Picture: TREVOR JACKSON
IT was a fruitful weekend for Furner motorcycle racer Dallas Skeer.
Skeer ventured to McNamara Park for the annual Easter Cup races and managed some excellent results on his 600cc Suzuki Supersport machine.
Up against some strong riders such as Royce Rowe in the Supersport class – round two of the South Australian championships – and defending Easter Cup title holder William Strugnell in the feature event, Skeer showed his continual improvement in his second year on the bike.
He managed a clean sweep of the Supersport class to claim the full 100 points for the weekend.
In the Easter Cup he managed a second place behind Strugnell on a 1000cc Honda, but ahead of several other 1000cc machines.
Along the way Skeer managed to set a new Supersport 600cc lap record, with a blistering 1-minute, 11.162-seconds in the Easter Cup feature race, which was formerly held by Levi Day at 1:11.591.
“This was the only time I would be racing at Mac Park this year and I was determined to get the 600cc lap record,” he said.
“Being able to beat it by 0.4 of a second was awesome.
“I felt so comfortable when I broke it, so I think another 0.3 of a second would be achievable.”
The weekend started with a solid qualifying effort, which saw Skeer start from the front of the grid in the Supersport class.
Race one in the Supersport class on Saturday saw him pull away from Rowe to be untroubled over the six laps, eventually crossing the line more than seven seconds ahead.
From there it was a wait until Sunday for the remaining three races in the category.
Rain in the morning slowed proceedings somewhat, but Skeer still managed two wins with some smooth, fast riding before the track dried for the final leg.
While Rowe did not compete in legs two and three due to the rain, he did line up again in the final race.
But once again Skeer was simply too consistent, claiming the win by close to five seconds for the overall round victory.
That left the feature race of the weekend – the Easter Cup – where he faced not only Strugnell, but the likes of Darren Trotter on a 1000cc Suzuki and Graham Snaith on a 1000cc Honda, along with several other bigger bikes, such as Paul Van Der Heiden on a 1000cc BMW.
Skeer was off to an impressive start in the 12-lap race, leading for the first lap, but then succumbed to the bigger capacity of Strugnell’s 1000cc Superbike and settled in for second place.
The two front-runners continued to build a margin to the third-placed Trotter and when lapped traffic came into play on lap 10, Skeer had a nine-second buffer.
By the chequered flag he crossed the line five-and-a-half seconds behind Strugnell, but 12 seconds clear of Trotter.
“Finishing second in the Easter Cup feature race against the superbikes was awesome,” Skeer said.
“I cannot thank my dad enough and everyone who helped me achieve my racing goals.”
The results capped off a top weekend of racing, which was also the ideal preparation for round three of the Australian Superbike series this weekend, where Skeer sits in 11th place in the
Supersport championship after a tough opening round put him back down the order.
