from ... Mike Phillips

Practice/Qualifying:  The track had been prep'd as best they could after it had rained all week. The track was still a little slushy in some low areas but in all it had turned out pretty good. I took my time and found a few good lines at the start of the session. When the flag came out to start qualifying I tried not to get too carried away and worked into it slowly. It seemed to work and I qualified my best so far this year in 7th.

Moto 1:  I had a little bike trouble on the startline and stuffed the start up big time. I came around the start cornerback of the pack but put my head down and charged all the way to the finish and made it into 9th place.

Moto 2:  I didn't think I could get a worse start than Moto1 but it happened. I had a good jump and was in the top bunch into the first turn but got slammed by a rider from the inside. It nearly stopped me and then 4 bikes ran me over. I was at the bottom of the pile up but managed to keep my bike going and get back into the race. Again I charged as hard as I could. I was making good time and after passing so many in the first moto I had some good lines to make more passes. By the end of the 10 laps I had made it up into 11th.

Moto 3:  All I wanted was a solid start. It wasn't to be. Again I got a good jump but got slammed again into the outside tyre wall and went down. I was getting angry by this time but I knew it wasn't worth doing anything silly. I pushed my way back into 13th place.

Moto 4:  I got a good jump but backed it off around the first turn just to survive the first lap on two wheels. I was around the back of the top 10 and slowly made my way into 5th behind team mate Cheyne Boyd. We both caught and passed Kawasaki's Billy Mackenzie and I moved into 4th. After making so many passes during the day I had a few lines that worked a little better than Boydy's and on the 7th lap I made a pass stick. I rode out the rest of the race in 3rd.

Overall Championship: 8th - I knew I had the speed and after last weekend I'm confident I can run up the front. I was disappointed with the crashes at the starts but that's racing and I have to be better prepared for those situations in the future. We have a month off until the next round in South Australia. After 5 weekends of racing in a row I'm looking forward to getting some good hard training in before the next round.

Thanks again to the Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racingteam for the opportunity and all their support over the first 3 rounds.

 

Mike Phillips