From a press release:
American road racer John Pearson teamed up with three Australian racers from the Doin’ Bikes/XSportz.com racing team, and finished 1st in the Formula 1 class and 2nd Overall at the RB Racing 5 Hour Endurance held at Wakefield Park Raceway in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia on April 10th.
27 teams were entered, with a total of 89 riders competing on the 2.2km 11-turn road course.
Pearson started the race from pole position, held the lead for 22 laps, and pitted in second place after a 35 minute stint, then was back out for 45 and 30-minute sessions later in the day, completing a total of 87 laps.
Pearson commented, “This track wears you out! It’s so bumpy, and there’s only the short front straight where you can get a few seconds rest. The rest of the time you are throwing it in turns and trying to dodge lapped riders.”
The Doin’ Bikes/XSportz.com team was able to build a 2 lap lead in their class and a 1 lap lead in the overall standings by the 4 hour mark, even after having lost one teammate due to engine failure on his SP-1 Honda. However, the team lost their overall lead shortly thereafter with the crash of their number 3 rider on his RSV Aprilia. That left Pearson on his Lee’s Cycle Racing/Maxima Racing Oils Suzuki GSX-R and teammate Roland Kruck on a privateer Yamaha R1 to play catch up. Pearson chipped away at the leaders and gained back a lap, and then turned over to local hotshoe Kruck, who had mounted a fresh rear Dunlop slick in preparation for his final 30 minute stint. Kruck turned some of his fastest laps of the day, but the team came up 34 seconds short at 5 hour mark.
Pearson said, “It was a bit of a heartbreaker coming up that short at the finish after recovering from those earlier setbacks, but that’s racing. I just tried to turn consistent, fast laps, and work traffic the best I could.”
Pearson’s Suzuki used a front tire shipped to him from Sport Tire Services in California. “I ran one of the new, medium compound 17-inch Dunlop front slicks, and a medium Dunlop 16.5-inch rear slick for all 87 laps. No one could believe that I didn’t change tires during the day. The rear tire was pretty cooked during my last session, but the front was really awesome all day.”
John Pearson is a U.S. Navy Chief Sonar Technician working in Sydney, Australia for the Royal Australian Navy as a part of a military exchange program.