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2005 Australian Superbike
Championship - Round Four - Mallala Team Report - Fraser Motorcycles June 5th, 2005
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2005 Australian Superbike
Championship - Round Four - Mallala Team Report - Fraser Motorcycles June 5th, 2005
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| Round 4 of the YMF Loan
Australian Supersport championship moved to the Mallala
Motorsport Park in South Australia on the weekend of the 3-5th
June 2005. Being able to practice at the 2.6km Mallala Motorsport park prior to racing there proved to beneficial, with Mark Aitchison & the Fraser Motorcycle Yamaha Team YZF R6 straight on the pace finishing 3rd in both Friday practice sessions. “We tested here 3 weeks ago and I was able to get acquainted with the track, work out gearing and get a firm base setting, so I knew when we rolled out onto the track on Friday that the changes we would have to make would be small.” Commented Mark after the end of Friday practice. Saturday qualifying sessions were busy with a number of different strategies, from different teams being implemented, some teams using two bikes for qualifying others opting to use only one. The first qualifying session went well for the Fraser Motorcycle Yamaha Team with Mark Aitchison securing 2nd position after the end of the first qualifying session. The second qualifying session was a different story, half way through the 30min session Mark had been pushed back to 4th spot, this was ok, as he was still on the front row. Unfortunately by the end of the session Mark had been pushed back to 6th spot and would have to start form the second row of the grid. “Unfortunately we were caught off guard and were not expecting to drop 4 spots, or expect 4 riders to drop their lap times by a minimum of .8 sec and up to 1.3 sec in 1 session. However we will learn from this and change our strategies so that this will not happen again” reported Team Manager Marty Dowd. Race 1 Mark got a great start slotting into 4th spot just behind Team Kawasaki rider Josh Waters. Over the next few laps the Joe rocket Honda riders Adam Krusty Fergusson and Josh Brookes pulled out a comfortable lead. Mark was able to finally pass Josh Waters and immediately pull a gap and set out to give chase to the Joe Rocket Honda of Josh Brookes, who had now dropped off the leader Adam Krusty Fergusson. Mark Aitchison caught Brookes in the dying laps of the race and was able to make an aggressive pass stick at the end of the back straight to take over 2nd spot on the penultimate lap. Mark was able to hold off Brookes on the last lap to put the Fraser Motorcycle Yamaha Team R6 in to second place behind race winner Adam Krusty Fergusson and 3rd going to Josh Brookes. Mark was happy with his podium finish. “This was a great result for the team because we struggled a little in qualifying on Saturday and to come away with 2nd place shows we have the pace and consistency to create opportunities for ourselves. I’m sure that in the near future we will see some more race wins”. Race 2 Mark again got a great start slotting into 4th behind Brendan Clarke (Pro Yamaha R6). After a few laps Mark was able to pass Clarke and pull out a small gap. Once again the two Joe Rocket Honda’s of Brookes and Krusty have pulled out a comfortable lead. At ¾ race distance Clarke picked up his pace and started to pull in Mark Aitchison, both Clarke and Aitchison were the fastest riders on the track. With a lap to go Clarke was right behind Aitchison and made a pass stick in the Southern Hairpin, Aitchison fought back but was unable to pass. So Adam Krusty Fergusson won the second race from Josh Brookes (Joe Rocket Honda) with Brendan Clarke (Pro Yamaha) 3rd and Mark Aitchison (Fraser Motorcycle Yamaha Team) 4th position. “On a whole this was a good race, even though I would like to be dicing for the lead. The Fraser Motorcycle Yamaha Team has come away 3rd overall for the weekend and moved to 3rd in the Championship, which is really positive as I believe that Mallala circuit is one of my weaker tracks in the series. This round has put us in a good stead for the remaining rounds left”. The Fraser Motorcycle Yamaha Team came away from the Mallala round 3rd overall and more importantly 3rd in the Championship. There is a 10 week break before the next round which is at Winton Raceway in VIC on 19-21 August 2005. |
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