An all star line-up of riders and teams are assembling for the 2010 running of the Bel-Ray 6 Hour, to be held at Phillip Island in Victoria on 3-5 December.
An all star line-up of riders and teams are assembling for the 2010 running of the Bel-Ray 6 Hour, to be held at Phillip Island in Victoria on 3-5 December.
Former Australian Superbike Champion and current British Superbike star Josh Brookes will team up with Wayne Maxwell on the Demolition Plus GAS Honda Racing CBR1000RR to defend the team’s title in the race that will get underway via a Le Mans-style start at 10:30am on race day Sunday.
With less than five weeks until the start of Australia’s inaugural Endurance championship, this year moving from Oran Park Raceway to Phillip Island, the Bel-Ray 6 Hour will see teams share in the spoils of over $60,000 in cash and contingency up for grabs.
Taking on the challenge of not only Phillip Island but the strong line up from Demolition Plus will be the official Team Suzuki entry of reigning Australian Superbike Champion Josh Waters and three-time ASBK Champion Shawn Giles aboard a Phil Tainton Racing-prepared GSX-R1000.
Along side them in the Team Suzuki garage will be the current Australian Supersport points leader Troy Herfoss and recent Suzuka 4 Hour winner Brodie Waters onboard the team’s GSX-R600 Supersport bike, with a third team still a possibility.
Don’t be surprised if the BMW S1000RR of Craig Coxhell – winner of the race last year – appears with established endurance rider, Moto 2 wildcard and 2010 IDM Supersport Champion Damian Cudlin, set to confirm their entry in the coming weeks.
Several other strong teams consisting of 2 times World Endurance Champion Warwick Nowland and team mate Glenn Scott will be out to push for the win on board an InsureMyRide-sponsored Kawasaki ZX6R.
Trent Gibson, Nick Henderson and BSB regular Dave Johnson, aboard the Gibson Motorsports Suzuki will certainly push the established teams all the way.
TT and road racing star Cameron Donald will possibly feature along with current ASBK regulars Scott Charlton, Kris Mclaren and Cole Odendaal, with more teams to confirm final rider line-ups in the next few weeks according to the event promoters.
Event Promoter James Spence will field a BMW S1000RR in the Production class with seasoned Superbike campaigner and current Queensland Superbike champion Murray Clark along with Italy’s John Corbett and 80s Superbike regular Nigel Taylor.
As close to 40 teams line up for the 2010 Bel-Ray 6 Hour, one can only imagine that on race day, Phillip Island will herald another step toward the return of the golden years of Australian endurance racing.
Confirmed this week will be two separate TV shows hosted by David Tapp, Mark Bracks and Kevin Magee – each show an hour long that will capture all the action and will be developed and shown on FOX Sport’s new home of motorsports SPEED channel.
Episode one will premiere at 9:00pm on Sunday 9 January off the back of the World Superbikes and will be repeated on the Monday at 1:30pm and the following Saturday at 3:00pm. Episode two will be on the following Sunday, 16 January at 9:00pm with the same repeats.
For all details on the event, be sure to visit www.the6hour.com.au where you can find corporate details, support class details, entry details and spectator information.