Brookes and Epis battle over St George Summer Series spoils

2022-2023 Summer Night Series Round One

Word and Images by Half Light Photographic

Since its commissioning in 2020, Sydney Motorsport Park’s outstanding lighting system has been embraced by club racers, Supercars, trackday junkies and more. At the forefront of bike racing at the venue continues to be St George Motorcycle Club and their Summer Night Series, now in its third year of giving us a short sharp dose of evening racing. Season 22/23 consists of five rounds, two before Xmas, and the remainder in the New Year.

The St George Summer Night Series runs three classes – two Unlimited classes, split based on riders expected lap times, and another for the Supersport racers. Each class is scheduled to have a qualifying session and three nine-minute-plus-one-lap races, race timing which translates to a seven-lap race for all classes.

But, the dance card has to run to a very tight timeframe with on-track action starting at 1830 and expected to complete by 2230. Any delays throw the plan out the window and unfortunately that was the case for the opening round staged on Saturday December 10.

A handful of incidents requiring recovery at the end of sessions and one long outage mid-evening to attend to an injured rider meant some disruption leading to IPONE Unlimited Division 2 only able to complete one of their scheduled three races. Pirelli Unlimited Division 1 and Bridgestone 600 / AGV Twins were able to complete all three races albeit with a shortened Race 3.

Riders now only have a week to prepare for Round 2 with action back at SMP on December 17, then the Xmas break will take us through to Rounds 3 and 4 back-to-back on January 13 & 14 and then the final round early February.

It was great to see a decent turnout of spectators and Round 1 and they were rewarded for their efforts with an entertaining few hours of racing. Hopefully the crowds will continue to grow as the season kicks on.

The mid-January meeting should be fascinating as it’s just a couple of weeks before the official ASBK two-day test at SMP so there’s a good chance that there could be an expanded Super Fast Dudes class with a few more of the ASBK crew on deck for that weekend.

Pirelli Unlimited (Super Fast Dudes)

Sharing the track in Pirelli Unlimited but scoring points in their individual classes are the Super Fast Dudes and the unnamed but assumed to be Just Fast Dudes.

Super Fast is for ASBK regulars which at this opening round consisted of Matt Walters (#12, Kawasaki ZX-10RR), Max Stauffer (#27, Yamaha R1) Lachlan Epis (#83, BMW M 1000 RR) and, making a very welcome guest appearance, Josh Brookes (#25, BMW M 1000 RR) on a bike that he only saw for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

The quickfire nature of the Summer Series didn’t give Brookes much time to adapt but his results through the evening were a testament to how well the bike had been set up for him and how well he could make the best of the equipment available.

Qualifying

Josh Brookes took out pole with a 1m33s279 just edging Ben Burke, (#60, Kawasaki ZX-10RR) by less than three tenths. Rounding out the top five were Matt Walters, Brendan McIntyre (#62, Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Max Stauffer.

Lachlan Epis suffered some bike problems during qualifying which held him back and he started from sixth on the grid.

Race One

Lachlan Epis recovered from his comparatively poor qualifying result of sixth spot on the grid to head off like a scalded cat, leading Josh Brookes across the line by nearly five-seconds and carding the best lap of the race with a 1m31s092.

Brookes wasn’t much troubled by the following pack bringing the BMW home in second spot with a five-second gap ahead of Max Stauffer.

Burke, in fourth place, was first home of the Just Fast Dudes group with McIntyre pushing him hard all the way and trailing Burke by three-tenths at the chequered flag, with Matt Walters just a few hundredths off his tail.

Race Two

There were some epic battles going on throughout the field in the second bout. Brookes had a fight on his hands to catch Epis but managed to work his way through the front and took out the race by a shade over half-a-second.

Behind the BMW duo Burke and Stauffer ran strong to the finish with Burke coming home in third, less than two-tenths ahead of Stauffer.

Matt Walters had to settle for fifth. With Burke again the front runner in the Just Fast Dudes category. McIntyre, Hardwick, Soderland and Marsh rounded out the top five for the Clubbies.

Dominic De Leon (#63, Kawasaki ZX-10R) and Leanne Nelson (#52, Kawasaki ZX-10R) had an excellent battle going in the mid-field, with De Leon taking it by three-tenths of a second at the close.

Race Three

Pirelli Unlimited Race Three ended up being the final race of the evening and even with a fifteen-minute extension to the curfew, allowing racing to run until 2245, the race still had to be shortened from nine-minutes plus one-lap, to seven-minutes plus one lap. Net effect of this was to reduce the race to a six, rather than seven, lap race.

The race was more of the same across the field. Brookes and Epis fighting for the top spot with Brookes taking the flag three-tenths of a second ahead of Epis.

Stauffer was only two-seconds behind them in third place, and he’d built a healthy four-second gap between himself and Ben Burke, again the lead rider from the Just Fast Dudes category.

McIntyre took fifth place followed home by the usual suspects of Walters, Hardwick, Marsh and Soderland. Seven-seconds back from this group, De Leon and Nelson had another race long battle with De Leon managing to hold off Nelson by less than half a second.

PIRELLI Unlimited Super Fast Dudes Results

Josh Brookes #25, Pirelli Unlimited Super Fast Dudes

“The first time I’d seen the bike was Saturday afternoon when I arrived at Paul’s workshop and we spent an hour getting me comfortable adjusting handlebar, seat position, etc. We arrived at the track and went straight into qualifying with no practice, so credit to Jake who made the 10 hour drive up from Melbourne for giving me a great package that allowed me to put the Livson Racing BMW on pole straight out the box and take a couple of wins too.”

Lachlan Epis #83, Pirelli Unlimited Super Fast Dudes

“As always, the night races at Eastern Creek are some of the most enjoyable racing on the calendar. To win the first race and do battle with Josh in the other two was a nice highlight. Looking forward to the rest of the summer!”

Max Stauffer #27, Pirelli Unlimited Super Fast Dudes

“It was a great first night of the St George summer night series. For me I learnt a bit and got to follow some really fast guys, matching my PB in the last race. The team and myself are working in the right direction and I know for myself what I’ve got to work on to go a little bit faster at the next round. Massive thank you to everyone that helps me, the St George club for putting on a great meeting, and all the officials and volunteers.”

Pirelli Unlimited Results

Brendan McIntyre #62, Pirelli Unlimited

“SMSP under lights in warm weather is so good. I’m blessed to have this as home ground so I don’t mind the get-straight-into-it format. My starts have been killing me for sometime and if I can just get that sorted I can pick up the last bit of pace I need to run for the outright podiums.

“I really like flying the flag for Suzuki with my Western Motorcycles GSX-R1000 showing it is still a strong machine in amongst some super expensive competition. I do this on a real shoestring and was fitting my own tyres to rims in the back of the pits 10 minutes before qualifying while dad final checked the bike. Nek minute I’m on the bike and only 0.8 off pole time set by a professional on a bike that cost three times mine. I cracked a PB and have some more in the tank I reckon now I’m match fit, so bring on the next round. What I really need to bring on is some brands and support for 2023 so I can really show what this Suzuki and I can do.”

Paris Hardwick #72, Pirelli Unlimited

“Had a great start to the summer series, after qualifying in ninth. Race 1 saw me battling with Josh Soderland for most of the race and achieving a new PB of a 1m34s3.

“Races 2 and 3 were quite the same, in Race 3 on the last corner of the last lap I put a move on Josh which stuck and gave me third overall for the night behind Brendan Mclntyre and Ben Burke. I’m really happy with a third place for the start of the summer series, thanks St George for a great meeting.”

IPONE Unlimited

IPONE Unlimited suffered most from the evening’s interruptions. Race Two had to be cancelled after a lengthy red flag break while a rider was attended to, thankfully coming away without major injury.

The delay pushed the schedule back to the extent that even with the additional 15-minutes being granted to the club to compete racing, Race Three had to be cancelled so the class only had a single race in this opening round.

Qualifying

Harley Borkowski (#00 Honda CBR1000RR) took pole with a 1m40s1920, ahead of Andy Fisher (#24, BMW S 1000 RR) by less than a tenth-of-a-second. In fact, the top five were covered by less than half-a-second, Ryan Jowett (#57, Ducati V4S), Dane Muscardin (#89, Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Scott Batterson (#91, Kawasaki ZX-10R) holding positions third through fifth.

Race One

It’s a shame the IPONE Unlimited class only got a single race as it was one of the most entertaining displays with some close action from start to finish.

Andy Fisher took out the win just four-hundredths of a second ahead of Ryan Edwards (#84, Ducati V4R) with Borkowski, Shereck (#136, Aprilia RSV4) in close company, and Dave Keane (#231, Aprilia RSV4) in fifth spot.

As noted above, Race Two was red flagged and subsequently cancelled with no points awarded. Race Three was cancelled because of insufficient time being available to compete within curfew hours.

IPONE Unlimited Results

Andy Fisher #24, IPONE Unlimited

“I had an awesome night racing, the competition was close and challenging and to come out on top was great way to finish the night. Thank you to Ballina Motorcycles for preparing my BMW S 1000 RR it was faultless throughout the night. It was a pity our racing was cut short due to an incident in race two, but that’s racing. Let’s hope my 16-hour round trip for the next one shows me more laps around the circuit.”

Bridgestone 600 & AGV Twin Cup

Mid-sized twins have always been a good entry point for club racers and with bikes like the MT-07, SV650 and now the R7 fitting into this space, we should see the class expand rapidly.

For the Nights series, the Supersport races had both the Bridgestone 600 series for the three and four-cylinder bikes, and the AGV Twin Cup for the two-pot brigade.

The twins only had a couple of runners at this meeting but expect it to grow as more racers realise the advantages of two-cylinders. Brian Bolster’s absence due to illness was much missed in the class and we hope to see him back in the game as the series progresses.

Qualifying

Jake Farnsworth (#49, Yamaha R6) made his intentions clear from the outset taking pole with a 1m35s553, a second and a half ahead of Benny Baker (72, Yamaha R6), with Darragh Murphy (#222, Honda CBR600RR), Jack Favelle (#33, Honda CBR600RR) and Hayden Atkins (#123, Kawasaki ZX-6R) taking out the remainder of the top five positions.

Karl Kitson (#52, Yamaha R7) was best of the twins carding a 1m48.s503 with David Nhan Cao (39, Yamaha MT07) the only other rider in the class laying down a 1m54s314.

Race One

Farnsworth blitzed the field pulling a ten-second lead on Baker, having his first race series on the 600 and learning quickly, at the flag.

With Baker eight seconds ahead of Favelle, who himself was 14-seconds ahead of Atkins and Prentice, it was a spread out affair at the head of the pack. Kitson bought the R7 home first in class and 17th overall.

Race Two

Again it was Farnsworth who ran away and took the race victory by five-seconds from Baker. Favelle was some distance back in third with Simone Boldrini (#4, Yamaha R6) and Keith Mulcahy (#32, Kawasaki ZX-6R) crossing the line 30-seconds back from the winner. Kitson once again topped the twins class, finishing 18th overall.

Race Three

Race 3 was also shortened by two-minutes making it six-lap affair and guess what? It was that man Farnsworth again bolting into the distance and winning the race by 11-seconds. Baker had to hold off Favelle right to the line finishing just two-tenths of a second ahead of the Honda rider.

Hayden Nelson (#279, Yamaha R6) came home in fourth and Marcus Hamod, on his birthday and first time out on a 600, scored a fifth which he could be deservedly pleased with.

Bridgestone 600 & AGV Twin Cup Results

Jake Farnsworth #49 Bridgestone 600

“What a great atmosphere and fantastic event put on by St George. Can’t wait to get back out there this weekend. Catch me if you can!”

Benny Baker #72 Bridgestone 600

“I thoroughly enjoyed my first ever race onboard my Yamaha R6, I learnt so much but still have a lot more to learn before I can be competitive on the bigger bike. Huge thanks to everyone that helped make the event run smoothly and to everyone that came out to watch – the atmosphere was great can’t wait for the next one.”

Jack Favelle #33 Bridgestone 600

“We have finally got a good setup in the bike, so it was just going out setting laps trying to push myself a little bit more every lap. In the last race I caught Benny Baker and I put a move on him in turn 6 last lap but couldn’t make it stick.

“It’s awesome to have Jake Farnsworth and Benny out in front to push me even more and to have a good reference to get to. I’m very happy with how the night ended up.”

Lance Robertson – Commentator

“WOW – what another great night of racing at SMP. Yet again it was an absolute pleasure to be involved with a night race meeting promoted so well by the St. George MCC. Exciting, close and enjoyable to watch. With one more round than previous, a back-to-back two night event and International Stars competing, the 2022-2023 Summer Night Series promises to deliver nothing but exceptional value for money for all.“