Because testing the day before Chas hit the track he had to Change his tires, Fairing, Gearing and suspension on his R6 before it was ready.
In Warm up/ Qualifying a rider gets 3 laps but with no transponders being used he is only timed on 1 lap so he would be lining up for the first 2 races in position 5 2nd row. Not to bad considering we is in a field of not only Supersport bikes but this time super bikes as well.
In race 1 he went into turn 1 in 3rd position just behind friend Nathan on his Yamaha R1 but half way around the corner the R6 had a little more corner speed and he slipped past Nath into 2nd. The leader was pushing hard, and he also was riding a Yamaha R1 and at Phillip Island it pays to have a faster bike but none the less Chas has never backed down before and he wasn’t going to start then.
As they entered Honda Corner for the first time he remembered hearing there was oil on the track but nothing could be seen. As the leader exited Honda his R1 lost traction from the rear nearly throwing him off the high side, Seeing this Chas turned the R6 throttle as hard as he could thinking he could get the drive but the R6 did exactly the same as the R1 in front and he was almost standing on his own tank. Chas was unable to make a challenge to the bigger brother to his R6 and came home second with a lap times in the 1.44. Unfortunately Chas’s new Team mate Ewan McClue had also hit the oil exiting Honda corner but was thrown over the High side, Luckily he was not hurt and able to rejoin the next race.
Race 2 was the 600 race and Chas was into turn 1 into second behind Supersport racer Danny Higgins, On lap 2 Chas had a good run down the main straight and slipped passed Higgins into turn 1 and lead the race until the checkered flag. He had less than .09 of a second lead over the finish line.
Race 3 was another 600 race and Chas was starting from P1 on the grid, in the drag to turn 1 Higgins lead into turn 1 and again Chas was on his case. Again on lap 2 Chas had a good run onto the main straight and slipped past Higgins again into turn 1. Pushing hard Chas got the R6 into the 1.42’s and pulled a 4 second lead over Higgins for the win.
Big thanks to Stafford Yamaha/ Hern Engineering/ Blugreen multimedia/ Mobil/ Emac electrical/ Simford welding services/ OPM overall property maintenance and Gen for keeping me awake for all the driving.