Team BTX Racings two senior riders have been out and about racing their BTX Motorcycles KTM 250 SXF bikes and here is Taylor Potter’s view of the past month or so of racing.
For me its been a busy five weeks of racing and with a few tech problems with the website and work its meant that I’m a bit behind with letting you know what I have been doing.
First thing is that I have been signed up as an Apprentice Electrician with Tomasparky. A small company that was recently established so that’s fixed up my long term career and its all looking good.
On the bike I have completed the 2008 Rockstar MX Nationals where I finished 24th overall after dropping seven races with injury and with my return to racing in the MX Nationals I have also been competing in the Victorian Senior State Motocross Championships where I sit in 20th place in the A Grade Lites and 16th place in the A Grade Open Class.
Its been an interesting year so far with excellent results in the 2008 Stroke Supercross and Arenacross Nationals, great racing at my local club Nunawading and District, starting a new full time apprenticeship and then a string of injuries that has hampered me in achieving my goals in motocross but in just about eight weeks sees the start of the SuperX series in Perth.
I’m really happy to see the SuperX series being put together with TV coverage and Chad Reed joining Rush Sports to ensure its success. Chad’s win in USA in supercross and the media announcement of the series got a lot of press coverage and hopefully that will continue through the seven rounds. Check out www.superx.com.au
I finished the 2007 Australian Supercross Championship in 11th place overall so I hope even with overseas riders competing that I can better that result.
Meanwhile this is where I have been racing.
2008 Rockstar MX Nationals
Newry Victoria
On the 20 July 2008 I raced the eighth round of the 2008 Rockstar MX Nationals at Newry in Gippsland. The day started out cold and the track had been prepared really well but by the time practice had finished steady drizzle had set in so it was a cold and wet day. The track held up well as it’s a mix of sand and clay but the start had a lot of the riders worried as it was the first concrete start gate for the series in a long time. Some guys built dirt starts on top of the concrete others got out heat guns to dry off the concrete. I just asked Adrian clean off the dirt and mud with a broom and started. Not my best ever starts but good enough.
I qualified 19th which was good but I never really got the chance to get a good smooth lap in but a lot of the other guys didn’t as well so some riders that would normally be way up in the qualifying were behind me. In the first race I dropped my bike in a corner and slipped a couple of places and in the second I got tangled up a bit with another riders bike who had come off and I was passed by a couple of riders even though the tangle was for a couple of seconds but I managed to keep it all together to finish in 13th place overall on the day.
My Team BTX Racing team mate Harrison Saunders was also at Newry in the Under 19’s class. Harrison had his best result for the series with a 19th place in Race 1 to give him 26th overall in the class on the day. He was very happy with the result and his overall as the class has been very competitive.
Coolum Queensland
The final 9th round of the Nokia MX Nationals was held last weekend 4 August 2008 at the Coolum Pines MX track at Coolum.
The weather was really good, mild and dry. The host club and Williams Event Management put together an excellent round with many locals coming out to watch the racing.
I again qualified 19th and after the two races finished in 17th overall for the day. I suffered from poor starts and getting swamped in the first corner that meant I was at the rear of the pack after the first corner and it took too much time to work back up the field. It was good racing though and I finished the Nationals with no more injuries. Harrison missed the last round as he is due in for surgery on one of his shoulders that he hurt a while back so he will be off his bike for a while to recover.
The last round saw Jay Marmont (CDR Yamaha) win the overall championship in the Pro Open Class, Luke George (Kawasaki Australia) win the Pro Lite class and Tye Simmonds (Motorex KTM) win the Under 19’s championship.
Overall it was a great series just not a lucky season for me.
Victorian Senior State Motocross Championships
Broadford
On 12 - 13 July 2008 I raced the second round of the Victorian Senior State Motocross Championships at Broadford, north of Melbourne. I raced my BTX Motorcycles KTM 450 SXF on Saturday in A Grade and my BTX Motorcycles KTM 250 SXF on Sunday in A Grade. The competition was hot and Matt Moss (Team Shift Motul) Suzuki) made the trip down from NSW to dominate both days of racing.
There were a number of issues with Broadford as the track had been prepared strangely and a lot of guys on Saturday morning had big problems with the stutter section that was uneven but fast causing lots of crashes in practice. They brought out a dozer and removed the section and we all settled in to racing. Sunday racing was much the same but as the track dried out it became rougher and lap times dropped but I finished in 10th place overall in the A Grade Lites and 16th place in the A Grade Open class.
Harrison Saunders joined me on the start gate at Broadford and qualified 33rd into the A Grade Lites finals on his BTX Motorcycles KTM 250 SXF and finished in 27th in both finals.
Rosebud
At the Rosebud round Victorian Senior State Motocross Championships on 26 – 27 July I had a disaster of a day on Saturday in the Lites with an electrical short making the bike unreliable and a bugger to start. Adrian worked on the bike to find the problem all day and it proved a difficult one that was finally sorted out later. That gave me no points in the Lites class but I didn’t really slip in the points as so many other guys had huge bike problems in the deep sand resulting in many stuffed bikes. I finished in equal 30th place that was very disappointing.
On Sunday I had a much better day on my 450, other than a bit of a slam from Brent Landman damaging the radiator in the first race but as usual Adrian sorted out the damage and got me back out there for the remaining races. I finished in 10th place overall on the day in the A Grade Open class which was a bit surprising as I rarely get to ride in deep sand and even more surprising I finished in front of riders who a good sand riders like Kade Mosig (Woodstock Honda) and Lee Ellis (Stroke Honda).
I now sit in the series in 16th place in A Grade Open class and 20th place in the A Grade Lites class.
My next race
My next race is the last round of the Victorian Senior State Motocross Championships at Barrabool near Geelong on 23 – 24 August 2008 then its practice for the SuperX.
My Sponsors
Thanks go to KTM Australia, BTX Motorcycles Ferntree Gully, Car City Ringwood, Travisty clothing, Fox, Alpine Star, Tag, Scott, Motul, JT Sprockets, RK Chains, Bridgestone, Goldfren, KroozTune, Hydralyte, Lee Hogan’s Building Champions, Ringmaster Images, Sponsorpoint.com, Business Performance International and Vortex Ignitions.
For Harrison thanks go to BTX Motorcycles, Signzone, Premium Cabinets, Fox, Tag, Scott, Motul, JT Sprockets, RK Chains, Bridgestone, Goldfren KroozTune and Ciscos.
There are some other people who help me out and special thanks goes to Adrian Salmon, Team BTX Racings Team Manager who works not only with me but spends a lot of time with the other members of the Team including the juniors and as always gets my bikes going great and keeps them that way and then helps me get it all together.
Keep up to date with Taylors racing at www.taylorpotterracing.com and thanks to Garry Morrow for the pictures.
Contact: Adrian Salmon 0438 608198
