Michael Blair Racing press release:

The weekend started positively with a personal best qualifying time of 1:31.619 placing Michael on the third row in 9th grid position for Sundays racing. “I was very happy with the performance of the IPONE Yamaha R1 and the Dunlop tyres were working well”.

Race 1
“In race 1 I didn’t capitalise on the good grid position which was frustrating –keeping the wheel down on the R1 at a start will require more practice , once the front group got away it was hard to get closer. “The bike had developed severe chatter which was affecting front and back and the last few laps were difficult, I’d stayed close to the rider in front and improved my position on Lap 8 holding out for 9th at the finish”. The team tried a few things between races to improve the handling and then it rained, off came the dry and on went the wet tyres for Race 2. Without the luxury of a second bike settings were changed on the race bike.

Race 2
In the wet conditions Michael moved into positon 9 on lap 3 and stayed in sight of Matt Walters who was 2 seconds in front, the pit boards showed there was a good gap back to the riders behind of 7 seconds. As the race went on it became harder to improve position as the steering and grip were being affected by the chattering. At the conclusion of Race 2 it was discovered that the rear shock main seal had blown causing the loss of all dampening. “To watch the gap to the riders behind diminish and not be able to do anything was extremely frustrating, I couldn’t push harder in the wet conditions and risk a get off”. “A positive is that the shock can be fixed and I’ll be ready to race with more experience under my belt”. Points from this round placed Michael 10th overall and he is placed 9th in the Championship having contested 2 of the 3 ASBK Superbike Championship rounds. A huge thanks to Mick Poole, Matt Blair and Josh Moxon.

The support by Yamaha and new sponsors Ipone is really appreciated as is the continued support by Campbell’s Home and Trade Building Supplies Woy Woy. Also thanks to YMI, GASD, Bob & Yoshiko, M&C Plant Hire, BlairBuild, ARAI, R&G, Falco Boots, RS Taichi Leathers, DID Chains, JT Sprockets, NGK, Unifilter, Vesrah and Killy Chilli.

www.MBR78.com Facebook –Michael Blair Racing