6 Hour - Eastern Creek - Report
| Race Day began, again with
overcast but fine weather.
The race started in a Le Mans style. Cudlin got off the line in 4th spot, but by the end of lap 1 was about 8th, but still 2nd in his class. The crucial thing with an endurance race is to correctly gauge the fuel consumption and tyre wear. Most riders aim for at least 1 hour to 1hour and 12 minutes for a fuel stop. If they can get 1 hour and 14 minutes from each fuel stop, they save themselves an extra pit stop. If they pit in less than an hour, they add a pit stop. After 5 minutes, Bike #47, Chater/O'Neill/Hones were into the pits, closely followed by Bike #24, Crilly/Dunne. They were obviously unscheduled pit stops, which meant there was probably some sort of mechanical problem. Rees (Bike Biz Yamaha) and Turnbull (Kawasaki) were in #1 & #2 spots. #59, McAdie/Manning/Dudley, came in early with rear end problems. Bike #17, Chapman/Smaller/MacLachlan, crashed & came into the pits early. Within 15 minutes of the start of the race Bike #74, Lesslie/Edis & Panos was in. Defending champions, Thomas/Skordos, came into the pits at 11.20am, only 20 minutes after the start, and had to dislodge a stack of gravel from the bellypan after Thomas had binned it somewhere on the track. Abbard/Wilshaw were given a 10 second stop/go penalty early in the piece. Bike #4, Freedman/Archilleos/Agoritses/Stainbusch, came in at 11.25am. Some excitement in the pits when Crew 17 discovered that someone had stolen their front & rear bike stand. Nice huh? Other riders into the pits in the first 1/2 hour were #42, Gallagher, #21, Wallington, #13, Hogan. Gallagher had collapsed wheel bearings, so the pit crew was frantically trying to rebuild the rear wheel. Rees & Willis were pulling away from the pack in 1st & 2nd spots. Rees pitted after 45 minutes, and Morris went out. Bike #74 had their 2nd pit stop in 45 minutes, not a good scenario. In Turn 9 #96, Edwards, came off & planted the bike in the gum trees. Kruck came into the pits after 50 minutes, in the top 5 on a Doin' Bikes Honda Fireblade. Steve Martin came into the pits after 45 minutes with a mechanical problem, or out of fuel - unknown. Turnbull & Jordan, #3 & #38, came in for pit stops before the first hour was up, which basically means an extra pit stop. Also in before the first hour were #4, Friedman, and #79. 36 laps had been completed by Willis by the first hour. Cudlin came in exactly after 1 hour, with no problems. Jory replaced Cudlin, and after 2 laps crashed in Turn 9. When the bike came in, Matt was shaken and upset. The bike had suffered unrepairable damage to the rear brake. Cudlin jumped back on the bike and rode like a demon with no rear brake. At 2 hours and 5 minutes into the race, #34, Rees/Morris came in for a pit stop & rider change, as did Dowson/Atlee/Hill on #2. At this point in the race #99, Martin/Blacker/Mills retired early. The race leaders at this point in the race were Rees/Morris. Marty Atlee was making his debut ride after a fairly serious accident at Broadford earlier in the year had kept him from his racing. Rory Rock riding on #30 with Whalen came in for a pit stop and was in 5th position. Light sprinkling rain started to fall at 2 hours and 15 minutes into the race - what was the weather going to do? Cudlin kept circulating on his bike, picking off position after position. With no rear brake, his job was made harder, because his usual style is to use lots of back brake. To repair the brake would have lost them too many spots, so they just decided to grin and bear it. Normally they would hope for rain, and they knew that if it started pelting down the R1's would have had a hard time, but it would have been touch and go for Cudlin with no rear brake. After Jory had crashed earlier, just after the first hour changeover, they had lost a number of placings, and were in something like 30th position. Cudlin got the thing back into 24th spot, and then came in to change riders. Cudlin's left thigh was cramping up and his ankle was really starting to hurt, so while Jory was doing his thing on the bike, Damian just relaxed and tried to focus on his next session out. At 2 hours and 15 minutes, Atlee came in for refueling and a rider change, with Dowson replacing Atlee. #77, Thomas/Skordos entered the pits, and #37, Bryan/Epis came in for their 3rd pit stop. The Top 10 at this point were At the 2 hour and 25 minute mark the safety car was out on the track due to a crash on Turn 2 or Turn 3. Jory took the opportunity to pit for a new tyre. Jory went back out to continue riding. For the next 15 minutes the bikes just circulated the track without racing as the safety car was on the track. At 2 hours and 35 minutes the green flag came down, and racing began again in earnest. #30, Rock/Whalen crashed just after racing resumed. At 2 hours & 40 minutes someone on a Buell was out with a problem. At this point, Stauffer and Geronomi had a bit of a battle down the straight and through the turns, Stauffer on the new GSXR750, Geronomi on a Team Kawasaki 600, with only .87 seconds between them. The two of them continued to dice for a while, with the leader changing spots constantly. #34, Nowland/Stauffer/Willis was back in the lead, followed closely by #7, Rees/Morris/Gee. At 2 hours & 40 minutes, Chad Turnbull went into the lead, completing his 91st lap. Stauffer & Turnbull then had a dice through Turn 9, but a rider coming off in Turn 10 slowed them down under the yellow flag. Stauffer & Turnbull then both passed a lapped rider under a stationary yellow flag. Whether the control tower saw it is anyone's guess, but the commentators certainly did. The Top 4 at this point were Stauffer, Turnbull, Morris & Atlee. At 2 hours & 55 minutes, Turnbull pitted. Riders were changed over & Geronomi jumped aboard. He took off from the pits before the wheel nut was locked on properly and had to return to the pits. This surely cost the team a lap. Meanwhile, Jory, #52, was still out circulating in 27th spot. 2 more riders came down in Turn 10 at this point. At 106 laps, Morris went into the lead at 3 hours and 15 minutes, and then came in for a tyre. Gee went out. 5 minutes later 3 bikes crashed at the bottom of the straight, one of them being Geronomi. He appeared to just lose the front end in the corner and the resultant crash put Turnbull & Geronomi out of the race. At 3 hours 20 minutes, Jory came in & Cudlin went out. The yellow flag had just come back out at the end of the straight due to the Geronomi crash, so no passing was allowed at this point. Thomas /Skordos crashed again, and came back into the pits. Lots of broken levers told their story. At this point, Cudlin had brought the 600 back into 3rd spot in it's class, and was rapidly catching 2nd position. At the 4 hour mark the rain started to drizzle again, but not enough to cause major concern for those on slicks, but just enough to cause a few team managers' hearts to flutter. #21, Wallington/Whitney, crashed, and an oil flag came out on Turn 11. Willis/Nowland & Stauffer were back in the lead, with 137 laps completed. A fine mist of rain continued to fall, & the track started to become a little slippery. Cudlin & Jory had been racing on Dunlop D207 GP Stars, so they weren't worried about the rain, although the back brake, or lack of back brake, meant that even a tiny mistake could be costly for them. #39 , Burrows/Glennan/Connor came down stranded on the outside of the circuit. The yellow flag was back out again. Turn 9 appeared to be causing the most problems in the conditions, being an off camber corner, with a number of bikes crashing out at this point. The lead bike, #34, Nowland/Willis/Stauffer came in with a rider change, but the pit stop was slow because of problems locating the right sized cable ties to attach the transponder unit. Bike #7 & #34 were a lap & 4 seconds apart at 4 hours & 15 minutes. Meanwhile Cudlin had been picking off riders one at a time, and had gotten his bike back into 11th position from 27th - not a bad effort at all, and more importantly, he had brought his 600 into the lead spot in his class. He came in at 4 hours & 20 minutes for a change of rider. The strategy was for Jory to ride another 50 minutes, and maintain the position, and for Cudlin to finish it off and bring it home. At 4 hours and 55 minutes Willis came into the pits for their last tyre change. Jory maintained the 1st position in their class, and 11th overall, and Cudlin hopped back on the bike for the final session. The plan was to just bring it home in 1st position in the Endurance Supersport Class, and try to get into the Top 10 overall, but not to sacrifice the class win for the top ten. The placings at 5 hours & 25 minutes were In the last moments of the race Kruck on #22 crashed, and the race finished with #34, Nowland, Willis & Stauffer the outright winners. Damian Cudlin and Matt Jory came home 10th overall and were the first SuperSport bike home so of course won the SuperSport class. |
The 2nd lap freight train
Matt (red hat) and Damian (not red hat)
The Team behind Matt Jory and Damian Cudlin for
the 6 hour
| Cudlin and Jory's pit crew were made up of: Dale McVeigh & Natasha, Greg McKinnon, John Inkson, Bruce Riley, Chris Thorne, Shane Cudlin and Alex Cudlin as chief gopher. |
