Top ten for Condon – even after having surgery on his ankle! By Russell Colvin & Trevor Hedge
While much has been made of the recent injuries sustained by title contenders Wayne Maxwell and Jamie Stauffer, it was 25-year-old Sean Condon that deserved the Ironman award at Wakefield Park last weekend.
Sean Condon was racing with a freshly operated on left ankle, broken only two weeks before the ASC round at Wakefield Park. The injury a result of a motocross training crash which left Condon with plenty of bone fragments floating, well grinding may be more appropriate, around in his ankle along with the resultant accompanying ligament damage.
Condon underwent surgery on his ankle only a week before the Wakfield Park round, with surgeons initially planning to install some metalwork but when they opened him up they opted instead to just do a clean up job, as there did not seem to be enough solid mass to screw together. Following surgery Condon was advised not to weight-bare for at least eight weeks…
But seriously, do motorcycle racers really listen to that kind of advice? Of course not! And Condon is no different.
The man from Box Hill in New South Wales made the last minute decision to try and ride the weekend to accumulate points. “I decided not to go out during Friday practice and qualifying to save my foot for the main days,” explained Condon.
Condon went out in race one on Saturday just to see if he could ride and change gears, as with the damaged ankle being his left, swapping cogs was a massive challenge in its self! When he knew he could get around the tight little layout circuit, he planned on using the second race of the day to put in a good time that would determine his starting position for Sunday’s ASC round. However, Condon got taken out in race two on the third lap by another rider, which meant he had to race the third and final race to get a qualifying position, managing the 14th quickest time for the day.
Condon finished sixteenth in the Saturday YMF-Loan Australian Superbike Championship round at Wakefield Park, and went significantly better in the Sunday main game Swann Insurance Australasian FX Superbike Championship with an 11-10-10 result giving him tenth overall for the round.
“I was struggling with the pain in race one that’s for sure! But for race two I made a small change to bike which made it handle a little better to assist me in not having to put so much pressure on my foot, which worked out good in the end.”
With his slight ‘tweak’ to the BikeBiz Racing/Ipone/Swann Insurance Kawasaki ZX-10R, Condon was able to keep with the mid-pack and battle on to wrap up a tenth place finish in the final two races for the day, helping wrap up tenth overall. Condon currently sits in eighth position in the ASC title fight with 193-points.
“Considering the circumstances that I went into this round with, I’m pretty happy with my result. I should be all good and back on deck for the last round at Sydney Motorsport Park in November.”
In 2014 Condon has felt that he has met his expectations for the year. His goals where to finish in the top ten and to be the first privateer home, which he currently is.
“Considering it’s my first full year on a Superbike, I think that’s not too bad to be sitting in eighth place.”
The next outing for Condon will be in four weeks-time at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island which sees him topping the Phillip Island Championship points table in the Prostock class with fifty points to his name, thirteen points ahead of fellow Kawasaki pilot Ben Henry, and Gas Honda Racing’s Chris Trounson.
Overall Swann Australasian FX Superbike Championship Standings:
- Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) 317
- Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) 296
- Troy HERFOSS (NSW) 260
- Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) 254
- Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) 220
- Josh HOOK (NSW) 211
- Robert BUGDEN (QLD) 206
- Sean CONDON (NSW) 193
- Glenn SCOTT (NSW) 178
- Mike JONES (QLD) 160
