Jones brothers clean up PRRS Saturday at Broadford | Tyson Jones takes Pirelli Road Race Series Sprint Title
By Russell Colvin
Twenty-eight year old Tyson Jones has come up trumps in claiming the last round of this year’s Pirelli Road Racing Series in the Sprint format series at Broadford on Saturday.
Jones guided his 3JJJ Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R to three faultless victories which also handed him the PRRS Sprint series championship in the process. “It’s been a really good day today,” said Jones who was using the new FD01 (Farrkin Deluxe) Race Center technology in Matris cartridge. “I didn’t expect to come here this weekend and take out the Sprint series championship, as I was twenty-nine points behind Paul [Simonson] coming into day. But yeah, it’s awesome to walk away as the champion for 2014 that’s for sure!”
Second to Jones was his elder brother, Nathan who played second fiddle all day. The closest Nathan got to his ‘bro’ was in the final race when the finishing margin was just .052sec. The only slip up for the two brothers was in race two when Tyson was leading into Crash Corner (turn three) and came in a bit too sideways and ran wide, with Nathan going out in sympathy, following suit. “To tell you the truth I’m not real sure what happened there,” Nathan said after race two. “I saw Tyson went a bit sideways in and maybe I just got caught watching him.”
The following lap, Nathan again went on at turn three, but this time it was because he out braked himself. “I was just pushing too hard really,” explained Nathan. “It was probably the first lap that I had, that I wasn’t right behind Tyson, so I thought I would have a crack and push on, but I just went a bit too deep.” It wasn’t too bad for Nathan though as he did manage a 56.918 PB in the second race on lap three of the seven lap journey.
Making it a Kawasaki ZX-10R podium lockout was thirty-four year old Dean Archbold aboard the Morwell Kawasaki machine. While third place was good enough, it was the case of ‘what could have been.’ Archbold experienced clutch issues in race one and fork seals problem in race two. “We managed to get through the day thanks to help from Mal Metcher,” said Archbold. “It was a very good day overall, but it could have been better.” Archbold came into the round nine points off the championship lead and ended up seven points off Jones in the end. So overall, was Archbold happy? “To come second overall after the day we have had is not too bad.”
The one only Suzuki mounted rider in Travis Baas (Ords Motorcycles) was fourth overall after posting a 6-5-7 result with Peter Berry (Kawasaki ZX10R) rounding out the top five, just two points behind Bass.
Completing the top ten was Richard Beddome (Honda CBR 1000RR), Scott McGregor (Honda CBR 1000RR) Paul Simonson (Aprilia RSV4), Brad Conder (Yamaha R1) and fellow Yamaha rider, Steve Tozer (Mastercoat Racing).
For eighth place man Simonson, who led the title charge coming into the round, it was an up-and-down day. Race one was the turning point for the championship story when he lost the front end between turn one and two. Then in race two, Simonson went out and had a massive 42psi in his rear tyre, but still managed to finish third, 8.956sec behind Tyson Jones. Overall Simonson finished in third place in the championship fight and was just three points off Archbold. “It’s a bit frustrating, but I only have myself to blame,” said Simonson. “It’s one of those things. I’m disappointed, but what can you do.”
In the Supersport class, both Ben Meade (Race Center) and David Barker were locked on sixty points together with Meade winning on a count back after he nailed a 2-2-2 result to Barker’s 1-4-3 result.
Meade regarded his day as a “ripper” of a day after having a few setup dramas on Friday. “It was pretty good hard close racing out there today,” said Meade. “We’re lucky to come through with the ‘bikkies’ today.”
For Barker, he was mainly only riding for the day to wrap up the C-grade championship that he did with ease. Overall Barker finished third in the championship that he was quite surprised with even himself. “After mucking around with my electronics this year and suffering a few crashes throughout the year has made the year a bit of a struggle,” said Barker. “I’m really surprised that I have managed to finish within the top three, so yeah I’m pretty happy.”
Eight points behind the pair was Jonny Taylor (Coatsworth Race Engines) riding an old 2003 Honda CBR 600RR!
Fourth went to Ben Gotch which was good enough for him to seal the deal in the championship. Kieran Maher (Rhino the Wrecker/Rhino Bins) rounded out the top five.
Other class winners included Tom Bramich (Ron Angel Classic Racing) in the 250cc Production ahead of Luke Davies and Brian Bezzina.
Drew Sells took out the 160cc junior class with three wins on the trot, as did Joel Kelso in the 70cc junior class. Jacob Whitehouse also took three wins to claim the top spot in the 85cc junior class.
