International Challenge Race Three

Island Classic 2018

By Trevor Hedge

With Jeremy McWilliams and David Johnson sharing the wins across Saturday’s two Island Classic International Challenge bouts, and little separating Team UK and Team Australia on the points table, Sunday was shaping up as a cracker at Phillip Island today.

Temperatures were rising rapidly, with pit lane gauges indicating 30-degrees celsius by 0900 this morning, towards a forecast possible 40-degree maximum later this afternoon, putting the already fragile machines even closer to breaking point.  They are pushed way beyond anything anybody could ever have imagined possible from their origins, without excess heat, thus the conditions were to take a toll on not only the riders but also their highly strung machinery.

Of course, the matter of what machines in the field actually resemble anything that came out of a manufacturer’s factory, or were even raced back in the era the machines are claimed to have come from, is a never ending subject of conjecture. The sooner some stable rules for Historic Motorcycle competition are adopted globally the better.

Anyway, enough of the politics, let’s get back to the racing…

Despite the massive schedule over the weekend everything had been running incredibly smoothly, with no real hold-ups and no major oil spills.  That changed this morning with major oil down during the warm-up lap for the Formula 1300 race, which saw a GSX-R drop its lifeblood all the way from Siberia, through the Hayshed and right up to Lukey Heights. After a lengthy delay that Formula 1300 race was eventually canned due to time constraints after another red flag.

Giacomo Agostini held the lead up to the third of the four six-lap International Challenge bout which finally got underway at 1236 with the mercury rising further and an indicated track temperature of 54-degrees Celsius.

There was some upset people and conjecture before the race had even started though as some riders, including Troy Corser, did not make it out of pit-lane before officials closed the exit, despite many riders that had made it out still not even out of Southern Loop. Corser was clearly very frustrated at that turn of events, and was forced to start the race from pitlane after the rest of the field had already fired their way down the straight and the last of which were entering turn one.

David Johnson was the early leader as Colin Edwards pushed his way through to second place ahead of Peter Hickman and Jeremy McWilliams.

McWilliams moved past Hickman at turn four, ran wide, but gathered it up to hold on to that third placed position as they headed towards Siberia.

Up front though David Johnson had pulled the pin, the South Australian two-seconds ahead of Edwards, who had a very small buffer over McWilliams, Hickman, Dan Linfoot, Glen Richards and Paul Byrne.

By the end of the second lap Troy Corser was already up to 13th place and battling with Shawn Giles and Steve Martin.

Team UK riders McWilliams, Hickman and Linfoot blew past the Texas Tornado early on lap two, as Jason Pridmore also joined that party, quickly getting the better of countryman Edwards.

David Johnson looked untouchable up front, by half race distance Davo had four-seconds on McWilliams, who in turn now had a second over Dan Linfoot, who was now under a determined attack from Jason Pridmore, the American wants that podium in this one.

Alas, it was not to be, some sort of mechanical gremlins struck Pridmore late in the race that saw him shuffled back down the field on the final lap.

No such problems for David Johnson, who blasted to a clear four-second victory over McWilliams while it was Paul Byrne who finished strongly to claim the final step on the rostrum.

Fastest lap of the race also to Johnson with a 1m37.264 on his first flying lap.

Glen Richards claimed fourth ahead of Dan Linfoot while Beau Beaton brought the Irving Vincent home in sixth ahead of Peter Hickman.

Troy Corser gesticulated wildly at the officials as he crossed the line in a brilliant eighth place. After starting perhaps as far back as 30-seconds or more from many of the riders he managed to pass before the end of the six-lap distance, this was a fantastic performance from the two-time World Superbike Champion, who does not seem to have lost much of the drive and determination that took him to those crowns. In that fight from the back of the pack the 46-year-old set the second fastest lap of the race.

The fast paced race schedule at this massive event means that riders get about 30-seconds from pitlane being opened to make it out on to the track. If pitted at the far end of pitlane, it takes almost that long to make it down to the exit of pitlane, if not running the gauntlet at breackneck speed well outside of the pitlane speed limits. This was an issue that has been brought up during the weekend by other riders, including race winner, both today and yesterday, David Johnson.

However, when Corser did join the race, he has been reported as not continuing to the very end of the pitlane before joining the circuit, but instead, knocked some cones over in his rush to get up to speed. There was some questions asked, and a meeting called, the result of which saw Corser relegated two rows on the grid for the final encounter.

Road Race legend Michael Rutter claimed ninth place while Colin Edwards rounded out the top ten for Team USA.

Jason Pridmore has been a shining light for Team USA throughout the weekend, showing enough pace to score fastest lap of the race yesterday, but his Yamaha cried enough late in that one, spewing oil all over both himself and our on-board camera.

There was some talk of trying to change engine but with only a couple of hours before the fourth and final bout, we suspect the decision might be made to abandon that effort. Still, the affable American will not have lost too much love for Phillip Island, which he declared ‘the best racetrack in the world’ when speaking with us earlier in the weekend. We hope he comes back for more! This weekend was his first sprint race start since 2010, despite that he still showed awesome speed here this weekend.

Island Classic 2018

International Challenge Race Three Results

1. Johnson – AUS
2. McWilliams – UK +4.030
3. Byrne – AUS +7.309
4. Richards – UK +8.854
5. Linfoot – UK +9.267
6. Beaton – AUS +10.046
7. Hickman – UK +10.725
8. Corser – AUS +10.929
9. Rutter – UK +11.492
10. Edwards – USA +11.997
11. Giles – AUS +13.824
12. Zemke – USA +13.860
13. Martin – AUS +17.051
14. Ditchburn – UK +25.006
15. Johnston – UK +25.080
16. Webster – AUS +34.892
17. Long – USA +39.904
18. Hindle – NZ +49.532

International Challenge Team Points

1. Australia 515
2. UK 508
3. USA 389
4. NZ 255

2018 Island Classic International Challenge Entry List PHILLIP ISLAND – January 26-28, 2018
FIELD FOR MV AGUSTA INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE
Australia			Captain: Rex Wolfenden
No	First Name	Last Name	Make & Model	Year	Cap
11	Troy	Corser	Honda Harris F1	1982	1150
99	Steve	Martin	Suzuki Katana 1294	1982	1294
19	Shawn	Giles	Suzuki Katana 1294	1982	1294
186	Beau	Beaton	Irving Vincent	1982	1300
86	Cam	Donald	Irving Vincent	1982	1300
52	Paul	Byrne	Mcintosh Suzuki	1982	1260
3	David	Johnson	Suzuki XR69	1982	1100
76	Scott	Webster	Suzuki Harris	1980	1200
39	Ken	Watson	Yamaha TZ31	1978	750
New Zealand			Captain: Duncan Coutts
No	First Name	Last Name	Make & Model	Year	Cap
50	Glen	Hindle	Suzuki XR69	1982	1170
10	Damien	Kavney	Suzuki XR69	1982	1260
55	Trevor	Taylor	Yamaha TZ500H	1981	498
211	Simon	Richards	Suzuki CMR XR69	1982	1170
31	Kerry	Wilton	Yamaha TZ350F	1979	410
335	Duncan	Coutts	Yamaha CMR F1	1984	1251
27	Mat	Ineson	Suzuki GSX	1982	1135
25	Alistair	Wilton	Yamaha TZ750	1979	746
United Kingdom			Captain: Keith Higgs/Roger Winfield
No	First Name	Last Name	Make & Model	Year	Cap
99	Jeremy	Mcwilliams	Yamaha Harris F1	1984	1297
62	Peter	Hickman	Yamaha Harris F1	1984	1260
75	Glen	Richards	Yamaha Harris F1	1984	1250
13	Lee	Johnston	Yamaha Harris F1	1984	1250
4	Daniel	Linfoot	Honda Harris F1	1982	1150
14	Michael	Rutter	Yamaha Harris F1	1984	1297
77	Derek	Brown	Suzuki Harris F1	1980	1260
31	Craig	Ditchburn	Yamaha TZ750	1978	750
331	Micheal	Neeves	Suzuki Harris	1980	1100
United States			Captain: Dave Crussell
No	First Name	Last Name	Make & Model	Year	Cap
178	Bruce	Lind	Yamaha TZ750	1975	750
17	Dave	Crussell	Yamaha TZ750	1978	748
29	Barrett	Long	Yamaha TZ750	1979	750
195	Martin	Morrison	Suzuki RGB500	1982	500
45	Ed	Haazer	Kawasaki Z1000	1979	1200
62	Robert	Ruwoldt	Kawasaki Harris F1	1980	1200
5	Colin	Edwards	Suzuki XR69	1983	1200
43	Jason	Pridmore	Yamaha FJ-1200	1980	1200
98	Jake	Zemke	CMB FJ1300	—-	—-