Broadford State Motorcycle Complex – 5th & 6th May 2017
National riders up the pace for the second round of the Victorian Road Racing Championships.
Round two of the 2018 Victorian state motorcycle road race titles, The Pirelli Motul Victorian Road Racing championships, took place over the weekend of the 5th & 6th of May with a plethora of National ASBK racers addings some serious speed to the event.
With a wet Friday practice day, many riders fronted the start of Saturday’s first races with a slight lack of set up time, however this didn’t appear to have any detrimental effects on the laptimes, as an influx of National riders in several classes drove everyone to improve their pace in order to remain competitive. In addition to this, the number of entries was one of the largest seen in recent years, indicating that the Victorian Road Racing Championships are continuing to attract the highest calibre of Australian racers to what is perhaps the most competitive state road racing championships in the nation.
With the addition of those riders who regularly race in the Australian Superbike Championships, those riders who we are used to seeing at the front of the field, found the weekend a far greater challenge than they had at the first round held at Winton Motor Raceway in March. Even 600 Supersport multiple state champion Ryan Taylor, who is normally the man to beat at Broadford and has smashed the lap record several times, found himself having to fight hard just to make the podium. In the Superbike class, again, the normally hard to beat Nathan Jones struggled to take a win with some very fast riders making a win a far greater challenge than previously. To be fair, Nathan Jones was still coming to grips with setting up his new Kawasaki ZX10R and Ben Gotch on his ageing Honda CBR1000 was fighting with the bike all weekend. A crash the previous weekend had perhaps caused some geometry alterations for Ben, as his usual blindingly fast corner entries were not there. Also the likes of Irish ex Pat Brendan Wilson was also attempting to both gain a result and sort out the perfect set up of his new BMW S1000RR Superbike. Brendan who has steaked the field on 400’s, 600’s and Classic bikes previously, appeared to be working hard to try and muscle his new bike around the tight and technical Broadford layout. Steve Tozer, who’s been racing at Broadford since it was first sealed, showed he hasn’t lost any of his speed either. Forget Rossi at nearly 40 and come check out the pace this man, who is my age plus GST, still carries on his ageing Honda CBR1000 Superbike.
The weekend however, wasn’t without incident, with the frenetic pace causing several riders to test out their leathers on the Broadford tarmac at certain points. Young Reece Oughtred, son of well-known Victorian racer Dean oughtred, had a big crash on Sunday exiting the esses, with the bike collecting him and handing him a first class ride in a Helicopter to the hospital. Thankfully, hearing from Dean today Reece although sore, appears to be stable and the broken femur was a clean break which should heal up rapidly. We wish Reece a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back out there. It was very dissapointing for young Reece, as he was riding exceptionally well, even posting the fastest lap of the race at one point.
About the only disappointment was seeing only 4 sidecars contest the meeting. When a classic event sees 8-10 modern sidecars, with no title to win, it perplexes me as to why the sidecar class is not better subscribed at a state championship level meeting. I certainly won’t be open eared to complaints of a lack of support for the sidecar class, when only 4 outfits turn up. It’s a pity really, as the sidecars are one of the most spectacular classes to watch and I for one would love to see more of them out there lifting wheels and squirming and squirelling their way around the track.
Superbikes
The Superbike class was a hard fought affair and the results were somewhat of a surprise as the usual suspects were put to the test by some very fast riders who were absent at the first round at Winton and some National ASBK riders who decided to enter this round of the Vic champs. While Ben Gotch finished the weekend with the overall points lead in the championship, he had to work very hard to gain those points. Ben had thrown his normally immaculate Honda CBR1000 down the road the week prior and was finding it very difficult to get the bike to turn and hold a line, especially in the left hander onto the front straight, an area where you can lose a lot of straight line speed and thus time if you don’t carry enough speed through it and gain the drive onto the straight early.
Kenny Redding, used his new Yamaha R1 to take a win and two second places. Kenny, hadn’t entered the first round and I personally haven’t seen Kenny put his bike up the front of a race meeting previously, so it was somewhat of a surprise to see him taking it up to the regular leaders. Kenny Finished the weekend with a first and two second places. Dean Archbold had tidied up his bike as well as working hard on his fitness and it showed in his speed and results. Dean took a second place and two thirds and now sits 4th in the championship. Steve Tozer also came out fighting and managed to secure two fourths and a 5th place. Steve carries many years of road racing experience and I can remember him racing before a lot of the riders he is now competing against were still a twinkle in their daddies eyes. So it was great to see him running up the front and giving the younger guys on much newer machinery a hurry up. The same can be said for Andrew Ord, who rode all weekend with a still healing collarbone from an oops he had at Mac Park in Mount Gambier a few weeks prior. He rode through the pain to stand third in the championship by the end of racing on Sunday afternoon. Travis Baas, another “more senior” racer, battled hard with Andrew all weekend, getting the better of him in the first race and last race, with Andrew pipping him in the second. It’s always great to see these two riders, who make the long trek from western Victoria religiously.
Nathan Jones took a little while to find his feet and get his new Kawasaki ZX10R Superbike handling to his liking. An uncharacteristic fourth place in the first race coupled with a little more set up time saw Nathan return to the speed we are used to seeing from the multiple Victorian Superbike Champion, with Nathan taking the race two and race three wins. However, Nathan has some catching up to do after missing round one and sits 9th in the Championship, one point behind B grader Trent Binaisse. Trent had a brilliant weekend on his Suzuki GSXR1000 and took the B grade overall win for the weekend. Trent now sits one point behind Matt Fyffe. Yes… Matt is “Apparently” a B grader too!! For Matt and his Aprilia RSVR1000, scoring no points in the first race puts Trent within striking distance and with the huge improvement we’ve seen in Trent’s pace this year, he needs to remain fast and consistent if he is to take the B grade championship this year. But it was great to see Trent going so well. He’s taken a very mature approach to his racing, taking time off last year to sort his budget, have his bike suspension and set up sorted out and focus on the championship and it is showing. Trent having been just upgraded to B grade this year appears to have spurred him on to continue his riding growth and take it up to the other A and B graders.
Superbike Points
| Pos | Rider | RND1 | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | Ben GOTCH Honda | 70 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 121 |
| 2 | Steve TOZER Honda | 57 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 107 |
| 3 | Andrew ORD Suzuki | 50 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 89 |
| 4 | Dean ARCHBOLD Kawasaki | 32 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 88 |
| 5 | Travis BAAS Kawasaki | 43 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 86 |
| 6 | Mathew FYFFE Aprilia | 53 | 0 | 10 | 15 | 78 |
| 7 | Quentin BLAZLEY Suzuki | 39 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 71 |
| 8 | Trent BINAISSE Suzuki | 31 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 67 |
| 9 | Nathan JONES Kawasaki | 0 | 16 | 25 | 25 | 66 |
| 10 | Kenny REDDING Yamaha | 0 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 65 |
Supersport 600
Over the past few years, I’ve become accustomed to seeing Ryan Taylor on his Yamaha R6 disappearing into the distance at Broadford. The multiple (Four times from memory) state Supersport 600 champion is also a Broadford specialist, with him having broken the lap record more times than I can count. However, the likes of Ted Collins, Zach Johnson and Scotty Nicholson made sure that this weekend, Ryan didn’t have it all his own way. Ted Collins was in scintilating form on his Suzuki GSXR600 taking all three race wins. However, as Ted didn’t contest the first round at Winton, Ryan retained the series lead after taking a perfect point’s haul at Winton earlier this year. Zachary Johnson showed how his National Supersport 600 duties have helped with his pace and ended the weekend in second place in the championship, taking a third, sixth and fifth place in the three races. Bryce Thompson (No relation to the author) keeps on amazing me with his pace on what is now a 12 year old bike. He continues to punt the old Honda CBR600 hard and his consistency paid off leaving him sitting in third place in the championship. Great work on such an old bike. Scotty Nicholson also rode well all weekend. Although not getting the best out of his bike in race one, he more than made up for it taking two well-earned second places in the second and third races. Again, racing at national level appears to have given Scott some added confidence. He’s such a humble young guy, it’s great to see him doing so well. His mother Lyn works tirelessly to assist him in achieving his goals and must be very proud that her efforts are being rewarded. Rancell Desker on his gorgeously prepped Kawasaki ZX6R had a blinder as well. Rancell managed a PB on Sunday and appeared very chuffed with his results, as he well should be.
Supersport Points
| Pos | Rider | RND1 | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | Ryan TAYLOR Yamaha | 75 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 131 |
| 2 | Zackary JOHNSON Yamaha | 60 | 18 | 15 | 17 | 110 |
| 3 | Bryce THOMPSON Honda | 51 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 92 |
| 4 | Jason SPENCER Honda | 50 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 88 |
| 5 | Ryan HARRIS Yamaha | 50 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 83 |
| 6 | Rancell DESKER Kawasaki | 40 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 80 |
| 7 | Ted COLLINS Suzuki | 0 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 75 |
| 8 | Carson JORY Honda | 39 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 71 |
| 9 | Anthony STEPHENS Suzuki | 36 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 60 |
| 10 | Scott NICHOLSON Suzuki | 0 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 56 |
300/400 Production Points
| Pos | Rider | RND1 | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | Luke POWER Kawaki | 62.5 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 112.5 |
| 2 | Justin KAISER Kawasaki | 41 | 17 | 18 | 15 | 91 |
| 3 | Dylan WHITESIDE Kawasaki | 37 | 18 | 15 | 20 | 90 |
| 4 | Grace POUTCH Kawasaki | 40.5 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 79.5 |
| 5 | John LYTRAS Yamaha | 0 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 75 |
| 6 | Max STAUFFER Yamaha | 0 | 20 | 25 | 18 | 63 |
| 7 | Liam WILLOUGHBY Kawasaki 37 | 37 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 63 |
| 8 | Tim TAYLOR Kawasaki | 25 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 60 |
| 9 | Colin BONE Kawasaki | 25.5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 55.5 |
| 10 | Ned FAULKHEAD Kawasaki | 0 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 47 |
Moto3/125GP Points
| Pos | Rider | RND1 | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | Reece OUGHTRED Honda | 62.5 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 87.5 |
| 2 | Jacob ROULSTONE Moriwaki | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 50 |
BEARS – FORMULA 1
| Pos | Rider | W/ton | RND1 | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | Mathew FYFFE | 100 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 200 |
| 2 | Fergus GIBSON | 72 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 139 |
| 3 | Mark FLETCHER | 68 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 98 |
| 4 | Kym GROSSER | 80 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 |
| 5 | Rick FITZSIMMONS | 0 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 73 |
| 6 | Brendan WILSON | 0 | 20 | 0 | 18 | 20 | 58 |
| 7 | Jason CLIFF | 0 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 58 |
| 8 | Allen McGUIRE | 0 | 15 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 47 |
| 9 | Luke CROSTON | 0 | 18 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
EDITORIAL BY: Marty Thompson
PICTURE CREDIT: Colin Rosewarne Photography – https://bit.ly/2KHVfI9