—Â MRRDA MA National Junior Championships – Winton – Round Two
After a wet and windy Mount Gambier for round 1, Winton greeted us with blue skies and relatively warm weather. This would mean that the racing would be more about talent than who went out with the right selection of wet or dry tyres, or at least that’s the way it would seem.
Round 2 of the MRRDA series will be remembered for more than just the racing. World Supersport Champion, World Superbike rider and MotoGP race winner, Chris Vermeulen gave up his weekend to fly down and see what he could do to help out the MRRDA participants. Pete, his dad, came along as well and between them they managed to help just about everyone in the field. Having witnessed first-hand Chris’s likeable nature and willingness to help everyone he could, you can see that he truly is a champion in every way. During the Saturday afternoon info session Chris happily talked about the importance of working with the media and went on to answer an array of questions. It’s fair to say that for about an hour he had every MRRDA rider, their parents and a large number of Hartwell competitors glued to the spot in total silence as they listened eagerly to what Chris had to say. Giving back to the sport is often talked about, yet rarely done. Chris and Pete’s actions speak for themselves.
Saturday morning saw each class get a warm up session and a qualifying session. Up and down the pits, the story seemed to be the same as everyone searched for grip on a cool and bumpy track. There were also complaints of chatter. So it seemed that the wet/dry track problems from round 1 would be replaced by trying to find the best settings for grip and chatter at round 2.
First race up would be the Juniors with a mix of the 150’s, 80’s and nippers on their 70’s. Up front we saw the start of a pattern that would pretty much be there the whole weekend. Lawson Walters and Jacob Whitehouse got away to a lead with Jacob Street in close pursuit. Jacob Whitehouse made his way to the front and despite the constant presence of Lawson Walters, that’s where he’d stay until the flag. Jacob Street, fresh back from a broken wrist, tried hard to stay with the front two but just couldn’t quite do it. He was followed by a great contest between Tayla Street, Callum Alderson, Ted Collins and Jock Manser each taking a turn to lead the chasing pack.
Further back in the field Nic Liminton was showing a clean pair of heels to Luke Davies and Danielle Foot on their 150’s while Tom Dodd, Lilish Ross and Lachlan Epis had their own little fight leaving Daniel Werner to take the opportunity to watch and learn.
You’d think that the nippers on their 70’s would be left behind, but not so. Pint sized Joel Kelso was doing his best to get into the battle with 80cc bikes, while Scott Nicholson was showing that he was on a steep learning curve and was fighting with the 150’s.
With Saturday drawing to a close, Jacob Whitehouse, Nic Liminton and Joel Kelso had made it 2 from 2 in their respective classes. The second race of the day caused some upsets as Danielle Foot’s CBR150 failed to make the grid and Jacob Street crashed out while trying to get stuck in with Lawson and Jacob Whitehouse. This allowed Tom Dodd to move up into third in the 150’s and Ted Collins in the 80’s.
After each race Chris Vermeulen interviewed a selection of riders to give them plenty of interview practice and the chance for Chris to get to know the riders.
The plan for Sunday was a warm up session with a 4 lap race and a 9 lap race. However things didn’t go quite to plan. Twice the 4 lap race had to be stopped as first Scott Nicholson crashed out and then after the restart, Lachlan Epis crashed out on the same corner that his dad had the day before. The decision was made to cancel the race. After much discussion and a vote, it was decided that the 9 lap race should be split into two 4 lap races to give everyone the chance to compete in 4 point scoring races. Both races would appear to be business as usual until the last race when the pole sitter Lawson Walters, failed to take his place on the grid. This seemed to give Jacob Street the chance he wanted and he took it, by chasing Jacob Whitehouse the whole race and very nearly taking the win.
In the end the DNS’s by Danielle Foot and Lawson Walters cost them podium positions. The Nippers results were Joel Kelso first and Scott Nicholson second. With Jordy Simpson not racing this event, there was no third place. In the Junior 2 stroke 80’s, Jacob Whitehouse got a well-deserved first place from Jacob Street and Callum Alderson. The 150 class was a clean sweep for Nic Liminton from Luke Davies and Tom Dodd.
The 125GP races saw the series leader Max Croker take on newcomer Josh Pickering in a tightly fought contest. Race 1 saw Max take the honours in a close race, while Josh crossed the line first in the other 3. Ryan Ritchie seemed to be struggling with Winton all weekend, but was able to sneak a second place from Max in race 3.
The Moto3 race was all about the battle between Troy Guenther and Lawson Walters. The two of them took off like scalded cats and fought four very close races with cameo appearances from Callum Barker in the early stages of each race. Race one saw Troy take the flag, race two Lawson managed to hold Troy off for the win. The two Sunday races saw the battles continue and despite Troy having only a totally shot rear tyre for the last 9 lap race, he still managed two from two leaving Lawson wondering what he had to do to get the upper hand, although an early stages race 3 clash between Lawson and Callum coming out of the last corner, saw Lawson have to ride to a second place without a clutch lever. Behind the top 3 Nic Liminton was racing his Moto3 for the first time and having to fight off a very determined, but under powered Tayla Relph, who was also riding with a tendon problem in her left ankle that saw her getting around the pits on crutches. Matt Barton was doing his best to get into the mix but was chasing grip the entire weekend which was finally resolved with a set of Bridgestone tyres and a completely different direction with the suspension.
In the 600 class Ben Blyth was riding his R6 for the first time in anger having switched from his trusty Triumph. Saturday morning Ben really wasn’t comfortable although you wouldn’t really know it looking at him trackside. He soon mastered the R6 though and by the end of racing was telling Chris Vermeulen how much he was loving the extra power and agility of the Yamaha. Although he had to fight in the early stages, Ben made it a clean sweep for a well-deserved class win.
Chris Vermeulen presenting the trophies seemed like a fitting way to end a fantastic weekend in the Victorian Sun.
A huge thank you to all the Hartwell officials and marshals, along with the travelling MRRDA team of Lisa Giacomelli, Kelly Spargo, Roland Skate and Craig Johnson. Not to forget Chris and Peter Vermeulen. A huge thank you also to series sponsors Motorcycling Australia, Liminton Design, Response RE, Red Bull, AMCN, SPEED TV, Draggin Jeans, Worldwide online Print, The Reece Bancell Memorial Association, Racers Edge, Honda, PRODOCOM and Kevin Eeles.