekie, who crashed out during practice for the penultimate round in September, it was a resumption of regular service as he and his V-twin streetfighter performed yet another clean sweep of three wins for the weekend – in the process achieving the very enviable record of having won every naked bike race he has started in 2014.%u2028

The title is the ninth national championship for Reekie, whose cabinet already holds six Australian Supermoto, one Supermono, and one FX Pro Thunder trophies. Adrian Pierpoint and Darren Wilbow claimed second and third respectively.

Congratulations to Richard Draper’s Sugar Plum Racing team. This small but close knit privateer team from western NSW contested the Naked Bike F2 class and this year also had an entry in the Ninja 300 class.

Raschelle Sherwood’s first year in competition and she finished with third place in the womens category in the Kawasaki Ninja 300’s. Richard fought mechanical issues all year ranging from brakes to fuel to overheating but his gritty tenacity and with Lisa and Linda pit crewing for him they overcame these obstacles and Richard honoured their incredible commitment with trophies in both series over the weekend as well as the taking out the Naked Bike F2 class championship.

FX Pro Twins was a hotly contested class. In all three races, it appeared to be the Craig McMartin and Kevin Curtain show. McMartin shot off the line in both race one and two, but Curtain reeled him in on both occasions, partly due to some fuel issues suffered in race one by McMartin and in the second race the veteran Curtain relentlessly took back seconds on each lap to eventully overhaul McMartin closing out the first two races by over 8 seconds in front of McMartin on both occasions. Race three again McMartin shot of the line and grabbed the early lead, this time he feverishly held on like a man possessed and refused to relinquish the lead eventually holding Curtain at bay to take the race win by only five-tenths. The championship series was won by Simon Galloway, who had already wrapped up the series after Round Five at Wakefield.

Maxima Yamaha rider Aaron Morris claimed the coveted Supersport championship by the narrowest of margins. Morris went into the final race of the day in Sydney holding a three-point lead over closest rival Aiden Wagner (Yamaha), with a brand new R1 up for grabs to the championship winner. In the final race, Wagner claimed victory making it three race wins from three on the day, however Morris’ second place had the championship tied on points overall. Third overall for the round was Callum Spriggs (Yamaha). On a countback, Morris took the outright championship honours with his season tally of 11 race wins compared to Wagner’s seven, enough to clinch the title.

New champion Matthew Harding swept the Formula Oz ranks in a Kawasaki trifecta, winning all three races to take the overall from Brayden Carr and Phil Lovett. There was only a 3-point gap in the championship between Harding and Lovett leading into the final round and Hardings clean sweep saw him finishing with a well deserved 20–point lead. British Superbike regular David Johnson also made his way on track riding a ZX-10R, finishing sixth overall.

Four riders competed in the e-FXC category. The title races in the eFXC class was a battle between two; Danny Pottage (O’Hanlon Electric Motorsports) and Daniel Ripperton ( Ripperton Racing) . Pottage finished more than ten seconds ahead of Ripperton in both races. So dominant was Pottage that he also posted a new lap record for the category of 1:46.568. He clinched the championship victory with a race to spare.

Team Honda Racing pilot Wayne Maxwell has comfortably taken out the 2014 YMF Loan Yamaha Australian FX Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek. Maxwell wrapped up the title after two of the scheduled three races for the day – his sixth and fourth place finishes enough to secure the title heading into the final race. Teammate Troy Herfoss would have been disappointed with his day on the track, and despite some issues throughout the day (he claimed fifth, 10th and fourth from his three races) managed to finish the championship in second. An inspired day of racing from Mike Jones (Crazy Dog Kawasaki) handed him third place in the overall championship. Robert Bugden (YRT) and Glenn Scott (Insure My Ride) rounded out the top-five in the overall standings.

Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

Event Wrap: FoSC Finale

The final Festival of Sporting Cars (FoSC) event for 2014 was conducted on Sunday November 16th using the South Circuit at Sydney MotorSport Park. In excess of 90 competitiors faced conditions that taxed even the most experienced racing teams, with some of less experienced competitors finding them to be downright perplexing. In a morning that brought rain up until the starting horn was sounded, a wet track gave early entrants a slow run round. For those in open-top cars and some who had only brought slicks, the clearing weather was a relief.
Throughout the morning the wind gusts were upwards of 30 knots which made for tricky judgements out on the track at speed. Finally the sun came out and the temps hit the mid 20’s. It should be mentioned that this event was one of the best examples of the mantra that FoSC has adopted. The “no contact, no sheep stations” friendly style of competition had emergency crews having a blessedly quiet day. Some early wet practice sessions put everyone into full concentration mode and may have contributed to the overall lack of incidents.
Notable sights and sounds during the course of the day were Chris Stode’s 7 litre Ford Galaxie . Chris said ”…I went round the whole track in third gear. Its got plenty of pickup and rev range so I didn’t need to change it up or down”. Also featured were the two US Legend cars of Kerry Hughes.President of FoSC David Nichols said, “….the fact that so many different vehicle makes and models and their drivers can compete with each other in sportsmanlike fashion shows that everyone is there simply for the pleasure of getting out on the circuit and enjoying their motorsport. With that in mind we are pleased to be able to offer an even wider variety for next years competitions, with the addition of a meeting on the Druitt ( SMSP North) circuit in March, as well as three other meetings at SMSP through out the year, and our usual Wakefield weekend mid year.”
Today’s event culminated the Historic Touring Cars Championship for 2014 in both the Nb and Nc classes. In Nb, Paul Battersby took three second places during the event to accumulate enough points to secure the championship trophy. Whilst not appearing for todays event, Graham Russell took second and Bob Munday had three thirds to take the championship third spot. In a year long battle for the top position in the Nc class, Wayne Rogerson and John Wright battled hard, and in the end Rogersons two race wins today gave him the championship title. Wright hung on to second and Mark Lenstra finished third in the championships.
The 2014 Excel NSW Championship ended in an AGI Motorsport team clean sweep of the championship. In what has become an all too familiar site over the course of the year, Nathan Gotch finished with two firsts and a second place sealing his championship victory on 330 points. Filipetto’s first, second and third was a strong statement, and earned him a commendable second in the championship with 273 points. Dave Smith rounded out the podium in the Excel Championship Series on 184 points.
The Historic and Invited Sports Touring category races were a bit of a runaway affair with Don Collyer (Clubman) crossing the line ten and twelve seconds respectively ahead of Scott Tutton in races two and three. Craig Durrant was consistent with his three thirds for the day’s outing.
The beginner’s “Come and Try” segments were well supported with six newcomers getting two opportunities to drive around the circuit with mentors. Dominic Stramandinol second go-round showed great promise with a twelve-second bettering of his first attempt in his stock street Commodore.
Words and pics by Rob Annesley

 

PCRA Round 4

Round four of the PCRA Club Championships on July 19th got underway on a cold and windy winters day on the Gardiner GP circuit. Notwithstanding a southwester gusting up to 50kmh and the temperature struggling to make it to 15 degrees there was a full field and plenty of excellent racing.
Group 4 featured a competitor list of 22 bikes. Battling with the strong winds Chadd Slade took pole on his P6 ZXR750 with a 1:49.9. Making up the rest of the front row were John Mckenzie and Steve Anderson both on P6 GSXR750’s and Marcus De Caux on his Forgotten Era Yamaha TZ750. True to the grid order, Slade took the wins in both race one and two while Steve Anderson settled for second in both races and John Mckenzie and Rick Kwok each shared a third. In the older classes of this group Matthew Burton (Norton 500) and Bob Sayer (Norton Atlas 750) each grabbed a race win in the Post Classic 750, while Bruce Ireland (Yamaha 750) and Terry Mckinnon (Yamaha 750) shared the spoils in Forgotten Era 750. Wayne Gow (Moto Guzzi 1000) seized both race wins in the Forgotten Era Unlimited.
Several of the riders commented that despite finishing midfield it was some of the best racing in which they had been involved.
A field of 33 riders in Group 7 started the first race which was soon red flagged as Martin Ball high sided off his Suzuki at turn eleven. In gusty conditions Stephen Ward ( Suzuki 750) took both race wins, Wade Lewis (F2 Honda CBR600) both race seconds and Ryan Young (F1 Honda CBR900RR) and Daniel Birch (F1 Kawasaki ZXR750) each taking home a third. Murray Garlin took both the P6 Unlimited wins on his Yamaha FZR100 while Troy Galvin ( ZXR750) grabbed both seconds and Zoltan Petri had the thirds covered.
In the Motorlites, Jason Dunn (Honda RS85cr) led flag to flag to win both races, Tyler Bradford (BBE CRR150) was a little slow on the getaway but quickly took second and there he stayed, owning that position for both races. Anthony Marsden had a bunch of work to do in reclaiming third back from both Lawrence and Wilcox, but eventually secured it and took the bronze in both races. Lawrence ended up succumbing to overheating from a blown water pump seal but you cant keep a good man down, and Ken got it fixed and completed race two to his satisfaction.
Commuterlite Pro race one was the epitomy of what spectators love to see. Evenly matched Nick Wendan
(CBR125) swapped the lead with Jack Robinson ( CBR125) every lap for the entire race, with Nick eventually grabbing the win by the smallest of margins. Minding his own business ready to pounce if the opportunity presented, Ron Pulido locked in third. Race two was almost anti climactic. Both Robinson and Pulido made poor race starts, and virtually handed Nick a free pass to the chequered flag. Second to Robinson and third to Pulido.
The Commuterlite AM class brought more fingernail biting racing. A breakaway group including Jason Blanch (CBR125), Adam Cameron (CBR125), Oliver Higgins (CBR125), Nicholas Miller (CBR125), Ron Wenban (CBR125), and Andrew Martin (CBR125) all were so close that they were swapping the lead at every corner. This was edge of your seat stuff. Commuterlite AM at its very best. Fun and great racing. When the dust settled Adam Cameron took the black and white, Wenban second and Higgins third. Race two was a testament to clever patience, with Andrew Marting steadily climbing through the field to steal the win by two tenths from under Camerons nose. Third went again to Higgins.
Thanks as always to the people who made this event happen, the flaggies out in the arctic conditions, the bike pick up crew, the medics who were kept a bit busy, the race officials, the office staff, the timing team and all those that take care of countless ancillary tasks.
By Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au
Thanks to Jim Murphy and John McKenzie for their valuable assistance with the details of this event. Also thanks to Rick Krasitki for the use of his photos from the event.

 

Event Wrap – NSW Motor Race Championships Round 3

A good field of 195 competitors enjoyed the first day of Round Three of the NSW Motor Race Championships under warm clear blue skies on Saturday June 21st. Early morning racing on Sunday however was thrown a curve ball with showers and a wet and slippery track with which to contend.
With both practice and qualifying sessions conducted on Friday and Saturday in fine conditions, and cars and drivers seemingly sorted and ready for more of the same for Sunday, it was unsettling for many to rethink the slicks and some didn’t have a backup plan.

First to face the slippery conditions were the Superkarts. With their amazing power to weight ratio on some parts of the track it became like a “ballet on ice”. Fortunately apart from some spins, no-one saw gravel time. Results were dominated by Anton Stevens (ART-PVP) with two race wins and a second, followed by Mark Robin ( Stockman MR125) with one race win and three thirds.

Improved Production O2L saw Graeme Watts continue his dominance of this category with three straight race wins. Looking extremely confident on track, Graeme clocked the fastest lap time in the class with a 1:41.71. Steve Devjak (Commodore) was consistently less than a second behind and scooped three second placings. Joe Lenthall (Mazda RX7) had a good campaign gaining valuable points with two third place finishes. Joes new red and white graphic designed livery goes really well with the spectacular metre and a half of flame he had shooting out of his exhaust late on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately this weekend John McKenzies’ regular podium finishes in this class came to a temporary end with a smokey exit from race two. John said: ”The smoke looked like it was being caused by oil leaking into a valve stem. “ He commented that it was time for an engine overhaul anyway.

Formula Vee featured a big field of 35 racers who were also racing for positional points in the Clemenger International Freight Australian Series. This categories results was on a knifes edge, as the lead was swapped regularly and the final race placings were evenly distributed across Michael Kinsella ( Jacer F2K10) with a first and second, Dylan Thomas with a first and a third, and Tim Brook (Jacer F2K4) with a first, second and a third.

While David Crighton enjoyed two race victories in Improved Production U2L , Graeme Cox settled for second and third placings. Bob Jowett was only a half second behind Crighton in race one, however Bob’s luck ran out in race two as he over cooked it into turn one and impacted heavily into a tire wall. That same tyre wall was responsible for the front end damage to Danny Castro’s Silvia S13, and it was last seen sitting sadly crumpled next to Bob Jowetts Honda Civic in the recovery yard.

With one and a half seconds out front of the field in race one and two Birol Cetins’ Yellow Camaro purred along consistently. However today, only two race wins for Birol, as he was forced to exit early in race three after what appeared to be an unfortunate accident with Steve Lacey. Steve has been having the worst luck lately with his (also) Yellow Camaro, as he has suffered steering failure in his last three outings. I spoke to Steve prior to race three and he was upbeat in his belief that he had solved the steering issue.

Unfortunately in race three Steve got only as far as turn two before his left front tyre, listing at an awkward angle under the wheel arch, uncooperatively dragged his big machine into the grassy verge on driver’s left in a pall of scraping tyre smoke.

– Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au.