Relph joins R3 Cup action

Australian Motorcycle News has announced one of Australia’s rising ASBK Moto3 stars Tayla Relph will be the guest rider of the Yamaha Motor Australia / AMCN / Pirelli YZF-R3 at this weekend’s round five of the YZF-R3 Cup at Victoria’s Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit.

The penultimate round of the inaugural series is being contested as a support category to the second round of the Victorian Road Racing Championship.

Regular pilot, AMCN Editor Chris Dobie, announced today that he would step aside from riding duties to make the bike available to a rising star of the Australian road racing scene.

“When young Kiwi racer Lewis Dray filled in for me at Morgan Park I enjoyed the experience of assisting the next generation of riders as much as racing, so I’ve decided to do it again for the Phillip Island round,” he said.

Tayla Presently campaigns a Honda NSF250R in the Australian Moto3 championships where she has already claimed multiple victories – the first female to do so in the domestic category.

“I’m presently tied for second place in the Australian Championship, and with only the final round to run at Winton in October, just nine points is separating the top three title contenders. It’s going to be a winner-takes-all affair.”

Despite being an R3 Cup debutant, the Brisbane-based university student is quietly confident about her chances this weekend.

“There are a few people in the R3 Cup field who I have previously beaten, but they have the advantage of a four-round head start with bike familiarity and development,” she explained.

“I would like to think I can run with the top five. If I can achieve that I will be more than happy, however, my goal for the weekend is enjoy the experience. I’m also keen to see how the bike compares to my Moto3 machine which is a purpose-built racebike designed to contest the international Moto3 category.”

Tayla said she has been keeping a close eye on the series this year, as the concept is something that interests her.

“I loved the whole idea behind the one-make series when it was first announced, the value of the package is incredible. I wanted to contest it this year, but we didn’t have enough time to get the funds together. This is a great opportunity for me to try the series with the view to doing a full season in 2017.

“So many people have helped make this opportunity happen in such a short period, including John Redding from YMA, Darren and the team from R3 Cup Race Centre. Also a huge thanks to my sponsors SpeedAngle Australia, Earmold Australia, ADB Print as well as my mum and dad.”

In addition to support from AMCN, Pirelli is also assisting Tayla this weekend by fitting the bike with Pirelli Supercorsa tyres. The Pirelli tyres have been the standout performer in this year’s R3 Cup.

Racing for round four of the YZF-R3 Cup gets underway with practice and qualifying on Saturday morning followed by Race 1 on Saturday afternoon. Races 2 and 3 will be contested on Sunday.
AMCN would like to wish Tayla all the best for this weekend’s events. Look for our race report in the next issue of AMCN on sale 1 September.