In Friday practice Chas was suffering from front-end chatter and lack of rear end grip. They worked franticly on the bike but made no in-roads to getting it working better.
On Saturday morning the team hoped all the work they did the day before would pay off with new tyres fitted but it was not going to happen that way. Chas went out in qualifying one and tried to post a fast time early as he new he would later have to race on the same tyres. No such luck would go his way as he was forced to run 13 laps before destroying a rear tyre. More changes were made and the rear tyre was replaced and Chas again headed out trying to improve his time. In Qualifying 2 and 15 laps later, Chas finally moved up to the 3rd row of the grid and elected to call it quits.
Qualifying Position of 12th with a lap time of 1.12.845
In race one Saturday Chas made a poor start and went back to 14th. He began to move back up through the field before his gear lever fell off coming into the final turn. Chas returned to the pits with a DNF.
In Saturdays race two, Chas again made a bad start, crossing the line on the first lap in 16th. He managed to progress back up to 11th with a best time of 1.13. 4
" After going race distance on both my tyres yesterday, I knew we would struggle today in the race and there isn't much more I could have done with the set up I elected to run today. We are making changes and nothing seems to be helping me at this stage" said Chas Saturday afternoon.
With the new double header format, qualifying for the Sunday races was held on Saturday afternoon with a 15-minute shoot out. Chas was able to post his fastest lap so far with new tyres on, and moved up one position on the grid.
Qualifying position of 11th with a lap time of 1.12.7
On Sunday morning the team discovered a major problem with the front end and elected to make changes and test the bike in morning warm up. The changes were great but with the low track temp the back tyre tore up and wouldn't last a full race.
In the first race the team decided to use the only brand new tyre they had, hoping it would rain in the afternoon and they could change to wets. Chas got away to another bad start and crossed the line on the first lap in 14th. He put his head down and began to make his way back through the field. Chas got back into 9th and began dicing with the Factory Suzuki of Troy Herfoss. They passed and re-passed a few times before Herfoss lead Chas across the line by .020"
Chas finished 9th, setting the 3rd fastest lap of the race with a 1.12.5.
In the final race of the day Chas made his best start of the weekend but would slowly drop back through the field as his rear grip went away. He decided it was better to finish in 1 piece than not at all.
"Unfortunately we have had a horrible weekend. It was a simple problem we found with the front end but we wasted 2 full days before we found it. We have learnt a lot this weekend and are now looking forward to Sydney and will hopefully be back up the front for that."
We would like to thank Mick, Shaz and Brandon Demmery for there help and Support over the weekend.
We would also like to thank Dunlop for there support and Stewart Corser, Garry Crilley, Tiger and Shandon for their assistance at the track.
We would also like to put out a big thanks to Marty from Underground Designs in South Australia for all his efforts over the weekend and last year, Bandit Tyre Warmers, Bendix Brakes, Mobil Oils, EK Chains, Mick Hone Motorcycles, Jake Royal from Racefit Australia, Afam Sprockets, Keith Muir for the great photos over the last 3 years and Phil Tainton and his team for there help getting the bikes ready and with advise over the weekend.