Features 27 Aug 2013

Race Recap: Broc Parkes

Yamaha Racing with Yamalube's Broc Parkes breaks down a winning weekend at Queensland Raceway.

Round four of the Australian FX-Superbike Championship proved pivotal for Broc Parkes’ title chances. The experienced international made a conservative start to his 2013 campaign with the Yamaha Racing with Yamalube outfit, but has adapted capably to the challenge and made a breakthrough in setup over last the few rounds.

He not only recorded a second consecutive FX-SBK round win, but was also able to move by Kevin Curtain to take the outright points lead.

We caught up with Broc to discuss his success in the Sunshine State…

Broc Parkes took two firsts and a second for the FX-Superbike overall round win at Queensland Raceway. Image: Keith Muir.

Broc Parkes took two firsts and a second for the FX-Superbike overall round win at Queensland Raceway. Image: Keith Muir.

You came into the Queensland Raceway weekend with plenty of momentum behind you from the podium finish at the 8 Hours of Oschersleben with the Yamaha Austria Racing Team. Does this help or hinder you when switching to the Australian bikes?

Yeah well I came off Germany pretty confident because of the pace I had over there through qualifying and the race. We had the lap record in qualifying and then the lap record in the race, so I was feeling pretty good. But I came back here and hopped on the production-based R1 and it took me a little bit to get used to riding the bike again. I struggled a lot on Friday because of the differences. It helps, but sometimes it makes things a little bit harder as well.

How important is the track time and racing in Saturday’s FX Nationals rounds to set you up for Sunday, especially given that Queensland is a new track?

It makes a big, big difference. I’m usually a little bit behind when it starts on Saturday morning. In the case of this round the guys tested at Eastern Creek (Sydney Motorsport Park) and here at Queensland Raceway, which is a new track for me. It definitely helps me to be able to get the bike ready for Sunday. Sunday is the main day but in saying that the Saturday is still quite important to me as well because I was leading that championship too. It definitely helps.

After 4-2-1 finishes on Saturday you were able to take out the overall round on Sunday with a 1-2-1 performance. A positive day for you?

After Saturday afternoon I made a change to the bike which was quite big, and it made an improvement straight away. I’d kind of learned the track so coming into Sunday I was confident that I could probably fight at the front if everything went the right way for us. After warm-up I worked out we had good pace as we went very quick there so it took me into the race with a good positive feeling. The biggest step was the Saturday afternoon though, and I have to thank the team for that because they found the way for me. A lot of the Yamahas didn’t find their way all weekend.

Parkes assumed the lead of the FX-Superbike title race after his closest rivals faltered.

Parkes assumed the lead of the FX-Superbike title race after his closest rivals faltered.

The results this season have gone the way of Yamaha much of the time. At Queensland you had a number of other riders stepping up and challenging for the podium, partly because of crashes suffered by Kevin Curtain and Rick Olson. Is it good to have a bit of variety up the front?

We knew coming here that Queensland Raceway would probably be one of the most difficult tracks, because the top-end speed of the Kawasaki and the BMW is quite good, and I was just aiming for damage limitation, really. But it ended up that we were quite a bit quicker. In the second race Kevin [Curtain] came by me, and he actually was going quite quick but then crashed. I came around and saw both Kev and Ricky [Rick Olson] in the kitty-litter and I just switched off a little bit too much. I ran Matt [Walters] down at the end but it was too late. It was good to have other guys in there battling with the Yamahas, like Daniel [Stauffer] and [Chris] Seaton, on the different brands. You don’t have to worry so much about boxing in your teammate!

You started behind the eight-ball in this championship and have chipped away at it each round, now finding yourself with a fairly solid lead after Queensland Raceway. It must be good to see this continued level of improvement?

I started behind after the first race because I didn’t get that dry time on the bike. For Eastern Creek (Sydney Motorsport Park) I kind of started off behind a bit. It’s really good to be able to get to a point where I’ve got that bit of a lead but there’s still a long way to go. Like this weekend showed, anything can happen. All I can do is go to the next round and keep working away at it and hope that the form we’ve got carries over there so we can try to get the championship.

You’re boarding a plane in a few hours. What are your immediate plans now?

I’m based back in Europe at the moment so I’m coming back to Australia to do the FX events. I’ve got the 24 hour Le Mans race on, in a few weeks, and then I come back for Eastern Creek (Sydney Motorsport Park). From there, there aren’t any real plans beyond that.

Recent