-- Hartwell meet at Winton kicks off Victorian Road Racing for 2012
-- By Steve Thibou

A big year of racing planned for all Victorians with 16 events available across four series in 2012 offering competitors a wide variety of choice.

Hartwell Motorcycle Club kicked off the season opener on the 11th & 12th February at Winton Motorsport Raceway in perfect weather conditions.

A much improved entry list from last year has seen rider entries increase to 107 with 130 bikes.

The introduction of cross entries has helped many classes with good numbers represented on the grid.

All riders entered for the weekend went into the draw for free entry to the next round at Mac Park in S.A., the first lucky winner was seasoned veteran Ron Matthews.

In the Over 600 Expert it was Brayden Carr that won the opening stanza by 4.2sec over Mawson and Archbold.

Unfortunately, mechanical problems with the BMW forced Carr to withdraw from the remainder of the weekend. Nathan Mawson went on to win the three remaining races to lead the championship with 95pts ahead of David Trotter and Bryce Van Hoof both on 71pts.

With this meeting using the short track layout, the configuration was great for spectators and parents who witnessed Honda CBR150 mounted Olly Simpson take out all four junior races to lead the championship.

Overall, this meeting was well received with the introduction of 10-lap races on the Sunday and the Greg Bailey feature race of 20 minutes plus 1 lap, which saw 22 riders complete 21 laps. The race was won by Nathan Mawson from Tyson Jones and Dean Archbold.

An off-track incident stopped race four Over 600 Expert & Non-Expert race when Graeme ‘SUMO’ Keen was retiring from the race via the exit road and locked up his rear tyre crashing into the cyclone fence. He was taken to Wangaratta hospital suffering minor injuries.

Championship Leaders after Round 1

125GP – Jake Thomas
250CC – Tony Foley
600 Expert – Matthew Davies, Non-Expert – Rowen Smith, Novice – James Partrick
Formula 400 Stock – Peter Wadley. Modified – Tim Podt
Greg Bailey – Nathan Mawson
Juniors – Olly Simpson
Supermono – Garry Arbrew
Supermoto – James Dyer
Over 600 Expert – Nathan Mawson, Non-Expert – Tim Dowbnia, Novice – Jade Merrett
Period 5 – Andrew Laid
Period 6 – Tony Foley
Pre Modern – Craig Nicolson
Superlights – Ron Matthews
Thunderbike – Glenn Kettle
Sidecars – Duncan Rogers & Rod Bell

Next Round 2 is on 10/11th March at Mac Park South Australia.
Entries close on 29/2, visit www.hartwellmcc.org for more details.

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