By Trevor Jackson
IT has been a disrupted Superbike season for Limestone Coast racer Dallas Skeer.
In his third year on the 600cc Suzuki Skeer has completed just one round in the 600cc Supersport category of the Australian Superbike (ASBK) series due to the Covid-19 pandemic closing the sport down.
The next round is set to go at Tailem Bend on 20 November, with Skeer keen to get back out on the track.
He has done little riding apart from some practise, a short stint on dirt bikes and of course the master of Mac Park here in the Limestone Coast.
His results at McNamara Park were impressive considering the lack of seat time this year.
Skeer claimed the round win for the 600cc category and finished third behind two 1000cc machines in the coveted master of Mac Park feature race.
That was achieved in wet conditions on the Sunday, which did not seem to bother the young rider.
He also broke his existing lap record for the category, with a blistering 1-minute, 10:040-second time.
Skeer hopes to squeeze more practise in, this time at Tailem Bend, ahead of the next ASBK round and in the interim has managed to keep somewhat in touch.
“We’ve just been mainly practising when we can at Mac Park,” he said.
“We haven’t done too much because there hasn’t been much to practise for, but now it is starting to open back up.”
The ASBK series will possibly include three more rounds, with the November date at The Bend, then back-to-back rounds at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria pencilled in.
Much of that will depend on the coronavirus restrictions but Skeer said he would only commit to the Tailem Bend event.
“It won’t be worth trying to achieve too much this year with what has gone on,” he said.
“I don’t even know if that (Winton) will go ahead.
“We are just playing it by ear at this stage.”
Skeer has been pleased with his performance so far this season, with his fastest times on the 600 at Phillip Island in the opening round of the season, where he said he has never been comfortable.
“We had a good setup from the testing we had done,” he said.
“I was able to drop a second off my lap times and was only a second behind what the leaders were doing.”
Skeer then headed to Wakefield Park for testing where again he set some fast lap times before the sport was closed down.
He said there has been no point pushing too hard this year, but was pleased with his results at McNamara Park.
“It was good to go to Mac Park and break my lap record by 1.1 seconds,” Skeer said.
“It was good I didn’t lose anything by not racing and was able to get back on the pace.
“In qualifying on the Saturday morning I dropped a second straight away.
“I feel confident now to go to other tracks and be competitive.”
Skeer said the rain at McNamara Park suited his riding style and was a good chance to practice on the 600, having never run an ASBK race in those conditions.
“I have always enjoyed the wet but haven’t done much on the 600s,” he said.
“My best lap was only .2 of a second behind Arthur Sissis who won.
“I have had limited time on the 600 in the wet and I am not sure what the limits are.
“But my riding style suits the wet and we have a really good wet setup so I felt confident with the bike.”
For now Skeer is preparing for a tilt at a podium finish at The Bend but with border restrictions in place and interstate competitors in doubt, it is still a big unknown.
“I’m not too sure what to expect and I don’t know what the competition will be like,” he said.
“If the Victorians can’t get across the competition might be down a bit but if can get on the podium it will be really good.”
