By Trevor Jackson
ROUND 2 of the Australian Superbike Championships (ASBK) did not end the way Furner motorcycle racer Dallas Skeer would have hoped.
The plan going into the event at Queensland Raceway was to grab some extra points after a DNF in the the second race in Round 1.
Skeer had never raced at the Queensland venue, with a steep learning curve from practice, to qualifying, then onto the first race.
Unfortunately, as he headed into the fast turn two on lap seven, at around 120kph, a combination of bumps, a dirty surface and the extra urge to make up positions saw him lose the front end and slide off the track.
With extensive damage to the bike, his weekend was done.
“It was one of the worst weekends we have had,” Skeer said.
“I started seventh, then fell back to ninth off the line.
“By lap four I got back up to fifth and was charging through pretty well.
“There are a few bumps at turn one and I went a little bit wide coming out of that.
“I tipped into turn two a bit late, slightly off line and was pushing to try to catch the front guys and get a gap to those behind me.
“I lost the front on the dirty part of the track and slid for a while.
“I am totally fine but the front end of the bike is damaged a fair bit.”
Skeer said while sliding along the track a myriad of thoughts ran through his mind.
He planned to pick the bike up and continue but on seeing the damage, that was not going to happen.
He said anything that could have come off the front end did, leaving a big repair bill and more importantly, a tight time frame to have the repairs completed or the spare bike prepared to race.
It was a disappointment for the young racer, as throughout his career crashes have been kept to a minimum.
“I don’t crash too often,” Skeer said.
“But we are at that level now where you are on the edge, riding 100pc all the time, so it is going to happen.”
With the next round at Goulburn just a few weeks away, Skeer said he may struggle to prepare his second bike in time.
Parts are hard to come by at the moment, with even a small air sensor not in stock at Yamaha, with no time frame regarding the parts needed being available.
“We hope to have the spare bike ready for Goulburn,” Skeer said.
“We really should have two bikes now, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.
“We bought the spare bike brand new from Yamaha and have to build it up ourselves, so it is a bit of a job.”
Now sitting down in 17th place in the championship, Skeer’s focus has shifted.
He originally had no real plans to contest the South Australian Road Race Championships, instead concentrating on the ASBK season.
However, he will now look to contest the SA titles, with the first round – the Easter Cup – at McNamara Park, then onto Tailem Bend to decide the title.
“My next focus will be doing the SA titles and winning that,” Skeer said.
“I won it a few years ago and I think there will be some quick guys in there.
“We want to do the best we can in the ASBK as well but with just four rounds left, there isn’t enough time to close the gap to the front.”
At the end of the day the weekend was certainly a setback for Skeer but he has lost none of his desire to race at the pointy end of the field.
“It is disheartening putting in all the effort and crashing out but we still have to keep at it,” he said.
“We have had a few setbacks but will come back stronger.”
