2021/2022 Summer Night Series Round 3

Words by Half Light – Images by Half Light and RbMotoLens

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The St George MCC Pirelli Summer Series is in its second season and makes full use of the excellent floodlights that were installed at Sydney Motorsport Park late in 2019.

St George MCC were an integral part of proving that racing was viable under the SMSP lights and the Summer Series is becoming immensely popular with racers and spectators alike.

Summer Series 2021/22 Round 3, held on January 8, was the only meeting of the series to be held on a Saturday night, the other rounds in the four-round series being Friday night events. A good turnout of spectators were rewarded with another short, sharp dose of excellent racing with a handful of top end ASBK racers joining the clubbies.

The Summer Series is a quick-fire event with on-track action commencing at 6:30 pm, sunset rolling in around the 8 pm mark and racing winding up no later than 10:30 pm. The short duration available for racing had presented some challenges in Rounds 1 and 2 (early/mid-December respectively).

The schedule for these meetings saw each of three classes have a single qualifying session and four, five-lap races but this left little margin for those unexpected support activities such as track clearance or medical activities and, as a result, both Rounds 1 and 2 had to wrap up before all planned races had been run.

For Round 3, the dance card was modified to adapt to this reality and rather than four races per class, a revised schedule called for three, six-lap races per class instead. This modification proved to be a sensible compromise as, despite some minor delays through the evening, all races were completed before the 10:30 pm deadline.

Given the success of this regime, we should expect to see this arrangement repeated for Round 4 on January 28.

The three classes are Pirelli Unlimited, for riders expecting to lap at 1:40 or quicker, AGV Unlimited for riders outside of this bracket and IPONE 600 for mixed twin, triple and four-cylinder supersport class bikes.

In Unlimited, the 1:40 limit is only enforced for Rounds 1 and 2 on the assumption that riders who might be just outside the 1:40 limit early in the season might be expected to run faster than 1:40 in the later rounds. Consequently, some of the lap times in the class that is notionally for slower-than-1:40 laps were actually faster than the bracket time at this round.

Pirelli Unlimited includes the Pirelli Unlimited Outright sub-class for factory supported ASBK riders. Unlimited Outright only features as part of Summer Series Rounds 2 and 3 as Round 1 conflicted with the ASBK 2021 race weekend at The Bend in SA and Summer Series Round 4 is on the same weekend as the ASBK 2022 test at Phillip Island.

Returning for another dose of Unlimited Outright were Cru Halliday (#65, Yamaha Race Team), Glenn Allerton (#14, Maxima Racing Oils BMW) and Josh Waters (#21, Maxima Racing Oils BMW).

Joining the Unlimited Outright party were Troy Herfoss (#17, Honda Penrite Racing) and Lachlan Epis (#83, Evolution Sports Groups/ResponseRE BMW).

For Herfoss, the event was especially valuable as it provided much needed race-pace track time as part of his ongoing recovery from injuries sustained at the ASBK Round at Hidden Valley back in June.

Oli Bayliss, who had drawn much attention at Summer Series Round 2 with his first race outing on the Panigale V2, ahead of his 2022 World Supersport campaign with Barni Racing, was unable to return for this round.

A number of riders who had registered for the event elected to not attend the meeting, most likely because the weather forecast for race night was poor throughout the week and positively awful come Saturday morning. A forecast of damaging thunderstorms with possible hail isn’t appealing to even the most hard core of racers.

However as is so often the case in Sydney, the weather didn’t accord to the forecast and, even better, what foul weather that did eventuate missed SMSP completely and, as a result, the event was conducted in steamy, humid conditions but not a drop of rain fell from start to finish. Two St George MCC events in a row without rain? Inconceivable!

The fourth and final round of St George MCC Pirelli Summer Series will be at Sydney Motorsport Park, Friday January 28, with qualifying starting at 6:30pm.

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Pirelli Unlimited/Outright Unlimited

The Unlimited Outright points table coming into the meeting saw Glenn Allerton on 70-points holding a seven-point lead over Cru Halliday (63-points) with Josh Waters (55-points) still on a learning curve with the M 1000 RR but in the hunt.

Sadly Allerton was not able to defend his series position as a sensor failure and no available replacement part meant the #14 bike had to stay in the garage for the evening.

Waters got straight down to business on the M 1000 RR in the eight-minute qualifying session with a 1:31:782 good enough to give him pole position. Halliday on the R1 took second spot just 0.225s behind the BMW, edging out Herfoss on the Honda by 0.073s.

Lachlan Epis took fourth on the grid with a 1:33.439 and Ben Burke, best of the Unlimited-but-not-Outright runners took out fifth position on the grid with a 1:34:113.

Honourable mention goes to Max Stauffer (#27, GTR MotoStars R1), having only just stepped up to Superbike class from ASBK Supersports, who took out sixth spot. Filling out top 10 on the grid for Pirelli Unlimited were Tim Griffith, Nick Marsh, Brendan McIntyre and Adrian Pelegrín.

Griffith (#18, BC Performance ZX-10RR) held a narrow points lead in the not-Outright series coming into Round 3 having established a strong points lead in Round 1 but he lost ground in Round 2 after a challenging evening that had ended up in the gardening section of Turn 1.

Griffith’s most immediate challenger, Yanni Shaw (#333, SHA Suzuki) was unable to attend Round 3 which gave Griffith some breathing room but the consistency of Nick Marsh (#15, Superbike Source Racing R1M), and the form of Ben Burke (#60, BC Performance ZX-10RR, absent from Round 1 but quick in Round 2), meant everything was up for grabs.

Pirelli Unlimited Race 1 saw Halliday get his head down and go for it, pulling a lead on Josh Waters and pumping out quick laps to give him a 1.5-sec lead at the flag. Herfoss looked a little tentative in traffic and his best lap of 1:32.75 wasn’t on the pace of the two men ahead of him, but a measured ride saw him bring the Honda home ahead of Ben Burke and Lachlan Epis.

Burke’s fourth spot was the standout effort from the not-Outright contenders with McIntyre, Marsh, Stauffer, Pelegrín and Soderland taking out fifth through 10th. Series leader Griffith could only find the pace to give himself a 12th position with lap times well off his best.

Troy Herfoss was 100 per cent back in the game for Race 2. After passing Waters early in the race, Herfoss set about getting on the tail of Halliday and crossed the line just 0.257 behind the Yamaha man. Even more impressively, his best lap of 1:31.028 was the quickest of the evening by any rider.

This takes nothing away from Halliday’s victory, he did exactly what he needed to do and kept his rhythm even as Herfoss piled on the pressure late in the sprint. Waters, in third, continued to put in consistent fast laps and it is very much worth remembering that this is only his second competitive hit out on the BMW, whereas Halliday and Herfoss both have significant track time with their machines.

Lachlan Epis continued to show improvement on the Evolution Sports Group BMW, coming home fourth with Ben Burke in fifth, and once again the leading not-Outright rider. McIntyre, Stauffer, Griffith, Marsh and Pelegrín took out the remaining top 10 positions.

Pirelli Unlimited Race 3 didn’t make a full lap before the red flags came out. Troy Herfoss, in an incident that was eerily similar to his Darwin crash, low sided out of T3. It’s another fast place to have an off but the fencing is set well back at this point of the track and no lasting harm was done.

Despite the red flags, and the attendant delay in getting the rider and bike back to the paddock, the rest of the field lined up for a re-start, there was sufficient room in the scheduled to allow the race to run the full six-lap race distance. Once again, Halliday took charge and ran consistent low 1:31s to give himself his third win of the evening, leading Waters over the line by two-seconds with both riders pulling well ahead of Epis in third.

In the not-Outright Unlimited class, Ben Burke rounded out his evening by taking Race 3 giving him three from three and a perfect 75-point haul. Fifth spot (second in the not-Outright class) went to Max Stauffer who would have to be happy with the progress he made through the evening. Stauffer led home McIntyre, Griffith, Marsh, Soderland and Pelegrín.

With Summer Series Round 4 on January 28 not featuring the Unlimited Outright class, that marked the end of the Unlimited Outright mini-series. Only Cru Halliday and Josh Waters completed both rounds and Halliday took the series with 138 points to Waters’ 113. Allerton, Bayliss, Epis and Herfoss rounded out the ladder, each of them only competing in one of the two rounds.

The Pirelli Unlimited (non-Outright) class will be back in action for Round 4 with Tim Griffith (171-points) holding a narrow lead over Nick Marsh (165). Ben Burke, who missed Round 1 but has shown excellent form in Rounds 2 and 3 could be within striking distance on 145-points.

Cru Halliday – Pirelli Unlimited Outright – P1

“Another great night St George Motorcycle Club put on! It’s always fun racing under lights, racing against with the likes of Troy Herfoss and Josh Waters. It’s purely fun, you don’t have the pressure behind you but at the same time you want to win. I ended up with three race wins which is good. Didn’t really change much on my bike all night so I just got to enjoy riding. The times were pretty decent especially with all the damp patches in turn 5 and 12. Really looking forward to the next one and I’m sure a lot of other fast guys will be starting to attend a lot more.”

Josh Waters – Pirelli Unlimited Outright – P2

“Another great night at the St George Summer Series. I was happy to improve my pace and qualify on pole and have three decent finishes. It was great to be able to try things throughout the night in race conditions also. We definitely got lucky with the weather but with the heat and amount of rain NSW, there was a lot of water was coming through the circuit which kept you on your toes. Again, a big thank you to Shane and Megan from Next Gen Motorsports and their sponsors and team for supporting me at this round.”

Lachlan Epis – Pirelli Unlimited Outright – P3

“The Sydney night events are always good fun and a nice reset from the stress of ASBK. We had a reasonably successful hit out and managed to get on the podium. It was great to see such a great turn out last night and to see a lot of familiar faces. Looking forward to ASBK now and the official test at the end of the month. Thanks again to St George and all the officials for such a good event.”

Troy Herfoss – Pirelli Unlimited Outright – P4

“Firstly a huge thanks to the St George club for such a fun event at arguably Australia’s best track layout. Racing under lights was a real treat and I can’t wait to have another ride there soon. The day worked perfectly for me, I got test my body and get to work with the team for season 2022. I gradually got faster and more confident, Race 1 I felt nervous riding in a pack, but Race 2 I was able to pass and push the bike in the way I need to if I want to challenge at the front again. Race 3 I had the identical style crash to Darwin on lap one but thankfully the Sydney Motorsport track has plenty of run off and I walked away completely pain free. Overall that little competitive shake down showed the team and I that we will be as competitive as ever by the time Round 1 of ASBK kicks off.”

Brendan McIntyre – Pirelli Unlimited – P2

“A good fun night under lights again. I liked the program which has evolved well to the three-race format. My Western Motorcycles Suzuki didn’t miss a beat and it was great to get my hands on the $225 Link International prize for second Privateer for the night.”

Max Stauffer – Pirelli Unlimited – P3

“I really enjoyed getting out under lights at SMSP, to be able to do a few race starts with some fast guys and starting learning the ways of the bigger bike. I had heaps of fun and learnt a lot and I can’t wait for the next time I can ride. Thank you to the St George motorcycle club for putting on a great meeting. Thanks to all the people who help me out.”

Pirelli Unlimited Race 1

Pirelli Unlimited Race 2

Pirelli Unlimited Race 3

Pirelli Outright Unlimited Standings

Pirelli Unlimited Standings

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AGV Unlimited

Round 2 of AGV Unlimited had been a bit of a reset after the dominance of Andrew Black (#134, Multivalve Flow Solutions CBR1000RR) and Zsolt Veres in Round 1. Neither rider scored points in Round 2 after incidents took them out of the running and only Black was able to return for Round 3 to resume the series chase.

Despite not scoring in Round 2, Black’s clean sweep at Round 1 meant that he still sat in third position on the ladder, trailing series leader Greg Avery (#900, Ourselves, S 1000 RR, 89-points) by just 14-points with Hussein Ayad (#20, Gixa Core Cut R1, 82-points) splitting them.

Jacob Hatch (#99, MotoCity RSV4, 73-points) and Luke Ruckley (64-points, but absent from Round 3) held the remaining top five positions with Craig Boyd, Zsolt Veres, Talal Sbbet, Harley Borkowski and Stephen Kairl filling out the top 10.

Paris Hardwick (#72, The Construction Team ZX-10R) is a relative newcomer to road racing but that counted for nothing in qualifying where he took out pole position with a 1:37.538. Andrew Black had to settle for second spot on the grid with a 1:38.475 with Rees, Davies and Avery taking the remaining top five spots. Hussein Ayad, second in the series, took out sixth spot.

Hardwick translated his pole position into an immediate and commanding lead in Race 1 and he was never headed, bringing the ZX-10R home seven-seconds clear of second placed Sam Davies (#451, All Stage Racing S 1000 RR) and running lap times that will surely see him elevated to the the Pirelli Unlimited Class next season if this is his natural pace. Andrew Black crossed the finish line less than half a second behind Davies and the top five was completed by Avery and Ayad with the top 10 filled out by Edwards, O’Rourke, Rees, Burke and Borkowski.

AGV Unlimited Race 2 was more closely contested than Race 1. Hardwick still took out fastest lap with a 1:37.292 but he was beaten to the line by Sam Davies who finished just 0.351s ahead. Avery, Black and Ayad took the remaining top five positions and sixth through 10th consisted of Edwards, O’Rourke, Hatch, Borkowski and Rees.

Davies was able to land back-to-back wins by taking out Race 3 and once again it was Hardwick who followed him home albeit this time with a three-second gap. Ayad took out third just ahead of Black with Joshua O’Rourke (#59, LNS Mechanic ZX-10R) claiming fifth. The remaining top-10 positions went to Edwards, Rees, Avery, Borkowski and Sbbet.

With Davies and Hardwick taking out all the wins and second place finishes between them, it’s no surprise that they headed the meeting points with Davies’ two wins giving him the meeting win on 70-points, while Hardwick took out second on 65-points. Black (52-points), Ayad (50) and Avery (48) held third through fifth.

Both Greg Avery and Hussein Ayad ceded a handful of points to Andrew Black at Round 3 but it wasn’t enough to change the positions at the head of the table. Going to Round 4, Avery holds the series lead on 137-points, Ayad holds second spot on 132 and Black is in third position on 127. Given the level of competition in the class and with three races to run at Round 3, this championship is far from over.

Special mention in AGV Unlimited goes to Andrew Burley (#121 Duc-Pen Ducati 1098S). Burls banged himself up somewhat in Round 1 after a brake issue ended up with a T2 highside and some unpleasant consequences for his shoulder and ribs and, discretion being the better part of valour, Andrew sat out Round 2. Well, sort of – he exchanged his leathers for an orange army outfit and manned a marshal point instead.

Andrew returned to action at Round 3 on his backup bike and finished the evening with a best lap of 1:42.72, six-points to his name and a pained expression on his face.

Sam Davies – AGV Unlimited – P1

“There’s just something spectacular about racing under lights. St George always has great competition and to come away with a second and two wins, I couldn’t be happier. I owe a big thanks to All Stage Racing for their support throughout the year and I can’t wait to see how the final round turns out.”

Paris Hardwick – AGV Unlimited – P2

“I’ve been enjoying the racing. It’s only my third road race, so I still have a lot to work on especially my starts. I’m happy with the ZX thou, I’m feeling really comfortable on it and looking forward to the next round, thanks to Al Samuals and Graeme for the help.”

Andrew Black – AGV Unlimited – P3

“It was really great to be back racing at night again with St George. It was touch and go if I was going to get the bike back together after last round’s off at the old T9 but with a bit of help from Multivalve Flow Solutions, we were able to get the Honda up and away. There was some really good racing between myself, Sam Davies, Paris Hardwick, Hussein Ayad my old sparing partner Greg Avery. Ahhhh racing motorcycles, if there is something better than it, I certainly haven’t found it. Looking forward to next round!”

Andrew Burley – AGV Unlimited

“After a bit of reflection over the Christmas break, I made the decision to return to racing five weeks after dislocating my left shoulder at Round 1. Still waiting on parts for the Ducati V4S, the trusty old 1098s was pulled out of retirement. I have to admit that I was nervous heading out for qualifying wondering if I had made the right decision, but that soon went away as I got back in the groove and only felt minor physical discomfort. Although I was a fair way off my usual pace, I had some fun battles but the ultimate goal, and the outcome, was for bike and rider to return in one piece.”

AGV Unlimited Race 1 Results

AGV Unlimited Race 2 Results

AGV Unlimited Race 3 Results

AGV Unlimited Standings

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IPONE 600

Standout in IPONE 600 at Round 2 had clearly been Senna Agius (#81, JMT Civil CBR600RR) who was running a pace that no one else in the field could match.

A 1:33.833 was good enough to give Agius pole ahead of Jack Passfield ((#42, Stay Upright Rider Training R6, 1.35.745) and Aidan Hayes (#46, Hayes Johnston Chartered Accountants R6, 1:37.327) and it was these three riders who would take the podium positions, in that order, for all of the evening’s races. Remaining top 10 positions in qualifying were held by Kitson, Murphy, Rees, Dunne, Boldrini, O’Donnell and Soderland.

Agius picked up where we left off in Race 1, was in a class of his own and his 1:32.568 on lap 5 is a new absolute lap record for a 600 class machine, taking a record that has stood since 2008. By that point of the race, he was already well on his way to a 13 second win over Passfield.

To his credit, Passfield kept his pace up despite Agius disappearing into the distance and he held a 10 second gap over Hayes in third place at the flag, with Darragh Murphy (#222, CBR600RR) in fourth, and Carl Kitson (#52, K-Werx R6) in fifth. Remainder of the top 10 were Rees, Dunne, Kean, Huckstepp and Prentice.

Race 2 followed much the same form with Agius compiling another 13 second lead ahead of Passfield at race end with Hayes six-seconds back in third. Murphy took out fourth ahead of Kitson, with Rees, Dunne, Kean, Prentice and Armone holding down the remaining top 10 positions.

Race 3 ended with a 10-second win to Agius over Passfield who crossed the line eight-seconds ahead of Hayes. This time it was Simon Rees (#322, Castle Hills Motorcycles ZX-6R) to take out fourth and another fifth place finish to Kitson who was followed home by Murphy (who had collected a 10-second penalty for a jump start), then Dunne, Kean, Prentice and Johnston.

With three from three for the evening, Senna Agius took out the meeting on 75 points, Passfield took second with 60 points and Hayes took third with 54 points. Darragh Murphy’s 49 points was good enough for fourth best-in-meeting, edging Kitson into fifth spot by just one point.

A number of the leading IPONE 600 runners will miss Round 4 through ASBK testing commitments but, as it stands, Passfield leads the series from Hayes, Agius, Murphy and Kitson.

Senna Agius – IPONE 600 – P1

“The St George’s Night Series for me is pure fun. It’s a different style of event to others but perfect to do in the off-season. We do take it seriously and use it as a chance to test new things. We had a plan to go under the lap record at some point before I return to Europe and I’m happy to get it done quite early as it gives me more time to go faster again as I’m pretty certain there’s a 31 out there. But this all couldn’t be done without my family and crew from JMT CIVIl and Coach49.”

Jack Passfield – IPONE 600 – P2

“I had a fun night! Thanks to the St George Club for organising another great night. We got lucky with the weather and fit in all the planned racing. Unfortunately we’ll have to miss the last round as we will be at Phillip Island for the first ASBK test but it’s been a fun series. Thanks to Stay Upright and all the supporters that keep us on track!”

Aidan Hayes – IPONE 600 – P3

“St George has done it again! Against all odds from the weatherman, the meeting went ahead as planned with storms and rain predicted for the whole night. Fortunately for us the day was hot and the rain clouds blew past SMSP. The track stayed dry apart from turn 5 which had water seepage through the tar in places and the track temp stayed high all night. There was still a dry line through turn 5 if you had your eye in and weren’t trying to pass anyone. Starting from third on the grid I was aiming for a good start and to improve my position but a bad start in Race 1 and a few rear slides on lap one had me a fair way behind Jack Passfield and third was where I stayed. Races 2 and 3, I tried to improve my starts which I did, but my positions didn’t change. I would have liked to be able to battle Jack Passfield for second but I didn’t have the pace to stick with him. Thank you to St George MCC for another awesome night and to all the Marshalls who make the event happen. A huge thank you to my family and all of my sponsors for their support. Congratulations to Senna on taking the 600cc outright lap record!”

IPONE 600 Race 1 Results

IPONE 600 Race 2 Results

IPONE 600 Race 3 Results

IPONE 600 Results

Source: MCNews.com.au