KIWI RIDER 09 2018 VOL.1 | Page 16

Damon went to the Queensland track with some unpleasant memories from last year ’ s round . A fall on the exit of the fast right / left sequence leading on to the main straight broke his ankle badly enough that he missed the rest of the ASBK series and the 2018 NZ Championship series as well . Arriving at Morgan Park having only ridden once since the previous round at Hidden Valley seven weeks prior and with last year ’ s fall still on his mind , Damon used Friday ’ s practice sessions to get back into the groove and build confidence without pushing too hard . This was still good enough to see him in 6th spot at the end of the day , 1.5s off the pace set by front runners Cru Halliday ( Yamaha R6 ) and Tom Toparis ( Kawasaki ZX- 6R ). Saturday bought gusty conditions that made the back of the track very tricky especially through Turns 4 and 5 and Damon ’ s measured approach to improving through the weekend was rewarded by a solid qualifying result with him putting the Honda on the front row of the grid , in 3rd spot , alongside Halliday and Toparis . Come Sunday , conditions were still gusty and Damon was grateful for having been able to get some track time in similar conditions

the day before as Morgan Park is quite technical and doesn ’ t have much margin for error which can be tricky when the wind is pushing the bike around . Race 1 was forced into a restart after Scarcella crashed on the opening lap and Damo made the most of the opportunity getting a great launch at the restart and heading the field into the first lap . Cru Halliday on the factory R6 was able to pass him for the lead but Rees was able to hold off a strong challenge from Callum Spriggs , a welcome return to the ASBK field after a period on the sidelines through injury , to secure a 2nd place finish . Making passes at Morgan Park on bikes that are so closely matched in performance isn ’ t easy and a less than perfect start put Rees down a few places in Race 2 and made it difficult to recover . Damon ended up running a lonely race finishing in 6th spot four seconds behind Broc Pearson and gapping Zac Johnson by the same amount . These two strong finishes see Damon in 3rd spot in the championship going to Winton and with the team looking to switch from Power Commander ECU to Woolich in the interim , they should have more options in the electronics department for the last two rounds .

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