Round 2 Race Report

Nov 17

Race day: Oct 13 2024

ROUND 2

What a day! Don’t know about you but I’m still recovering, lol. The only constant with the weather was that it was constantly inconsistent. So many tyre and wheel changes had us very busy all day. It was obvious to many that the mix of 38 (19 of each) Hyosung’s and Ninja 400’s had dangers in the wet qualifying/practice when sharing the race track. The speed difference of the Ninjas on wets and Hyosung’s on at best a grooved road tyre was substantial and presented scenarios that could have ended in disaster. The concerns of riders were made known to me and we discussed these concerns with the steward and Team at AMCC. It was mutually agreed with a meeting of riders and the awesome co-operation of the steward and AMCC Team that we split the classes and run just 3 rounds of Cup racing. Safety is a serious consideration in our sport and if changes like this can be accommodated it’s for the best.

Qualifying

Four laps of the very sketchy qualifying were all there was time for, not long to get to grips with the conditions. Tyler King went pole on his Ninja 400, closely followed by Bill’s Fuller then a 1.9 second gap to Oli Pykett and a great effort by Megs Kemp to get herself on the from row in P4. Ram Gnanasekaran also did well to head row 2 from Tim Gray, Mike Robinson and Alex Le Comte.

Our Hyosung wet weather specialist Esmond Williams smashed his opposition with a 1:40.365 for pole and would have put him P10 in the Ninja class. Quite impressive. The front row was completed by Riley Fowles, Dan Franzen and Elijah Daken. Row 2 was Cadel Finlay, Scott Findlay, Sasha Patel and Jacob Rutherford. Special mention has to go to Amy Trigger in her second ever Cup event going P9 in these conditions was impressive, beating dad Nick back in 12th. So good to see so many riders in orange vests joining the Cup and taking on the challenge of circuit racing. Not every race day will go according to plan and it can be a big test of character to come back from a crash and get back on the grid. You can all be very proud of yourselves for bouncing back.

Race 1

"The track had dried out for Race 1 and it was on for the Tyler and Bill’s show. Tyler leading the first 3 laps before Bill’s had a turn at the front and Tyler taking it back across the finish line by 0.044. Tylers best lap was 1:14.651. Oil Pykett was a solid 3rd followed by Mike Robinson, Tim Gray and an very impressive ride by Jayme Martin with a PB of 1:18.342 for 6th. It was great to have Tam Hickey back in the Cup on a Andy Ansell Ninja 400. A welcome return to one of our fastest women racers after injury sustained a couple of seasons back.

Elijah Daken ran away with race 1 from lap 2 for the Hyosung’s. Winning by 8.87 seconds this is a bit unusual in Cup racing but he was on fire. Scotty Findlay was a comfortable 2nd from Esmond Williams and Jacob Rutherford. To be honest some of the biggest gaps in Cup racing I have seen in a long time. The best battle group was for 5th – 11th, all 7 riders covered by 1.7 seconds. We did have a few DNF’s, fortunately with no serious injury’s.

Race 2

The weather was kind to us for Race 2 also. This was the Le Mans start round and although Tyler nailed the start it was Billee who round him up on lap one and the led every lap to win by 1.147 seconds. Oli in 3rd was 10.9 seconds back and had a lonely ride home ahead of Mike Robinson and Tim Gray. The best fight was between Megs and Ram for 6th and 7th, both riding well and consistent 1:18’s. Unfortunately Tam had an off after being caught our on the wrong tyres. A wrist injury put paid to her day sadly.

This time Elijah had to fend off a charging Scotty Findlay in the Le Mans Hyosung race. He did have things under control however but Scott trimmed his winning margin to just 1.2 seconds. Esmond was dealing with a spirited ride by one of our youngest competitors for 3rd place, Cadel Finlay on his X4R. Jacob, Jack and Jamie ( Rutherford, Harrison and Killingback) covered 5th- 7th . Then it was the Nick Trigger (9th) sandwich for Troy (8th) and Riley Fowles (10th). 0.3 covering these 3.

Race 3

Yusss, another dry track for race 3. You may wonder what I was complaining about in the opening sentences, but the rain came and went all day and we never knew what it was going to do as it changed so quickly. Billee and Tyler were out the gate fast in this race. Both pushed each other absolutely and to the max. Billee leading across the line every lap…. Except the last. On lap 5 Bill’s was 0.02 outside Jesse Stroud’s lap record as she tested the limits of stock commuter bike suspension, helped enormously by the brilliant Bridgestone R11 tyres. Heading into turn 6 on lap 6 she was on target to smash that lap record when gravity took over and the weeds were a callin. Best thing Bill’s was ok and Grazie not too bad either. Both will be back looking for lap records. Tyler took the win by 10 seconds from Mike Robinson and Oli in 3rd close behind. A good ride by Simon Beard for 4th was welcome for him after a day of ups and downs. A brilliant ride for Megs Kemp to come home 5th and hitting the low 1:17’s was a breakthrough.

Elijah made it a clean sweep. Winning race 3 and again with the fastest lap, nearly a perfect scoring day apart from pole taken by Esmond. Scotty Findlay again came in 2nd and Esmond 3rd. Jacob Rutherford and Cadel Finlay had a good fight for 4th and then some great rides by first season rookies Jamie Killingback and jack Harrison for 6th and 7th. The family fight of the Fowles family was won by dad Troy over Riley by just 0.12. Overall, the new riders are really dropping their lap times well and learning the art of racing small capacity bikes. Smooth is fast on the 250’s for sure.

Results

A special shout out to our family Teams in the Cup. Vicky and Tyler King, Nick and Amy Trigger, Troy and Riley Fowles, Shelly and Enrique Belcourt. Great to see the support parents and sons and daughters show each other whilst competing together.

Six women were competing across both classes for the women’s points with Billee taking it out from Megs and then rookie Vicky King.

Overall a great day racing and we are now looking forward to the quick fire racing of the Club Circuit Round on November 3rd. Thank you to the great AMCC Team for a well run day, the marshals for putting up with the inclement weather and doing a great recovery job for our fallen riders.

The Cup send its best wishes to Benny Cook and Chris Smith who have had some tough times recently with family illness.

Finally thank you to ALL the competitors and to our sponsors, who without you the Cup wouldn’t be the success it is.