After a great debut season for young ANTS (Anthony Singer) who at KOR rd 3 had proven he could run at the front of the field, we set of for the Sth Is Champs. Ants first ever race was the Ruapuna round last year(best finish 11th) so it was good to start our first championship campaign where he had begun 12 months ealrier.
Round 1 was not kind with the weather. Ants managed to get 5th spot on the grid, right behind pole sitter Johnny Small. Races 1/2 saw good starts but he was swallowed up in the first few corners (by his own admission he doesn,t like the wet) However he managed to stay upright (many didnt!) and got 2x7th places. Race 3 was dry so he felt more confident. He was 2nd into turn one and then continued to battle with a couple of others eventually taking 4th. So due to a few DNFs and diferent winners we left Ruapuna sitting 5th in the points.
We drove down to Invecargill on thurs to take in the fri practice. We we lucky enough to have Mark from our sponsors Forbes & Davies helping us for the weekend. He got us a great place to stay (295 on Tay RECOMMENDED) and helped us out all weekend. We took their tyre machine with us and changed quite a few tyres for people.
Ants had only been to Teretonga once before, but liked the circuit and was keen to do it again. Fri practice went well and he was looking smooth. The current guy to beat is Johnny Small so we decided to copy his qualifying tactic of doing 3/4 real quick laps at beginning of session then coming in as soon as you caught traffic. He got off to a flyer and was setting a very fast pace............ Ants got caught up with Jake Lewis on the 125 Aprillia, they were fast but not as fast as Johnny. On lap 3 Johnny caught a backmarker and pulled in, at this point Ants had just pulled a gap on the 125 and had passed the same backmarker he was going to follow Johnny in, but saw the main straight was clear so decided to stay out. This proved to be a critical decision as on lap 5 he beat Johnnies best time by 3tenths to take his/our first POLE POSITION. The team camp was a very happy place to be.
Race 1 saw him get an awesome start, he held off a challenge in turn one from Jake but led from start to finish to take his first WIN.
He was on a high for sunday.......... but "over thought" his starts and could not repeat his saturday performance. However he managed a 3rd & 4th. Big congratulations have to go to Seth Devereux who took a win on the Kawasaki 250 in it first race meeting. Ants said that on the last lap he came around last corner to see Seth & Johnny side by side in a race to the flag....... BUT SETH WAS ON THE GRASS....LEGEND)
So another great weekend and we left sitting 3rd in the points.
We did the sums during the week and although winnng the champs was possible....... with Johnnies current form only divine intervention would help us. However second was possiible. Ants had to beat Seth in all races.
Again we went on fri for practice. Ants like Levels and this showed when we had him on the stopwatch only 0.5 sec off lap record time. Qualifying saw him slowing slightly and he qualified 4th.
Race one saw him chasing Johnny with Seth on his tail. After going for the big braking pass on turn 1 Seth threw the 250 onto the grass. Ants took 2nd and was now ahead of Seth in the points but still ha to beat him in the next 2 races.
Race 2 was a classic. The top 3 all lapped under the current lap record. Johnny re-setting it by 1 sec.
Ants took 3rd. With Seth back a couple of places his lead had widened but he still had to finish final race.
Race 3 was again a close battle at the front with Johnny taking the win and Ants 2nd. Seth came to grief at the hairpin when he collided with Andy Mac.
So Ants took 2nd place in the championship...........we were "stoked"
BIG WELL DONE to Johnny Small who is a deserved champion.... finishing every race in the top 3.
Also well done Seth and Jake who pushed us all the way.
The final race was a 3x3 sprin race for the Ramage Trophy. This highlighted a couple of issues for us in that Ants is not aggressive enough on the first lap and that when surrounded by lots of fast traffic he is not confident. Its was fun to watch all the same. Well done again Johnny.
So i would like to say A BIG THANKS to the following
MARK & TREVOR @ FORBES & DAVIES CHCH
PETER & JACKY HAMILTON @ HAMILTON SEED LTD
DUNLOP TYRES
MAXIMA RACING OILS
AIROH HELMETS
PAUL & JENNI @SPORTZFOTOZ
MCC & SMCC for having Steetstock as support.
ALL THE HELPERS ETC
MY PARTNER (Ants mum) NICKI & Little bro CHRSTOPHER
Also all the KB members and people who take the time to ask how its going and say well done.... it is appreciated.
ALL THE OTHER STREETSTOCK RIDERS & HELPERS WHO WERE THERE
So where do we go from here............ Ants wil ride the RG150 for one more season as he wants to win the Sportzfotoz Cup while he is still young enough. Starting at Teretonga in March he will also ride the OS Racing SV65o Pro-Twin. This will see him do a full National Series next year in the Pro-twin class as well as Sth Is Streetstock champs. After i have ridden for the last time at Methven Mountain Thunder Streetraces at Easter the Triumph 675 will be built from the ground up as a 600sp bike for Ants to ride in 2011/12.
During the winter we have to work on Ants weaknesses of riding in fast traffic and mass starts so we have secured a ride for him on a DRZ450 in the Canterbury TT Across motox series........this should sharpen him up a wee bit.
Well stage one of our big plan has exceeded expectations..........now to stage 2!
Thats all for 2009/10 ................had better get of my butt and do my job as team manager and go talk/beg to sponsors etc.
Thanks everyone for making it what it was. And good luck to those of you who still have races to do.
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Well Done to young Ants, I was a flaggie at teretonga, and really enjoyed watching him race, after reading some of your previous reports it was great to see how well he was performing. Congrats on 2nd place!
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