RICK OLSON:

We arrived home from Mallala in SA, having had a great round taking FIRST PLACE OVERALL and extending our points lead in the championship with one round to go at Phillip Island , which should be another great weekend of close racing.

MALLALA – FRIDAY PRACTICE and QUALIFIER 1:

On the Friday we had two practice sessions to get on the pace and one qualifier at the end of the day to try to put in a quick time.

The first and second practice went great and the bike felt it was tracking well right away, with a fresh set of tyres on and the rain coming as we went out for our qualifier I knew it was crucial to get a good time as soon as possible. Going out and on my first lap I noticed a few little drops on my visor so the second lap I went for my hot lap and got a time of 1.10.9, I pulled in and noticed the rain was now starting to fall heavily. Our time stood strong and we were on pole for this session!!

SATURDAY QUALIFIER 2 AND RACE 1:

Saturdays qualifier we opted not to go out as we were confident our time from Friday could keep us on the first or second row and most importantly conserving our tyres for the races.

At the end of the session our time from Friday stood and we were on POLE for the racing.

Our race was at the end of the day and the weather was unpredictable, just before our race a quick shower came and it was now going to be a wet race, with a quick change of wheels and a quick tune of the suspension from Frank Pons, we were ready to head out.

Having not rode the Yamaha R6 in the wet before, I was the most nervous I have been all year, but a good start saw us second in turn one just behind Mitch Pirrota. Mitch made a mistake which I took the opportunity to take the lead. After a couple of laps I managed to pull a two second gap to Matt Walters who was second, and with every lap I was getting more and more confident on the Yamaha R6 in the wet and managed to hold on for my first win of the weekend!

SUNDAY RACE DAY:

RACE 2:
The weather on Sunday was looking much better than for Saturday, and again I got my head down for a good start and took the lead early on, trying to pull a gap. Lap 2 saw Morris put a move on me in turn 3 with both of us swapping places throughout the race. On the last lap I managed to get in front and hold it to the line just ahead of Aaron.

RACE 3:
The last race was set to be another close one, and this time we didn’t get the best of starts and was fourth into turn one. I managed to get into third but Mitch Pirrota and Aaron Morris were slowly getting away at the front, so I knew I had to make a big effort and I managed to close in and overtake Mitch in the hairpin on the second last lap, but with one lap remaining and Aaron still in front I made a move at the same place I did with Mitch but Aaron came straight back and I finished second giving us first overall and extended our lead in the championship.

Once again I would like to give a big thanks to my sponsor THE REECE BANCELL SCHOLARSHIP and all the supports from the Scholarship – AGV, Alpinestars, Anderson bike stands, Bike-photos, Champions ride days, Goodridge brake lines, Joe Rocket leathers, JTS sprockets, Motul Oils, Racers Edge, RK Chains, Sportsbike and YRD YAMAHA,

Another thanks to Marty Dowd and his team for getting the bike ready for the weekend in such short time, Frank Pons for making the bike so much easier to ride, my dad and Jamie Plumb my mechanic in the pits for all their help and also my family and friends.