After an exciting first burn around The Bend last month, the Rowe Racing Team were keen to finally have the chance to go racing over the weekend.

 

Playing host to the third round of the SA Championships, Saturday was dedicated to open practice for riders to get their eye in at the new circuit. Sunday saw us take on one qualifying session for each bike (Ducati and Triumph), followed by two races for each.

 

As usual, the Ducati performed on-song, allowing Royce to engage in some great dicing with Michael Villani on his Kawasaki ER6.

PIC: Royce dicing with Michael Villani aboard his Kawasaki ER6 (Credit: Deb Lock)

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The pair were separated by no more than 0.2 secs on each lap for the whole day, with lead changes keeping everyone entertained.

 

In both races Michael was able to take the chequered flag in a great riding performance.

 

The Triumph continues to improve as we keep experimenting with suspension and engine tweaks.

PIC: Since painting the Triumph red, the team have noticed considerable improvements in the ‘go fast’ department (Credit: Pierre’s Photography)

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We often take a couple of steps forward and another back, but we are making progress.

 

The team owe a massive thank you to Pete Hoey who spent Saturday night rebuilding the rear suspension, and Brian who spent the evening manufacturing various spacers, shims and other components.

PIC: The team constantly made adjustments throughout the day (Credit: Deb Lock)

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While there’s still a lot to do, we were happy that Royce managed to keep bringing his lap times down, including posting a PB and finishing sixth in race one.

 

Rain arrived for race two and as we didn’t have wets (as we didn’t think we could obtain any useful data in the rain) we had to miss that race. Our main focus is development at the moment, and as we missed round one of the SA Championships, we weren’t too upset at missing out on the championship points in that race.

 

While at the race presentations enjoying his organic kombucha recovery drink, Royce had this to say:

‘The first time racing at Tailem Bend was great! Although, I’m still figuring out places to overtake and go quicker.

 

‘The Triumph is coming along with every session, getting quicker and just pin-pointing things that can make the ride smoother.

 

‘My body is feeling good and is nearly back at full strength. I just have to make sure I’m well oiled before each race… my joints that is!

 

‘Our next race is the Master of Mac Park, so I’m already getting pretty keen for that!’

 

 

Overall, the weekend’s meeting was well run and everyone enjoyed the new track, with a number of riders travelling from interstate to compete.

 

We have another test session next week and then head to Mount Gambier at the end of the month for round four of the SA Championships.

 

Thanks to Auldana Foundations, Cresta Plastics, Furygan Leathers, Fusport Boots, Adelaide Glass Guys, Underground Designs, Custom Refinishers Australia, Hoey Racing Services and GC Motorcycles for their continued support.