Round 4 Race Report

Race day: Nov 17 2024

ROUND 4

Our annual 1 Hour race has been a feature of our Cup season since 2018. It’s a special race for many reasons. It has introduced many riders to Cup racing by the registered competitor hiring in a racer from another class or someone totally new to racing as a co rider. Our race yesterday was no different. It was great to have some past Cup Champions return for this race to team up with a friend and enjoy the spirit of the 1 Hour. Kendal Dunlop 3 x Women’s Champion, Dan Mettam 3 x Hyosung Cup Champion, Gavin Veltmeyer Hyosung Cup Champion, Chris Smith Ninja Cup Champion, Jesse Stroud Hyosung and Ninja Cup Champion. We had mums and sons, dads and sons (3), best mates, ole mates and a few Super Solo’s who would iron man the race. We had Superbike racers to complete newbies.

Qualifying

The weather was excellent with just a chilly southerly blowing through the garage which would go awayaround lunchtime and leave us with sunny skys and a fast track. We had 19 Hyosung’s entered for this round but were missing Amy Trigger following her club circuit crash. Scotty Findlay went P1 in qualy with a 1:24.625 from Elijah Daken, Jamie Killingback and Jacob Rutherford. Row 2 was headed by Dan Franzen, then Jack Harrison, Esmond and Corey Pook.

The 20 Ninjas were led by Tyler King with a 1:14.984 followed by Billee, Oli and Simon on the front row. Row 2 had Britten Somerville, Tim Gray, Jayme Martin and Lozza May in that order. We missed Mike Robinson who woke up with a nasty bug of some sort and too unwell to race. There were some cold sweats on pit wall when Billee wasn’t recording a time until Crew Chief (me) remembered I hadn’t changed over the transponder from the bike we initially were going to use. Fortunately, she saw our “IN” message on her pit board. A quick stop, fit the timing tool and she put in 1 quick lap to go P2, phew.

Race 1

Both classes were combined again in this round so 39 bikes were on the grid for our one sprint race of the day. Tyler and Billee immediately went into battle. Running low 1:14’s they swapped the lead many times before Bill’s hit the strip first after 6 frantic laps by 0.230 from TK. Their lap times were a full 2 seconds faster than anyone else and clearly they help each other to run these super fast laps. A great ride for 3rd for Simon Beard followed home by Lozza, Britten, Tim and Megan and excellent 7th. The surprise of the race was Oli Pykett who came home 10th after missing the call up and starting from pit lane.

Elijah again owned the Hyosung race winning over Scotty Findlay. These were the only riders posting 1:23’s on their 250’s. The race for P3 was awesome with Jack Harrison pipping a fast improving Jamie Killingbackby 0.017. Esmond headed home Cory Pook and Nick Trigger for 5th.

Kiwibike 1 hour race

The much anticipated Kiwibike Insurance 1 Hour got underway a little later than hoped at 4:05pm after the initial race start was red flagged when Will Bayley crashed on lap 2. Unfortunately Will took a hard fall and the medics were careful to manage him into the ambulance. We certainly hope Will recovers soon and we see him back out on track.3 riders completely ignored the endurance aspect of the race and just went for it. Billee, Jesse and Tyler were sending it like it was a 6-lap sprint. All running low 14’s and loving it! Tyler lost touch after about 12 laps of this fiercely fast pace and left it to Jesse and Billee to truck and trailer every lap. On lap 22 they both recorded exactly the same 1:14.740! Lap 4 was the fastest of the race with Bill’s nailing a 1:14.176, just 0.2 outside Jesse’s lap record. Fantastic to watch but slightly nerve racking at the same time. Those riders don’t know how much stress they put their crew through, hahaha. Bill’s pitted on lap 28 and handed over a small lead to co rider and Superbike racer Dave Sharp. One lap later Jesse handed over to Oli who was gagging to get into the fray and extend a lead over Dave. He did this effectively andbuilt a gap that could not be closed. Tyler gave his Ninja 400 to past Cup Champion Dan Mettam in a solid 3rd place which would be how they finished. The first 3 bikes all covered a record 48 laps in the hour. Simon was the first Ironman home in 4th from the fast pairing of megs Kemp and Lozza. It was the Ram and Rogan show in 6th on 46 laps. Vicky King had a technical on lap 27 when the clutch cried enough but otherwise all Ninjas finished the race.

Four Hyosungs finished on the same 42 laps. The winner was none other than 1 Hour title holder Esmond Wicked Williams on his Kiwibike Insurance GT250R. EW knows about this race and is tactically very good, he’s also an Ironman, tough, rugged, unrelenting, good looking, suave and actually a very good rider also. When he returned the trophy to me before the day started he did say it was only for a few hours and he was right. Esmond didn’t lead from the start though. Elijah was running a very fast pace at the front until the wind in his back tyre all went to the top. A very rare occurrence on the race track but a flatty put him out of the race on lap 28. Scotty Findlay also retired early when his GT250R said enough of this punishment and wanted to go back to the pits on a trailer. Second home was another fit young racer Jacob Rutherford doing it on his own (he does have friends). The podium was rounded out by the super pairing of Jack Harrison and his first time racer mate Lachlan Stace. Father son combo Jamie and Reece Killingback did an awesome job to seal 4th ahead of the Dan Franzen and 3 x Womens Champion Kendal Dunlop Team. Our second dad/son pairing of Troy and Riley Fowles all the way from Taranaki were a solid 6th.

Wow, what a race, no crashes in our restart, just three mechanicals across the field. All the Cup riders who had a team mate scored a bonus 20 points for their Cup title chase. This and a few twists in the results has mixed up the points somewhat so there’s still lots to race for with just two rounds remaining in our 14thseason.

Thank you to our sponsors

Again a massive thank you to all our sponsors and Kiwibike Insurance who particularly support this race, to the Team at AMCC for running such a great day, all the flaggies were on their game rescuing our fallen riders and the volunteers who helped time our compulsory 1 hour pit stops were amazing. The Crew at Hampton Downs were very accommodating and patient with us as we were able to complete our BBQ and prize giving late into the day, thanks guys.

Finally, I have competed in many long distance road races around the world, 3 x 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Bold Or 24 Hour in France, Arai 500 at Bathurst, and Isle of Man TT races that take over 2 hours each, but my first love is the Kiwibike Insurance 1 Hour of the Carl Cox Motorsport Cup at Hampton Downs with this great community of racers. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

See you at Motofest if not before and have a great Christmas and New Year.