Coming into the third round of the series at Winton raceway, the Sunstate Racing Superstock rider, Tim Durie was looking for a chance to lift his game from the previous result at Mallala.

Getting off to a nervous start Tim was struggling to find a setting that suited the tight and twisty track of Winton in the practice sessions and finishing on the second row from his first qualifying session. Not happy with this position, Tim made some small changes to the suspension and with a warmer track temp the times started to fall seeing him with a 1.29.0 lap time, Tim was now in third position, front row on the grid from the second qualifying session.

Race 1 took place at about 4:30pm and with the temperature of the track falling quickly the Superstock race was shortened to a 6 lap race. Tim made the start he was looking for, going into turn one in second place, but as the riders made their way around for the 3rd lap, Tim’s small gap was closing and quickly found himself in a battle to keep this position. Struggling to find pace on the cold track, he was forced back to third. Then, with a bit of luck on Tim’s side, Pat Metcalf in second position came unstuck and crashed out of the race, giving Tim back his second position.

Race 2 for the Superstock competitors was held just before lunch and as a full 8 lap race got under way, turn one saw lots of riders bashing fairings for good positions. On the first lap Tim was in fourth position and hot on the tail of the third position of Jordon Burgess. With similar lap times between the two and lack of experience on the Winton track, Tim could not find a way around the suzuki and finished the race in fourth position.

The third and final Superstock race of the day was another late ride and maybe should have been held under fog lights it was once again shortened, but to only 5 laps this time. With a pretty ordinary start, Tim found himself in the all too familiar spot of fourth position. This time the three front runners were not going to give up without a fight and with Tim trying everything, he just could not manage to make a pass. Crossing the finish line, you could have thrown a blanket over the first three positions with Tim on the tail end and in fourth place.

“It didn’t look very good for me on Friday coming into this round struggling with the flu and my set up times. I was determined not to let it run me down, and at the end of the weekend I’m in third position for the round. I’ll be working hard and looking forward to the Queensland round where I’m sure I will continue to improve my race results. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the guys from the Sunstate Racing team who put in a big effort all the time to keep me running up the front of the Superstock field ” Tim said.

Sunstate Racing would like to thank the following people and companies for their on-going support this season:

Sunstate Motorcycles

Dunlop Tyres

Joe Rocket

Alpine Star

AGV

Dickies Workwear

Valter Moto

Motul

Beach House Health & Fitness