Harrisville set to go - just add riders!

Many, many hours have been put into improvements at the MR Motorcycles Raceway. Before you even turn into Geraghty-Maber Road there is smart new permanent signage for traffic in both directions.  As you turn into the gate the observant will notice a new metaled culvert and gate into the neighbour's paddocks on the left.  This will double the public parking which was the only problem last year when the paddocks on the right overflowed - the Club being a victim of their own success.



The 'Supercross Section' has had subtle changes made which are hard to see in this panoramic image.  The first thing you will notice is the bank in front of the Clubhouse has been reshaped allowing an expanded viewing area. The whole area is neat and tidy with new sponsor signs still going up - no Backflips signage as yet.



The corner into the 'Supercross Section' now has a post & railed fence separating the mechanics are from the track itself.  Riders will enter that area under the television platform.  That entire corner is mulched. The drop-off jump #3 has been raised especially on the right hand side so spectators can see it from the Clubhouse. That 'menacing' pole to the right of #4 has been removed.



The rollers between #5 and #7 have been widened with outside drainage to stop the pooling of water - the sprinklers were still going when this image was taken. The left-hand turn into #7 is much, much wider and mulched.  As you can see above, #7's lander has been lowered, making the approach to the #8 drop-off steeper.  There's now a bigger berm at the bottom as you turn up to #9.  The big change from last year's event is the left-turn towards #10 is now 90 degrees left with an inside, outside option. #10 lander has had improvements over the Summer but the big change is to the left-hander approach to the Finish Line.  That corner has been heavily mulched and another 4 sprinklers added.  A new flag-holder is attached to the Timing Hut.  That corner to the Container Jump crossover now has a big berm and lots of mulch.  Also, the entire section is now irrigated - that's the 'Supercross Section' complete.



The 'Back Section' and start area is visually more attractive.



Here's why, lots of work gone into the Monster Energy Start. The gates themselves have been re-set.  The tractor is only there anchoring down the pit-tents for the night.  

Track Manager Tony Cooksley says track preparation has been his priority.  "Scott Willis, has spent many, many hours on the new Komatsu D41E bulldozer which has been invaluable. Probably 300 hours of work has gone into the back section alone. The entire track is now up to a GP standard.  It's what we envisaged and have now achieved it. We couldn't have done it without that D41." 

What about watering I asked: "We have been watering since Tuesday and happy where the track is at the moment.  The forecast is for yet another sunny weekend.  Problem we have is that we can only for 4-5 hours at a time and then it takes 12 hours to refill the pond from the bore.  The new (ish) pump can water the entire track at once so we are putting on plenty of water.  We can now isolate sections now and won't have the flooding problem we had last year when 'somebody' turned on the water and flooded the straight from the holeshot corner. We have many new sprinklers in and probably 95% of the track is now watered.  We have been digging up the main water lines so we can access them easier - that's been a work in progress."    



Scott Willis on the face of jump #1.5  - he gave me the 'willies' watching - steeper than it appears in this image.  The work on the Back Section is quite spectacular.  The entire area has been cleared.  



That's the Sponsor's tent at the upper right.  Track from the Container Jump sweeps in front of them and then takes a steep left down the gully , then up the step-up.  That area has been tranformed from a hard packed, rutted bowl into a mulched and rutted area.  It worked very well at the last Club Day with four distinct lines. Then there's another drop-off and straight up and over #1
 


The back side of #1 has been considerably 'tamed' with the top now a sugar loaf (rounded) and the bottom raised.  Riders then sweep south and turn left and up a steep face.



That steep face pops them up onto mid-left in this image and then it's up and over another steep face.  Then it's back east up and over the ever-so-spectacular #1.5  At the bottom they take a 180 right and pop up over the jump shown just above here.  Then it's south again and down into the widened and bermed cavity.  Riders then climb up a sort of staircase to arrive behind the start gates.  Then it's back towards the Supercross Section again.

That's a lap of Harrisville -  Tony reckons a lap will be about 2:20. 


 
Quite a bit of thought has gone into this.  It's in the 'elbow' at the Finish Line and the banner can be raised and lowered between races.  It's not quite finished yet  - but you get the idea?