2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan)

Report (Jeremy Crowe)

A great start to the season for young Condobolin rider Jeremy Crowe with front row qualifying and top privateer in 600 Supersport.

Jeremy took part in his first race meeting on the new Yamaha YZF-R6 at Eastern Creek on the weekend in Round 1 of the YMF Loans Australian Superbike Championship.

With only one pre season test day to set the bike up we were expecting to have a lot of work to do on Fridays practice sessions.

“Radar and Graeme had the bike handling pretty good by the first qualifying session and I ended up fifth on the grid. After the first session we discussed some positive changes to remove some front end chatter and the bike never missed a beat from then on.”

Jeremy qualified on the front row for the first time in 600 Supersport, also making an all Yamaha front row.

“After qualifying I was looking forward to race day to capitalise on my good grid position” Jeremy said.

In race one Jeremy’s start was not as strong as he would have hoped due to the lack of practice with the Yamaha’s clutch and went back to about 6th or 7th. He had worked his way back up to 4th when the race was red flagged due to an accident on the exit of turn nine. The race was restarted for a four-lap sprint race and was scored as a two part race in which Jeremy placed 4th.

Race two was in mid afternoon in warm sunny conditions. By this time Jeremy had become familiar with the Yamaha’s clutch and nailed a great start. He was then involved in a race long dice for 3rd place with Jason O’Halloran and Glen Allerton. Whilst Jeremy finished up in 5th place he was pleased he could keep the pace of the factory guys for race distance.

“This new Yamaha R6 is the best production bike I have ridden and the Dunlop tyres seem to always find drive and grip no matter how hard I push them.”

Jeremy comes away from round one of the championship as the top privateer with a maximum 51 points and 4th place overall with 33 points. This is a great result for the Sydney Mesh Racing Team and very encouraging for round 2 in Perth.

“Every time I went out on the bike I went quicker. I still think there is more in both the bike and my riding, so I hope to continue pushing the factory boys to the line”.

Jeremy would like to thank Shawn and the Yamaha Sydney Mesh Racing Team for giving him the opportunity to race again this year and would also like to thank his generous sponsors Rapid Bikes Magazine, Sam Laws Motorcycles, Racers Edge, Radars Shock Service and Dyno, Dunlop, Prodocom, PPG, Motul, RK Chains, Ian Irving, Allan Barber Signs, Mark Brigden Spray Painting, Australian Superbike School, S+R Pro, Goodridge and Broadleys Financial Services.