13 Sep 2010

Yamaha continued to flex its racing muscle with a dominant display at round four of the Puma RV Formula Extreme Road Racing championships held at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park over the weekend.

The all star team of Rick Olson, Kevin Curtain and Pat Medcalf formed a Yamaha freight train at the front of their respective classes taking a 1-2 finish in the FX 600 and FX 1000 championship classes.

The FX National series, Saturday’s events at Wakefield Park, saw YRT duplicate these results with a 1-2 finish for the day in both classes and kicked-started what was an outstanding weekend for the Yamaha team.

Rick Olson has been the big improver in the 2010 season and many pit pundits said it was only a matter of time before he started winning races and developing into a complete racer. The Wakefield Park round proved that prediction right as Olson took out the FX600 category on the back of 1-2-1 race scores in the three points paying races.

Olson staged a weekend long dual with team mate and rival Kevin Curtain but it was a last corner, last lap pass in the final race that sealed the deal for Olson to take the round and with it move into the championship lead with one round remaining.

“It’s nice to finally get a round win and win races straight up. I have been knocking on the door for a few rounds now, but to finally get the job done is rewarding for the effort the team and myself put in,” Olson said from the podium.

“There are only a few points between myself and Kevin in the championship standings, so it all comes down to the last round at Eastern Creek and I look forward to the challenge of racing Kevin again.”

Kevin Curtain may have been piped at the post by his younger rival, but still had the kind of day most racers dream about. Kevin logged 2-1-2 finishes in the FX600cc class to take second overall for the round but he continued his dominance of the FX1000cc division with an emphatic 1-1-1 display for a perfect 75 points and a commanding lead in the championship heading into the final round.

“I enjoyed racing with Rick today and it came down to a real fight in the final race. Both our tyres gone off and I was getting hung up on some lapped riders, but to Rick’s credit he raced well and made a big move on the final corner to get the win.

The 1000cc class wasn’t as exciting, but it’s still nice to win races and I now have a 54 point break with one round to go so it would be nice to wrap it up in the first race at the final round,” Curtain said.

Pat Medcalf made a welcome return to the podium after struggling with injury at the previous rounds. Medcalf piloted is Yamaha R1 to consistent 3-3-2 race finishes to take second place for the round making it a Yamaha 1-2 in the 1000cc class.

“After a few crashes at the previous rounds, I was keen to put it behind me and get onto racing the bike the way I should. I felt much better on the track today and the bike was working great and that is reflected in the results. I still have a way to go, but I feel like I am back on track and heading in the right direction,” Medcalf says thoughtfully.

YRT’s John Redding was also impressed with how his team performed at Wakefield Park and looks forward to a big final round performance from them at the Eastern Creek.

“It’s a goal of any race team to win every race you enter, but the reality is that it doesn’t happen often. Today all three riders were in fine form and to win six from six is a team manager’s dream. The results really are a credit to them and the team of how they go about preparing themselves and the bikes.

“Rick has come on in leaps and bounds this year. Beating Kevin Curtain isn’t easy, yet he was able to do that today and take the next step in his career. Curtain continues to amaze us with his determination and race craft while Pat looks to be over his injuries and set for a big finish for the year.”

The final round of the Australian Formula Extreme Championships takes place at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway where YRT will look to put the finishing touches on an outstanding 2010 road race season.

Round 4 Results – Wakefield Park
FX 600cc

FX 1000cc

Championship standings
FX600cc
1st Rick Olson – 279
2nd Kevin Curtain – 274
3rd Jesse Austin – 208
4th Adrian Nestorovic – 174
5th Daniel Falzon – 171
6th Lachie Thomas – 134
7th Andrew Cornish – 120
8th Adrian Do Giandomenico – 118
9th Joel Muddle – 115
10th James Beck – 98

FX1000cc
1st Kevin Curtain – 272
2nd Glenn Cullen – 218
3rd Grant Hay – 217
4th Dustin Goldsmith – 188
5th Jeremy Crowe – 179
6th Jamie Aitken – 163
7th Pat Medcalf – 159
8th Damien Murphy – 153
9th Matt Thornton – 121
10th Beau Beaton - 106