91传媒

Test day

鈥淒ry and sunny, though still quite cold. There was a lot of slow traffic to deal with most of the day, but managed to get laps in the 1 min 35secs. Was happy with my riding and the bike setup felt close, so was ready for qualifying.鈥�

Qualifying

鈥淨ualified P11 and 8th in class with a 1:35.250 on new tyres. Had hoped for more, but was happy enough and felt I could be strong in the race.鈥�

Race 1

鈥淏it of a scrappy start again! From fourth row of the grid, if you don鈥檛 get away well, there is a lot of scrapping to do early doors, which breaks up the rhythm. Pace was good with low 1:34s and I felt good to the end, missing out on 8th place to Liam Murtagh by 0.065 of a second. A decent race, but felt I should鈥檝e done more.鈥�

Race 2

鈥淲e analysed the data from Race 1 where the bike felt really good, but lacked a little rear grip. Made some changes and felt we had a bike I could really have a good go with. Got a mediocre start, but surprisingly, no one passed me into Turn 1, so got the hammer down. Went from 11th on the grid into P7 by the end of Lap 1 and held this position to Lap 5, running consistently low 1:34s. and keeping a gap to the busy pack behind me. Jack Morgan got past on Lap 5 and Jamie Boyce on Lap 6 before the latter slid off in front of me at Melbourne. Time to drop into the 33s. BUT after Lap 7 the rear grip went from perfect to non-existent. Wilf Turner overtook me on Lap 8 and it took a tremendous effort to control the rear whilst running in the mid to high 34s. and hold on to finish P8. First half of this race we were very strong. Shame about the rear tyre, but we learnt a lot and gave it a good go.鈥�

Race 3

鈥淐ombining my best sector times from Race 2 would show an Ideal lap time of 1:33.5. I felt, with good rear grip and some space, I could improve on that time and achieve a better finish. After speaking to James at No Limits Race Support, we made changes that I was desperate would make the difference.听 I could feel the potential if everything lined up.

鈥淩ace 2 lap time put me 11th on the grid, meaning a good start was paramount. Got boxed in as not aggressive enough and was right in the middle of where I don鈥檛 want to be. The early laps felt so slow and I felt, with some space, I could push on. Our seven-rider group was all split between 0.50s, so breaking out was easier said than done. Made some passes but lost them again as I just wasn鈥檛 aggressive enough. Then the Race was red flagged, reducing the planned 9 laps to a 4-lap sprint. Not ideal as I had to start from 11th again, and didn鈥檛 make the best of starts, got boxed in and found it hard to make passes stick. The 6-rider group was running with only 0.30s between them. The strangest thing, I did a new PB of 1.34s. and it honestly felt like a Sunday rideout. The tyre and grip were perfect, but I couldn鈥檛 get out of the busy pack. Finished 7th in class again; not the way I hoped for the weekend, but we kept it sunnyside, learnt a lot and came away with more confidence.鈥�

Photos by Matt Sayle Photography