Chas entered the Australian Super-Bike support class in the lead up to the first round of the Australian Championships that kicks off in less then 2 weeks. With the new Dunlop D209 SportMax Racer landing in Australia 1 week prior to the event, the team decided to use the event to get some setup info before running at the first round of the Australian Championships.
With perfect weather and mild wind conditions it had never been better at Philip Island and after Qualifying session ‘1’ Chas managed to be the fastest ‘B’ grader and non Super-Bike competitor in the field. In Qualifying ‘2’ Chas dropped 1 position to fellow Suzuki Rider Steven Liddicoat.Qualifying position 14th with a time of 1.39.6
In all 3 races Chas made excellent starts and was always in the top 10 as they entered turn 1, but with road legal tires and a Stock bike, by Honda corner he would be passed by the factory teams and relegated back to 12th position.
In the first 2 races Chas was in a 3 way battle with Both Trent Gibson and Steve Liddicoat but would loose touch by the last lap finishing 13th and 14th, still good enough to be the 1st Formula Xtreme spec bike and Second ‘B’ grader.
In race 3 Chas was able to hold off Steve Liddicoat for the first 4 laps but was passed on the main straight as they received the last lap board. Chas managed to re-pass Steve into turn 1 and when they arrived at Honda Steve ran a little to hot under brakes and off the track. Chas had a comfortable gap behind and held on for 12th position.
Over all Chas finished 12th outright, 2nd privateer, 1st Formula Xtreme spec bike and 1st “B” grader and with a best lap time of 1.38.6.
We would like to thank Stuart Corser from Dunlop for all the help in getting the new Dunlop D209 Sportmax working really well, Tony from Northern Auto Care in Epping for there help getting us on the track, Mick Hone Motorcycles, Woodcraft, Hern Engineering, Spidi, Mobil oils, XPD boots, EK Chains, BluGreen Multimedia, Knox star Mercedes and Suzuki Australia for their support.