I’ve just got back from attending Round 2 of the MotoStars junior road race series. Unlike Rd 1 where I was practically able to walk to the track, this one involved a bit more travelling, around 1000kms of travelling, actually. The event was held at Port Macquarie Go Kart Racing Track just south of the town and it was a contrast to Rd 1 in just about every way possible. The format was the same, a practice/coaching day on the Saturday and racing on the Sunday. There were races for the same classes of bikes and many of the competitors who competed at Kembla Grange were on hand again so there certainly were similarities but there were plenty of differences.
To start with, the Port Mac track is long, about 1.1 km if the whole layout is used (it was). KG, in contrast, is about 400 m. And while KG, like every other go kart track I have seen is flat and featureless, PM is set in a natural forest and is the most picturesque location you could imagine.
The track also ticks all the boxes for a most important feature that every race track should have, it has dramatic elevation changes. The map shows you the layout but it doesn’t convey the fact that there is about a 30m difference in elevation between the main straight and the bottom-most part of the layout at T6. The track drops dramatically through the series of corners that leads to T6 and then climbs back up the hill till T10. It really is a wonderful layout. That’s T6 right in the middle of the photo above. The enclosed map will help make this clear.
Early on the Sunday morning I walked the track just to get a better idea of it for commentary purposes. It is long and it is steep!
The weather was wonderful on Saturday and the guys were out early taking advantage of it. Unfortunately, Jed Randall, from Nowra, dropped the bike on a damp patch in T6 in his first session and broke his wrist so he was out for the weekend, and, probably for Rd 3 on the first weekend in July. That’s racing, as they say.
The officials at the track were welcoming and helpful and went out of their way to help make the meeting go smoothly. The Go kart track is lucky to have them, believe me. I travelled up in the Minibago with plans to sleep the night at the track on Friday and Saturday and I went prepared for it to be pretty cold. In the end it was far milder than I expected so, after preparing some dinner and reading my book for a while on Friday night, I decided to turn in. The go kart people had recommended a grassy are to the east of the canteen that was clean and allowed easy access to the toilet and shower block. It sounded just ideal. Unfortunately, my lack of local knowledge revealed a flaw in the plan not long after night had fallen and I had turned in. You see, as you can from the map, the track is on a side road off the Pacific Highway and it twists and turns around a bit before you actually get there. So it transpired that my quiet, grassy posse was almost right next door to the highway with semi trailers roaring by almost constantly. (I was parked up to the right of the sandy pit area near the highway!)
Half an hour or so of telling myself that I could do this was all that it took for me to realise that I couldn’t. What to do? The only thing I could do. I got up, got dressed and drove in to the service centre at the roundabout (about 10 kms north) to buy some ear plugs. Good plan, Phil, except that they didn’t sell them. Back in the van and another 10 kms right into town where I found a late-night chemist who did and then a retrace of the steps and finally some sleep. In the end I slept well and was ready for the day.
Practice/coaching day didn’t really involve too much of my input so I took the opportunity to do my homework. My word it was interesting who was there. The Cudlin brother, Damian and Alex, of course, as well as a slew of very well credentialled senior riders there to compete in the SuperMotard races on the Sunday. Did I say famous? Well, how about multiple Australian Superbike champion, Jamie Stauffer? Or multiple Australian dirt track champion, Luke Richards? And who is that guy in the Suzuki leathers, I’m sure he’s familiar? He should be, it’s Ben Attard, Australian superbike rider and one-time member of the Attack Kawasaki Team in the AMA superbike championship in the USA!
And a lanky young kid called Troy Ryan. He looked 19 but he’s only 14. What was his story? Well, he’s a 4th generation racer and his grandfather just happened to be THE Barry Ryan of Ryan’s Motorcycles, Parramatta, the same Barry Ryan who supplied the Triumph that won the very first Castrol Six Hour Race back in 1970. Oh, and a little boy called Max Stauffer, Jamie’s son, looking like he wants to follow in dad’s wheel tracks. Damn, I love racing!
Sunday’s races were amazingly entertaining. Unsurprisingly, the senior riders really turned it on in the Motard class, the races were intense to put it mildly. Richards won two and Attard got revenge in the last race, which was held on a wet track (that’s where the “storm” in my title comes in). It rained heavily just before lunch and the officials made the call to keep racing but all bikes had to be fitted with treaded tyres. The first round after the rain was a bit tentative but the riders soon ignored the wet track and raced on as if it was dry! Yep, even the kids hooked in. Valuable experience for all of them and they finished the day with no spills and with exceptional lap times given the conditions.
I hit the road straight after the meeting was over and pulled in here about 2230, tired, but having enjoyed a great weekend at the track. The next round is in Toowoomba in Queensland. I’d love to go but not sure if finances will allow. Anyway, keep your eye out for MotoStars, it’s getting the job done, you can be sure. Youngsters racing in the class today will be household names in years to come. A big thank you to Damian and Amy for inviting me to be part of it, I wouldn’t have missed it for quids.