September found us at Phillip Island for the last round of the Australian Sidecar Championships (F1 and F2), combined with the penultimate round of the SA Sidecar Championship. We experienced the Phillip Island four seasons in a day weather – which on Saturday became four seasons in one race. After hailing for about 30 seconds, the sun shone and dried a muggy track.
This kept Locky busy over the weekend, constantly changing tyres between wets and slicks. He set his new best time of removing and replacing the fairings and wheels in under 5 minutes!
Great racing was seen throughout the field and we were thrilled to come away with 3rd place for the weekend, leapfrogging us in the points to 2nd overall in the Australian F2 Championship.
There was no catching Jamie Crass and Lee Menzies, Mick Alton and Dave Rumble had bad luck in Sydney, and we only narrowly beat Dags Rayner and Evelyne Scholz. We were incredibly happy with our result in only our first year at chasing the title.
Whilst Royce and Leonard had ridden the circuit before on solos, it was a new experience on a sidecar. New lines and tactics were quickly learnt and lap times were consistently lowered, finishing with a 1m52.7 on our final lap of the last race on Sunday.
Some quick work on the outfit will be carried out before a trip to Mount Gambier in a couple of weeks for the final round of the South Australian Championship and the prestigious Master of Mac Park event to round out our 2024 racing year.
After returning from the Penguin Parade and a pizza from Pino’s, Royce said:
“Speaking to all the other sidecar racers leading up to this round, they told me it’s a wicked track to do on three wheels and they weren’t wrong! Not having been around Phillip Island for a good five or so years it all came back to me pretty fast, but just with the added task of figuring out new lines and to remember that I have Leonard hanging on.
“With weather still playing a pivotal role in tyre choice like we had in Sydney, everyone was watching everyone else watching the weather radars on their phones and the sky, attempting to predict the unpredictable weather of The Island! We were lucky to gamble the same tyres as everyone else in the races so we were all on an even playing field. We had some great dicing with Dags and Evelyn who taught us a thing or two about braking (or not braking) into the incredibly fast Turn 1.
“We then swapped between 3rd and 4th a few times, battling with Simon and Kayla. We also managed to do our sneaky trick of overtaking Morgan and Matt around the outside 😛 All great fun and thanks to Leonard doing so well to adapt to my trialling of different lines each lap, paying off with our lap times improving each time we went round.
“Big thanks to the team, very happy to come away with 2nd in the Australian Titles for our first season. Thanks to Mum and Dad for the travelling and behind the scenes work. Thanks to Greg and Deb Lock for efforts in the pits and taking photos around the track. Jess for being a trooper last round to make sure we finished the race with points. Beth for letting me out to play. Brian Rosser for his help on the bike, Neville Lush for building a nice strong motor and anyone else I might have missed, thank you. One last round at Mac Park to finish the year off I’m keen as and can’t wait!”
Recovering from a strained neck from all the new sights and sounds over the weekend, Leonard said:
“I knew Phillip Island was going to be a task given how fast the track is, so luckily I had a basic idea of corners coming into the weekend. I thing each time we flew over Lukey Heights, I was double guessing how early or late I could flick over to the right! The track flows really nicely, so I was slowly building up markers and got some great advice from other passengers over the weekend.
“To take out third for the weekend was great, I think we surprised ourselves with the pace we could reach and the fact that our fastest laps were continually the last lap of each session. Having a solid field of sidecars meant there was always someone to dice with, which pushed us to go harder.
“Royce covered most of the thank yous above, but to all the Aussie contingent that gave me advice over the weekend, it’s very appreciated. And especially Jess, who stepped into my spot at the last minute for the Sydney round – those tough-fought points were worth it in the end! I’m keen to end the year on a high note at Mac Park, so will be ready to roll in a couple of weeks!”
Rowe Racing 