A SINGLE point separates brothers Nathan Jones and Tyson Jones as they head into the penultimate round of the 2016 Motul Pirelli Victorian Road Racing Championship in November.
The thrilling third round took place at the State Motorcycle Sports Complex over the weekend, September 24-25, at Broadford. Tyson, 30, was trailing his older brother Nathan by just six points before the weekend and is now just one point behind Nathan in the hunt for the coveted Superbike title in Victoria’s premier road racing competition.
Tyson won two out of his three races, picking up a total of 70 points, to win the round. “I tried a few different settings on the bike which went pretty well. There was a fair bit of traffic during qualifying but we got poll during the first qualifying session.
“I started from poll position and led almost every lap in Race 1 on Saturday,” Tyson said.
“Sunday was really good. I got a bit of an average start but still managed to get passed both Nathan and Ben (Gotch) in Race 2. The last race was really good too. Nathan had more pace than I did in the last one.
“I still rode quicker than the race before but it wasn’t quite enough. Again, we tried something different with the bike, which took me a few laps to figure out how to ride it, which was a positive step as we went quicker, but it took me a few too many laps to get back into it,” Tyson added.
“Two wins and a second; there’s no complaints. I’ve brought it down to one point for the last round,” Tyson added. “Hopefully, there will be more of the same at the next round. I’ll have to beat Nathan basically in every race.
“If we get a race win each, it’ll make the last race pretty exciting. It’ll definitely be on,” Tyson continued.
Nathan, 32, was likewise happy with the close result on the weekend. “The weather was pretty much perfect for the whole weekend.
“I struggled a bit earlier in the weekend trying to get some pace but working with Darren from Race Centre we changed a few things with the bike and got better and quicker every time I went out on the track,” Nathan said.
“In the first race, both Nathan and I had a good battle with Ben but unfortunately he went down in the last lap of the race, which helped me in the championship which put me up to second with Tyson leading. In the second race, Tyson was just too quick,” Nathan added.
“In the last race, I rescued the weekend really, taking the win from Tyson, which was good. It was good to go head-to-head with Tyson in the last race to take the win and get the championship-lead back by one point,” he said.
Nathan is looking forward to the final round of the 2016 Motul Pirelli Victorian Road Racing Championship that takes place at Broadford’s State Motorcycle Sports Complex on November 12-13.
Nathan and Tyson would both like to thank 3J Racing, Race Centre, Cykel, and Pirelli Tyres for all their support this season.
“I can’t wait. It’s going to be very exciting. There is definitely going to be some tough racing,” Nathan added.
For more information please visit: www.vrrc.com.au.
2016 Motul Pirelli Victorian Road Racing Championship
Superbike – Provisional Series Points (After three rounds)
Pos. Name – Points
1. Nathan Jones – 189
2. Tyson Jones – 188
3. Dean Archbold – 141
4. Steve Tozer – 127
5. Alastair Loomes – 91