RACV Energy Breakthrough :: Race Report : Australian HPV Super Series 2010: Round 2

"Just Visiting" Adelaide Round 2, 2010
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Round 2

The RACV EB’s Nigel Preston headed to Adelaide for Round 2 of the 2010 Australian HPV Super Series to see what all the fuss was about. He was pleasantly impressed.


... Here we go again - the leaders round the first corner on the parade lap.
Why Adelaide? “Welcome to Adelaide, the time is approaching a quarter to eight and the temperature outside is a mild 3’ degrees.” The pilot tells me as I land in the city of churches for 6 hour event at Victoria Park. It’s my first time to a Round 1 or 2 event despite raced four times at their third round, the 24 Hour Australian International Pedal Prix in Murray Bridge each September. I’m here to see how they are making their event better, how schools are going in South Australia and to see if teams would or wouldn’t be interested in coming to the RACV EB sometime.
The Track With 180 vehicles taking to the track which is just over 1 kilometres in length – the Parade Lap provides an impressive (and intimidating) sight. Luckily, the track doubles as a V8 Supercar track so there is plenty of width to share when racing. Unluckily for some, the Parade Lap caused a three car bingle before they’d even made the start. The site is also set against a backdrop of the Adelaide Hills, which were lightly covered in fog on this rare day of sunny & cloudless skies. Most South Australian Teams I spoke with hadn't really heard of the RACV Energy Breakthrough and were interested to know more about our event.
Pre-Race Form In much the same fashion as the first round (reported on by Nathan Boon here) it was Victorian Community class teams at the pointy end. In the Community Class, Trisled-Fresh Racing had come for a win, having been narrowly pipped last time out by TruBlu. They were also revealing their new a kit Deakin Uni were blooding a few new riders and Ex-Pats Racing managed to break down on the drive over and only just got scrutineered about an hour before race start. When local boys, TAFESA BlueShift pulled out mid-week due to an incomplete fairing, it looked like it was going to be a three horse race between TruBlu, Trisled & ExPats … and well, it kinda was. Strathdale Racing was also ready to stretch their legs and with Russ & Tas Nankervis and Anthony Ducat at the helm they were always going to be solid - though they did have a bit of a tumble during the race.
TruBlu	Trisled's Aquilla
How the race unfolded After 45 minutes, a great start by TruBlu’s Paul Weymouth had them a lap ahead of Trisled-Fresh Racing and Ex-Pats Racing, with Strathdale Racing, Concordia College and Deakin Uni in the mix. When Paul handed over the reins just after the hour, the bearded man of Steele was going so fast he pushed their lead from 1 lap to 6 laps – in one hour! At about a minute and a half per lap (average) Steele put 7 mins 30 into the field over 60 minutes. With this handy lead established, TruBlu were looking good for the win until punctures to the right and rear tyres lost them 3 laps at 1:55pm. This briefly opened the door for Trisled to step through, but they couldn’t quite come over the top. At the flag, TruBlu managed to hold off Trisled with Deakin Uni third. In Category 2 (Junior Secondary) the race was going down to the wire Immanuel College’s Ice was battling it our with Blur 2 from Loxton High School, but a crash in the dying moments by Blur 2 in the hairpin gave Ice a two lap buffer and the category win. Down in Category 1… Aberfoyle Park PS’s Computer Hospital Screamer were down and out early on, but came home strongly to win by 5 laps.
Thrills and Spills Yep, there were a few, but the fast flowing nature of the course means there weren’t lots of crashes though ExPats Photographer Tim Jones managed to capture this great one on the straight. There's a great collection of photos from South Australian based photographer Dene Wessling here

Words and pictures by Nigel Preston, August 2010 Round 3 of the Australian HPV Super series is on 17th - 19th of September, 2010 View the Full Results Visit the Australia International Pedal Prix Website Join the Australian International Pedal Prix Facebook Page Look at heaps more photos courtesy of Ex-Pats Racing Visit the websites of some of the teams: - TruBlu Racing - Trisled-Fresh Racing - Team Phantom - ExPats Racing