08 June 2011
On the weekend we had made the decision not to make the trek to QLD to compete in the ASBK round so i competed in Round 3 of the Hartwell Club championships at Phillip Island, in the Expert 600 class instead.
The weekends races consisted of 4 races for points in the 600 class, a trophy race for 600 class and also the Greg Bailey Memorial race which included all expert riders and selected non expert riders from all size bikes.
The weekend greeted us with some very nice winds!! I was a little off my normal pace only having used tyres and intending to have some good setup time. I qualified 4th overall with the combined expert and non expert classes.
The first race i got a great start, i lost touch with first place over the first laps and had a good battle with another competitor, i came away with 2nd overall and 1st expert for the race. Race 2 on saturday i got another good start and i lost touch with the leader again, i was locked in a good battle with 2 fellow competitors for the whole race, i ended up 3rd overall and 2nd expert in the race.
Sunday came around the weather hadn't changed and i had 4 races, 2 races for points, a trophy race and also the greg bailey memorial race. The first race i got another good start and was again in another good battle with 2 fellow riders, i ended up finishing 2nd overall again and 1st expert. The next race was the last points race for weekend for the 600 class. I got a good start and held the lead for nearly the whole lap until a mistake into MG corner where i lost 2 spots. I lost contact with first place again but managed to hold 2nd place in sight and battled until race end, where i caught them on the 2nd last lap and held my position. This gave me 2nd overall again and 1st expert. I finished 1st in expert 600cc for the weekend in the points races.
The next race was the Greg Bailey Memorial race i qualified 10th overall for this race and was hoping to maintain a top 10 finish over the 8 laps. I got a good start and made a few places during the first lap, i held my position for most of the race until the last lap where i lost a place into MG corner. I tried to come back down the straight but i had lost to much ground. I finished 9th overall which i was happy with.
The next race was the final race of weekend and just a trophy race, i knew i didnt have the tyres to compete for the win so i went out and had some fun to finish off the weekend. I finished 4th overall for the race and had a lot of fun.
The weekend went well as i got to work on the bike setup again and we are making improvements each time we made a change. I must say a big "thankyou" to Paul Martin for sharing a pit with me for the weekend. To Steve and Coralee Thibou thanks so much for being my surrogate parents for the weekend ( and a rear tyre) and James Patrick for all his support and a 2nd hand rear tyre for the weekend.
Big thanks once again to all my sponsors, Mototrack Accessories, Motorcycle Race Gear, ASR Suspension, Dewith Motorsport & TBG Sport.
Mum had a well earned relaxing weekend away from the track with dad in Robinvale. But they will be back with me at the next meeting.
Stay Safe.
