News 28 Aug 2013

Mixed fortunes for Curtain and Olson at QLD FX-SBK round

Round four of the Australian FX-Superbike Championship was one of stark contrast for Yamaha Racing with Ipone pilots Kevin Curtain and Rick Olson, with the teammates both struggling in FX-SBK trim but dominating the Formula Oz and FX-600 classes respectively.

Rick Olson was brilliant in the FX-600 class but struggled in FX-SBK trim.

Rick Olson was brilliant in the FX-600 class but struggled in FX-SBK trim.

Round four of the Australian FX-Superbike Championship was one of stark contrast for Yamaha Racing with Ipone pilots Kevin Curtain and Rick Olson, with the teammates both struggling in FX-SBK trim but dominating the Formula Oz and FX-600 classes respectively.

Curtain’s FX-SBK title aspirations took a battering, as did bike and body, when he crashed out of the second race, registering a costly DNF alongside second and fourth place results.

He salvaged fifth for the round but dropped to second in the championship, 21 points in arrears to factory stablemate Broc Parkes.

“The DNF in race two in the FX Superbike class cost me a lot of points and with only two rounds to go, it doesn’t leave me much time to make them back up,” said Curtain.

“That’s how racing goes sometimes and I now just have to race my best at the final rounds to have a chance at winning the championship.”

Unlike his luckless run in the FX-SBK field, Curtain’s form in the Formula Oz field could not have been better. He won all three races and takes a considerable 86-point lead to the penultimate round.

Teammate Olson endured a similar run of misfortune in the FX-SBK category. He finished 14th for the round after being run wide in the first race, and crashing out in the second.

“I got ran wide on one of the turns and as a result finished a fair way back in the first race which gives me a bad grid position for race two,” said Olson.

“I was pushing pretty hard to get back up front when I fell in that race, so it just wasn’t my weekend on the Superbike.”

On the other hand, Olson’s form on the 600cc mount was near perfect. He took two race wins and a second to claim the round victory and extend his championship lead to 35 points.

“No doubt it was a tough weekend for our crew,” said team owner John Redding. “The boys had an uncharacteristic weekend of falling off and no doubt it affected their results.

“It also placed huge strain on the team as they had to work hard throughout the weekend to keep them on track and their efforts didn’t go unnoticed.”

Curtain and Olson still lead three of a possible four championships between them and are looking for more consistent results when the title race resumes at Sydney Motorsport Park on 5-6 October.

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