IT was a good weekend for the Ted Collins Racing at Broadford for the Victorian Road Racing Championship. With great weather forecast all weekend we were excited for some good racing.
We had competed at Broadford a few weeks before at an interclub meeting, so we were happy with the set up of the new Traction Control Suspension/Alpine Performance Centre GSX-R 600. Friday, November 27 was spent working with Shane Kinderis from Alpine Performance Centre. By the end of Friday, my times were already half a second faster than I had ever been around the Broadford layout.
Saturday, November 28 saw two qualifying sessions and one race. I finished the first qualifying session second with an identical time from Friday (59.0). Working with Wayne from Traction Control Suspension we made some setup changes ready from qualifying two. After doing one flying lap I did a lap time of 58.4. I was sitting second only .007 behind the leader Ryan Taylor (four time Victorian Champion).
Race One was an unknown for us, as I rode up to the start line and sore that Ryan had missed the sighting lap and was forced to start rear of grid. I didn’t get the start I was hoping for in race one but pushed my way to the front and I was leading by the time we got around turn one. I put my head down a focused on finding a rhythm that I could run for 10 laps. On the fifth lap of ten Ryan had made his way through the field and past me. I pushed to keep with him and at the end I was only .9 of a second behind.
Race Two we had more changes to the bike. After putting in some good laps at the start of the race I was in second behind Ryan. This is when I did my fastest lap of the weekend 58.1 exactly half a second of the Supersport lap record.
Race Three was very similar, I held first place for two laps, once Ryan came past I stuck with him I started to close the little gap he had in the last few laps. But catching lapped riders made it difficult to catch him.
To finish second in the Supersport Victorian title is a huge achievement for our team. I also finished first C Grade Supersport.
Ted would like to thank everyone that helped out during the weekend. These include:
-Dad
-Traction Control Suspension
-Alpine Performance Centre
-Magnum Welders
-Auldana Foundations
-G.Williams Motorcycle Engineering
-Spikes Lunch Time Engineering
Ted Collins Racing, Warrnambool, VIC