Rider: Joe Harvey    #82     -   Age :17

Bike: Stafford Motorcycles Yamaha YZ250F

Australian Supermoto Championships S3 2006

Final placing 4th

At the halfway point in the championships, promoter Mark Avard changed the event format, instead of trying to cram it all into one day like an MX event, we would have the day before for practice as in roadracing. The whole feel of the meetings changed, everyone relaxed and capable of getting things done in the available time. Along with this change came the change in fortune for Joe Harvey. Although he had placed #3 in the 2005 S3 Championship , the first three rounds of 2006 did not go well. A puncture in very first race of 06 through some crashes and set-up problems left him in twelfth place at half time. At Cobden he started to show form, also doing well at Coffs, but crashes at both rounds kept him off the podium. He went into the final round in fifth position looking to redeem himself.

Here's Joe's report from the last round

Ssanyong Australian Supermoto Championships Rd 6

Queensland Raceway, Ipswich

Joe Harvey #82

Track

The track at Queensland was a tight go-kart road section with some long straights and one long sweeping right-hander. The dirt section was a simple layout with one off-camber left-hander, a single jump into a tabletop followed by two single then a flat left-hander. The surface was a mix of clay and sand; which got rough after practice and the first race then the weather caused the dirt section to be abandoned. The road surface to begin with was very slippery because of all the dirt that was dragged onto the tar; which made it very challenging for the riders. When the rain started the track became like ice and claimed many victims in the first few races. It was a matter of control yourself and not pushing too hard on the unforgiving surface.

Practice/Qualifying

The pace was hot in S3 with 8 out of the top 10 qualifiers posting times within 1 second. I pushed hard and was riding on the edge to post a good time and end up with a good starting position but I didn't go as hard as I needed to and ended up 7th on the grid which wasn't my best qualify but by no means my worst. The track was very slippery and it was not easy to estimate how hard to push into corners because the surface was not only slippery but also inconsistent with some corners offering a lot more grip than others. I tried to make up lost time by pushing hard on the dirt but with the whole section being one-lined and lacking technical stuff I couldn't make up much.

Race 1

Race 1 began badly, firstly with me starting poorly and secondly a first turn pile-up; which caused a restart, fortunately. I got away better this time and passed a few people then got onto the back of Damien Grabham arguably the hardest guy to pass in our class, I tried to set-up passes all around the track but could not make one stick. But not without trying I was on the limit of myself and the track trying to go round and under him at any point of the circuit, I eventually conceded to a 5th place finish.

Race 2

I started from 5th position for the second race which was better, I got away pretty well and was in 5th into the first turn, 2nd placed rider Dylan Browning put it down and I got round him and moved into 4th spot, in the second corner Linden Magee crashed out of 2nd and left the door open for myself to move up again, straight onto the wheel of Damien Grabham yet again I tried to get round him for the first few laps then settled for third because the track was treacherous and I did not want to put it down and ruin my last round. So I finished 3rd but also posted the fastest lap of the race.

Race 3

For race 3, I started on the front row and did not want to waste the chance to finish the series on a high. I got away well and slotted in behind Ben Grabham, who showed his dominance of the class by not losing a race all season, I wanted to break his streak and finish with a win but I could not get close enough to him to make a pass and I also did not want to blow a podium position for the final round so I tried as hard as I could to pass him but he was too strong and I eventually conceded to a close 2nd. I finished 3rd overall for the day and moved up into 4th position for the series; which I was reasonably happy with but I would have loved to finish on the podium.

Thanks to the following we managed what we did

Stafford Yamaha, Over pipes, ASR Suspension,

Shinko Tyres, W2 Boots, Braking & Scott Goggles

The GPTC and Paul Caridi for the photo