It’s been a great summer break for the team and exciting year ahead awaits. Much of the holiday period was spent stripping and rebuilding the Triumph’s engine in temperatures reaching the high 40’s.

PIC: The team battled through the heat over Christmas to get the Triumph race-ready

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Royce also got the chance to ride in a parade lap during the Adelaide Motorsport Festival on Neil Watson’s 1937 350 Velocette. Given it’s hosted on a street circuit, it was a great experience to ride a track not many others get the opportunity to visit.

PIC: Royce riding at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival

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The Rowe Racing Team has resumed racing for 2019 with round one of the South Australian Championships held at Mallala over the 11 to 12 February weekend.

 

Saturday was spent running the bike in and allowing Royce to feel comfortable on track after surgery over Christmas to remove the remaining rod, plates and screws in both legs.

 

He was still sore and restricted in movement as he hasn’t been able to do any gym work yet, and matters were further compromised as a couple of corners at the track had been patched with a silicone compound as a short-term fix for cracking, which made the surface extremely slippery.

PIC: It didn’t take long for Royce to get back into the groove (Credit: Deb Lock)

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Nonetheless, Royce got back into the groove on Sunday race-day with two races each on the Triumph and Ducati.

 

The Ducati was on-song and Royce won both races in the Super Twin class.

PIC: There was some tight racing over the weekend (Credit: Deb Lock)

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The Triumph was running well but Royce didn’t have an easy time of it, up against some fierce competition from Tim Donnon (Suzuki GSX-R600), Ben Liebig (another Triumph) and arch rivals Michael Villani (Suzuki GSX-R600) and Evan Byles (Kawasaki ZXR600).

 

Tim is one of the Rowe Racing supporters who has assisted us with the bikes, putting in a number of hours in the shed over summer, and it was Royce and Tim who managed to break away from the pack in both races and put on a great display, swapping the lead in good, close racing.

 

Royce managed to get ahead each time, winning both races.

PIC: They say red is the fastest colour… here’s hoping! (Credit: Deb Lock)

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After the successful weekend and aiming to get his body back to 100%, Royce had this to say as he sipped on his kale and ginger juice:

“I was a bit apprehensive leading up to the race weekend with little time in the gym after my surgery because of an infection.

“But after getting into the groove being around some other fast guys, the adrenaline helped with the pain and I managed some alright lap times to put me up the pointy end. “I had a great time dicing with Tim and glad to be on the bike after the January holiday. I can’t wait to get fitter and stronger and have some more fun on the bike!”

PIC: “Are you sure this is the left-handed screwdriver, Brian?”

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We now have a busy schedule of track days ahead, fine-tuning the Triumph and getting Royce race-fit, with our next race being the Adelaide 3-Hour in April. We’ll keep everyone updated with progress over the coming months, especially as we draw ever-closer to the Manx GP in late August.