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2005 Australian Superbike
Championship - Round Three - Wanneroo Raceway Team Report - Bugden May 30th, 2005
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2005 Australian Superbike
Championship - Round Three - Wanneroo Raceway Team Report - Bugden May 30th, 2005
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| Robert Bugden Report – Weekend
In The West Delivers AMCN Privateer Cup Victory. From North Star
Yamaha/Team Anchor Racing Queenslander Robert Bugden continued on his campaign to retain the AMCN Privateers Cup in Western Australia at Round Three of the YMF Loans Australian Superbike Championship at Barbagallo Raceway this weekend. Arriving on Thursday evening to be able to take advantage of the free practice session on Friday. Robert said “we only get here once a year so with my new Northstar Yamaha R1 it is critical that we get as much time as we can on track to work on set up prior to actual qualifying”. Practice One- Robert used most of this time to re-establish himself with the circuit and concentrate on the way the bike was feeling. Robert did 24 Laps in Practice One and posted a fastest time on Lap 21 of 57.792. Making him 10th fastest overall. Practice Two- Feeling comfortable with the base settings on his Northstar Yamaha R1, Robert choose to focus on tyre selection Robert said “with it only being two longer races this year instead of three in previous years it is critical that we select the correct rubber that will go the distance” Robert posted a fastest time of 56.985 on Lap 13 of 26. He used session two as a race simulation, and said “ overall I am happy with the way the day has progressed. Although I am not totally sure I made the correct tyre selection for the race simulation. I am going to have to have another think about this before the racing starts on Sunday”. Qualifying One- Saturday morning and the serious side of the weekend beginning Robert said “I have been for a light run and I am ready to go”. With the weather being a little overcast and the temperature being 3-4C cooler than Friday, correct tyre selection was again the order of the day. Robert posted a fastest time of 56.782 on Lap 14 of 23 moving him to 8th Position on the grid. Qualifying Two- Feeling positive about the final qualifying Robert was determined to maintain his form from Eastern Creek and secure a second row position on the grid. He was able to do this securing 7th position exactly the same as his qualifying place in Sydney. Robert posted a fastest Lap time of 56.091 on Lap 24 of 24. Robert said “ Im pretty happy overall because there is nothing in the times from P1 back to me in P7, The pace is an absolute cracker again we all just seam to be getting faster. For sure the lap record will go this weekend” Race One- An action packed race that was run in two parts highlighted that Robert is on track to retain his Privateers title again in 2005. After getting a solid start and holding position seven into turn one. Robert began to settle into a steady race pattern and was hoping to start making an impression on the front runners. When unfortunately the red flag was raised after Yamaha Factory rider Dan Stauffer was involved in a nasty incident. Upon the restart Robert regrouped and was able to make a solid start but started to experience unsettling sounds coming from the gearbox as he was down shifting. He spent the second part of the race riding another solid and consistent 12 laps to finish in 8th position, giving him a 6th overall and 1st Privateer past the post in race one. Robert said ‘ I want to be further up the field, I need to work a little harder in the early laps to stay in touch with the others. But I can not complain about picking up the 25 points for the first race” Race Two- Another solid start for Robert and he entered the first turn again holding position and spent the next 6 to 8 laps swapping places with Tony Rees eventually pulling away. Still experiencing some gearbox problems he was very concerned that he wouldn’t make race distance. Robert said “I hit a couple of false neutrals and the shift was getting really clunky as the raced progressed so I had to try and get the bike home, luckily it all held together and got me home” Robert finished race two in 7th Position and secured the AMCN Privateer Cup victory for the round and is looking forward to going to Adelaide for round four.
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