2012 Motul Vic Road Race Championship - Round 2
With a 15 week gap between the season opener (also at Broadford) and this round, competitors were champing at the bit for their racing fix, so the on-track action at Broadford was intense. New additions to this round were Supermodified/Superthunder, Superlites and Supermoto classes, so there was plenty for fans to check out.
Superbike/Prostock
In the premier Superbike/Prostock class, Kris Parnell took a break from his regular gig as a pilot with Virgin Australia to do some 'low level' flying on his Motologic-prepared, California Superbike School-sponsored Honda CBR 1000RR. Proving he's just as quick on the ground as he is in the air, Parnell recorded the fastest lap of the meeting - a 57.651 in the final race of the weekend - on his way to the round win. Despite not winning a race, consistent 3-3-2 results allowed the 32-year-old to accrue a round-winning total of 62 points, two ahead of Ben Nicolson (Ords Motorcycles Kawasaki Racing Ararat ZX10R).
"We had an up and down weekend," Parnell said afterward. "On Friday we put a lot of work in with Paul from Motologic - big thanks to him. We had the crash today in the over 500s, but we came back to set the lap record in the Superbike/Prostock class and take the round win, so I'm absolutely stoked."
Nicolson's runner-up result for the round was still pretty impressive, considering he had to race his spare ZX10R after blowing up the engine of his number one bike in Friday practise. Set to start from the fourth row of the grid because, Nicolson put himself even further behind the 8 ball for Saturday's first Superbike race when he missed the sighting lap and had to start from pit lane!
Despite this handicap, Nicolson managed a ninth place finish, then backed that up with second place in race two. The 24-year-old from Bendigo improved further in the final race to take a solid victory, reminding everyone why he currently leads the Superbike/Prostock championship.
Third in class for the round went to Ben Hooke (Hooke Pest Control Honda CBR 1000RR), who started brilliantly with a win in race 1, and looked likely to repeat the feat in race 2, but was penalised 10 seconds for jumping the start. 1-5-4 results gave Hooke 59 points for the round, just one adrift of Nicolson. Chris Trounson (V.I.P Petfood/Maxima Oil Honda CBR 1000RR) and Bryce Van Hoof (Mototrack Accessories/Powersports Kawasaki ZX10R) rounded out the top five for the round.
With one round to go, Nicolson still tops the overall Superbike/Superstock championship on 135 points. Hooke is second on 119, followed by Tasmanian rider Brett Simmonds on 111. Van Hoof (105) and Honda privateer Shane Walters (91) complete the top five.
Supersport
After dominating the Supersport season opener, Ryan Taylor (Pirelli/Motul/SW Racing Yamaha R6) smashed the field again in round 2. After securing fastest qualifying time, the 25-year-old made it look easy in the three Supersport races, not only taking the win, but also clearing out by 11.5, 15.3 and 14.9 seconds at each chequered flag. If that wasn't enough, Taylor put an exclamation mark on his weekend by setting a new fastest lap of 57.878 in race 2.
Matthew Fyffe (Gimoto/Radguard/MJF Excavations Suzuki GSX-R 600) was the best of the rest with 2-2-2 results. The talented New South Welshman had no chance of reeling Taylor in, but could take some consolation from the fact he put a similar gap on James Patrick (Brighton Bikes & Bits/SW Racing/Mototrack Accessories Yamaha R6), who ran 3-3-3 for the weekend.
Taylor finished the round with the maximum 75 points haul, and now sits on 150 points in the Supersport championship, 28 ahead of Fyffe (122). Patrick is third on 114 points, with a chance of leapfrogging Fyffe in the championship with one round remaining. William Clarke (98) and Joe Marateo (92) complete the top five. To cap off a perfect weekend, Taylor was victorious aboard his Kawasaki GPZ 900 in the Period 6 class as well.
"It was a great weekend," Taylor enthused. "(We) got the bike set up good, the weather held out for us, I got that lap record back again which was a bonus, three wins on the Supersport, three wins on the Period 6, it was an awesome weekend!"
Lachlan Hill (Coopers Automobiles/C & J Engineering), recorded a similarly dominant result in 125GP (which was combined with 250GP and 250 Mono to make the 'Superlites' class for this round). Three wins from three starts on the Yamaha TZ 125 sees Hill lead the championship by 10 points from Zac Zanesco (Draggin Jeans/F&R Mcnabb/Racetrix Honda RS 125). In 250GP, Bill Sayers was best in class in all three races, while Olly Simpson won two from three in 250 Mono and also took out the 150cc class. 14-year-old Max Croker took the win in the 80cc Juniors, while the 70cc class was taken out by Jacob Street, beating his sister Tayla to the #1 spot, with Jordy Simpson in third.
Other class winners at Broadford's VRRC round 2 included: Chris Trounson - Over 500cc; Craig Domaschenz - F1; Bill Sayers - F2; Paul Coleman - Superthunder; Mark Lamont - Super Modified; Neville & Glen Hazelam -Sidecars; Bruce Hill - Supermoto S1; Ben Nicolson - Supermoto S2.
The final round of the VRRC will take place at Phillip Island on October 7 - 8. The 4.45km seaside circuit produces hard, close racing across most classes, and the VRRC is sure to be no exception!
For full results and further details, go to www.vrrc.com.au
