A bit of biff and barge to round out WA’s ASBK Round 4
Race day at WA’s Barbagallo Raceway was full of excitement for Race Center rider’s Nic Liminton and Ben Blyth. Both riders did a great job aboard their Yamaha YZF-R6s, each having highlights throughout the weekend.
Nic Liminton backed up his impressive 4th position in qualifying with a solid 5th in race 1 followed by 6th in race 2 to net him 5th overall for the round. It wasn’t without some biff and barge though, Nic was forced wide by his team mate Blyth on the opening lap of race 2 and then worked his butt off to make up ground. Nic eventually passed Blyth with 2 laps remaining, the pair coming together ever so slightly in the process. The contact was all above board, hard but fair which is how we encourage our riders to perform.
Nic Liminton: “Really positive round for me this weekend, getting my best result this year. It has been great and it’s been a big step forward. Looking forward to round 5!”
For Blyth it was an up and down weekend, starting from 8th on the grid he made an amazing start in race 1 moving up to 5thon lap 1 and holding the position for the majority of the race until eventually passed by Race Center team mate Liminton. In race 2 Blyth spent the most of the race in 6th place before the clash with Liminton lead him to brake too late for turn 1 running off and putting pay to any hope of a good result. Blyth re-joined to finish in 12th place netting 8th for the round.
Ben Blyth:”It was an okay weekend considering I had never been to Barbagallo Raceway. Putting the Race Center Yamaha R6 in 6th for race 1 is a good achievement for the weekend. I’ll be working hard between rounds and hope to put in a strong performance at Morgan Park”
While we would have liked to be dicing with the front 4, there are very clear and encouraging signs from both riders that they are on the right path as they continue their development.
The next round of the Australian Superbike Championship is at QLD’s Morgan park on August 5th – 7th.
Australian Supersport Championship Standings
1 Sam Clarke 162
2 Troy Guenther 152
3 Callum Spriggs 143.5
4 Luke Mitchell 137
5 Ben Blyth 114.5
6 Chris Quinn 92
7 Nic Liminton 89.5
