You are here:

Chas Hern Racing

Chas Hern still in charge after a hard weekend at Winton

 

In the lead up to Winton, Chas was again in plaster and at 11pm Thursday night prior to the Friday practice, the Suzuki Race safe crew cut the plaster off with a hack saw supplied by the hotel owner where they were staying.

 image050.jpg

 

Here Dave puts down his Bourbon can to help cut Chas’s plaster off, Thanks Dave.  

 

On Friday morning Chas would ride the M.C.A/Mick Hone Suzuki GSXR 1000 for the first time since it barrel rolled out of turn 2 at Winton. After some minor adjustments Chas set the fastest time in morning warm up.  

He was also riding with yet another Mark Backway special brace, 1 of 5 Chas now has. Mark has been working with Chas almost once a week since his near 270km crash at the first round in Sydney. Without the help of Mark, Simon, Dave, Tamara, and the rest of the Suzuki Race Safe team, Chas would not have been on the track once this year. 

In Qualifying 1 Chas managed to get the bike setup he needed to complete the three 11 lap races. He was forced to soften off his suspension in order to control the bike with only 1 strong hand. “Winton is getting fairly rough these days, I was really struggling to hold on through the sweeper and also through turns 1 and 2” commented Chas after Qualifying 1. He was fastest with a 1:27.6. 

In Qualifying 2 Chas was determined to try and put down 1 fast lap, as he was still more than 1 second slower than when he tested there 3 weeks earlier. Whilst on a flyer Chas hit traffic at turn 10 and lost a few tenths but still managed to post a time good enough to put him 3rd fastest. He was going to stay on track until he managed to find a clear lap but whilst circulating, he noticed the revs on the Suzuki weren’t consistent and returned to the pits to find his clutch plates had worn out and he had no drive over 9000rpm. Over the lunch break the team replaced the clutch plates and Chas was ready for a start in race 1. Overall qualifying in 3Rd position with a 1:26.9. asc-win-r3-08_5015.jpg

Race 1 and Chas managed to take the early lead before Brayden Carr would push past, later followed by Ben Henry. As Brayden pulled away Ben and Chas were less than half a bike length apart to the end. On the final lap Chas planed to slip steam Ben to the line but fell .02 of a second short. After Chas entered the pits and parked at the interview area he collapsed off his M.C.A/ Mick Hone Suzuki and was taken by Race Safe for observation. He was in a bit of pain from his thumb and also dehydrated. Chas was then told he would have to pass a medical examination before he could take part in the Sunday events.  On Sunday morning Chas checked in with the Suzuki Race Safe team and was given the medical clearance.  

Race 2 and Chas again lead the field for the first lap before Carr again slipped up the inside into turn 10 and Ben Henry came past Chas into turn 1 on the next lap. Whilst Carr and Henry were pulling away, Houwen passed Chas and then both Henry and Carr for the lead before high siding in front of Carr at turn 9, causing a chain reaction that let Chas slip into P2 right behind Henry. The next 3 laps was part dodging for Chas as Ben Henrys bike had parts flying off all over the track from his impact with Brayden’s bike. Chas managed to pull beside Henry twice in 2 separate parts of the track and decided to wait for the last lap to make his pass. As the two came around on lap 7 the red flag was out and Ben won by .200 of a second with Chas in second and fellow Suzuki rider Steve Liddicoat 3rd. 

Race 3 and Chas slotted into 2nd position behind Carr and was then passed by Henry and Houwen. Chas and Houwen began to battle as Houwens bike was out of control all over the track. Chas managed to pass Houwen and then put his head down and pulled away to again take 3rd position and set the second fastest lap of the race.  

Chas still remains the point’s leader in the Formula Xtreme class but now only has a 7.5 point lead over Carr and a further 40 points back to Henry.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Current points are – 1st-Chas Hern Suzuki-176.5, 2nd-Brayden Carr Suzuki-169, 3rd-Ben Henry Yamaha-136.5, 4th-Steve Liddicoat Suzuki-113, 5th-Craig Nicholson Suzuki-107.       

 

We now have a 6 week holiday from the Australian Super-Bike series and Chas plans to use the time to fully recover from injury and be back to his winning form for Queensland.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Congratulations to fellow Harley Club of Victoria member and Broadford dirt tracker Cam Donald on his double IOM TT wins this year. His change to Suzuki has given him the results he deserves. This result at the IOM puts him up with the likes of Ken Kavanagh and Jack Findlay, 2 great Aussie road racers.       

 

 

 

asc-win-r3-08_3309.jpgBig thanks again to the Suzuki Race Safe team for there help since Rd 1. 

M.C.A Mark Cooper Automotive for their support this weekend  

Nolan Helmets for setting Chas up with the latest Casey Stoner lids. 

Underground Designs for the great looking banners and stickers. 

Keith Muir photography for all the great photos through the year 

And we would also like to thank our Sponsors, Mick Hone Motorcycles, Woodcraft, Hern Engineering, Spidi, Mobil oils, XPD boots, EK Chains, BluGreen Multimedia, Knox star Mercedes and Suzuki Australia for their support and also Stuart Corser from Dunlop for all the help in getting the new Dunlop D209 Sportmax working really well.

 
 

Gallery Images

wsb-pi-09_2532
asbk-sa-09_5111
central_vic_008
cross_the_line
chas_main_straight
wat_eva_061
asbk-tas-09_0380
chas_gen_web
p1060979
wat_eva_091
central_vic_007
gen_start_line
winton
asbk-tas-09_2541
chas_turn_3
asbk-sa-09_0687
dsc03158
asbk-sa-09_5191
dsc05768
chas_hay_shed
easc-qr-07_5806
100_1149
first_race_for_2008
200402221005342
central_vic_050
chas_trent_steve
wat_eva_098
dsc00909
dsc00888
chas_hill
me_and_fat_boi_after_4th_place
gen_turn_11
central_vic_010
asbk-qr-09_3986
100_1185
asbk-tas-09_2561
easc-qr-07_2563
aburnout
p1000330
team_08
wheel
p1000330
p1080145
img_2087
asbk-ec-09_0199
asbk-sa-09_4509
gen_out_of_mg
ec4
easc_sa_07_4269
chas_grid
chas_mno_crab
easc-qr-07_5771
chas_-_nac_nac
ec5
y2k
easc_ec_r8_07_0048
easc_sa_07_3669
turn_1_peace
easc_ec_r8_07_4401
dsc02601
winton5
img_2024
dsc00858
dsc00854
asbk-qr-09_2651
dsc04055
easc_ec_r8_07_5004
ec3
actmcc17
one_broken_front_wheel
dsc02655
p1080228
central_vic_011
dsc02915
asbk-tas-09_2542
chasall
wsb-pi-09_3314
pits
asbk-ec-09_3747
2009_set_up
asbk-sa-09_2486
easc_ec_r8_07_4267
p1080194
100_1157
dsc01208
chas_start_line_compress
chas_super-bikes
100_1154
rod_on_the_job
easc-qr-07-4218
central_vic_070
easc-qr-07_0109
asbk-tas-09_2524
dsc00934
chas_turn_3_hump
new_bike
winton2
easc_sa_07_3627
mrrda-br-09_2531
dsc03555