Australian Dirt Track Championships

JULY 2010
Road race training at Marulen and
Broadford provides good grounding
Remy and Luca continue to train on the tar and recently
joined a ride day at the relatively new Marulen circuit in
NSW. Then last month the boys joined Bernie Hatton’s
training day at Broadford circuit in Victoria. “I really believe
the combination of racing on the dirt and training on the tar
has stepped the boys up,” says Wayne. He believes Remy
in particular has “really benefited from the higher speeds on
the tar.” He also says, “you can see Remy’s corner speed
has improved tremendously. He’s really fast into the
corners on his dirt bikes now.” The training had been in
preparation for the now cancelled Mini Moto race in Japan.
Unfortunately the economic climate in Japan continues to
decline and the opportunity for Remy and Wayne to race
together in September has, for this year, been withdrawn.
On the bright side, Remy and Luca have become massive
fans of riding on the ‘black stuff’’. “I got right down after the
first few laps and scraped my knee,” an excited Remy told
Wayne after his first training session at Marulen!
JOSH PICKERING 103: DOUBLE AUSTRALIAN CHAMPION
AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR DIRT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS,
Kurri Kurri Junior Motorcycle Club, NSW, 2-4 July
Team Gardner proudly acknowledge
their valued sponsors
More than 150 junior riders turned up with almost 250 bikes between them for an
action packed weekend at the home of Kurri Kurri Junior Motorcycle club at Loxford
Park.
Celebrations were in full swing on Sunday afternoon of the 2010 Australian Dirt Track
Championships for Team Gardner sponsored rider Josh Pickering who convincingly
took out two championship titles, on the Honda 150RB in the 13-U16 age group and
again on his 125cc. Josh’s hard earned wins made up for some disappointing and
heartbreaking results from the rest of the Team Gardner camp.
Remy and Luca achieved great results on Saturday in the championship heats and
arrived at the track on Sunday morning with a positive and relaxed vibe.
Unfortunately luck wasn’t on their side this time, and race circumstances as well as
uncontrolled nerves combined to hamper results. Neither Remy nor Luca walked
away with a podium place this weekend, but many lessons were learned.
As always competition was stiff and the talented young riders contesting
championships in all age groups and classes is something for Australian motorcycle
racing to be proud of. This is an excellent time for Team Gardner to be competing in
Dirt Track and Track racing, with a lot to be learned from the competition.
In the weeks leading up to the event, Engineer Tony Hatton worked tirelessly to
refresh engines so that Remy and Luca turned up with the best equipment possible.
Continued on page 2
TEAM GARDNER NEWS
JULY 2010
AUSSIE Dirt Track
Championships
continued…
Remy and Luca
arrived at Kurri
Kurri with a
confident
but
cautious attitude.
Practice
on
Friday was used
as a bit of a testing session, with some last minute set-up changes for
Saturday’s heats. Luca rode very well and pulled out some solid and
consistent results in his three heats on Saturday, finishing third in each
event and avoiding some major carnage in two of the heats. Remy
started slowly on the Honda CR85 in the big wheel class on Saturday
with a couple of third places, working his way up to a second and finally
a first in the heats. On the 150RB small wheel Remy finished the first
two heats in first and lead the third heat to 100 meters from the finish
line before loosing the back end in a strange crash on the straight. He
got back up to finish in sixth, and then placed second in the final heat.
Checking Remy’s times for each of the small wheel and big wheel heats,
he was faster or around the same time as leaders of each heat, and so
Team Gardner felt the bikes were well set up and ready to compete in
Sunday’s finals.
No. 87 Remy GARDNER
Born: 24 February 1998
AUSTRALIAN DIRT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
85cc 2-stroke/150cc 4-stroke, small wheel 11-U13 yrs
Heat 1:
1ST
Heat 2:
1ST
Heat 3:
6th
Heat 4:
2ND
FINAL 1: 4th
FINAL 2: 2ND
FINAL 3: DNF
OVERALL FINISH: 8TH
1st: Zaine Kennedy 2nd: Ben Cook
3rd: Lachlan Holroyd
85cc 2-stroke/150cc 4-stroke, big wheel 11-U13 yrs
Heat 1:
3rd
Heat 2:
3rd
Heat 3:
2nd
Heat 4:
1st
FINAL 1: 7TH
FINAL 2: 6TH
FINAL 3: 8TH
OVERALL FINISH: 7TH
Luca showed determination and rode smoothly in his first two finals,
finishing fourth and fifth. Chasing third place in the last final he lost the
front end on the first corner of the dogleg and finally finished the race in
eleventh. “I felt confident I could do well this weekend, but I thought I
could get third. If I didn’t crash maybe it might have happened,” said
Luca.
Remy let his nerves get the better of him on finals day and this impacted
his starts. “We knew because there are seven or eight of us out of the
grid of twelve that could win, I had to get the start to have a chance,”
Remy said. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and in the first two finals in
both classes he got boxed in and just couldn’t catch up. The CR85 also
wasn’t performing as well as it had the day before, and to top it of Remy
discovered his choke had been turned on in one of the finals and the
bike just wouldn’t get moving. This is a complete mystery as neither
Remy nor Wayne believe they turned it on.
Remy’s results on the 150RB were better than the CR85, and his hopes
for a podium finish rested on the last final of the day. Disastrously
another rider crashed directly in front of him on the first lap and took
Remy out of the race. The flag marshall lifted Remy’s bike off the fallen
rider and because that was deemed “outside assistance” Remy was
pulled off the track and not allowed back in the race. The Clerk of the
Course made the decision not to red flag the race and therein lies
Remy’s first heartbreaking lesson in how a race incident that isn’t your
fault can impact your fate. The saying “that’s racing” didn’t ease the
blow but will no doubt become a well used phrase in his vocab for many
years to come if he is to continue racing!!
No. 88 Luca GARDNER
Born: 24 January 2000
AUSTRALIAN DIRT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP
80cc –stroke 7-U10 yrs
Heat 1:
3rd
Heat 2:
3rd
Heat 3:
3rd
Heat 4:
4th
th
FINAL 1: 4
FINAL 2: 5tt
FINAL 3: 11th
OVERALL FINISH: 11th
2
TEAM GARDNER NEWS
JULY 2010
FOOTNOTE…
By Wayne Gardner
Well last weekend at the Australian Dirt Track Championships has certainly
taken it out of us all. It was an emotional rollercoaster of a weekend, with
great results on Saturday and some big let downs on Sunday. I was very
proud of our sponsored rider Josh Pickering taking home two Australian
championships. He has definitely come of age and all his hard work and
experience is now paying off. Josh is a fantastic competitor and a great role
model for Remy and Luca.
There were a lot of lessons learned this weekend. In the short two years
Remy and Luca have been racing we’ve had a pretty good run, but it looks
like this could be a year of learning. Either way, we’re competing at the front
of the field and I keep telling the boys the trophy we’re coming away with is in
the form of experience rather than the shiny version you put on a shelf.
Photo: Maria Millard
We’re all looking forward to the Australian Longtrack Championships being
held at our home Central Coast Junior Motorcycle Club track in October, and
continuing the beloved road race training over the next few months.
Thanks as always to our sponsors. Your support enables us to put our best
foot forward.
For further information please contact Toni Gardner on +61 (0) 414 574228 or
via email [email protected]
TEAM GARDNER
20 Ralph Black Drive
Wollongong, NSW 2095
Australia