2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan)

Report (Suzuki)

Three-time Australian Superbike Champion, Shawn Giles was forced to withdraw from round three of the Australian Superbike Championship at Mallala Raceway in South Australia this weekend.

Injuries sustained in last weekend's Australian Superbike clash at Barbagallo Raceway (WA) proved insurmountable for the Suzuki star and he withdrew from both races after completing only six laps in the first qualifying session.

Arriving at Mallala Raceway on crutches, Giles did not expect to be a contender for this round, but intended to race in an attempt to gather points and keep his championship aspirations alive.

Surprisingly, it was not his broken foot or stitched-up elbow that gave Giles grief, but rather his right hip that prompted the Suzuki pilot to pull out of the competition for this event.

Despite completing only a limited number of laps Giles still qualified 13th fastest overall, but experienced too much pain and was not confident that he had the strength to safely complete two 19-lap races.

To the best of Giles' recollection, this is the first and only time he has not taken to the start grid at all during an Australian Superbike round that he was scheduled to compete at.

Spanning back to his first full season in the Australian Superbike Series in 1993, Giles can only recall missing two races that he had intended to compete in.*

Giles will seek further specialist medical attention this week to confirm the extent of the injury to his hips and hopefully ascertain when he will be able to resume racing.

Giles' team-mate Robbie Bugden did an excellent job qualifying third fastest around the 2.2km Mallala Raceway circuit, earning his first front-row start for Team Yoshimura Suzuki.

Making impressive starts and showing good initial speed in both races, Bugden struggled to maintain pace with the leaders and slowly dropped down the order to claim two top-ten finishes, scoring ninth and seventh respectively.

Next stop for Team Yoshimura Suzuki is Queensland Raceway for round four of the 2006 Australian Superbike Championship on 7 - 9 July.

Shawn Giles -
"I don't recall anything ever keeping me off the starting grid for a whole race round before.

"I missed one race at Phillip Island in 2000 after a crash on my GSX-R750 FIM Superbike and in 1995 I had a big crash with Mat Mladin when his tyre delaminated in front of me and I had to sit out race two. but not starting either race is a first for me.

"My foot wasn't particularly bothering me, but I really struggled with the pain in my right hip and found it very difficult to shift my weight through the turns and then support my weight hanging off the side the bike to put my knee down.

"With Mallala being mostly right-hand turns, every time I went through a corner I felt like I was going to fall off.

"I made the decision not to race because I didn't feel I could do 19-laps and did not want to do more damage to myself if I came off again.

"I'm going to go and get my hip checked and probably get a CT scan to confirm the seriousness of the injury - hopefully it's all just muscular and not a fracture."

Robbie Bugden -
"My qualifying speed was very good this weekend and I was feeling positive going into the race.

"I was able to get good starts in each race and the GSX-R1000 was performing really well, but I just couldn't get into a rhythm here today.

"The next round in Queensland is my home track and one that suits the Suzuki, so I'm hoping to deliver much stronger performances there."

Phil Tainton - Team Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager
"It's been a difficult weekend for the team and we're all a bit disappointed.

"Shawn is such a tough competitor that you know that he must be hurting very badly to voluntarily withdraw from racing here this weekend.

"After such a great showing in the final race at Barbagallo last week and good results in our recent testing here at Mallala, we hoped that Robbie would have been stronger today.

"We've got a five week break now and hopefully Team Yoshimura Suzuki will have two riders back in the top five at the next round in Queensland."

2006 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS - after Round 3
1 Jamie Stauffer 126, 2 Russell Holland 110, 3 Daniel Stauffer 83, 4 Shannon Johnson 79.5, 5 Andrew Stroud 77, 6 Scott Charlton 69.5, 7 Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 62.5, 8 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 59, 9 Adam Fergusson 58.5, 10 Wayne Maxwell 56

*In 1994 and 1996, Giles only contested selected rounds of the Australian Superbike Championship in addition to racing commitments overseas. Excepting the '94 and '96 seasons, Giles has been a full-time competitor in the Australian Superbike Series contesting every round since 1993.