Round 2 Race Report
OCTOBER 16
Points table
Superlatives and adjectives. Not enough of them I’m afraid to describe last weekend and Round 2 of the Cup. Just epic! A few of us attended the track day on Saturday to sharpen up for Sunday’s racing. It was certainly a treat to have Avalon up for this round and she also arranged a Sky Speed story on the Cup for which she did several interviews of Cup riders. The story should run on the October 25th show, Sky Sport 5 at 8:30. Double check on the day the channel and time hasn’t changed if you want to watch.
We were down a few on numbers for various reasons from injury, working, holidaying and Covid. Still, 41 Hyosung’s and 13 Ninja 400’s were there to put on a great show for us. The weather was excellent with overcast sky’s and just an occasional cold southerly blowing through. It was good to have Chris Smith back on a 250 for a 1 off ride, past Hyosung Champion Lozza May returned to the fray after a season off and also Amber-Leigh Uhrle joined the action again on her immaculate X4R. The first two rows of the Hyosung grid had a familiar look to it with rookie Oliver Pykett grabbing pole again, from Benny Cook, Scotty Findlay, Jesse Stroud, Kendal Dunlop, Rory Barkla, Jacob Stroud and Simon Beard.
Qualifying for the WIL Sport Women’s Cup went Kendal, Megs Kemp, Amber, Tam, Catherine and Becki.
Avalon wasn’t competing for points but when Av’s visor is closed and she leaves the pit on a race bike, no prisoners are taken. Av takes pole with a 1:17.849 from Justin “no seat” Reid, Billee “Bills Thrills” Fuller and Alex “Buttman “ Butson rounding out the front row. Close behind was first time Ninja Cup rider Tyler King in 5th then Nathan Finlay, Blair Skelton and Andy Ansell.
Race 1
Race 1 of the Hyosung Cup was red flagged after a nasty crash on turn 4, lap 2. Kendal was battling for the lead with Benny and Oliver when she tucked the front and went down on her own but as she was getting off the track Rory Barkla also lost the front and he skittled Kendal like a bowling ball. Kendal was attended to quickly by the medics and taken to the medical centre and then off to A and E for assessment. Kendal’s injuries were concussion and a bone chip off her shin. Fortunately, no neck damage after landing on her head from a height. Her extreme fitness certainly played a part in minimising the damage, I’m sure. Rory was unhurt and took part in the re start only to jump off in the same corner.
Amazing photo from Philip Kaverman of Kendal about to submit to gravity.
The restarted race was a cracker for the win with Benny and Oliver going hard and finishing in the order with just 0.027 between them. Vaughan Maine was an excellent 3rd after fending off the Stroud brothers Jacob and Jesse. The top ten was rounded up by Simon Beard, Scotty Findlay, Lozza May, Esmond Williams and Tyler King.
Race 1 for the Ninja Cup crew was the Le Mans start. Av hates them, the silence before the bikes fire up is earie, she reckons. Sprinting is not her forte either but she did a great job, got away well and was not troubled winning by 4.5 seconds from young gun Tyler King who beat Justin over the stripe by just 0.04. Alex came home 4th and Bill’s had a rather lonely ride to 5th place. Cup Cop Andy Ansell was on fire and fought off a late charge from Blair Skelton for 6th with Bryan Kidd in 8th, Andrew Bolero and Mike Cross. Unfortunately, we lost Nathan Finlay and Matt Hobbs on turn 3 lap 1 and the bike damage putting Nathan out for the day. Both riders ok.
Ninja Cup Flag drops!
Photo courtesy of Philip Kaverman
Race 2
What a race the Hyosung Le Mans start was. Benny and Oliver were battling for the lead with Jesse and 6 others right on their case. Benny and Oliver then had gravity take over for them both (unhurt) at turn 4 on lap 5 leaving Jesse to fend off some fast GT250R’s of Vaughan, Simon, Esmond, Lozza, Tyler (x4R) and Scotty Findlay on his X4 Pizza Delivery bike (he likes them), clearly down on power but ridden extremely well. The race ended with 2.3 seconds covering the first 7 riders! Jacob came through from dead last away to an impressive 8th from Shaun Parker and Hads Thomson. A great ride from Megs Kemp to 11th was our first women home. Before his retirement Oliver posted a mega lap of 1:22.943.
What a sight. 41 Hyosung Cup bikes stream through turns 2-4.
Photo by Philip Kaverman
Race 2 for the Ninjas was the first with our delayed start after the Intermediates left on the lights. It worked well and meant the Cup bikes pretty much were unaffected by bikes riding their own races in a different class. Avalon again left us in no doubt of her talent and experience. Very impressive as she had never raced a Ninja 400 and it is a totally different ball game to her special Supersport 600 ZX6R. Av won by 4.3 seconds from Justin with Bill’s coming through for a great 3rd place from Alex and Tyler very close behind. Behind Blair and Andy Ansell a great battle was had between matt Hobbs, Andrew Boldero, Mike Cross and Bryan Kidd. Nothing much separating them at all.
Alex “Buttman” Butson leads Tyler “Tiger” King
Photo thanks to Philip Kaverman
Race 3
The Hyosungs put on another amazing race for what would be their 3rd and last of the day. Benny and Jesse banged bars for the lead but there were 6 others right there to take advantage of the smallest mistake. So good to watch. A small gap opened up between Jesse and Jacob (2nd and 3rd) and Jacob was left to fight off the fast GT250R’s alone on his single cylinder X4R. He managed to do that for 3rd place but only 0.5 covered that group of 6 riders. Benny beat Jesse home by 0.4 for the win. Again its was Megs riding really well on her GT250R to take the women’s win from Tam who battled Amber, then Catherine and Becki also riding well and dropping lap times.
The brothers of Team Stroud Connect Jesse on his Pizza delivery bike leading Jacob on the X4R. Both past Hyosung and Ninja Cup Champions.
Photo by Philip Kaverman
It was more of the same for Av in Ninja Cup, race 3. This time though she turned it up a bit more as she learned more about the stock suspension limits and the Bridgestone tyres. Dropping into the 1:14’s was just amazing as she came within a second of the lap record and that was on old tyres. Bill’s was also on fire coming home second to her mentor 6.3 seconds back but had to fight off Tyler and Alex to create history with the first ever women 1st and 2nd in a Cup race. Much excitement in our garage I can assure you! Blair had a lonely ride to 5th but behind him it was that gang of the Andrews, Matt, Bryan and Mike Cross who put on a great show.
Av on the Gas. ABR Ninja 400
Photo thanks to Philip Kaverman
Bill’s on Grazie Vale leads the Ninja Gang out of the Porsche Dipper
Photo thanks to Philip Kaverman
Our day ended with no 4th round of racing after an oil spill delayed proceedings. Avalon seemed to enjoy a day of low stress racing and took 6 wins from 6 starts, totally dominating the Junior class also. It really was a pleasure having her back and part of the Cup she raced in 5 years ago.
Av seems happy with her Ninja 400 Cup bike. ☺
Many thanks to the officials, volunteers and AMCC for their hard work to make the race day possible. Our Barby Team kicked into gear which is a great relief to me, thanks Mark and Tracy.
Super huge thanks to our amazing sponsors for their continued support. The Cup wouldn’t be the same without you.
Carl Cox Motorsport – Kawasaki NZ – MTF Finance Barrys Point Road – Motul NZ –
WIL Sport – Kiwibike Insurance – Bridgestone – X-lite – Passmasters NZ – AMCC
Round Winners:
WIL Sport Women’s Cup – 1st Megan Kemp, 2nd Amber-Leigh Uhrle, 3rd Tam Hickey
Carl Cox Motorsport Hyosung Cup – 1st Jesse Stroud, 2nd Jacob Stroud, 3rd Benny Cook
Carl Cox Motorsport Hyosung Cup Fastest Lap – Oliver Pykett 1:22.943
Carl Cox Motorsport Ninja Cup – 1st Tyler King, 2nd Billee Fuller, 3rd Alex Butson,
Carl Cox Motorsport Ninja Cup Fastest Lap – Avalon “Avgas” Biddle 1:14.935
Quote of the day. “Minimum weight for Ninja Cup riders needs to be 80kg” - Alex “Buttman” Butson
Girls, play nicely please!
This is about 50% of the great people that make up the Carl Cox Motorsport Cup.
Photo by Wrexer productions
Next up is Round 3 on November 20th which will include the Kiwibike Insurance 1 Hour. Really looking forward to that with some Cup superstars of past seasons back to join us at this event. Some very fast Teams lining up that’s for certain.
Cheers, Ken