Yamaha Finance R3 Cup QLD Raceway recap – Tears, cheers and tight tussles

ASBK 2023

Round Three – QLD Raceway

Yamaha Finance R3 Cup

Qualifying

There was just one qualifying session for the Yamaha Finance R3 Cup but with all riders cross entered into the Supersport 300 class there wasn’t any shortage of track time.

Cameron Swain grabbed pole position from Brodie Gawith (pronounced Gorth) by 0.030 sec with Henry Snell, third, to lead the 17 entries.

Championship leader Brandon Demmery was an uncharacteristic fifth, but in reality, if you are on the front three rows, anything is possible in the races.

It’s beginning to be a cliché but as usual the racing in both the Proddie classes was exceptional and is an extension of what is witnessed in the OJC but with a more speed and a lot more intensity.

On reflection, it’s extremely difficult to relay a lap-by-lap report as each race is an extension of the other. Who will be the victor is like a lottery as it all depends on timing and who has the biggest smarts in each race.

In race one, the distance covering the top six was just 0.578 sec, the second the top eight were covered by 0.924 second and in the final race, 0.524 sec covered the top six, so it was the matter of a missed braking point, or running slightly wide to allow a last corner attack that was the difference between winning and being among the also rans.

R3 Cup Qualifying Results

Yamaha Finance R3 Cup Race One

In the first leg Swain got the jump at the start and tried to make an early break but halfway down the first long back straight it was clear that having a lead of half a dozen bike lengths exiting Turn Two, it would be negated soon after as they all fan out gathered up in the slip stream and swoop on the leader, then the braking duels would begin. At QR, out of the six corners, that happens four times a lap.

The top eight or ten positions that battled for the lead see-sawed back and forth before Marcus Hamod – in his second year in the class – broke through for his first win. Henry Snell missed out on the win by 0.024sec with Demmery seemingly attached to Snell’s machine in third, with Gawith a bike length behind in the battle for fourth, and pole-sitter Swain and Russo, the trio side by side, so tantalisingly close to a podium.

Hamod had come close to the win in the past, but this was the breakthrough he had been looking for. It was the beginning of a stellar weekend for the ever-smiling-teenager from Wollongong.

On the podium It was a very emotional Hamod who couldn’t contain the excitement or relief of his personal milestone. His outpouring of feelings was not lost on the many onlookers.

On the other side of the coin, Swain was hard on himself for letting a chance go by, the four-tenths gap across the line little consolation but in this class as every lap in every class is a learning curve.

Yamaha Finance R3 Cup Race One Results

Yamaha Finance R3 Cup Race Two

Race two was another cracker. Why would it not be with most of the field still teenagers mixed with the older experienced heads such as the “ancient” 25-year-old, Brandon Demmery all of whom are extremely talented and fearless, and keen for a on track battle.

This time it was Sam Pezzetta’s turn to shine and breakthrough for his first win, prevailing in the slipstream drag to the line by 0.021 sec from Gawith -again in second – with Swain going some ways to alleviate his disappointments from the day before to score some decent points in third.

It was another emotional moment at the podium as Sam returned to the form, he knows he possesses and showed at The Bend last year with a hat-trick of second places.

Pezzetta’s progress was a little stunted though after he crashed with another rider in the first race of the supports of the WSBK at Phillip Island back in February and it’s taken some time for him to get his confidence back. It came back in spades at QR.

Yamaha Finance R3 Cup Race Two Results