2011 series final round report

This weekend Broadford played host to the final round of the 2011 MRRDA Junior Road Race series. With all classes still up for grabs there was a lot at stake. From this weekend not only would we find series class winners but 6 riders would be selected to be “evaluated” for the entry into the final selection round for the 2012 Red Bull Tookies Cup, a ride with RMU in the Mediterranean Cup and a similar ride with Malossi, thanks to RMU, Malossi and Draggin Jeans.

(In the picture above - Olly Simpson, Remy Gardner, Matt Barton, Zac Zanesco)

In the nippers class Mitch Simpson and Lawson Walters were separated by only a couple of points, with Troy Guenther some way behind, but still logistically in the running.  To aid his chances Troy turned up with a brand spanking new RMU 70 which turned out to be a great move as he absolutely smoked the field in every race.  That left Mitch and Lawson to slug it out, and slug it out they did.  3 out of the 4 races saw the two of them never more than a few feet apart, with race 1 being decided by a side by side duel going into crash corner and Lawson coming out on top.  Race two saw a similar result but a closer affair as Mitch again tried to come out on top of crash corner only to see Lawson take the win.  Race 3 it looked like Lawson was running away from Mitch with Luca Gardner in hot pursuit, only for Mitch to go into the last corner right on Lawson’s tail and come out of it side by side.  Mitch took the outside line and rode around Lawson, but they touched on the exit which was just enough for Mitch to lose the momentum and see Lawson make it 3 out of 3.  Race 4 saw a very determined Mitch make a gap on Lawson who had to contend with an equally determined Luca Gardner.  Finally Mitch got the better of the dual.  Of course out front was Troy Guenther who was riding away from the field breaking lap records as he went.  The weekend went to Troy while the series went to Lawson with Mitch and Troy completing the top 3.  A mention also has to go to the Street pairing of Jacob and Tayla. Jacob managed to beat his sister in all races over the weekend, although the last race saw Tayla slowly but surely pull him in for a last lap last corner attack which left mum and dad unable to look, but the pair coming out safely with Jacob just taking the win over his sister.

(in the picture above - Lawson Walters leads Mitch Simpson through the final turn)

The Junior 2 stroke class was also a tight affair with Matt Barton and Zac Zanesco coming into the final round separated by only a handful of points.  All season the pair had been swaping paintwork or providing an exciting spectacle.  With Remy Gardner thrown in the mix it was always going to be close racing. On more than one occasion the three of them would go into corner one and crash corner side by side.  It was a credit to the 3 of them that only on one occasion did a rider not make it out of the corner with Remy losing the front at crash corner.  Going into race 2 the series point’s gap was down to single figures between Matt and Zac courtesy of Matt’s win.  With race 2 also going to Matt it was really on for young and old.  In race 3 Matt really pulled out all the stops and pulled a huge gap on Zac who similarly had a big gap on Remy.  It was all looking like Matt had it in the bag until he came around crash corner to have Max Croker’s Metrakit 80 spit it’s muffler off into Matt’s path putting Matt into the dirt.  With no right foot rest or rear brake, Matt picked his bike up and re-joined leaving Zac to take the win from Remy.  With Zac only needing to finish in the top 5 to take the series, Matt ran away with the final race of the day with Remy 2nd and Zac 3rd. Matt took out the weekend with Zac 2nd and Remy 3rd.  For the series Zac took the win and the Motorcycling Australia Junior 2 stroke National Cup.  With Matt 2nd and Tayla Relph 3rd.   Tayla’s bike seized on her in both Qualifying and Race 2, the latter being a big highside that saw her taken off to hospital with torn tendons in her left elbow.  She made it back just in time to pick up her trophies at the end of year presentations.

(in the picture above - Matt Barton, Zac Zanesco, Remy Gardner, Corey Turner, Olly Simpson, Jake Thomas, Brandon Demmery,

Luke Sells, Tayla Relph)

The Junior 4 stroke class was simply the Olly Simpson “the smiling assassin” show.  Apart from a crash at the aptly named crash corner in race 2, Olly rode away from the 150 field to secure an easy round, series and Motorcycling Australia National Cup victory.  Battling it for 2nd place in the series was Brandon Demmery and Jake Thomas.  Suffering from a bad cold, Brandon went into the round with a points lead, but unfortunately battle as he might, he was not having a good weekend, which left Jake to easily gap the chasing pack and take out 2nd for the weekend and the series.  Although Brandon still took out 3rd for the series, Luke Sells rode really well to take out 3rd for the round.  It was great that Wayne Gardner was on hand to present Olly with the Red Bull leaders helmet which he’d worn all series, but now gets to finally take home.

The 125GP class was open to all comers which gave Lachlan Hill a chance to mix it with the MRRDA juniors and mix it he did.  With Zac Zanesco in top form on his 125 the first was a close one with Lachlan just getting the better of Zac with Hudson Pitt in hot pursuit.  Race 2 however saw Zac take a fall at crash corner leaving Lachlan with an easier win over Hudson and Robert Mackenzie.  Zac's 125 was going to take a bit of getting together so he chose to concentrate on the tight fight for the 80cc races.  Hudson however was keen to show he was up for the fight and fought hard in race 3 until he too took a tunble, leaving another win for Lachlan and a second place for Robert.  With his 125 out of action for the final race, Hudson hopped on a 250GP Mono for the final race, leaving another win in the bag for Lachlan Hill. Lachlan took the round win and Hudson the series win.  Hudson's series win also sees him take home a fantastic set of Shark Leathers thanks to Matt Kuhn and Shark Leathers.

The 250GP mono's got off to a tight start with Luke Martin and Tristan Harmer giving us something to cheer about which continued throughout the weekend, although Tristan took a tumble in race 2 and another in race 4.  The race 4 tumble saw him trying to run around the outside of Luke on the penultimate corner only to experience a spectacular highside that saw the race stopped and declared.  So Luke took out the weekend from Tristan and Kane Burns who also tumbled in race 1 which shook his confidence, but took enough points to take the series overall.

With Hudson Pitt taking out the 125 GP series win and Kane Burns the 250GP mono series win, the MRRDA team had some interesting choices to make for the top 6 evaluation.  The top 2 Junior 4 stroke and the top 2 Junior 2 stroke were always going to be in the top 6.  So Olly Simpson, Jake Thomas, Matt Barton and Zac Zanesco where in.  In the end the final 2 spots were a matter of who was ready, with the places going to Troy Guenther from the Nippers class and Hudson Pitt from the 125GP's.

How do you then choose who gets what prize?  The answer to that is you hand over the decision making process to the best team in the land and that would be the California Superbike School, with David Bancell from the Reece Bancell Memorial Association there to add extra insight.  Monday saw the top 6 put through a number of drills as well as chats with riders and parents alike.  To take advantage of the prizes at hand the riders and parents must be viewed as a team, as the commitment to the Red Bull Rookies Cup is a big one for all concerned both financially and emotionally.  After much deliberation and heart ache, although all 6 were deserving, unfortunately 3 were going to leave empty handed.  For the RMU and Malossi rides Zac Zanesco was called out first, followed by Olly Simpson.  This left the top prize and 4 names.  You could have cut the cool Broadfrod air with a knife until Steve Brouggy called Matt Barton for the Red Bull Rookies Cup ride.  Over the moon but Speechless, Matt hugged his dad and jumped the wall to join Zac and Olly with Steve Brouggy.  Tears started to fall as Chris Barton saw his boy get the top prize and Hudson, Jake and Troy realised that it wasnt their turn this time.  It must be said that Hudson, Jake and Troy are sensational racers and will be names to look out for in the future alongside those of Matt, Zac and Olly.

(in the picture above - Zac Zanesco, Matt Barton and Olly Simpson with the Red Bull Wings team)

The weekend had it's serious side, but it also had it's fun side.  The inclusion of Demo laps on Honda CBR150's with Steve Brouggy, Nathan Simpson, David Bancell, Simon Wiseman, Adrian DiGiadomenico and Paul Edwards all trying out the Junior's bikes certainly added a laugh or two.  Especially with the final demo session being a Le Mans "inspired" start.  The evidence of which can be found at http://www.mrrda.com/public/gallery/videos.html  The Red Bull Entertainment Vehicle helped end the weekend on a great note with DJ RJ pumping out some great tunes to help all in attendance celebrate the seasons racing.

A big congratulations to all competitors in this years MRRDA sereis.  We've seen them all grow and improve and without doubt we'll see that continue.  Now the time comes to take stock and start planning again for 2012, where we hope to see many return and many join us.

A big thank you to the series Sponsors, Officials and Supporters.  Each of you has had a hand in making sure that Road Racing in Australia has a strong future ahead.

Cheers, 

Woody