2023 Queensland Road Racing Championships
With Craig Mayne and Trevor Hedge
Images by Endorphin Media
Queensland Raceway hosted a great opening round of the 2023 RACE and ROAD Ricondi QLD Road Racing Championships (QRRC) last weekend. The second round is scheduled to be held at Morgan Park Raceway in October. Next year’s season will see an expanded series with plans to race at the new Townsville facility.
As often is the case at QLD Raceway, bikes aren’t the only fast machines on offer. With its close proximity to the RAAF Amberley airbase you will also often see fighter jets and various other Air Force assets overhead, as spectators did last weekend.
The entry numbers were boosted by a number of top level ASBK competitors taking the opportunity to use the event for testing purposes.
First time title sponsors RACE and ROAD Ricondi got behind this QLD event to help make it a great experience for the whole racing community. With over $2,500 in prizes kindly donated from RACE and ROAD and Ricondi throughout the weekend, their continual support to the road racing community shone through.
Anthony West was not only racing at the front in the Superbike Category – battling it out with Troy Herfoss, Mike Jones and Broc Pearson – he was also piloting the Addicted to Track 2UP Superbike pillion experience.
Herfoss was supremely fast over the weekend but, like Mike Jones, he chose to sit out the declared wet races which saw him pipped for the overall round win by Anthony West.
Anthony West and Michael Edwards showed on Saturday afternoon how quick they could be in the wet with “Pops” Michael Edwards right on Westy’s back wheel for the entire race.
Troy Herfoss was dominant over the weekend in the dry but ended up in P2 behind Ant West for the weekend after choosing not to contest the wet race on Saturday afternoon.
Herfoss recorded the fastest lap of the race in each of the three races he contested and won. The Penrite Honda man was half-a-second quicker than Mike Jones in both races on Sunday. Winning the Sunday morning race by eight-seconds over West, and the final race of the weekend by five-seconds over Jones.
Josh Waters didn’t race the event but did ride the Friday practice day on the McMartin Ducati and was looking very fast indeed.
Another interesting development was seeing John Lytras, the reigning ASBK Supersport champion, campaigning a largely standard Yamaha YZF-R1 in banana yellow to compete in the Superbike category. Lytras did not disappoint and was able to complete the weekend in P7, he also sat out the Saturday afternoon’s wet race.
In the SuperSport Category Sean Condon continues to impress with three wins from four races. Unfortunately the Sydneysider low-sided into Turn Six on Saturday and thus recorded a DNF in that second race of the weekend.
Hayden Nelson from Taree is definitely one to watch for the upcoming rounds of ASBK in the 600 ranks after finishing second for the round in Supersport and winning the Production 400 category.
Other notable performances in Production 400 category were Cameron Swain, Casey Middleton and Glenn Nelson.
Cameron and Casey will compete in the SuperSport 300 category at SMP next week while Glenn Nelson will step back on to the SuperSport bike.
Sadly, there were only four entries in the Sidecars, even though the numbers were low the racing was fierce, particularly between Phil Underwood/ Tristan Vercoe and Stacey Sellar / Nieta Wright. These two outfits battled hard all weekend.
The Underwood/Vercoe outfit went out on slicks on Saturday’s wet race. Sellar/Wright spun out in T3 early in the race but were able to catch up to Underwood/Vercoe but were again passed by them.
With a last ditch effort Sellar/Wright made for a big pass down the back straight to again spin out in T3 giving Underwood/Vercoe the win.
Unfortunately, on Sunday in R12 the Sellars/Wright team were struggling with traction particularly in T1/T2 and looked a little sketchy. In R18 things got a bit sketchier and Neita Wright took a tumble off the sidecar and ended up being injured. Initial reports suggested a broken Tibia/Fibula.
There were lots of great individual performances in the Pre-Modern, Pre-2k and Period 6 classes over the weekend. No matter what the category or bike everyone was having a go.
Lisa Campbell – aka GoSpeedy28 who is the CEO of RACE and ROAD and Ricondi, got to experience first hand Ant West in action on her 2Up thrill ride. Nerves of steel, or just nuts, there was so much excitement and no hesitation to jump on the back of the superbike with Ant and hold on for dear life.
Ant entertained the crowd and his fellow racers, with his amazing skills in handling the superbike with a pillion rider, whilst fetching top speeds down the straights doing wheelies.
As Lisa describes it, “Hands down, one of the BEST experiences I’ve ever had. Finally doing 1m18’s around Queensland Raceway while doing epic wheelies. Even though I’ve raced and do track work, I had NO IDEA of the insane power, mental late braking, the G-forces and thrill of these superbikes. A huge eye opener in every aspect. Mega respect to Ant.”
This 2UP experience was a great addition to this QLD Event. Coupled with the quality of entries, fantastic venue, great atmosphere, we saw endless smiles from everyone at the RACE and ROAD Ricondi QLD Road Racing Championships. Round Two will be at Morgan Park in October.
On Sunday, not long after lunch, as often happens in Queensland, the heavens opened up with a fairly ferocious storm that put an end to all proceedings and the event was cut short. Phil Underwood of Sidecar fame summed it up “That’s Racing” as he sat in his pit with a river of water passing through.
2023 Queensland Road Racing Championships
Images by Endorphin Media
