FAST! and not just in the print shop
What a year Eprint had down at Hidden Valley in 2017!
It was the second year I had stood as President for TERRA (Top End Road Racing Association) and it was massive! 7 rounds of racing, the biggest TTC (TERRA Territory Challenge) ever and a Round of ASBK.
The 1000cc Championship went down to the wire and we were trailing the leader by 4 points coming into the final round. It wasnt going to plan and I broke a chain which damaged third gear in practice. It was looking like the title was slipping away. Luckily TERRA is a great club and a spare bike was offered. So instead of my usual BMW S1000RR, we rode a 2010 Honda Fireblade. The blade was great; not as powerful, but it handled really well and I felt comfortable on it pretty quickly, which is good when you're borrowing someone elses bike! My lap times weren't as fast as usual which put me in some great battles all weekend. With the last race of the day about to get underway, we were 1 point behind the leader. It couldn't get any closer. I had to finish two places in front of Troy Starr to take the victory. It was tough and Roger McCabe pushed me all the way, but we held on to finish those two places in front and take the title by one point.
Big shout out to Heineken 3 and The Cav for their support this year, to Tim Nicol for his ability to make us all look fast, to the TERRA committee and the few who went the extra mile this year to make it the success it was, to Motorsports NT whose support make TERRA the great club it is and to Che Diggens for the generous loan of his trusty Blade for the final round.
As a result, we have purchased a new Honda for the 2018 season. Lets see how we go!
After a lot of last minute leg work, TERRA was fortunate to snag a round of the ASBK (Australian Superbike Championship) this year and all locals were encouraged to enter. As well as the ASBK Superbike and Supersport categories, we ran a local TERRA club challenge to offer racing for all abilities.
It was an amazing weekend and a real pleasure to have been involved in the planning and the competition itself. I entered the Superbike class with the big boys and got absolutely smashed! Running times that would have put me on the front row in our local competition, I qualified dead last in 26th place!
Qualifying was tough and I got shoved wide into turn 10. I ran on and was caught spectacularly sliding through the gravel on my head by Nick Edards. I managed to ride back to the pits and got the bike sorted for Racing.
It was great experience and I'm glad I did it. We even managed 5 ASBK Superbike points and got to meet World Superbike legend, Troy Bayliss!
2018 is just around the corner and we are once again lucky to host a round.
See you June 28th - July 1st!
TTC 2017 was the biggest EVER!
With over 100 entries from all over the country and riders from Malaysia, we had Hidden Valley to ourselves for the whole first week of August. Our event was hosted by Pit legend, Mark Bracks and culminated in a fantastic dinner in the new corporate box area where our famous Croc head trophies were presented.
The 1000cc class was hotly contested with 36 riders ( a full grid) thundering into turn 1. What a sight!
We managed 5th place overall on the BMW and was happy with that.
