Final series points and News

Thank you to all of you who either competed or helped to make the Yamaha Australian Supermotard Series successful and well attended. As usual there are a few who work tirelessly behind the scenes who don’t get enough recognition and behalf of all of you we thank them. They do it, not to be thanked, but because it is in the interest of getting Supermotard established in Australian motorcycling, and if you want something done, what better way than to do it your self.

Having said that, there are never enough helpers on the day and if you now of somebody that may not be riding and wants to get involved please feel free to pass on our details and get involved. One of the benefits of giving a hand before or after the meetings is usually a few hours free on the track; some of the helpers received free practice at Wakefield on Saturday.

Just on Wakefield Park round we could not start until 10am because we felt we could not conduct a riders briefing whilst scrutineering was taking place. It wouldn’t be fair to a number of people to commence racing where through no fault of there own people had to either cue up twice or go through the process of emptying the contents of their radiator on the ground.

The Supplementary regulations/ entry forms specifically state the requirements that you must attend to before your machine will pass scrutineering, they are written for your information and to assist in the conduct of the meeting. We understand that riders have different backgrounds and this is new to many but please help your selves and read the rules before you attend, and assist others when they are starting.

Between us, as riders we know how much fun this is and Supermotard Australia will try to run the most efficient meeting we can, but also ask that you try as well, it will continue to get better and better, and eventually more and more people will come to watch what we already now is a great spectacle.

From a riding point of view, one of our legendary riders, Mr. Scott Stephens likened Supermotard riding to being chased by the cops when you were a kid. You would nip through the lane, over the kerbs, through the garden, across the main road and through the park, the point being that riding a Supermotard on bitumen feels illegal without actually doing anything wrong.

For those of you who have been with us from the start, you will have seen how we have gone from 30 or so riders to now having 70 + riders in under a year. It is a terrific growth rate and we will be implementing a new format for the next series to ensure everyone who attends on the day has an opportunity at having a go at being the best rider.

Presige, Sport, Junior and Clubman classes will remain although Prestige and Sport classes will be restricted to those with 17-inch wheels only. This so those who have gone to the expense of fitting wheels can compete against similar setup machines.

Clubman will be for those who wish to keep original wheels or something other than 17”.
Finally the Supermotard Cup will be the feature event; it will be run in heats, semi- finals and a final, with a consolation race for those who don’t make the cut off.

We may have a B and C grade championship within the Supermotard Cup, where although a C grader may finish 12th overall, he can still be the 1st within his class. Or if a B grader finishes seventh overall he could receive 25 points for being the 1st B grader and so on down the order. The points will only be extended to those within the final.

We anticipate extending the series to at least five rounds possibly six, commencing around September, it is depending on track availability and other events being conducted. An extra event to be run will be the S1 championship on 10 Nov 02 at Broadford where Supermotard Australia will conduct support events, the format of which has yet to be confirmed. Suffice to say there will be room for Juniors to Non expert riders, so please keep in touch as the event draws closer and if you wish to get involved any other way, let us know and if all else fails you can come along watch Chambon and Seel do the business against some locals.

The Supermotard riders club of Australia is off to a great start with the raffle held on Sunday netting funds, which will be used to set up and affiliate the club to Motorcycling Australia, and on 23 June 02 there will be an A grade coaching clinic / practice day at Broadford for the princely sum of $30 for the whole day. For more info contact us on 0409 52 1034 or gemmax@bigpond.com

Thanks again, spread the word and together we will build this sport to great levels and, as JFK said, “ Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”

Paul Caridi
Supermotard Australia