It seems like only yesterday that round 1 of the AMCN MRRDA series was weeks away and yet here I am sitting here writing a report after round 1. The first Honda CBR150 Junior races have been run and won by Jake Horne from Queensland. Gavin Hainsowrth has stamped his authority on the Motul Formula 400's. Jackson Leigh-Smith stepped out of his brothers shadow in the Reece Bancel Memorial Association 125GP's and the Arqin Motorcycles 250's saw Brett Murphy and Peter Beveridge take the early lead. Best of all NSW take round 1 honours in the Motul State of Origin..."Go the Blues!"
As this was the first weekend event I've ever been involved in organising, I was expecting some criticism. It would be foolish and more than arrogant to think that we wouldn't get any. On the flip side you can only hope for some good comments. After all it's what you put the effort in for. Well not necessarily the good comments as such, but you put the effort in to try and make sure that everyone has a good time and gets out of the weekend what they expected. Well we got the criticism from Official's, Spectator's, Riders and Sponsors and although it might seem at times that I didn't take it on board over the weekend, It's all lodged away and well get aired and discussed at the next MRRDA committee meeting. We can only progress though working on both developing new things and improving where we need too. As for the good comments, I'm delighted to say that we got them from all angles. T he spectators all be it only a few, some Sponsors, the Officials and Riders. To all of those that took the time to come and thank myself, Sponsors and Officials on the day, we really appreciate your kind words. When the MA Steward goes out of his way to track me down and tell me that he has been blown away by the number of people that have bothered to tell him what a great meeting it was, we at least know that we are on the right track.
To all the riders that turned up to race, we thank you for your support. After all it's for you that we are putting the effort in to put these race meetings together. To all the series Partners/Sponsors none of this is possible without you, we can never thank you enough. I just hope that from these humble beginnings we can grow together and we can give you a good return on your investment both now and in the future. To all the officials who give up their time so the riders can go and have fun, I now have an idea of what you've been doing for me over the past 10 years so I can go racing, you guys are unbelievable and thank you is simply not enough.
I race motorcycles because I love it. No one forces me to do it. No one asks me to do it. It's a passion. Bikes are a passion. The only way I can go racing is if there are race meetings. So far I'm sure that everybody who raced at Oran Park this weekend will be able to relate to that. This weekend you would have paid $300 for your entry fee. Without our series Partners/Sponsors that entry fee would be up over $400, just to cover the costs of getting the meeting together. That would ring true for all race meetings. As a racer I used to turn up to race meetings blind to the effort that goes into these things so I could have my fun. Sure I knew there were Officials and Sponsors but surely they didn't need me to say or do anything other than race. I know better now! There are many ways you can show your appreciation. If you see an official, thank them. They really appreciate it. If you see a Sponsor or a Sponsors display, go and have a chat, see what they have to offer. Even if you don't buy anything, you are at least then aware of their products and they know that they are appreciated. Finally the simplest way of all to thank everyone is to stick around for presentations. The chances are that someone is going to thank the Officials and Sponsors during an acceptance speech. You then get a chance to say thank you by applauding with e verybody else. In short if you want to keep the costs down for getting your jollies on the race track then play smart and support those that enable it to happen. It doesn't have to cost you money, just a little bit of time, a bit of chat and maybe some hand clapping. Just incase anyone is thinking that I'm including myself in amongst these Officials and Sponsors, I'm not. I get phone calls and emails! Having said that, one of the high points for me though this weekend was seeing how many people from all over the country did stay for presentations. As riders accepted their prizes and trophies, they were listened too and applauded. At most presentations there is so much background noise that you can hardly hear the acceptance speeches, but not on Sunday at Oran Park, which was awesome. So to all of those that stuck around and attended the presentations your presence was much appreciated.
As for the racing, after all that is what we were there for, anybody who didn't go and see some of that Honda CBR150 Junior racing missed out big time. I have to say that the race of the day has to go to the 2 guys in the last chance qualifier who were fighting for the last spot in the final. Every corner was met with an OOOH or an AARH from the onlookers as the 2 guys fought with every thing they had. It is a testament to them that they didn't take each other out. You have to feel for young Alex Picket who leading into the last corner must have thought that he had it, only to see Billy Hermans pull off the move of the day and ride around him almost into the dirt and pip him on the line by inches. I saw Barry Sheene try and do that to Kenny Roberts and he didn't do it as well as Billy did. Awesome!
Similarly the fight for the win in the final between Dylan Mavin and Jake Horne with Matt Walters in hot pursuit was great to watch. Dylan and Jake were wheel to wheel pretty much the whole race with Dylan leading the way. 2 corners before the flag they came up on a back marker and Jake pounced and led to take the flag and the win.
In the Motul 400's NSW hot shot Gavin Hainsworth simply blew everyone away. He was untouchable. The final race at least saw a couple of the VIC's get close to him with a host of riders from NSW and VIC in hot pursuit. Apart from a couple of incidents, one of which saw Trevor Manly and Joel Hughes go bush together from corner one, the racing was clean and just great fun. Personally I love Oran Park. It's hard work, its challenging and it gets the adrenalin pumping. The bike gets loose all over the place and it really isn't one for the faint hearted. I had some great dices, a handful of mistakes and got absolutely mauled in the first 4 corners of the final race. Who cares, it was great fun! Of course with NSW taking a healthy points lead over the VIC's into round 2 only makes the weekend better!
The Reece Bancel Memorial Association 125GP's saw a great dice between Jackson the Younger (younger brother to his better known elder brother Blake Leigh-smith) and Brent Rigoli. Glen Scott also showed what he was made of when he came back from a big crash on Saturday to put up a great final race of the day on Sunday winning the 12 lapper from Jackson the Younger. The entrants may have been few, but it was great to have them there as many of the Juniors aspire to enter their ranks and the racing was great to watch.
The Arqin Motorcycles 250's certainly added their colour to the scene as well. From the Junior pits, it was great to watch Brett Murphy and crew wheeling their 250GP bikes out of corner 3 to the applause of the junior on lookers. For Annette Brown to fly in from Singapore to race in the 250GP's to a creditable 4th place, was also amazing. The MRRDA 250 class saw some good racing which will only get better as more of them come out of the woodwork.
Of course we can't conclude this report without a mention to Boris, Mick and the boys from BikeMe who filmed the whole event for the Fox Sports pilot. The boys added their own character and colour to the event and I'm delighted they have got involved. We will be working with them over the next couple of weeks to produce a show from the 8.5 hours of footage they have captured. Fingers crossed that the end result will meet with the approval of Fox Sports and that we see some of your smiling faces on TV in the near future.
From humble beginnings this series will continue to grow. We will learn from the criticism and improve. The number of riders racing will increase and we will see Juniors rise through the ranks and I'm sure go on to bigger things. I'm pretty confident that I saw the first road race on the national scene of a future Aussie Champion or two this weekend and I can't wait to see them and the other classes go for it again at Winton.
Cheers
Woody
