News 23 Feb 2015

Successful first Supersport outing for Brandon Demmery

Rising talent makes debut in Australian Supersport at Phillip Island.

Noise Guard Racing’s Brandon Demmery and the team made the trip down to Phillip Island for the first round of the World Superbike Championship over the weekend. Brandon was entered in the Supersport support class event on his new Yamaha R6.

PRE-RACE PREPARATION
“Less than two weeks before the event, we received our new Yamaha R6 from Yamaha Australia and YRD,” said Brandon.“It was new, still in a box and still in full road trim. Dad worked hard to run the engine in (I’m sure he liked that bit), then pull the bike down and make it a race bike. A lot more goes into it than just removing the blinkers and mirrors.“Our mechanic Chris Cameron helped us to finish off a few of the smaller things that needed doing the weekend before Phillip Island. Chris dropped the bike into Shane at Alpine Performance Centre to be tuned on his way back to Melbourne, and we picked it up on our way through to the track Wednesday.”Team Owner Michael Demmery said, “We really appreciate the support from sponsors to supply the parts needed at short notice to get the bike race prepped for the round.Special mention must go to Chris Cameron for driving all the way up to Wagga Wagga from Melbourne to finish the bike off for us.”

RACING ACTION
“The first time I rode the bike was the first free practice on Thursday,” said Brandon.“I had set myself a goal time to get down to by the end of the weekend of a 1.45 second lap. I managed to do that in the first session with a time of 1.45.3. Second free practice I was able to lower that time to a 1.43.2 and was feeling great on the bike.“I love the power of the 600 and I also loved how great it stopped thanks to Venhill Brake Lines and SBS brake pads. Glenn at GASD supplied the Mupo suspension for the front and rear of the bike. We only had a chance to fit it Thursday morning at the track. Glenn set the suspension to what he thought would work well with me, and it felt great! “I was getting more and more comfortable on the bike with each lap I completed and was looking forward to the first qualifying session.“Qualifying saw more time dropped with a 1.42.8 in the first session, and a 1.42.3 in the second qualifying session which meant I qualified 19th for my first ever 600cc race in a field of 29 bikes.

“Race 1 could not come quickly enough for me. As I headed out for the race, I realised I had never done a race start on the bike. I admit I was a little asleep on the line when the lights went out. I was concentrating totally on the start that I tried too hard and didn’t let it come natural as it should. I loved the first race. I had moved into 16th and was catching the pack of four riders in front of me when the rear tyre said enough was enough. I had used it for qualifying and the race, and it was all used up. 35 laps on the Dunlop and I still set a time of 1.41.2. We knew we didn’t have the suspension set up perfect and that hurt the rear tyre.

“Race 2 with all new Dunlop rubber was on Sunday morning. I started from position 19 again. From the start I struggled to get by another rider. I just don’t have the experience on the 600 to push a pass at this point and by the time I did get clear, the pack in front had pulled a five second lead on me. All I could do was put my head down and push as hard as I could to try and make up the gap. With no one to draft with I struggled to make up ground on the next pack. So I finished up in 16th position again, in only my second race.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Brandon will now test the Yamaha R6 at Sydney Motorsports Park on March 6th before Round One of the Australasian Superbike Championship on the 27-29th March. He will then fly to Malaysia on the Sunday night to attend the official test of the R25 at Sepang leading up to Round One of the ARRC in the middle of April.“I would like to thank all those people that called, messaged or stopped me at the track over the weekend to wish me luck,” said Brandon.“Please support my sponsors where you can, without their support, I couldn’t do what I love doing. “See you at the track!”

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