YMF Australian Superbike 2005 - Round Six

A glorious sunny Queensland day welcomed all to the track on Sunday for the penultimate round of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike series. After the wet and cold of Winton the southerner's where treated to a day of fantastic racing in the sun. This was however not the case on Saturday when qualifying became a battle for all riders due to excessive winds coming in from the west and blowing across the track and pushing the bikes wide at the high speed turn one at the end of pit straight.

Robert continued his run of good form and ran fourth overall for the day with a 4th in race one and a third in race two that could easily have been higher if not for such a bad start.

Practice One – Practice One was used as a shake down to ensure that the bike was running OK, after a broken chain testing two weeks ago went straight through the cases and precipitated a complete engine rebuild for this round. With the bike running soundly and no apparent problems Robert was second fastest in the session with a 1.11.484 just behind Jamie Stauffer (KRT) 1.11.378.

Practice Two - With the bike engine sorted, Robert used practice two to work on finding a base set up from which to create the platform for the weekend. Laying down 20 laps with a fastest lap of 1.11.014 and moving back to third spot behind Jamie Stauffer (KRT) 1.10.701 and Shawn Giles (Team Suzuki) 1.10.924

Robert said " The bike is going OK but its lacking a bit of top end against the Suzuki rockets but I m hoping for a good qualifying session on Saturday and hoping to get into the 1.10's"

Qualifying One – With a westerly wind that continued to increase through the night. Saturday morning was as cold and windy as Queensland Raceway had been in spring for a long while. This did not slow the pace and the morning session saw three riders break into the 1.10's and it pointed towards the lap record tumbling on race day.
Robert posted a time of 1.10.992 behind Glenn Allerton (Team Suzuki) 1.10.904 and Jamie Stauffer on provisional pole with a 1.10.463.

Robert said " I am happy with the time but I was experiencing a lack of mid corner grip which did not allow me to get on the power early exiting the turns. I think we will make a couple of changes and come back and have another go this afternoon"

Qualifying Two - After a period of calm the wind decided to pick up and start swirling around again, just as the superbikes went out for they’re second qualifying session. With comments floating around the pits that the morning times would not be bettered, (how wrong they where). What happened next was an amazing display of riders and year on year tyre development with the first 7 riders all posting a time in the 1.10's. Robert being moved back to the second row and qualifying 8th on his morning time after only being able to manage a 1.11.048 in the afternoon session. The front eight where separated by only half a second.

Robert said, " I should have left my morning settings, as we went backwards. The changes to my rear suspension did me no favours in that session. I had a couple of go's at a hot lap and on both occasions got baulked by slower riders on the exit of turn two but I guess that’s racing and by the time I had some clear track my rear tyre was past its best"

Race One – Starting from P8 it was always going to be difficult for Robert to make a break as you are positioned on the wrong side of the track and you have to contend with everybody in front and behind fighting for the apex at turn one. Getting caught up in turn one Robert had to put his head down charge hard to chase the front pack. Moving through the pack and passing a number of riders Robert managed to move his was up to 6th place just as the race was red flagged on lap 11.

Restarting on the grid in 6th place Robert got a better start and was able to get out with the front pack of Jamie Stauffer (KRT), Glenn Allerton (Team Suzuki) and Adam Fergusson (Joe Rocket Honda). With Jamie Stauffer (KRT) running wide on the next lap of this 5 lap dash Robert was able to hang on to third place across the line and 4th on aggregate time.

Race Two - Race two delivered more excitement and before it was even 3 laps old was red flagged due to oil from an expired engine on the entrance to turn six. At first, looking like a race in two parts Robert was pretty happy as he had been in fourth position at the finish and expected to re-start on the front row. After a few minutes race control advised of a complete restart so Roberts’s trip to the front row was short lived.

The race was re-run as a 14 lap affair and after getting a shocker of a start and being caught in turn one, Robert landed in 10th spot with a lot of work to do. Picking off riders at regular intervals, Robert was able to get in front of the mid-pack. He then chased down Adam Fergusson (Joe Rocket Honda), Josh Brooks (Joe Rocket Honda) and Glenn Allerton (Team Suzuki) to eventually finish in third spot behind Shawn Giles (Team Suzuki) and winner Jamie Stauffer (KRT). Finishing in third spot Robert was consistently the fastest bike on the track lapping in the mid 1.10’s and given a few extra laps could have been fighting for another victory.

Robert said “ It was disappointing to be the fastest bike on the track, take the fastest lap for race two (1.10.618) and still only finish third. Saying that it was great to see all the Yellow Northstar Yamaha Team Anchor Racing t-shirts around the place. To be able to put on a bit of a show for my local crowd and the lunchtime Shoot Out with the Porsche was a bit of fun.”