Jones & Huddlestone Win 2 Hours of Motorworks Michelin 2022 in Baskerville

2022 Motorworks Michelin 2 hours

Baskerville Raceway

With Bill Burford

A great weekend of races, camaraderie and sportsmanship was witnessed at 2-Hour Motorworks Michelin 2022.

Before Sunday’s race can begin, there is a small problem of arranging grid positions. This came on Saturday afternoon under the blazing Tasmanian sunshine pushing the mercury to a high of 25 degrees, in near-perfect conditions. As a result, there was much talk about the existing Brett Simmonds lap record being lowered.

This is of little concern to the Brett Simmonds/Jed Metcher group, who find themselves riding an unfamiliar ZX-10R. The team’s weapon of choice was their 2010 CBR1000RR but come race weekend, Fireblade didn’t want to play ball, or in this case, start.

Electric Gremlins are the suspected culprit but can’t find out exactly who caused the trouble. Fellow rider Chris McGrath showed up and delivered his ZX-10R to Simmonds and Metcher over the weekend, so the boys are back, even though they’ve never been on a bike before weekend.

The Superpole saw Jed put in his best shot, taking 54.07 rounds, pushing Jason Spencer/Ted Collins team (54.16) down to second place. The final opponent of the day was Mike Jones (teammate with Jeremy Huddlestone) and he looked confident, if maybe a bit overconfident.

Jones started into turn one at a faster pace than he did at the weekend and struggled to pull the R1 to the front edge of the track. Luckily, this is the only con on an otherwise polished lap, and he still crossed the line to win the column with a score of 53.19, less than 2/10 of the existing lap record. .

Many spectators and competitors wondered to what extent the new record could be lowered and if it would be broken on Sunday race day.

Sunday dawn is cooler than Saturday, with light clouds overhead and the drive to the Derwent River track looking especially flat and calm – often a boon for a smooth day ahead.

Once the morning’s sprints were complete, officials ate a quick bite before things turned more serious after lunch with the day’s feature races. A quick stroll around the training ground noticed that there was a lot of last-minute prep work going on, refueling strategies being validated, and a lot of stress that required a few words of wisdom from those who were already there. before.

Peter McEldowney was the winner of the Golden Oldies handicap six-round match. Isaac Simmonds burst into the house with extra meters to overcome the Junior Disability Challenge (13-16 years old).

Robbie Wilson and Jeremy Archer were the Sidecar Cup winners, Liam Waters took the big win in the 20-lap Lites feature race after his closest rival, Taran Ocean, took the lead in Saturday’s race .

As the 2pm start of 2pm approached, the breeze lifted slightly and the mercury inched 21 degrees, truly perfect conditions. Bikes line up at the edge of the track – riders line up opposite, ready for a traditional Le-Mans-style start.

And they left the race, everyone walked away clean without drama.

Ted Collins took the hole in turn, followed by 600 cc competitor Matthew Long. Mike Jones was a little behind the line and placed in sixth place.

Round two saw Ted Collins continue to lead with Brett Simmonds riding Kawasaki now close behind. Mike Jones made it through the 53.17-second lap to rise to third, with Matthew Long leading Supersports but falling to fourth.

The first five laps go by quickly, making it hard for local racers to relax to the rhythm of endurance when surrounded by some of the nation’s best riders offering the chance to ‘catch me if’ you can!’

Brett Simmond’s bad luck weekend continued when he lost his left knee slider just completing a few laps. Reaching round 20, Jones caught up and overcame Simmonds to get them into the ring while still in the early stages of the competition.

By round 20, Jones had passed the entire court except for Ted Collins, who was still 15 seconds arrears. Jones seems to be struggling and as his confidence grows, he gets closer and closer to scrubbing the armco at the entrance for a spin in each round.

At 38 minutes, Mike Jones then pitted fuel and handed over pilot duties to Jeremy Huddlestone

In the 46th minute, Ted Collins pitted for fuel and swapped drivers, teammate Jason Spencer re-entering the track 23 seconds after Huddlestone.

In the 53rd minute, Simmonds entered the pit, swapped with Jed Metcher and refueled, while the 56th minute saw the first of the 600s pits as Mitch Hawksley entered the refueling area to get liquid and swap with Tassie’s frequent guest Ryan Taylor.

A 65-minute top solo competitor was pitted by Jonathan Hughes.

At 76 minutes, neutral Jesse Woods (AKR) entered turn one in his YZF-R6, getting off the asphalt and losing the lead in the 600 cc category, 54-year-old Jonathan Hughes in the Triumph 675 inherited the top spot in the 600 category.

Jeremy Huddlestone rode forcefully back into the pit still holding first place in the 83rd minute, giving an easy lead to newly crowned Australian Superbike Champion Mike Jones in the second.

By the 94th minute, AKR driver Jesse Woods had regained his lost spot from previous sweeping missions, not only leading in the 600 cc but also overall. Give the fading Jonathan Hughes a delicious carrot to chase, so much so that with 20 minutes of running Hughes overtook Woods to take the lead in the 600 cc class.

However, Mike Jones took the lead in the 55th minute and in the 98th minute took the lead completely from Jason Spencer.

Jones slowed down a bit to 56.5 laps in 109 minutes, Jed Metcher was driving a ZX-10R trying to overtake his team and he was threatening the Baskerville lap record with just minutes left and even less rubber.

Reaching the 120-minute mark, a lap is still a lap, and Metcher managed to knock out his team in the last corner, taking a nice second despite interrupted preparations.

Mike Jones and Jeremy Huddlestone are the 2-hour Motorworks Michelin winners for 2022, from Simmonds/Metcher and Spencer/Collins in second and third place respectively.

Victory in the 600 cc class went to Hamish Sellers and Jesse Woods, with Matthew Long and Marcus Delaney in third place, while the race of the day went to solo rider Jonathan Hughes, who took second in the class. this part. Hughes set himself the challenge of riding alone and exceeded his own and others’ expectations, displaying great stamina and endurance.

Motorworks Superbike 2 Hour Michelin Endurance Race Results

Motoworks Michelin Supersport 2 Hour Endurance Race

Race results feature Golden Oldies Cup

Race results feature Tassie Junior Cup

Sidecar Cup Result

Lites 20 Lap Features Race Results