2009 Season

Round 1: Teretonga, Invercargill.

The first round has now been completed for 2009 and for us, overall it was a good weekend. Sadly though, Dennis did not have the greatest start to defend his title, but, will be back in rd2, to get things back on track.

Friday and Saturday were spent setting all 3 bikes up and dodging the wet weather at Teretonga. With qualifying, all 3 riders were happy with their bikes; Robbie secured pole on the Superbike and James was 2nd, Dennis 3rd for the 600's.

Sunday started a fine and sunny day, which lasted the full day, and for Teretonga Raceway, this is good!!!

In SBK, Robbie got a great start and lead from start to finish, pulling out a gap of 7 seconds, so we were very pleased with that. Race 2, things were tighter, with the top 5 within a couple of seconds of each other. Robbie was able to slowly pick them off one by one and with 4 laps to go, had gained the lead. This time though, he pulled a 1 second gap and held it there.

Race 1 for the 600's was as usual, exciting, with James Smith, Gareth Jones and Dennis Charlotte pulling a gap on the rest of the field within a few laps, and then proceeded to have a great battle.

Dennis had a moment, which had him off into the grass, he got back on track in 9th place and worked hi way back to 5th. James and Gareth battled to the end, with James coming home second by 1 second.

Race 2, both Dennis and James got great starts and along with Gareth Jones, pulled a few seconds gap on the rest of the field. After 4 laps, Dennis worked his way to the front and was working at a blistering pace. But, coming out of turn 4, lost the front end and crashed. He was fine, but the bike has a few battle scares.

James carried on and had a great battle with Gareth, both of them taking turns leading. At the finish line, James just missed out by 0.088, coming 2nd.

A good weekend overall, now ready to do it again this weekend at Levels.

Round 2: Timaru, Levels international Speedway

We have now just completed Rd 2 of the Nationals and again, we had a pretty successful weekend.

Right from the start on Friday, both Robbie and James were on the pace. We carried on making a few changes to their bikes, but overall the bikes were working great.

Friday was not a great day for Dennis, after we finished putting the bike together from last weekend, he lost the front end going into turn 2, but luckily did not cause too much damage, but enough to slow Dennis down for a while.

Come Saturday, both Robbie and James were on lap record pace and then James started started dipping below the lap record. Dennis, feeling rather sore, started to ease back into it and when qualifying started, managed to qualify 6th.

James qualified 2nd, just missing out to Gareth Jones who qualified 1st.

With Robbie, he goes out on the same tyres from the previous session and gets himself up to speed, then with 10 minutes to go, he will come in and we do a very quick rear tyre change for a new tyre and he goes out to do some good qualifying laps. But, this time, just as he was into his 2nd lap of his qualifying run, the rain started, so he missed out getting right up to speed. But, with the old tyres on, he was still 3rd quickest, which had us on the front row. So a good start would have him right there.

Sunday started sunny, but always with the hint of rain in the distance. In the 1st 600 race, both James and Dennis got great starts, with James taking the lead and Dennis up to 4th. During the course of the race, Dennis worked his way into 3rd, but by that time, James and Gareth had a big break on the rest of the field, both setting new lap records, very close to 1 second faster than the record set by Craig Shriffis 2 years ago.

Dennis settled into holding 3rd place, while Gareth and James swapped the lead a few times. Coming into the final lap, James was setting himself up for  a final push for the lead, but, a yellow flag put paid to that (no passing under a yellow flag) and James had to settle for 2nd place. James was very disappointed at not been able to beat Gareth, but, as I said to him, he is in a great position and is putting major pressure on Gareth, so when Gareth makes a mistake, James will be there ready.

Robbie's 1st race was a battle, with Gareth, Andrew Stroud and Robbie battling the whole way. We had onboard cameras on Robbie's bike, but sadly, they stopped working, otherwise we would have had some fantastic footage. The lead, 2nd and 3rd placing swapped a number of times between these 3, but, with 2 laps to go, Robbie was able to get back in the lead, and hold the other 2 off to the end and came home in 1st.

Race 2 for the 600's started with both James and Dennis getting good starts. James pulled a gap on the field, but soon had Gareth and Dennis on his tail. Gareth squeezed pass and from there a battle commenced between the 2 of them. By three quarters distance, Dennis had also caught up to the tail of them, but was not always in a position where he could mount a proper attack.

So again, James came home 2nd, right behind Gareth and Dennis 3rd.

In race 2 for the Superbikes, the rain was threatening to break out at any moment and would put a very light sprinkle down, just enough to make the track a little greasy.

Robbie got a great start and was 2nd into the 1st corner, along with Hayden Fitzgerald, Gareth and Andrew Stroud. Robbie then got into the lead for half the race, but there was some more very light rain, so, Robbie felt best to ease back a little. Gareth took this opportunity to get past, so Robbie then sat himself behind Gareth and was happy to bring it home in 2nd and take some good points away for the weekend.

Overall another great weekend for us all. We have made our position a bit stronger with Robbie and we are still in a great position with James, especially now coming to his home track this coming weekend.

Round 3: Ruapuna Raceway, Christchurch

Well, another adventuress weekend, I must say!!!
 
After Friday, things were looking good for Saturday. Which lead James to secure the #1 position for Pole. Which he did by more than half a second. Dennis qualified on the front row as well in 4th position.
In superbikes, Robbie just missed out on pole, but we were not worried, as there is quite a long stretch before the 1st corner, so a good start can make up for that.
 
In the 1st 600 race, James got a fantastic start and soon had a couple of seconds lead over Gareth Jones. By half way, James and Gareth had pulled over 12 seconds gap on the rest of the field.
In the final few laps, Gareth managed to catch James, after James had a moment coming out of the hairpin, thus allowing Gareth to pull right back on James. Then Gareth made a move inside James and was able to hold his tight line and get in front of James. In the last lap James fought back and was all over Gareth, trying to find a way through. At turn 7, James dived up the inside of Gareth, but on coming out of the corner, was not able to hold a tight enough line and Gareth snuck back through, to take the win with James right beside him.
 
Very close racing, with James setting a new lap record; 1.32:457, which 2 years ago, would have been a fantastic superbike time. Plus James is on a bike which is basically 3 years old. So he did very well.
Dennis also rode well and smoothly and brought his bike home in 3rd place. So a 2nd and a 3rd for the 1st race in the 600's for Triple R.
 
In race 1 for the Superbikes, Robbie got a great start and soon had a 6 second gap on the field. But, as the race draw to a close, Andrew Stroud on his Suzuki, did some major braking manoeuvres into some corners and pulled the gap right back. On the final lap, Andrew dived up the inside of Robbie on turn 8, but went wide, letting Robbie close the door and taking the lead again. This also allowed Gareth Jones to be right there at the end, but Robbie was able to hold both of them off across the line and secure 1st place.
 
In race 2 for the 600's, this was for the GP Title. James was very determined to win it. Another great start by James, and soon he had pulled over 2 seconds on the rest of the field. But, sadly the race was red flagged, after Jay Lawrence had a big fall, coming out of Pot Hole Corner which is a 4th gear corner, so pretty quick.
The restart of the 600's this time had James back a couple of places, but he soon worked his way to the front, where he started to pull a gap on the rest of the field......apart from Gareth. Who this time was able to sit on James tail, there by, allowing James to pull him along. This battle was a real ding dong battle and these 2 were absolutely going for it. They left the rest of the field behind by over 25 seconds.
 
By the end of the race, the lead had swapped a number of times, but again, Gareth was able to just hold James out. This race was very exciting and would have been amazing if James had done it. But, he still rode very well, blowing the rest of the field away and having the lap record.
Dennis again rode well and brought his bike again home in 3rd place.
 
In the 2nd Superbike race, we knew it would be a battle. This was for 15 laps and the GP title. Robbie got an average start and was back in 4th place. He soon moved up to 3rd and sat there quite relaxed.
Stroud was in the lead and had slowed the pace down by close to 2 seconds a lap, so all 3 of them were close together. With 5 laps to go, Robbie was going to make his move, but Gareth made it 1st and moved past Andrew. This made it harder for Robbie to get to the front and then Andrew started to do some serious braking into the turns, to try and pull Gareth back.
This made it very hard for Robbie to get past Andrew, as everyone pretty well knows what Andrew is like under brakes... there is pretty well no one stronger.
 
Going into the hairpin, Robbie tried again to out brake Andrew and go around the outside of him, but in doing so, lost the front end and went down. Luckily he was not injured and able to pick the bike up and get it going again. So, he managed to get home 5th and get some good points.
 
So, at the end of the day, Robbie is still leading the Superbike points by a healthy margin. James is now 20 points behind Gareth, but not out of it yet. Dennis is also moving up the order and is close to securing 3rd as well.
 
So, a good weekend really, not securing everything we wanted, but still in a great position.

Round 4: Manfield Raceway, Christchurch

A Large crowd of several thousand people watch world class racing at Manfeild Park during the fourth round of the 2009 Castrol Power 1 Championships yesterday.

The battle was between Australians Robbie Bugden (Suzuki), Gareth Jones (Yamaha), Hamilton ’s Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) and the Honda's Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs.

In race one the pace was torrid with Andrew Stroud determined  to lead from the start .Throughout the race the battle for the lead saw the top three of Stroud , Bugden and Jones perform moves that at time had the crowd gasping. In the end the race was taken by Stroud , from Bugden and Jones , with Shirriffs in fourth who performed outstandingly through the tighter parts of the track to attach himself to the leading trio , only to be puffed off down the straights.

Race two was no less exciting and with Bugden and Stroud attacking from the first lap. After a few laps Bugden pulled a small gap from Stroud and Jones , the latter having to deal with an oil leak over his left boot. But then the gap dropped and the three riders once again closed up. Stroud attacked Bugden but was fended of by the tough Australian. The lap changed two or three times a lap and in some cases from corner to corner. Heading in to the Dunlop sweeper on the last lap it was Bugden from Stroud , Stroud took a high line and was planning to drive out hard on to the front straight and passed Budgen , but Jones has other ideas , and surprised Stroud by making a masterful inside move and snatching a fighting second place.

The large crowd gave a standing ovation to the riders, after another world class race in the Castrol Power1 Superbike class.

The 600 Sports Production class turned again into the “Smith & Jones” show, with a tight battle between Gareth Jones  and his Christchurch rival James Smith.

Smith had to borrow a spare Suzuki GSXR600 from fellow competitor Karl Morgan , due to mechanical problems with his own machine on Saturday.  Smith took the race to Jones , with great starts only to be hunted down and passed each time. In the second race Smith spent most of the time hoping a faulty tether kill switch wouldn't pop off ,as it it threatened to do on several occasions but still managed a safe second place from Aucklander Sam Smith who had two great races with 2008 600SP champion Dennis Charlett.