FX 2002 - Round 2 - Yamaha Release

The Radar's Team Yamaha trio or Robbie Baird, Kevin Curtain and Craig Coxhell were in dominating form over the weekend, taking the top three positions at round two of the 2002 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State, held at Victoria 's Winton Raceway.

Defending Formula Xtreme champion and current points leader in this years title chase Robbie Baird, was again the man to beat as he left the weekend as the round winner after taking out two race wins (races 2 and 3) along with a second and a third. He now has a point's tally of 169, eight clear of teammate Curtain, who also won two races (races 1 and 4) along with a sixth and a second. Coxhell lies third overall in the points table with 114 after today's efforts were he finished with a pair of seconds and a pair of fifths.

Rain affected Saturday's qualifying sessions for the Formula Xtreme as well as the qualifying and two Supersport races that were scheduled. The skies remained clear for all of Sunday's race action.

Backing up the strong results in the premier Formula Xtreme class, Curtain followed that up with another strong showing in the Supersport class were he won the fourth 6-lap race and now has a healthy points lead in the series with a total of 174 to Cameron Donald's 111.

"It's good to come away from the weekend with an extra points margin," said Baird. "Picking up two wins was great on the day, but it could have been more if I hadn't got a false neutral in race one that allowed Kev (Curtain) to get by. The Yamaha YZF R1 ran perfectly all weekend and deserved the results."

Claiming pole position was the perfect way to start the weekend for Curtain, "We tried a lot of different things with the bike this weekend and we learnt a lot which is a very good thing," said Curtain. "If the incident on the opening lap of race three didn't happen, things may have been a lot different."

Curtain and Josh Brookes were forced off the circuit at the first esses after the start line on the opening lap after a clash with another rider, but both were able to rejoin the race and did well to get back into the top ten.

"I was absolutely stoked to get the win in that last race aboard the YZF R6," said Curtain. "The bike ran perfect, even though each of the races were extremely hard. The hardest thing was having to adjust after switching from the R1 to the R6 between races. It is also very tight at the first turn from the start line that has made it very hard for a lot of guys over the weekend including me."

"I was happy with the results that I got today, but that last race really topped it off for me as I was able to stick with Kev right to the end and that has given me a lot of confidence," said Coxhell. "It's also been good to get a good result for what is a home race for me. I had a good weekend all round with no real problems to talk of."

Eastern Creek will host round 3 of the 2002 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State on May 18 & 19.