 |
2006 Australian Superbike
Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway July 9th, 2006 - By, Trevor Hedge |
 |
|
|
2006 Australian Superbike
Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway July 9th, 2006 - By, Trevor Hedge |
|
|
Team Report - Joe Rocket Honda
|
| The Joe Rocket Honda road
race team left Ipswich, Queensland this weekend with a sense
of reasonable satisfaction after securing a podium finish in
the 1000cc class at the fourth round of the Australian
Superbike Championships. At a circuit that the Team “does not have a strong tradition of winning at,” according to Team Manager Paul Free, star rider Adam Fergusson put in two solid third places to take the same position for the round. After a non-scoring first round at Eastern Creek due to injury, Adam has been playing catch-up ever since in the points stakes. With the positive results on the weekend, the 31 year old former champion has brought himself up one place in the series to eighth. He also jumped up a spot in the Supersport chase after a fourth place round finish at the Sunshine State circuit. “Considering I never really do all that well at this track, my overall results weren’t too bad, but I can tell you I’m tired with the finishing third thing!” “I’m just getting over a flu so I didn’t have as much energy as I would have liked, but I still rode as hard as I possibly could under the circumstances. The bike felt good too so I’m reasonably happy today.” While ‘Krusty’ had something to smile about, team mate Glenn Allerton - who was still recovering from injuries from a crash at Mallala's round three - finished the meeting in a place he’d rather not see again for quite some time; the local hospital. Before his unscheduled departure from the track, Allerton put in two solid 600cc class races, further cementing his third place series position. Unfortunately he came to grief on the first lap of the second Superbike race, resulting in a visit to the hospital for further tests. His injuries are yet to be confirmed, however it is suspected that Glenn has suffered a fracture in the lower region of the body. “I started off the weekend very flat and wasn’t feeling great coming into the round. I was disappointed with qualifying, but pretty much ecstatic with my Supersport results considering I had to come up through the pack from 13th.” “I’m very disappointed with my Superbike results obviously. I’ll have to report in later with the status of any injuries but hopefully it won’t keep me out of the next round at Symmons Plains.” Honda still had something more to smile about however as supported rider Russell Holland (Robern Racing) outperformed everyone. Holland took his second round win in the Superbike class and closed the gap between himself and series leader Jamie Stauffer to just 7 points after a flawless performance. “Russell is making amazing progress as a privateer,” Free said. “He is continuing to put the CBR1000RR across the line first, and we are supporting him as much as possible. I think we will continue to see impressive results from Russell over the rest of series.” Honda’s additional factory efforts in the guise of Jardine Honda’s Bryan Staring also put in a reputable fifth and eight place race Supersport finish, and with the points haul, the young former 125cc star now sits seventh overall. “We struggled on Friday during practise so my goal was to at least get on the second row in qualifying and we achieved that,” Staring said. “In the first race, I got a good start and was running third and battling with Krusty for a bit so I was also happy with that result. In the second race, I got bogged down and just couldn’t get past the riders in front of me. I still think my best is yet to come for the season.” “The bikes and the race set-up were really quite good for the weekend,” Free said. “The boys all put in 100% and it’s a shame that Glenn had to end the day on a bad note. Everyone is looking forward to Tasmania. It should be a relatively even playing field there since the track is new to the series.” |
|
|
|
2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway |
