Australian Superbike 2008 - Round One - Eastern Creek

Australian Superbike 2008 - Round One - Eastern Creek - Day One FZ6 Cup Report
By, Trevor Hedge

Sydney C grader Rick Olson took the honour of early FZ6 Cup favourite after topping both free practice sessions and first qualifying at the Eastern Creek series opener today.

The FZ6 Cup this year has been split into two groups with an 'AB' class for seasoned A and B graded competitors while those newer to racing can contest the 'CD' category. The two sub-classes will practice, quality and race together but will compete for different prizes overall.

From Olson's form that doesn't seem a bad decision as his 1m40.299topped the charts overall and bested next best competitor, seasoned campaigner Keith Greentree, by an amazing 1.73 seconds. That's one fast C grader in anyone's book.

Like Greentree, Chris Knox continues in the FZ6 Cup and secured the third quickest time ahead of Brendan Watson.

Three female competitors have entered the FZ6 Cup this year and official Yamaha entrant Amy O'Mara was the best of the girls with a 1m45.27 putting her 12th outright.

Young Dirt Track Champion Rohan Tungate has not had an easy introduction to road racing with the Hunter Valley youngster only 14th quickest on completion of the opening day. It would be a brave man to bet against Tungate working his way well up that order before the weekend is out. But also goes to show that the ability to twist a throttle is not enough alone to put you instant contention in the FZ6 Cup field. The highly technical nature of the Eastern Creek layout would be a highly imposing task to conquer for anyone new to road racing.