Nikon Yamaha

Kevin Curtain again proved the dominance of himself and his Nikon Yamaha Racing Team with a perfect result of six wins from six starts at the first round of the 2003 Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championships this weekend (April 11-13) at South Australia’s Mallala circuit.

Competing in the prestigious Australian Superbike and Supersport classes, Curtain claimed two pole positions and two lap records to add to his six wins, underlying the unique talent of the 36-year-old who hails from Newcastle in NSW.

The dominance of Curtain also proves the dominance of the new Yamaha R1 and the record breaking new fuel-injected Yamaha R6 during the opening race meetings of 2003.

“That has to be right up there with one of the best days racing I have ever had,” said a delighted Curtain. “To come out against the best riders in Australia and win every race plus take a couple of lap records is the sort of day every rider dreams of.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible without having a great team behind me. They are the ones that do all the work and it makes my work so much easier. Kev Marshall and the boys deserve a lot of credit as well.”

The Gold Coast-based team with Curtain at the helm are now the ones to beat in the Australian championships. With these latest results it undoubtedly confirms that Curtain is one of the most underrated riders in the world as the opposition certainly tried to upset his rhythm but the exciting events proved that it will take something special to stop him claiming a fifth Australian title.

While he has a remarkable bike to ride it cannot take away the fighting spirit of the man who seems to be getting better at ever outing his sheer determination and will to win. That determination has seen him compete overseas the past few years and he has not given up hope of heading back to the world championships in the years ahead.

“I don’t want to relax riding here in Australia. The competition is at a very high standard but its no the same as at world championship level. I just want to push myself to the max every time I get on a bike in Australia."

Curtain, a multi-Australian champion and World Supersport Championship race winner led all bar two races from start to finish.

His only blemishes were in a leg of the Superbikes when three times Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles on his factory Suzuki stormed off the line to lead them into the first corner and In the Supersport class it was his teenage dynamo teammate Clarke who led Curtain for two laps during the opening leg on Saturday afternoon.

To further stamp his authority his biggest winning margin was nearly five seconds with only one race-winning distance less than a second. That was in the final Superbike leg when he had everything wrapped up as his ex teammate Craig Coxhell closed within 0.1 sec in a last desperate attempt to take a win for his Suzuki team but Curtain held him of in fine style to again to be the first rider to greet the chequered flag.

Teammate Dan Stauffer finished fourth overall in the Superbikes battling the effects of arm pump that curtailed his charge to the front while Clarke finished third overall in the Supersport class with three third places.

The next round of the Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championships will be held at Phillip Island on May 16-18.

Team Suzuki

Suzuki has dominated the podium at Round One of the Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship with Team Suzuki's Craig Coxhell and Shawn Giles finishing second and third overall respectively.

"This is a great start to the year, and my GSX-R1000 performed really well throughout the weekend," said Victoria's Coxhell.

Three-time Australian Superbike Champion Giles has been battling with the aftermath of food poisoning and was happy with his results. "Salmonella poisoning wasn't the best preparation for the first round and left me feeling really weak so I am pleased to finish third and get some valuable Championship points," said Giles.

In qualifying, New South Wales Giles (I min 08.4 seconds) was pipped for pole position by Kevin Curtain by three-tenths of a second with Coxhell (I min 08.8 seconds) starting from fifth.

Twenty-year old Coxhell moved into fourth on the second lap of race one around the 2.6km Mallala circuit with Giles battling with Daniel Stauffer for second place.

It took Curtain a lap record on the third lap to break away from the Giles-Stauffer duel while a determined Coxhell chased them down. By lap nine he had joined the fight for second.

On consecutive laps he out-broke and overtook Giles and Stauffer to move into second. Curtain won the race with the Suzuki GSX-R1000s of Coxhell and Giles separated by Stauffer.

Still feeling under the weather, Giles won the start of race two and led into the first corner before Curtain overtook him in a risky manouevre.

"Being sick has left me with no strength, and I was unable to throw the bike around as I normally would," said Giles

The Suzukis were evenly matched for pace, and it took an exceptional pass by Coxhell on lap five to move into second place.

He then began chasing down Curtain's 2.6 second lead and eventually finished only 1.3 seconds behind him while Giles held off Stauffer for third.

Like the two before it, race three was held in very windy conditions and despite a good start from Coxhell, Curtain once again took an early lead.

Coxhell and Giles battled with Stauffer for the first five laps before the Suzukis pulled away from Stauffer in the later stages of the race.

With his confidence growing at every outing aboard the Suzuki, Coxhell then set out to chase down Curtain and reduce the 2.6 second gap. He missed taking the chequered flag by only two-tenths of a second with Giles finishing in third.

"The bike was performing so well and I was gaining on Kev on every lap - I really think I would have won the race if we'd just had another lap," said Coxhell.

"I was really struggling but I was determined to finish third overall and get two Suzukis on the podium," said Giles.

"Craig was in fantastic form and Shawn did a great job considering his fitness," said Team Suzuki team manager, Phil Tainton.

"I'm exceptionally pleased with the weekend, it's a good start to the Championship and I look forward to utilising our bike's power at Phillip Island," said Tainton.

Round two of the five-round 2003 Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship will be held on May 17-18 at Victoria's Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Castrol Honda

Castrol Honda Racing opened their account with a solid start to the Australian Championships at Mallala on the weekend. Shannon Johnson's second place in Supersport aboard the new CBR600RR, in near stock trim, showed just a small glimpse of the bikes true potential.

The team was bolstered for the event by the late inclusion of international, and ex Honda factory rider, Kirk McCarthy in Superbike, reducing the workload of the injured Josh Brookes. Brookes had a pin inserted in his right collarbone on the Tuesday before the race after a race fall at the Victorian titles on April 6. Always the racer Brookes still elected to ride the CBR600RR in Supersport.

Superbike
Shannon Johnson put the Fireblade on the outside of the front row in Superbike with McCarthy one row back. Kirk was struggling to find the perfect set-up for the CBR954RR but was determined to not make excuses, but to ride around any setup shortfalls.

All three races saw Johnson battle to maintain track position but ultimately he was satisfied with his 5-6-5 finishes to start the season on the right side of the ledger.

McCarthy's usual tyre sliding style was once again to the fore on the Honda Fireblade. McCarthy was relishing the extra power of the Superbike and while not having any testing time on the bike before the event would certainly have slowed a lesser rider, McCarthy rode to true form finishing all three races one position behind his younger teammate.

Supersport
Australia number one Shannon Johnson qualified his CBR600RR on the front row (for Supersport and was buoyed by the fact that while apart from an Akrapovic exhaust and HRC engine management system the bike was still in completely stock engine trim). Brookes narrowly missed the front row, but showing real grit and determination he started from sixth place.

Both Johnson and Brookes got off the line well in all three races slotting into the lead group. But it was Johnson who was able to force the pace, keeping in touch with the leading Yamaha's.

While down on power, due to the stock trim of the bike, what the CBR600RR lacked in straight-line speed it made up for it around the corners. Johnson finished the day with three solid second places.

A frustrated Brookes struggled in the latter sections of the race, the collarbone injury taking its toll on the young rider were he finish the day with sixth in race one and fifth in race two. The only blot on the copybook was a race fall in the third leg while fighting for second place.

Josh Brookes - "The goal for the weekend was to get some points, as I knew I wouldn't be able to ride as I normally would with full fitness. I prefer not to take any painkillers, as I don't like not having control of my own senses and feeling normal. I'd rather have a clear head when I'm on the racetrack cause it's already pretty dangerous and I'd rather not complicate it any more. The bike seems to be competitive but it's hard to take it to its full potential in my condition so we can only get better. The last crash was just a little too much adrenalin and I came in a little too hot on the brakes. Without the strength to muscle the bike around I just lost the front, but fortunately I didn't hurt myself. By Phillip Island (Round 2) I'm hoping to be a lot fitter and then we'll see what happens."

Shannon Johnson - "After last weekend the most important thing was to finish the races because the guys in the team have been working too hard to have any more problems. We're really running the 600RR as a Superstock bike as we haven't the time to develop it at the moment. So what Josh and I have done this weekend is certainly a credit to the bike and the engineers that designed this new bike. The Superbike was great but we struggled to put together the perfect package for this track and it was a bit of a compromise at a couple of corners. Still points are points, but I hate finishing anything lower than first."

Kirk McCarthy - "It was good to just have a ride but I just needed some more time on the bike to get it working. It was not quite right but it was getting better every time we went out. I felt better on race day when I could slide it around a little more instead of having to ride it on a knife-edge. It's been a long time, 1998 I think, since I rode on a Superbike in Australia so it was great to see nothings changed. It's still as competitive as ever."

Team Manager Paul Free - "It was great to get a start to the racing year with some good results, especially in Supersport. Kirk has been great for the team and with all his experience he's given us an outside perspective and good insight with an alternative setup direction on the bike. There's a lot still to be gained in the CBR600RR so with a bit more horsepower and the suspension completely sorted it's got a huge potential."

The team returns to Melbourne to prepare for the next event, the second round of the championship on May 18.