2009 6 Hour – race report
23-11-09 by Marko Alat
The production 600 class was a bit of a non-event, with only two entries and a single finisher. The Silverback Racers team of Steve Fisher, Andrew Grover, Andy Garrett and Steve Warr, brought their #22 R6 home in next-to-last place overall. Their competitors in the class, the Radguard Australia team of Laurie and Matthew Fyffe and Ted McGowan, were poised for a strong finish when their #32 GSX-R600 cruelly expired with only 14 minutes to go to the chequered flag.
The Superstock 600 class saw the closest finish of the day. Dailybike’s friends of team Astute – Sam Ayliffe and brothers James and Kevin Corcoran, riding the other carburetted R6 in the field, scored the fastest Superstock 600 lap, a 1:18.735, and came from over a minute behind in the last half-hour stint of the race to pip the #66 R6 of the Bega-based Mick Cole Motorcycles team by only 3.388 seconds, a tough outcome for a team which struggled through some of the worst luck of the weekend. They spent Friday night rebuilding their R6 after it was heavily damaged in a practice crash which also sent their #3 rider, 38-year-old Paul Neal, to Liverpool Hospital with broken ribs and vertebrae. Rather than call it a day at one badly hurt mate, the team called up a replacement, James – his name doesn’t appear on the timesheets – who drove up from Bega to Sydney that night to run in qualifying.
Their experience is the essence of endurance racing, what World Endurance’s Russell Benney, principal of the multiple-world-champion Phase One team puts as, “It’s OK if you crash, but you must bring the bike back. Doesn’t matter if your arms are broken; drag it with your teeth.” Once committed to, the race is seen through, come hell, high water, or a wrecked bike and a mate in hospital. Next time there’s one of these on, it needs to be supported. At the post-race presentation, Warwick Nowland, whose pool room at home features a World Endurance champion’s trophy, spoke of the festival-like rounds of the FIM competition, and the possibility we might have that here. With the strong showing put on to farewell Oran Park, let’s hope we’re on the FIM’s radar for a round. 24 Heurs de Winton, anyone? You can make as much of a racket at you’d like.
- Marko Alat
Tags: 6-Hour, AMCN, Bel-Ray, James Spence, Oran Park, Sydney
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
The best review of an historic event… well done dailybike!!!
November 24th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
MMMM, dont know who wrote this report, but geez not many correct facts in it at all. For team AMCN, craig Macintyre crashed crashed, not Bill kontominas.
And there was a toatal of 9 crashes, not six…….. and much much more is wrong, lol
November 24th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Thanks for the correction BILKO19.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
No probs dbadmin, well put together report anyways
November 24th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Thanks for all the photos of the 6 Hour. I stumbled across this great web site via the 6 Hour web site. Only problem I have had is to connect to this site via facebook as a Fan of this web site. Is there a problem with the facebook link?
November 24th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Great report, guys. I too noted a few minor "glitches" but does it really matter? It was a great race and a fitting send-off to OP. From where I sat, it was one of the best endurance races I’ve seen for a long while, and I go back to the Castrol days!
November 25th, 2009 at 4:37 am
Thank you Marko, and thank you Dailybike. I didn’t know this site existed, and found it through my desperate search for some report – any report – on what happened at the 6 hour. I found the lack of coverage elsewhere, of what I took to be a major event, very disappointing. What I found here exceeded my expectations and I expect to become a regular visitor. Thanks again.
Mike