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2021 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS – THAT’S A WRAP!

Filed Under: News, Road Racing, SA Women in Motorcycling, State Championship

2021 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS – THAT’S A WRAP!

The 2021 SA Road Race season finale was held at The Bend East circuit November 27th and 28th. With very few riders ever seeing the track prior to the meeting, it promised to be something very exciting, and that’s exactly what it delivered.

The season was run over 4 separate rounds held at each of the state’s circuits, with an interclub round at Phillip Island unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. But last weekend, all of the racers were glad to be back racing again for their last attempt to secure valuable series points to add to those from Mallala and Mac Park races earlier in the year.

With many newcomers showing great speed very early, some older racers developing their race craft throughout the year and representing the state in this year’s ASBK Championship and not to mention the introduction of the bLU cRU SA Junior Cup series, the 2022 season is shaping up to be one of our best ever!

Huge congratulations to the 2021 South Australian Road Race podiums, and thanks to all who rode and supported the 2021 Championship, and as has become the norm, COVID played its part that makes it hard for everyone to plan!

2021 South Australian Road Race Champions

SUPERBIKE

2021 SA Champion: Jamie Banks

2nd place: Paul Van der Heiden

3rd place: Michael Kemp

SUPERSPORT

2021 SA Champion: Declan Carberry

2nd place: Charles Holding

3rd place: Paul Van der Heiden

PRODUCTION 300

2021 SA Champion: Mitchell Simpson

2nd place: Jordan Simpson

3rd place: Gordon Hensley

JUNIOR

2021 SA Champion: Samuel Pezzetta

2nd place: Rikki Henry

3rd place: Ryder Gilbert

PRE-MODERN ‘06

2021 SA Champion: Jamie Banks

2nd place: Dwayne Tosen

3rd place: Glen Marchiori

LIMITED

2021 SA Champion: Ben Liebig

2nd place: Gordon Hensley

3rd place: Darren Trotter

 

NAKED BIKE

2021 SA Champion: Ben Liebig

2nd place: Mick Fisher

3rd place: David Williams

Photos by the very brilliant Rebecca Bowdidge from Pit Lane Studios – with thanks! 

AREA 99’S FIRST COACHING DAY AT NURIOOTPA, WITH SOME OF THE bLU cRU SA JUNIOR CUP RIDERS TAKING UP THE INVITE!

Filed Under: Coaches, News, Road Racing, SA Women in Motorcycling

AREA 99’S FIRST COACHING DAY AT NURIOOTPA, WITH SOME OF THE bLU cRU SA JUNIOR CUP RIDERS TAKING UP THE INVITE!
A pretty special day on Saturday, December 18th in Nuriootpa, at Robinson Park Go-Kart Circuit, with the very first coaching day for junior road race being run by Will Strugnell’s AREA 99, and taking up the invite, and in preparation of the bLU cRU 2022 SA Junior Cup, were a number of riders brand new to road race!
Huge congrats to Will Strugnell as the head coach, who was supported by Kym & Allan Bolto, for the drive in getting all of this off the ground at this new venue – with thanks also to the go-kart crew for opening their gate!!
Robinson Park, it turns out, is an ideal venue for junior road race coaching, a good selection of corners, breaking points and it’s ideal for the 150cc bikes and smaller! So good to have a venue like this now available for junior road race development – well done to Struggie & Area 99 who has made it possible!
The new riders who attended the day were; Tomi Doble, Cooper Pitt, Seth and Ethan Dellow, Lucas Warren, Declan Smart and Fred Barry, as well as current riders Rikki Henry & Cooper Rowntree who were there as well lending a hand.
It was fun to see the riders who were new to bitumen finding their feet – and keeping them on the pegs – as the day went on, with a couple of motocross lads in Declan Smart and Tomi Doble, taking to it like ducks to water, with all present improving as the day went on!
Current Supersport 300 competitor, 2018 MSA Rising Star Award finalist for road race, Cooper Rowntree lent a hand with the coaching, and said Kym, “And a special thanks Cooper Rowntree for the corner demo’s for the Juniors, great job.”
And said Cooper, “What a great day riding the r15 in Nuriootpa at Barossa go-kart track. A day of skill based training with a bunch of amazing people Kym Bolto and Willy Strugnell for inviting us. Looking forward to returning #yamaha #practicing #R15 #asbk #bLUcRU“
It was also cool to see Rikki and his Dad there as well. Fresh from his wildcard ride at The Bend in the Oceania Junior Cup, it was great to see the 2021 MSA Rising Star nominee helping by showing the new riders the fast way around the track!
So much excitement around junior road race heading into 2022!
Also a huge thanks to Pit Lane Studio’s Rebecca Bowdidge, the official photographer for being there on the day to catch the smiles & action!
 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S ASBK ASSAULT – CRACKEN EFFORTS AT THE BEND OVER THE WEEKEND!

Filed Under: News, Road Racing, SA Women in Motorcycling

SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S ASBK ASSAULT – CRACKEN EFFORTS AT THE BEND OVER THE WEEKEND!

It wasn’t only the MSA Rising Star nominees in action over the weekend, there were a heap of other South Aussie riders in action at The Bend for the final round of the 2021 ASBK – and across all classes, from Superbike down to the Supersport 300’s! Here’s how they went!

COOPER ROWNTREE – SUPERSPORT 300 & YAMAHA R3 CUP
The 2019 MSA Rising Star finalist for road race is still finding his feet Nationally (this was his first race meeting at this level), and in a 300 race where there are 30+ other riders all trying to use the same piece of track, it can be a bit daunting! But Cooper did himself proud over the weekend and even grabbed 3 top 20 finishes over his 6 races – but – what he was most pleased about was the 6 second improvement in his personal best time around The Bend!
When there is usually only a second or two between 1st & 30th, that much improvement over a weekend will hold Cooper in good stead going into his 2022 campaign – watch this space ….

THE BROTHERS SIMPSON – OLLY, MITCH & JORDY (SUPERSPORT 600, SUPERSPORT 300 & YAMAHA R3 CUP

A mixed weekend for the 3 brothers, with Olly’s 600 not making it past practise, ending his first tilt at the 600 Supersport Class before it really began, which was a huge disappointment to the 2012 MSA Rising Star & former Red Bull Rookie!
Younger brothers Mitch & Jordy had mixed results , with Mitch usually right up in the leading pack in both 300cc classes (same as Cooper), with a best result of 7th in the 300cc & 9th in the R3 Cup, and didn’t finish lower than 13th in any race, while Jordy was usually battling in the 2nd pack and had a best result of 15th in the R3Cup & 17th in the 300cc over his 6 races.

DALLAS SKEER – THE KENNY BLAKE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP HOLDER

After Declan’s early departure from proceedings on Friday, it was left to Dallas to represent SA in the 600 Supersport Class, coming home in 8th and 6th in his two races, to finish the Championship in 5th position. Top 5 in Australia is a fine effort in an interrupted season due to COVID – so a huge well done to Dallas for his year.

DECLAN CARBERRY – SUPERSPORT 600

Our 2018 MSA Rising Star was so keen for his first ever ASBK round and was looking really good in practise, until The Bend bit, and DJ had a huge highside in turn 5 on Friday arvo – which resulted in a free helicopter ride to the RAH and an overnight stay. Declan is now well on the mend (and was at the track on Sunday with his escorts, Davey & Ollie) and is looking to a huge 2022, especially now that he knows he has the pace to ride at a National level!

It was also nice to see Declan go and say thanks to the medicos that came to his aid after his off on Friday – always nice to see our volunteers being thanks for their efforts – onya DJ!

Thanks to Rebecca Bowdidge from Pit Lane Studios for the above action pics of Cooper Rowntree, Dallas Skeer, Declan Carberry & Jack Davis
Thanks to Kellie Carberry for the pic of Declan with the medicos.
Thanks to Dan Falzon for the grid pic!

SUPERBIKES – JACK DAVIS (above left)

On the BMW, Jack went about his work quite well throughout the weekend and was the only SA rider to finish both Superbike races, scoring a 11th & 12th in the 2 races, which meant in the 2021 Australian Superbike Championship, Jack has finished in 22nd place, after only riding 2 of the rounds, Hidden Valley in Darwin and on the weekend at The Bend.

SUPERBIKES – DAN FALZON

SA’s most successful rider in ASBK over the past few years, made the decision not to ride the whole series in 2021, and like Jack only rode the NT and his home rounds. The weekend started well for Dan, fighting all the way for a front row start in qualifying, before setting for 3rd. In the re-started 1st race he finished a fine 5th, before  a crash in race 2 prematurely finished his weekend, and he now has a long rehab ahead of him. In the Championship, it was a 19th place finish overall – and hopefully we will see Dan back full time in 2022.

Said Dan, “Well the weekend didn’t turn out how we hoped. We hit a new PB at our home track and qualified alongside MotoGP legend Jack Miller on the front row of one of the most competitive Superbike fields in years. In Race 1, we came from 17th in the restart to finish in 5th place. Unfortunately the highs of the weekend ended there. In Race 2, we highsided out of Turn 3 on the first lap which left me on the track in the middle of the pack. A place no rider ever wants to find themselves. I was hit by another rider in a seemingly unavoidable incident.

I didn’t fare too well and am now in hospital with a broken femur and small fractures to my pelvis and lower back. We’ve experienced both the highs and lows of the sport this weekend. Thank you to everyone who came out to support me today and thanks everyone for your messages of concern. I will get to them all as soon as I can. We will be back.
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SUPERBIKES – EVAN BYLES
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The man behind SA Motorcycles was having a solid weekend and riding well until, in his own words, ‘Back went around on me exiting T17. Then shot me over the top. First time ever… normally just 2heelies and thumb brakes there…’, which earned him a trip to Murray Bridge Hospital, but has since been released and we wish him a speedy recovery.

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SUPERBIKES – ARTHUR SISSIS

Had a huge qualifying, taking it right up to Maxwell, Miller & Falzon, with all 4 leading the timing at some stage, with Arthur finally leading row 2 in 4th place – but only just!

The former Moto3 World Championship rider then went and had a mixed Sunday, not finishing the first race and then getting taken out on lap 1 of race 2 and having to start the restart from the rear of the field, but a great charge through the field saw him finish the final race of the year in 7th, which also meant an 8th place finish in the Australian Superbike Championship, and with a bit more luck on the weekend, with the speed he showed, the points were that close that he could have finished in the top 5 – which bodes so well for 2022!

Thanks to Damir Focal damir8.com #TrackHack.Club on Instagram – for the pics of Arthur! 

TARA MORRISON – SUPERSPORT 300

Also a quick shoutout to Tara Morrison who was entered and all ready to ride her first National event, but a spill at the final round of the 2021 SA Road Race Championships put her out of action for this weekend – look out in 2022 though!

DECLAN CARBERRY’S SUCCESSFUL END TO 2021! ROUND 4 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Filed Under: News, Road Racing, State Championship

DECLAN CARBERRY’S SUCCESSFUL END TO 2021!

ROUND 4 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Over the weekend I competed in round 4, the final round of the 2021 SA Championships at Tailem Bend.

The racing was held at the East Track. This was the first time a race meet had been held here.

The race meet started with practice on Friday. What can I say but ‘WOW’, what an amazing circuit. I had a great time learning the track and got my head around it fairly quickly and totally loving the 22 corners over the 3.9kms.

Saturday was qualifying and race 1. 

Qualifying; I went out for qualifying with a fresh rear tyre. I was feeling great so I pushed to go fast and did a 1.44 which put me on pole.

Second qualifying I went out to check if the changes to the bike setup we made worked or made it worse, but it made it so much better.

Race 1; I had a great start, one of the best I have had in ages and I lead from start to finish and learnt some new lines and had a great race.

Sunday was races 2 & 3.

Sunday we went straight into racing with no warm up.

Race 2 was great! I had a blast, lead from the start to finish and was such a good race. I had a few moments but kept it all together and did another best lap time again.

Race 3; I had a good start, but so did everyone else. I had a great run into turn 1 and started going for it. I had a great race and finished in 1st. I was so excited I did a nice stand up wheelie to celebrate finishing off the weekend and to take the 600 Supersport South Australian Championship, my first in seniors.

The Tim Inkster Cup; To finish off the race meet I entered in the Tim Inkster Cup feature race.  I was the only 600cc machine in it but qualified in second place on the grid. I had a great start and lead from turn 1 to turn 4 where I had a little whoopsie with a fellow rider but was all good nothing too bad.

I had such a great race following the older and more experienced riders putting in some great laps and learning new lines. I also did the best lap times for the weekend bettering my 600cc class times with a 1.43.596. One second slower than the winning 1000 Superbike of Jack Davis.

The icing on the cake for the weekend was at the presentations being awarded the Steve Smiley Kerr Perpetual 600 Trophy. I was so speechless and what an honour.

I had such a great weekend and can’t thank the team and my family enough. To everyone who helps big or small can’t thank you all enough it means a lot to me.

Thanks for your support.

DJ220 

Pics courtesy of Rebecca Bowdidge – the brilliant Pit Lane Studios – and Kellie Carberry

 

FINAL ROUND OF THE 2021 SA ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS THIS WEEKEND AT THE BEND – ON THE EAST CIRCUIT!

Filed Under: News, Road Racing, SA Women in Motorcycling, State Championship

FINAL ROUND OF THE 2021 SA ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS THIS WEEKEND AT THE BEND – ON THE EAST CIRCUIT!
Looking for something to do this weekend – well, then, get up the freeway to The Bend and check out the final round of the 2021 SA Road Race Championships – on the East Circuit for the very first time!
WHO TO WATCH! SA’s finest will be in action as they try and wrap up a 2021 SA Championship, but more so will be a number of SA’s outstanding junior talent – some of which are heading to the Oceania Cup in 2022 (Cameron Rende) and the brand new SA Junior Cup (Rikki Henry, Ryder Gilbert, Cameron Rende – and – the 2021 MSA Rising Star Award winner, Samuel Pezzetta) – and also not forgetting Ryder Sweet who is well in contention for a podium finish – gonna be so good watching these future stars in action – and alone will be worth the trip to The Bend!
Courtesy of the ever reliable Alessandro Malatesta – here is all the need to know for catching the action!
Spectators FREE ENTRY BOTH DAYS 

East Circuit… turn right before the carports upon entering The Bends main entrance and follow the signs

Saturday; Qualifying 10am till 12:45 pm. Racing starts 1 till 4pm

Sunday; Racing starts at 10am till 4 pm

State Championship, Cafnix Round 2 and Cafnix series presentations will be held in the welcome centre of the main building to The Bend from 5:30pm onwards Sunday – all welcome!

Free sausage sizzle after Saturday’s racing BYO drinks – so come and meet the riders after the action ends!

Sadly, no canteens or catering, but there is an OTR is 4 min away by car

There is a viewing platform on the east circuit control tower for spectators NO SPECTATING ON PIT WALL THOUGH!

Other viewing areas around the track are accessible by car

Pit areas are free and accessible for spectators, but closed shoes must be worn

Alessandro hugs are also free but highly addictive beware!

 
THE BEND EAST CIRCUIT – SANDRO’S HELPFUL INFO FOR RIDERS.
 Unsure of what to expect at The Bend’s East circuit?
With some amazing awards on offer including the envied ✨championship rings✨ (thanks to Villani jewellers) and the opportunity to add another circuit to your racing career, we’re sure you’ll be feeling the FOMO come race weekend if you don’t get your entries in.
I’ve put together some resources to help you mentally prepare so you can rock up to your Friday practise day feeling confident.
There’s some drone footage on You tube that was taken at track day, so you can get some great visuals of the whole area including bikes on track. Full credit to MrSky084
I’ve taken some stills from that footage to give you a closer look at the area you’ll be setting up in. As you can see the allotments have ample space, however you will need to bring a generator and a gazebo – we recommend bringing suitable weights to secure your gazebo. Running water and toilets are available in the pit building.
Also attached to this post are a track map, and map highlighting the way into the circuit from the highway.
Here are some laps of the circuit for you to study:
🏎 Car laps –
🏍 Motorcycle laps thanks to Ben North –
So what are you waiting for!? Let’s end this year with a bang! (but not literally of course, keep your knees to the breeze, get out there and have some fun!)

DALLAS SKEER ALSO HAD A CRACKEN WEEKEND AT MAC PARK IN THE WET – HERE’S HIS REPORT …..

Filed Under: News, Road Racing, State Championship

DALLAS SKEER ALSO HAD A CRACKEN WEEKEND AT MAC PARK IN THE WET – HERE’S HIS REPORT …..

The first race meeting in 6 months due to Covid took place last weekend and it was great to see the lights go out again. This was round 3 of the SA state titles and I didn’t compete in the first two rounds so there was nothing to lose.  With Mac Park being able to hold race meetings and all other racing being delayed I was really looking forward to three days at the track to get back into the swing of things. It’s a great time to make sure the teams ready for when racing does resume. The weather certainly threw everything at us with a dry but windy Friday practise going pretty well for myself.

Even though the first session was wet Friday the rest of the day was dry with track temps of around 25 degrees giving good confidence. I had done a few days at Mac Park over the last month leading up to the state titles so I knew what to expect on Friday. It was good to get straight back onto the pace being able to do 1min.10sec lap times and being close to my PB in the second session. Once I had done that I was happy to just dial in some consistent lap times in the last session feeling confident for Saturday qualifying.

 

Saturday morning was wet as predicted and it had been a year since the last time I rode in the wet so I decided to go out in the first of two 10min qualifying’s. I was able to go fastest by a second and was on provisional pole. The final qualifying looked to be wet as well but with high winds and no rain the track was half dry so we opted for the dry bike. Due to Mac Park having a high amount of grip I was confident with this decision. I went out using the first couple of laps to feel out the conditions and then started to get more confident and push the front coming into corners. The first half of the track was pretty damp with a slight dry line and the second half was quite dry, so I knew I didn’t have to push hard in the first two sectors and still make it up later on. It obviously worked as I was able to do a 1min.12.216 and go fastest giving me pole for not only Supersport but also the main 15 lap Sunday feature race against the superbikes.

The first of three six lap races on Saturday couldn’t have gone much better leading from as soon the lights went out and pulling out a gap to second. Being fully dry I started feeling pretty comfortable straight away was able to lap in the 1min.10’s for the last four laps. I wanted to make the most of the good condition’s to try and break my current Supersport 600 lap record, but I wasn’t able to put a good lap together until the last lap. Making small costly mistakes all race until lap 6 where I was able to pull together a 1min.10.161 which made me want a 1min.9  more in the next race. I finished a comfortable 1st by 16 seconds.

Exactly the same scenario in race 2 on Saturday where I was able to pull away from the start focusing on my lap times. With the wind really picking up I knew it would be hard to do much better than race one but I put in some low 1min10’s with a best of 1min.10.043, 0.003 off the lap record on the second to last lap! There was one more lap so that was my last chance and unfortunately pushed a little too hard just hitting the edge of the grass at the exit of turn 2. I was able to bring it back on and got a bad tank slap while coming back onto the track due to the lip of the bitumen, so had to run straight on at turn 3. Was able to re-join and had a big enough gap to stay in the lead and still win. I wasn’t happy that I threw the lap away but still happy to basically match the lap record.

Unfortunately that was the last of dry track time for the weekend with Sunday being very wet and I hadn’t ridden in the wet for a year since the last Master of Mac Park. I seemed to have the Supersport class covered with three wins from three races with the last race being Sunday morning which was wet. I got the wholeshot once again and was able to come away with a seven second lead and a best time of 1min.16.481. This gave me the round win for the Supersport class. I had previously done a 1min.15 in the wet so was confident to fight for the win the in the last 15 lap feature race against the superbikes.

There was a very heavy shower just before our last race so a delay was had to let it pass and check the track as it was fully wet with big puddles. Luckily the race still went ahead but I did not make the most of pole position. Trying to make the best start possible against the bigger superbikes I wanted to have the clutch in the perfect spot but was a little too far out and started to roll. So I quickly grabbed the brake and then the light went out before I could release the brakes and instantly dropped back to fourth off the line. I knew straight away the front two would start to check out while I moved to third into turn 1 on lap 2. There was already a three second gap to the next rider. I started to close while doing PB lap times in the wet but couldn’t sustain the pace while getting rear tyre movement coming out of corners. I rode the last ten laps by myself passing the lapped riders and had to settle for third. A new PB wet time of 1min.14.692 after a couple of mid 1min.14 lap times was a good takeaway from the race.

Overall it was a good weekend with quick lap times being done after so long off the bike and dominating the Supersport class, plus getting third against superbikes in the wet. Can’t thank dad enough again, as usual he prepped all the bikes and got them ready but for the first time I was at a race meeting by myself as he was busy. In these tough times it’s really reassuring to have good sponsors still providing backing even though racing has been very limited. So I can’t thank them all enough:

Penrite Oils

Barry Francis Motorcycles

Trident tyre centre  

Nolan Helmets Australia

Suzuki Motorcycles Australia

Nitron Suspension Systems

Suspensions R Us

Plus Racing Gear

Baker Group

JC Performance

Fly’s Moving Colour

Neville Lush Racing

TMA Racing

Pirelli

SpeedAngle

Motorcycling SA

SA Plasterboard

Superbike Accessories

Mick Harrison Signs

Stef’s Transport

MB Automotive

Australian Technical Rubber

Dekker Motor Body Builder

K&S Fuels

The Grinning Dingo

South East Welding Services

Sew Unique

Tim English

Bannister & Son

Southern Air Ag

South East Property Sales and Management

Unitech

Alexandria Council