Brodie Waters blasts Philip Island on new GSXR-600 

The first round of ASBK 2010 has been eagerly awaited by Sunstate Racing.  After spending most of 2009 on the sidelines we are very excited to have Brodie Waters of the famed Waters Racing family on board the Suzuki GSXR-600's we had great success on in 2008 and the beginning of 2009.

Brodie arrived at Phillip Island Circuit on Thursday afternoon with a couple of test sessions under his belt and lots of enthusiasm.  A quick set up, get the bikes sorted and then off to scrutineering, so Friday morning was a smooth run into first practice session.

The first practice Brodie went out on a set of 2nd hand tyres to do a few laps to get himself up to speed a little then he came in and put a new rear in.  After the 1st session was completed he had the 2nd quickest time of a 1.39.1 and with a warmer second session his time came down to 1.38.5 and he held second spot.

This year all classes are running on a Dunlop control tyre. These tyres are far from the type Brodie has been using the last few race seasons, so it was hard for him to get used to the times not being up there as previously. As it is also his first season on a new manufacturers bike - GSXR 600 Suzuki, he was feeling pretty confident on how things were going. Brodie said after the practice sessions, "Rod Lamb - Sunstate Racing has given me a bike to race on this year, so that is greatly appreciated. I was happy with how things went but I still have a small issue with rear sliding and grip but we were slowly getting set up better. "

Saturday, weather conditions had changed dramatically, we had a rain storm come through in the early hours of the morning, so the track temp was pretty cold. We had our first qualifing session at 9.10am. Brodie qualified 3rd position on the grid in the first session with a time of 1.38.1 and in the second qualifer he tried a different set up but the times weren't as good, so after the 2 combined time sessions he was still sitting in 3rd position on the grid.

A jubilent Brodie said "I am really happy to be on the front row for the first round.

I was not too far off  the factory suzuki rider, Troy Herfoss, so I thought my results were pretty good."

Race 1 was at 6.05pm and the conditions were pretty cool. Brodie got a good start in the race and he was in the leading pack of 4 riders setting a pretty good pace from the start. In Brodies words "I ran sitting in 2nd and 3rd position for a far bit of the race, between the 4 of us continually swapping placings, until one of the riders come down, so it was only 3 of us dicing for the lead until the finish line. We had pulled a 20 second gap on the rest of the field by the time we got the chequered flag. I was rapped as I finished 2nd placing in my first race for the new 2010 season."

Sunday morning was an early start for warm up then the second race was at 11.00am.

Race 2 produced a bit more excitement than we had bargained for. Brodie got the start and lead into the first turn, he held the lead of the race for the first 2 laps. He was dicing with 3 other riders. They continued to swap positions until the 9th lap when Brodie was pushed off the track at turn 4, loosing many positions, but staying upright. He came back on the track in 8th position with not many laps left to go. This was it, Brodie put his head down and bum up, so to speak and worked back through the field. The last few laps left in the race had more run offs and this helped put Brodie back into 3rd position. He ended up finishing the race in 3rd position, an excellent result given he was in 2nd position when he was run off.

So a 2nd placing and a 3rd placing gave him 3rd overall for the first round  and was a good solid result to start the season off on a new bike. Brodie goes into the 2nd round on 38 points, 5 points off the lead rider.

 

So, let's bring on Darwin!

 

Australian Supersport Championship Top 5 Standings (after 1 of 7 rounds):
1. Troy Herfoss - 43 points
2. Christian Casella - 42 points

3. Brodie Waters - 38 points

4. Chas Hern - 30 points

5. Ben Burke - 30 points

Brodie Waters would like to thank:

Phil Tainton Racing

Suzuki

Sunstate Racing

Alex Gobert

Alpine Star

AGV Helmets

RST Leathers

Agip

GTS

John Judd Industries

XS Industries

Bodymods Health and Fitness

and his other sponsors