ROUND 6 RACE REPORT
2021 AGV HELMETS AUSTRALIA WA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUND 6 RACE REPORT
Sunday 7th November saw the best road racers in the State at Wanneroo Raceway for the final round of the AGV Helmets Australia WA State Road Racing Championships. With perfect weather and all championships still up for grabs, there was an air of expectation for some close racing across all five championship classes plus the B Grade and Clubman series.
The B Grade Series, with a field of 18 riders, opened the days racing, and it was Andrew Biffen (GoMoto Store Yamaha R6) who got the hole-shot and led the field into the first turn. He managed to hold the lead for all but one lap before he was swamped by firstly Josh Mathers (4ward Fabrications Kawasaki ZX-10), who took the win, and also Rob Fannin (Motorcycle Assist Yamaha R1) who took second place leaving him with the final podium place. The 2021 B grade series was won by Raymond Kleyn (GoMoto Store Kawasaki ZX_10) with 95 points, he finished the race in fifth place.
The Professional Printers Sidecar Championship was was all but won going into the final round with the outfit of Dillan McDermott/Corey Blackman (Super Spray LCR Suzuki) only needing to finish to be crowned the 2021 champion, making it three in a row. He did it in style winning the first of the two championship races by some 4.5 seconds from Graeme Evans/Robert Dillon (Rick Hanger Racing Kawasaki), with Murray Stronach/Steve Marshall (Aceman Enterprises RHR Suzuki) third. The trio finished the second race in the same order with McDermott/Blackman taking the championship with 250 points. Second were Evans/Dillon on 200 points and third Stronach/Marshall on 158 points. In the reverse grid non-championship Handicap the winners were Andrew Davies/Sammy Lloyd-Cox(Davies Electrical LCR Kawasaki) second were Stronach/Marshall, with McDermott/Blackman in third place.
The Triton Electrical Superbike Championship saw Sam Clarke (RS36 & Rick Gill Motorcycles Suzuki GSXR 1000) take three strong wins from as many starts, and also set new lap records in the both of the first two races. His results helped secure third place in the championship, despite missing the first two rounds. Ben Stronach (VRT Signs Yamaha R1) rode to secure his sixth Superbike Championship and achieved that with a total of 373 points. He finished comfortably ahead of second placed Adam Senior (Senior Engineering Yamaha R1) who scored a total of 321 points, with Clarke on 292 points rounding out the podium. The Superbike lap record now stands at 56.3260 seconds. Special mention to Cameron Stronach (Motorcycle Movers Ducati Panigale) who, just 25 days after having his collarbone plated, rode his heart out trying to get back onto the final podium but fell just 14 points short. In the C Grade Series Raymond Kleyn took out the series with 356 points, second was Rob Fannin with 338 points and third was Anton Jones on 269 points.
The Cullys Yamaha Supersport Championship has not been decided at the time of writing as it is currently under Technical Protest. The Supersport C Grade Series was not affected and it was Chris Vance (Keegan Transport Yamaha R6) who took it out with a score of 363 points. Second was Adrian O'Callaghan (Yamaha R6) with 322 points and third was Jessica Boujos (PANIIK Racing Yamaha R6) with 281 points.
Like the Superbikes, the GoMoto Store Production Championship saw their lap record lowered twice in the first and third races. William Wasley (IGEN Racing Yamaha R3) took the win in the first race and along the way lowered the lap record to 1:06.9880. Jordan White (GoMoto Store Kawasaki Ninja 400) won the second race. In the final race it was Jayden Martin (Aussie Moto Engineering Yamaha R3) who took the win and lowered the lap record once again to 1:06.6900 seconds, second was Wasley with White rounding out the top three. Going into this final round White and Martin were tied in first place on 238 points, after three races the title went to Jordan White with 301 points, Jayden Martin was second just 2 points behoind on 299 and Patrick 'Paddy' Browne secured the minor placing with 228 points.
The Senior Engineering Junior Road Racing Championship saw some of the closest racing of the day, with Jack Dowling (Banhams Yamaha R15) taking wins in the first and the last race and Calvin Moylan (Pickett Racing Team Yamaha R15) winning the second race. In all races they were pushed to the limit by Bruce Oliver (Trinity Mining Services Yamaha R15). In the first race Moylan lowered the lap record from 1:23.3520 seconds set by Ethan Thompson back in May of this year to 1:19.4560 seconds, which is a staggering amount of nearly four seconds, but that was not the end of it with Dowling breaking it in the final race setting a time of 1:19.2730 seconds. With this crop of youngsters and the younger guys in the Production class the future of WA Road Racing is in very good hands!!!
The 2021 Rick Gill Motorcycles Clubman class saw a number of winners over the year, in both wet and dry conditions. A huge congratulations to all of those winners/placegetters, and we look forward to seeing you all step up (those that haven't already) to the Supersport and Superbike classes in 2022.
CONGRATULATIONS to all of the round and championship winners in 2021!
Photos and reports courtesy John Innes