As Chas crossed the line on the very next lap he collided with another bike that seemed to have almost stoped on the race line and was thrown over the handle bars at almost 260kph, both Chas and his Suzuki slid 300 meters down the track stopping on the grass. The Mick Hone/Hern Engineering Suzuki suffered a broken front wheel, foot pegs, handle bars, dash, Exhaust System and major fairing damage. Thanks to Dean Oughtred from team Dynoverks/Pro-Coat who helped us rebuild the GSXR while Chas was in the safe hands of the SUZUKI RACESAFE medical crew, we were able to get out for the second qualifying and make sure everything was OK.
Later X-Rays diagnosed Chas with a fractured Scafeoid in his left wrist. The team at Suzuki race safe managed to build Chas a light weight wrist restraint letting him finish the weekend. They also kept checking on him throughout the weekend and do a brilliant job.
The GSXR looking second hand after a 260kph slide
With Chas still starting from pole position, all the team could hope for was that Chas would be able to finish and collect points over the races as he had almost no movement in his left wrist. In the first race Chas managed to get a good start and lead the race from start to finish. He was unable to push hard but found a great rythmn and maintained a constant pace to be able to win the race.
In race 2 Chas again lead the field through turn 1 for the first lap but on lap 3 Braydon Carr sliped underneath over Corporate Hill but Chas re-passed for the lead into turn 9. Braydon was able to drive hard onto the main straight and retake the lead. Chas followed Braydon for the next lap and was able to slip stream past him down the main straight and back into the lead. He started to pull away on Braydon but as the race continued on, he began to slow and Braydon closed in. Chas was able to keep Braydon behind and took the race win by less than half a second.
In the last race Chas was struggling to hold on to the bike with the wrist almost locked solid, he anticipated the start but had no strengh to pull the clutch back in and jump started. He still managed to tag on to Braydon Carr for the first lap before dropping back. On lap three Chas was passed by Steve Liddicoat into turn 2 but Steve highsided his Suzuki GSXR and almost brought Chas down with him. Chas was also passed by Tim Cowie in the same incident and relegated back to 3rd. As the field came into turn 9 the red flag was out causing a 2 part race. Due to his jump start Chas was given a 10 escond penalty and had to start the second part of the race in 17th. He was able to make a good start and entered turn 2 in 6th position where he began a 2 lap fight with Dean Oughtred. He passed Dean into turn 4 and moved up to 5th position before the race was again red flagged. Chas was declared 10th after times were added up with half points awarded for the incompleted race distance.
Chas finished 1st outright on 55.5 points with Braydon Carr [SUZUKI] second on 52.5 and Michael Dibb [SUZUKI] on 42.5 and is now leading the Championship.
Thanks to all those who offered help with parts and repairs from Braydon Carrs team to Craig Nicholson and Graham Williams and to Neil Crockforms team.
We would like to thank Mick Hone Motorcycles and Hern Engineering for their help, Team Dynoverks with Dean Oughtred and Chris Hutchinson helping with bike repairs, Team Nicholson/BV RIGGING racing for kindly lending us parts to get the Suzuki GSXR back together. Team SRG for there WOODCRAFT parts BluGreen multimedia, Spidi leathers, Mobil oils, EK Chains, XPD Boots, Knox Star Mercedes, Dunlop Tyres and Suzuki Australia for there support.