Rees and Frost battle in Aussie SBK Series
H
onda Supersport rider Damon Rees went
into the Australian Superbike Championship
Round 5 at Morgan Park, Queensland
having had a solid outing at the previous
round. The hot and humid Hidden Valley
Raceway in the Northern Territories had
SLOAN FROST
seen Damon score a 3rd place in Race 1 and an 11th
in Race 2, to put him tenth in the championship.
The Whakatane-based rider had backed up the
Hidden Valley results with third fastest lap at the
Morgan Park test days ahead of the race weekend.
Free Practice on Friday at Morgan Park was
going well with Rees having laid down a 1:15:924
lap that was just a tenth of a second off the best
time of the session by Mark Chiodo on the Repsol
Triumph. The next session didn’t end on the same
high. “Everything was going to plan, I got into
the 1.15s then decided to go out for another stint
but on my first flying lap I went down in the last
chicane which is a real shame as the weekend
DAMON REES
14 KIWI RIDER
Story: Nick Edards
was looking positive for some good results”
The spill cost Damon a broken ankle, which was
operated on in Sydney a couple of days after the
accident but the injury didn’t prevent him from
returning home to NZ a couple of days later to
continue his recovery. Damon’s keeping positive
and told us, “That’s racing and that’s what
happens, I suppose; just happy to have it
fixed and get healthy and racing as soon
as I can”. Damon’s injury is one which can
be slow to heal, so it’s not clear if he’ll miss
the start of the NZ racing season. We wish
him the best of healing to get well soon.
Wellington-based Sloan Frost went into the
ASBK Morgan Park race weekend still getting
to grips with his new Suzuki GSX-R1000R
having run it with the engine in a largely
stock-configuration for the previous Hidden
Valley round. Morgan Park had been resurfaced
during the off season and the new surface proved to
be quite a challenge, making tyre choice difficult.
Frost was forced to start both Superbike races
from pit lane, but made good progress through the
field in both races. Frost slid off in Race 2 taking out
BMW-mounted Troy Guenther at the same time.
The Kiwi rider was able to rejoin the race and place
well enough to end up in 10th spot for the meeting.
The fast Sydney Motorsport Park – which used
to be called Eastern Creek - hosts the next
round of the ASBK series over the weekend of
the October 8-9 and could be a circuit which
better suits both the Suzuki and Frost.