Motorclycle Sportsmen (QLD) Round 4 Results.

[HemiDuty]

Motorcycle Sportsmen Round 4 Road Racing Championship Results

By Drmsby Middleton

Round 4 of the Motorcycle Sportsmen Road Racing Championship was held today in challenging conditions at Queensland Raceway. Rain had drenched the track early in the morning, forcing organisers to run the full 2.8km circuit instead of the shorter 'B' track planned for the event, due to standing water on the track. Many of the day's races were shortened due to the conditions, but this in no way put a damper on proceedings.

In Formula One (Unlimited), Roger Heyes of Startline Racing stamped his authority on this meeting from Qualifying through all three races. He did not miss a beat, and won every race for the day after qualifying on pole on the Yamaha R1. In race one, Joel Reed on the Powerhouse/JN's Race Products R1 finished second, followed by Craig Tuner on the Noyes Motorcycles Honda CBR1000. Race two saw Reed relegated to third by the strong second place finish of Jason Green on the Team Moto R1. In the final race Darren Willis this time split first place Heyes from third place Reed on his Suzuki GSXR1000. The pace was very fast, as the Formula one competitors were very lucky to miss most of the rain which fell intermittently throughout the meeting.

Formula 2 (predominantly 600 Supersport Machines) had Cole Odendaal riding the Weldalloy Racing Yamaha R6 set the early pace in qualifying, and like Formula one ace Heyes dominated the day’s proceedings with victories in every race. He finished ahead of Roderick Fletcher who took second place in all races on the Pro Yamaha R6 and a double-classing Joel Reed on a Kawasaki ZXR in race one, and in the remaining two races Brett Murphy on the Brett Murphy Racing Honda RS250 finished an amazing third place. With a very wet start for race two on a quickly drying track, tyre choice was varied among the racers and prompted some spectacular racing.

Made up largely of 400cc four stroke and 250cc two stroke bikes, Formula Three often has some very close competitive racing, and this round was no different. Anton Kokshoorn top qualified on the Precast Solutions Honda VFR400. Bernie Hatton won races one and two on his Top Rider Motorcycles Honda VFR400, but crashed out of race three. Gerod Bloomfield riding the Old Koreelah Timbers Co. Honda CBR400 finished race one in second place ahead of Ben Burke on his CBR400. An extremely wet race two had Paul Duffy as the only other finisher on his VFR400, whilst in race three a solid ride by the CBR400-mounted Lloyd Gravolin (second place) and Bloomfield (third) ended in a very close finish, with less than three seconds covering all three riders.

Leo Cash on the Team Hasbeens Honda won two out of the three Formula Four races, only losing to Daniel Figueiredo on the Sunstate Motorcycles Yamaha in race two. Also featuring on the podium was David Grant on the Honda.

The three wheeled wonders (Sidecars) enjoyed very mixed track conditions, and throughout the day the McConarchy/Reeves (Rumble Kawasaki) and Cole/Wilson (Kawasaki 1100) pairings swapped positions for the race wins, with Robinson/Edwards (Yamaha 1000) and Buxton/Bell (Payne Suzuki) also getting second positions.

If you haven’t been to a Motorcycle Sportsmen race meeting yet, do yourself a favour and get out to see some awesome local Road Racing action. With a huge turnout of riders and all-day action, you will not be disappointed. As round four was the last for the year, you will have to wait until the New Year to enjoy the spectacle, so this leaves plenty of time to plan the day!