Cole
had his first national 600cc supersport round this weekend at Eastern Creek. We shared a
pit with Anthony Gobert who is now contesting the full national Aussie championship on a
privateer Honda.
Eastern Creek is known as an extremely hard circuit to learn. They say if you can ride
this track you can ride anywhere. Cole really only had one full practice session on Friday
(4 laps in the first and most of the second practice) and improved from a 1m49 to a 1m44.
2 qualifying sessions on Saturday and he managed to qualify (just qualifying for the event
was his goal) with a 1m40.8, 28th of 29 riders. Some did not qualify.
Cole is the only "D" grade rider in the field. With the exception of 2
"C" grade riders, all the others are "A" or "B" grade. Cole
is by far
the youngest - only 16 year old. All other riders have had a number of years riding
experience, and know the Eastern Creek circuit well. As a rule, the "C" and
"D" grade riders compete in a 600cc superstock class (no "A" and
"B" allowed) first, then progress after a year or two to supersport. Cole
qualified 1 sec quicker than the superstock pole, vindicating, we think, our decision to
throw him into the deep end and go to Supersport for him to learn with the big boys.
First race Cole got a bad start and got stuck behind the last qualifier. Trying to pass
him into turn 6 (Eastern Creek is a really hard
overtaking track), Cole crashed. He picked up the bike and managed another 3 laps before
oil on his boot from a cracked alternator cover brought him in - DNF.
Second heat, same bad start but got him in turn 2 - I think the other rider was a little
scared of Cole this time. Then Cole got stuck behind another rider for about 5 laps,
eventually running him wide in turn 2 with an aggressive block pass. Cole dropped
immediately into the low 39,s but the pack had got away. Cole is good for 38's around
there - top riders doing high 35's this weekend. He finished 19th for his first 2
supersport points. Cole beat both "C" grade riders by miles.
A remarkable effort and we are really proud of him.
