Some great racing Action was witnessed at round 1 of the Australian Supermoto Championships presented by Hogs Breath Cafe’s at Oran Park on the weekend.

With the rain clouds finally lifting on from Sydney after a week of rain, Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for racing. The Oran Park Supermoto circuit had been reversed from the normal direction to add a new challenge to the racers. The Championship class races did not disappoint, with great close action from the SM1 open, SM2 the premier 450 and the SM3 up to 250 cc class.

S1: Some great racing between Angus Reekie (KTM), Graham Cheney ( Husky Racing), Josh Macfarlane (Aprilia racing), Western Australia’s young gun David Gellatly and road race veteran Alistair Maxwell.

Reekie managed to get the better of Cheney.  Josh McFarlane had a bad start to the series with two crashes in the opening moto but put in a strong enough performance in moto two to take third overall on the day aboard his factory Aprilia SXV 550.

“After the disaster of race one, I just wanted to get into a rhythm and finish,” said McFarlane. “The bike is going brilliantly, and I’m enjoying the Oran Park layout more – we’re circulating the opposite way round this time out, and it’s definitely an improvement. I know I can go faster and the third race should see an improvement as I got faster lap-by-lap.”

McFarlane’s words proved prophetic – in the final race he got a great start to take second spot and maintained his position about half a second behind KTM-mounted Reekie for most of the race. On the last lap McFarlane threw everything he had at the leader gaining fastest lap of the race and bridging the gap to finish just 0.2 behind.

“I made a mistake in thinking I could chase down Reekie on the last lap – I pulled a third of a second but it wasn’t quite enough. I should have tried to catch him a lap earlier, but that’s racing. Overall I’m pleased to have got onto the podium after such a shocker of a first race.”

David Gellatly and Alistair Maxwell rounded out the top five.

“I had a great days racing,” said second placed man Cheney. “I struggled a little with starts, but my pace was definitely there. Angus and I shared fastest lap times across the day and I think if I had better starts I could have taken the win. I’ve really been able to find a set-up that works for me and the bike is just unreal at the moment.”

S1 Results
ANGUS REEKIE 75 / 25 25 25
GRAHAM CHENEY 64 / 22 22 20
JOSH MCFARLANE 56 / 14 20 22
DAVID GELLATLY 54 / 18 18 18
MICHAEL FRASER 45 / 15 15 15
ROSS TAYLOR 44 / 16 16 12
ALISTAIR MAXWELL 42 / 13 13 16
PHILL LOVETT 39 / 11 14 14
SHANE STRATTON 33 / 20 -- 13
MATTHEW BUCKLEY 24 / 12 12 --

S2: This was a great battle at the front along with some great action right through the field. Reekie took the win relatively easy in the first Moto from Taplin and a great ride from Nick Brain. However a slight overshoot on a corner early in race two let Rodney Taplin (Axis Honda) into the lead. Reekie challenged all the way, with a big move on the last corner that saw both riders go down. Both racing to their bikes Taplin managed to restart the Honda quicker then the KTM and still took the win. A hard charging Bennett, came through the field for great third place after suffering bike problems in race one.

The minor place action was also hot with Nick Brain securing third overall ahead of Alex Gobert and Luke Richards.

“Although I would have preferred to be right up the front, the pace this year is quicker than ever and to get in the top five in my first meeting on the bike is a real confidence boost.” Gobert stated. “The bike is really good – it turns in really quickly, then easily holds a line and fires out of corners like a jet. The SXV suits my style because it’s so good on the asphalt which is where my background is – road racing. The tyres are really good, we only used one set for the meeting and they hung in the whole time. I have to thank the team for letting me ride the 450 in this championship and I’m really looking forward to more time on the bike and the next double-header meeting at Newcastle.”

Linden Magee, Bennett, Steven Anderson, Kain and Harriman rounded out the top ten.

“The gear lever was a bit of a bummer,” said Bennett. “Other than that though, my SM 450RR was brilliant and I was happy with my pace for the weekend. The second race was tough, starting from the back of the grid, but I dug in and fought my way back to third. When Reekie and Taplin dropped it on the last corner I thought I may have been in for a win, but they got going quick-smart and I had a drag race with Reekie for the podium position.”

S2 Results
1 12 RODNEY TAPLIN 47 / 22 25
2 30 ANGUS REEKIE 47 / 25 22
3 7 NICK BRAIN 38 / 20 18
4 45 ALEX GOBERT 32 / 18 14
5 24 LUKE RICHARDS 31 / 16 15
6 34 LINDEN MAGEE 29 / 13 16
7 2 STUART BENNETT 27 / 7 20
8 174 STEPHEN ANDERSON 27 / 15 12
9 62 JASON KAIN 24 / 11 13
10 19 ALEX HARRIMAN 22 / 12 10

S3: The top three in the 250 class had a great battle at the front, with Cru Halliday (Hogs Breath Yamaha) taking the honours with 1,1,2. Nathan Porombka taking the last race win by half a wheel length over Halliday with a 3, 2 ,1 result. Jake Magee was right there and took out third over all with 2, 4, and 3.

S3 Results
1 65 CRU HALLIDAY 72 / 25 25 22
2 33 NATHAN POROMBKA 67 / 20 22 25
3 33X JAKE MAGEE 60 / 22 18 20
4 22 RICK OLSON 52 / 18 16 18
5 5 JOEL WHITAKER 44 / 11 20 13
6 27 LUKE TRAILL 43 / 13 14 16
7 77 TIMOTHY DURI 42 / 15 13 14
8 11 CHRIS TAPLIN 41 / 14 15 12
9 187 BEN COVENEY 31 / 16 0 15
10 110 JAY VAN 24 / 12 12 --

The support Classes also had some great racing with,
Juniors: 1. Allan McDonald 2. Ethan Webster 3. Kurt Maybury
Quads: 1.Tim Riley 2. Darren Sale 3. Peter Lawrie
Clubman –X: 1. Matt Buckley 2. Gary Kasch 3. Greg Timmins
Novice: 1. Cody Jurd 2.Mitchell Bennett 3.Steve Mann
Womens: 1. Bec Bateman 2.Jan Hart 3. Racheal Eagle
Vets: 1. Peter Cox 2. Phil Lovett 3.Ward Freeland

With the Support classes able to drop their worst round, this will make the Championship interesting towards the end. As many riders used round one as their drop a round due to other commitments. Expect packed fields in Newcastle for rounds two and three.

The events over the year will be getting bigger and bigger with September, October and November all having larger scale events.

The next Supermoto event will be with the Toyo National Drift Car event at Oran Park Raceway Sept 22-23, with Practice on the Saturday and events on the Sunday. This will be a massive event with 2 and 4 wheel drifting action along with Moto Trials, Stunt riders and FMX 50's display's.

The next two rounds of the Australian Championship is a double header at the popular Newcastle Mt sugarloaf go-Kart Circuit to be staged over the October 6/7 weekend.

The November events will include a double header in Queensland and Ipswich that will make up rounds four and five. The series then heads to Victoria's Thunder Dome for the final Round of the Supermoto Championship over the November 24/25 weekend with that event also including the Western QBE Victorian Moto Mayhem with seven events across various disciplines on in the Thunder Dome all at the one event.