Ironman for Tauranga
Suzuki 6 Hour - Sandpit Series
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2012 Suzuki 6 Hour Race
Over 180 riders competed in the Sean Clarke organized Suzuki 6 Hour Race over 35km of bulldozed forestry based tracks at the pylons, Atiamuri, South Waikato on Saturday October 6th 2012.
Reece Burgess (Tauranga) is Tauranga’s Ironman. He led the field for 2.5 laps, finished 4th overall but took the first Ironman honours in the relocated 6 Hour Race ahead of Brad Groombridge (Hawera). Eldon Frost from Tauranga was 6th.
It was deemed a 6 Hour race but, because he finished his 8th lap 3 minutes before the 6 Hour deadline, Reece had to go out for another lap giving him a total time of 6 hours 44 minutes on the bike. “I counted down the laps keeping consistent until the last one where I was going to put on a charge with what I had left,” says Reece, “but then my crew told me I had that extra lap to run! This was not in the plan and was rather depressing news as the skin wears down so I just continued at the same pace. Oddly enough, to feel fresher, I just told myself it was the first lap and that worked for me.”
Conserving energy, not crashing and passing riders who were “throwing up too much roost and losing him vision” also worked (click here for his full report). But there was one disappointment. As Reece says, “It’s a shame the Big 6 Trophy has vanished as that’s why I went through all the punishment of such a race. “
Another Bay man up for the Ironman Challenge was Te Puke’s Murray Jensen. “It’s one of those things you just have to do,” he laughs. “I had a call from Sean saying there’d perhaps be a Vets 50+ Ironman class and was I interested? I said yes because 1. you’ve got to keep challenging yourself and 2. it’d be good practice for the coming GNCC series.” He came 3rd behind Gordon Brooker and Andy Galpin. “I should have done a 7th lap,” adds Murray, “but I would have been totally knackered. I am not fit. I’ve only done a couple of trail rides since the Tarawera 100. I did have a plan but I went a bit slow in the first two laps and then didn’t have the fitness to counteract. Also, I backed off a bit speed wise when I had to put the gas on reserve. There was one downhill with a tight hard right corner, near vertical bank then a hard left and big rock which gave me a freakish moment but it was all good. The track got better -drier and smoother- as the hours went by. The Vets 50+ winner’s fastest lap was his second to last one.”
“It’s an awesome race but exhausting so huge kudos to all the Ironmen competitors”
says Janelle Walker, who
was there in the team section and who, with Shannon Pepper, (both pictured left) had the distinction
of being the only Two Women team in the race. They finished 5th in
the Under 200 2T class that was won by Michael Skinner & Freddie
Milford-Cottam. “It was a typical Sean Clarke event”, Janelle continues, “challenging
with ruts and tree roots, quite tricky, tight and technical. The track was quite long. About half way through there was a point where
I could see the pit tents and thought great, almost at the end of the lap, but
there was more to do. I wanted to give the 6 Hour a go. At the end I was tired
and sore but I’m really pleased to have finished. A year ago I probably wouldn’t have.”
Her husband agrees. “Part of the course was a downhill with a couple of zigzags they’d used for the 6 Day. Janelle stopped at the top last time we were over there and that day the downhill was dry. This time it was wet, but this time she went down!”
Meeting challenges is what it’s all about.
The Over 201 2T was taken out by Auckland pair Mike Davis and Shaun Fogarty.
The Under 300 4T honours went to Nathan Tesselar & Simon Landsdaal from Morrinsville.
The Over 301 4T had some big names fighting it out at the top. Scott Columb & Mike Penny were first, 4 minutes ahead of Chris Power & Adam Reeves. Tauranga’s Richard Easton & Paul Ritchie were 16th.
The Power (now on a Yamaha)/Reeves duo were favourites but knew the opposition in the form of 4 time 6-Hour winner Mark Penny teamed with MX racer Scott Columb wouldn't be easy. Mark had had been one of the team that came second by 9 seconds to Chris and James Ainsworth the previous week in the Sand Pit series. Mark would be out for revenge. This time the results were reversed, due in a large part to Chris's exceptionally bad start. He was last off the line but he and Adam caught up heaps and, in spite of Reeves smacking into a tree on the last lap, gained 2nd place.
Chris & Phil Singleton (Hamilton/TePuke) had a “good day at the office” winning the 35-44 Vets class with Mark de Lautour & Kevin Archer claiming first place in the Super Vets 45+ class.
The Mixed Team was won by Gary Almond & Julie Greenslade. Joel
Byrne (Mount) and Sarah
Fox (Rotorua) together finished 4th. “I was called up the night
before so was pretty much chucked in at the deep end,” says Joel, “but it was a
good chance for some ride time. It was vintage Sean Clarke – relentless – but I
enjoyed it. Originally I was going to do
the 6 Hour with Rhys Carter but canned the idea when he went to Belgium. Consequently,
I haven’t been riding much so I’m still a bit sore from Saturday. Sarah rode
well but there are some really fast ladies eg Julie Greenslade, out there now.
Paul and Allan Burgess (Mount/Papamoa) came home second in the Parent/Child Team category.
Read Suzuki’s Press release here.
Click
here for full results on Silver Bullet. .jpg)
2012 Sandpit Two-Man Series:
The third and final round was held on Sept 30th. The weather was good and Tauranga’s Sheely family plus a couple of other l0cals were there to enjoy the good weather and have some fun. It was a good track, starting on farmland before going through tight sandy bush tracks then open farmland again and back to the pits.
The series was won by Chris Power (Paeroa) & James Ainsworth (Auckland) in the Senior Expert Teams class and by Adam Reeves in the Senior Solo class. Results for the day for local riders included Nicki Chamberlain’s 8th place in the Junior Solo Ladies, Jim Lowe-Pattie and team mate Ethan Hamlin’s 5th in the Senior Teams Clubman for the day, Dion Sheely and Lachlan Niedener’s 21st in the same class. Drisana Sheely was 3rd with Paul Donovan in the Senior Mixed class and Mike & Aden Sheely came home 4th in the Father and Son category.
Click here for full results on Silver Bullet.
