Southern Downs Road Race Series 2013 – Round 3

Round 3 of the Southern Downs Road Race Series was a showcase of a meeting. Perfect racing conditions! The sun was out, the air was cool but not cold, and there was very little wind. So good in fact that two of the Formula 2 riders (600cc class) smashed not only the F2 lap record (by 1.1 seconds) but the outright circuit record for a motorcycle!

We welcome a new sponsor at Team Tiger with 2fiftycc.com taking out a sponsorship package on Simon’s bike. It’s an excellent forum with a focus on 250cc bikes, lots of info, and members that contribute – check them out @

Qualifying 1 for Formula 4 was the first event for the team. After qualifying it was clear that everyone had woken up on the correct side of the bed – the front 2 rows all qualified under with laps under 1:32, with Simon Dickson taking Pole position with a 1:29.420. Kieran McGeown made it a Team Tiger 1-2 keeping the 400cc machines behind him and taking second on the grid with a 1:29.635. Gary Dickson kept within 3 seconds of pole with a 1:32.107 to head up the 3rd row of the grid in 9th spot.

The Formula 3 Qualifying sessions ended with Simon heading up the 2nd row (leading 250 Production) with a 1:29.219, Kieran (2nd 250 Production) produced a 1:30.042 to claim 11th spot on the grid, Gary showing he had come to play this weekend with his best ever lap of Morgan Park a 1:30.304 and securing himself 14th spot.

Formula 4 Race 1: Etienne Olden (VFR400) got a fantastic start from 3rd spot on the grid, except he didn’t wait till the lights went out, jump start! Anthony Carroll (VFR400) got in front of Simon before turn 1, but Simon kept the power on longer to retake the position on the way into the turn. Etienne took the chequer flag in front of Simon, however the penalty for a jump start is a 3 place relegation, making Simon the outright winner for the race and the fastest lapping rider with a best lap of 1:29.078. Gary continued in the groove – moving forward throughout the race to take 5th across the chequer flag, with a best time of 1:30.782, shaving 0.003 off his personal best! Kieran’s race did not go to plan, he completed lap 1 in 5th position, the VFR400’s of Etienne, Anthony and David Wright all managed to get past him. Lap 2 Kieran got on the throttle a little too aggressively and early out of turn 6, losing the front end and crashing. He was able to remount and complete the race in 16th, the damage was minor and he suffered no injury. You can view the crash from the onboard footage below.

Formula 3 Race 1: Simon battled with Mark Gordon (SV650) and Leigh Holmes (ZXR400) in the early laps, managing to get in front of Mark Gordon, he could not progress further than 7th (1st 250 Production), posting a very respectable best lap of 1:28.680. Kieran unshaken by his crash in the prior race fought hard to hold position and came away with 9th (2nd 250 Production), putting down a lap of 1:29.636 to set himself a new personal best. Gary battled his way through the field to eventually pass Mark Gordon and claim 11th outright (3rd 250 Production), setting a new PB on the 5th lap of 1:30.528, then going faster again on the 6th to bring his PB down to 1:30.282 – half a second better than his PB from the Formula 4 race!

Formula 4 Race 2: Simon was unable to run with Etienne and Anthony, taking part in a race long battle with Leigh Holmes and David Wright (VFR400), only able to beat David thanks to choosing the better side to overtake a back-marker, giving Simon the precious meters needed to get to the finish line in 4th with a best lap of 1:29.390. James Irvine (VFR400) was only hundredths of a second behind across the line – also taking advantage of David’s lackluster drive on the way to the finish line to claim 5th. Kieran held on to the back of the group Simon was battling in, putting in a best lap of 1:30.044 to take home 7th. Gary completed the race in a lonely 8th position with a best lap of 1:31.525.

Formula 3 Race 2: Simon and Paul Dawson (SV650) traded places numerous times through the race, Paul was able to return every overtake Simon made, leaving Simon to settle for 6th position (1st 250 Production) with a best lap of 1:30.013. Kieran also managed to make his way past Mark Gordon and a best lap of 1:29.922, claiming 8th after being pipped by James Irvine (VFR400) on the run to the chequer flag. Gary was involved in battles with James Parker (CBR250RR), Sarah Fairbrother (Moriwaki MD250) and Mick Train (VFR400). James was the only one in the pack able to trump Gary, who finished in 12th position (4th 250 production) with a best lap of 1:31.516.

Formula 4 Race 3: With 2 warm up laps for the first race of each class on Sunday, Simon was willing to push harder into T1 and it paid off, getting into second spot on the first lap. Etienne broke away in the lead. Anthony passed Simon on lap 4 and open up a small gap. Simon finished in 3rd, with a best lap of 1:29.652. Kieran and Gary were all over each other, the pair ended the race 0.011 apart in 5th and 6th positions, neither sure of who was the victor until seeing the official results. Kieran posted a best lap of 1:31.525 and Gary a 1:30.909.

Formula 3 Race 3: Swamped on the first lap, Simon was pushed back to 8th position but managed to put on some nice passes to move up to 5th by lap 4, Paul Dawson again proving too difficult to beat, Simon got home in 5th (1st 250 Production) with a best lap of 1:29.006. Kieran set a new PB of 01:29.151 on lap 3. Tayla Relph (Moriwaki MD250H) and Ken Croucher (Honda RS125) turned up the pace and got past relegating Kieran back 2 positions to of 11th (2nd 250 Production). Gary held steady in 13th (3rd 250 Production) for the race, fending off Mick Train but unable to get the better of Mark Gordon, putting down a best lap of 1:30.431, close to his PB.

Formula 4 Race 4: Simon produced his best lap of the weekend on the 10th and final lap of the longest race of the weekend, a 01:28.558. Anthony opened up a gap mid race that was enough to keep Simon in 4th. Gary and Kieran battled each other for another photo finish – this time Gary was the victor by 0.036 of a second, claiming a hard earned 6th place with a best lap of 1:30.939 ahead of Kieran in 7th posting a fastest lap of 1:29.779.

Formula 3 Race 4: After a very committed return overtake on Anthony through turn 1, followed by out braking Tayla into turn 4, Simon was close enough to Paul on the run into turn 6 to make a pass and get to the front of the pack, unfortunately a yellow flag stopped Simon from making the pass. The next flag point saw the red flag displayed and the race stopped. Mike Roche (VFR400) had crashed at turn 7 and given himself a bit of a knock to the head, as he was unconscious for a little bit. The race was red flagged to enable the ambulance to attend him. The big South African did more damage to himself than the bike – broken scapula and ribs, and a nasty burn on his leg requiring a skin graft. Get well soon mate. As the race was only 1/2 way through it would be restarted with riders starting from the position they held at the last complete lap. Anthony had been in front of Simon across at the end of lap 5 leaving Simon to restart from 8th position. The restart saw Anthony able to make a good start and break away from Simon and it took a couple of laps before Simon could pass Mark Gordon. The 5 lap dash ended with Simon in 6th after 2 riders in front were unable to finish the race, best lap of 1:28.691. Kieran and Gary resumed where they left off after the restart, working hard to better each other. The winner of this battle would be Kieran claiming 10th (2nd 250 Production) by half a second, with a best lap of 1:30.476. Gary ended the race in 11th (3rd 250 Production) setting a best lap just shy of his new PB of 1:30.434.

Formula 4 Race 5: Simon took a good start holding 3rd through the entire race, with a best lap of 1:29.201. Kieran claimed 5th behind Anthony after swapping to the teams spare bike, putting in a best lap of 1:30.220. Gary held off James Irvine and Mick Train to claim 6th, with a best lap of 1:31.276.

Formula 3 Race 5: Kieran got away to a good start battling with Simon while making their way from 8th and 9th up to 5th and 6th. Lap 6 disaster struck for Kieran, losing the front through the high speed turn 1, the bike cart wheeled doing a huge amount of damage, luckily Kieran did not hurt himself seriously – just a bang to the ankle. The lap prior to crashing Kieran set a new PB, going sub 1:29 with a 01:28.768. Simon finished the race in 5th (1st 250 Production), best lap of 1:28.761. Gary rode a solid race, battling with Anthony, but unable to keep in front of him to take 8th (2nd 250 Production), with a best lap of 1:30.829 to finish the weekend strongly.

The weekend was a success for the team, with the damage Kieran did to the bikes being the only detraction from an otherwise perfect weekend of racing. Simon is now leading the 250 Production Championship (14 riders in the Championship) on 344 points, taking the top spot from Kieran with 317 points after round 3. Gary is holding a solid 3rd position with 300 points, then there is a 109 point gap back to James Parker in 4th. The combined Formula 3 points table (34 riders with points in the championship) has Simon moved up into 3rd spot, 9 points shy of Anthony Carroll. Kieran is in 7th with 220, and Gary holds 8th with 185. Formula 4 is where Simon has managed his best performances against the bigger bikes and holds 2nd with 299 from Etienne Olden on 315 points. Kieran holds onto 5th with 223 points. Gary and David Wright were tied for 6th at the end of round 2. David crashed in race 2 of Formula 3 and ended his weekend campaign, enabling Gary to hold onto 6th and open up a 28 point buffer back to David in 7th.

Team Tiger thanks the Motorcycle Sportsmen of Queensland for putting on such a great event, the volunteers that gave their time to run the meeting and the competitors for continuing to lift the quality of the racing. Thanks to our team sponsors CaraData and Simon’s new sponsor 2fiftycc.com. Wayne from Osella took more excellent photos of us, and also thanks to Brenden Allen for sending in the funky pre race photo of Simon.