A Kiwi in Aussie.

Brendon Stephenson #24 competing at the 1st round of the Australian National Series.

 

The first round of the Australian Super Moto series was cancelled due
to major flooding at Coff's Harbor on the 21st October.
I was already in Australia for the event but it worked out pretty well
because I was able to practice at Toowoomba in Queensland where the
final two rounds will be held prior to the first round being run last
weekend at Stanthorpe also in Queensland.

The guys in Australia are very fast having competed for allot longer
than we have in New Zealand, the sport has been building rapidly in
Australia with up to 180 riders attending meetings. (Just goes to show
the potential for the sport in New Zealand) Three of the riders in my
class have been competing in the ultra competitive American AMA
championship with really good results, the best finishing in the top
five. They also know all the tracks like the back of their hand so the
series is going to be a steep learning curve for me.

My first round at Stanthorpe got off to a really good start, I
finished 5th in the first race and another 5th in the second.

By the third race the temperature was in the early to mid thirties and
I started to melt in the heat. (High ambient temperatures and racing
motor bikes in full race leathers is pretty hard work when your a Kiwi
used to our cooler climate) I had a very average start, I'm sure most of
the field jumped the start, managed to hold in at eighth but was
completely shagged from the heat by the end of it. (Hopefully I have
some form of cool suit to wear under my leathers for the next round)
The fourth race started better and it was later in the day and a wee
bit cooler, I got a pretty good start and was running 6th for most of
the race. With two laps to go I lost the front in the dirt section and
crashed, I picked the bike up and tried my best to make up the places I
lost but getting back to 9th was as good as I could get in the remaining
two laps.
Overall for the day was 8th, I was pretty happy with this but after
the 5th's earlier in the day I was a little disappointed. I feel my
speed has already improved since going to Australia and feel with the
extra experience and competition my race pace can only improve. The
support from the importers, dealers and accessory dealers in Australia
is unreal, as a whole the sport is at a totally different level with
team riders on supplied factory replica machines in each class,
mechanics and transporters.
I'm really looking forward to the second round at Newcastle on the
21st November and would like to get an even better result to help boost
my championship points. The points are still pretty close cause other
riders also crashed at Stanthorpe which really shared the points around.
At present I'm on 57 points and the championship leader is on 84, theirs
only 6 points between myself and 4th place so it's all still pretty
close.
This Sunday I have the last round of the first New Zealand series,
currently I have a 6 point lead so I'll be pushing hard to take this
out. Unfortunately my fast bike is in Australia so it will be a real
challenge on by less modified practice bike.
I will keep you up to date with results as they happen.

The last two rounds will be held at Toowoomba Queensland on the 11th
and 12th of December.

Cheers
Brendon Stephenson