Race Report

Round 5 NZ Superbike Championship

Manfield, April 2/3, 2011.

Words by: KC Bernard

Photos by: Dallas Alexander

Round 5 - NZ National Champs, Manfield

The final round of the NZ Super Bike Championship was held at Manfeild Raceway and Dan Stauffer and the Team were keen to finish the season on a high note. Manfeild was yet another new track for Dan to learn and the Team went to Manfeild on the Thursday to set up and prepare for Friday testing.

The track was damp first thing Friday morning and the Team decided to wait for the track to fully dry before testing would begin. The rest of the day went well, making good progress with bike set up and lap times. Dukic Performance was there to make the necessary changes to the suspension for the hard braking circuit, and again the Pirelli tyres were lasting well and gripping well.

Official practice was on Saturday and the Team continued with the good progress from the day before with no major issues and Dan again proving how fast he learns new tracks.

Qualifying was on Saturday afternoon and Dan and the bike were starting to show some really good speed. Further changes were made to the Yamaha R1 SBK as the speed went up and the lap times came down. By the end of qualifying, Dan was 3rd on the grid, a mere 0.3 seconds behind pole sitter Robbie Bugden, and looking good for some tight, fast racing on Sunday.

Race 1 Sunday and Dan got an average start. The lead riders had spread out a little early in the race and Dan was busy working his way up thru the field. He got great drive off the hairpin and was lining Nick Cole up for a pass on the infield straight. In and out of Nicks draft only to find himself into Higgins corner much faster that before!! As hard as he tried, Dan just couldn’t get the Yamaha R1 to stop in time and ran off the track and into the gravel trap. He somehow managed to stay on the bike, get it turned around and re-enter the race – well down the field and out of contention for a race win but still managing a 7th place finish.

A much better start in Race 2 saw Dan 2nd out of turn one when disaster stuck and the bikes’ engine suddenly died, rolling to a stop. It was later found that a fuel pump had failed, leaving Dan sitting on the side of the track as a spectator.

This is obviously not the way the Team wanted to end the season, but is a reflection of the way the season has been for the Team, with several small bouts of bad luck along the way, but are very grateful that it was only small things and that rider and bike are still in excellent shape!!

Season overview:

Winner - Robert Holden Memorial.

Winner – Formula Wanganui race 2.

4th - Tri-Series - competing in only 2 of 3 rounds.

5th – NZ SBK Championship.

Winner - Paeroa King of the Streets.

Winner – F1 Paeroa.

The future:

Dan has expressed a keen interest to return next season, and now that he has had a season here, the Team are convinced that next seasons luck will be better and that there will be more race

wins, both at the “Streets” and at the Nationals. The Team is also considering recruiting one or two young NZ riders to mentor and train in the 600 Super Stock class.

Preparations have already begun for the 2011/2012 Road Race season with the goal of continuing on from the seasons experiences. As many are already aware, this season was very much a last minute throw together, on a very tight budget. Keeping this in mind, we have to be satisfied with the Team’s results and we feel it was a very successful season. It is our goal to continue with the progress already made during this season to better prepare for the next.

Again, a huge thanks to everyone that has helped in any way this season – big or small. It’s the combination of all the support and the long hours spent working on the Team that allows it to happen and the Team hope that they can do it again next season!!

This photo is my personal favourite of the season, it is a reflection of how hard the whole Team worked this season – I think the photo says it all!!!!

Thanks again.

Cheers,

Brian Bernard

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