MWRacing rider Mark Wilkinson has this afternoon finished an impressive 7th in the Australian Superstock600 championship, with a 9th overall in the last round held at Willowbank Raceway in QLD. More details will follow with Mark being up the pointy end of the field all weekend. Stay tuned for a full round wrap-up, but in the mean time full results can be found at http://www.computime.com.au.

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MWRacing’s thoughts are with you from QLD raceway this weekend.

MWRacing rider Mark Wilkinson competed in Round 3 of the Australian Superbike Championship(ASBK) held at Queensland Raceway on June 3^rd-6^th aboard his Kawasaki Superstock Ninja ZX6-R. Mark placed 8^th overall for the round in the Superstock 600 events held over 3 races. It was the first time the team has been to the ‘Paperclip’ since 2007 when the team competed onboard a 125cc GP  machine.

Quick laps time progressed from Friday practice thru to qualifying on Saturday, with Mark qualifying in a comfortable 12^th position. The team was happy knowing that they had a better race setup. Race 1 on Saturday afternoon got underway with Mark making a good start and working through the field to finish 9^th place, and setting his fastest lap of the weekend.

Sunday morning saw Race 2 for the Superstock class first out on track, with Mark confident of a good result after the good race Saturday. Unfortunately at the start of the race the back tyre spun on the rim of the ZX6R causing a tremendous vibration, bad enough the back tire was lifting off the ground under power. Mark was fighting hard in a group of 5 riders but after having a big moment on the infamous Turn 2 bumps Mark finished as per race 1 in a disappointing 9^th place.

Sunday afternoon was Race 3 with Mark making a competitive start running with the leaders in 6^th position in the opening laps. Unfortunately a few nerves from the near-crash in Race 1 saw Mark settle for a 10th place finish.

“We have had another tough weekend. Saturday’s race went to plan and we felt good” commented Mark. “Sunday was disappointing, the tire spinning on the rim was just one of those things. I couldn’t believe how much it affected the bike and it really knocked my confidence in turn 2. I was just loosing the rear there every lap. It’s a fast corner and you really don’t want to leave the black stuff! We are still 8^th in the championship but with a few misfortunes of others now close the gap to 7th.”

 MWRacing now shifts its focus to the next round of the Australian Championships held at the team’s home track Broadford Motorcycle Complex on July 2-4, before returning back to Queensland for the Final round of the ASBK in August. To keep up to date with team’s progress, make sure you keep your eye’s on the www.MWRacing56.com website.

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In preparation for the upcoming Australian Superbike Round at Queensland Raceway, MWRacing hit the Broadford circuit with improvements to front end feel high on the agenda. MWRacing team boss John Wilkinson has been hard at work tweaking the new front forks to give more feel under heavy braking.

“Mark has been strong everywhere except under heavy braking. He loses all feel in the front at critical corners such as Honda (Phillip Island) and into Turn 1 at Hidden Valley. The changes we have done seem to have shown improved so we know we are heading in the right direction” commented Wilko Snr after the Broadford test sessions.

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MWRacing is confident of running easily inside the top 10 at QLD Raceway, and with a bit of luck should improve on their current 8th standing in the Superstock 600 Championship. Keep an eye out for more updates leading up to the QLD round….

This week MWRacing rider Mark Wilkinson recieved a new set of awesome Berik GPX Riding Boots. Berik are the official supplier of riding apparel to MWRacing, continuing a successful partnership spanning the last 2 years. 
 
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The new Berik GPX Riding Boot feature:-
. Soft cow hide leather
. PU Injection moulded plastic protectors
. Antibacterial lining, replaceable footbed
. Zip closure
. Airflow fabric
. Velcro closure
. TPU midsole with steel shank
. Magnesium sliders on toe, heel and outside of the shin
. Variable closed cell foam cushioning
 
If your in the market for any top-level riding gear be sure to visit www.ficeda.com.au for more information.

MWRacing is pleased to announce that Bendix race pads have jumped onboard for the 2010 season with special thanks to Kenma Marketing – www.kenma.com.au.

Bendix are of course the best known name in brakes. Bendix invest a great deal of time, effort, research, and of course money, into developing their range of premium quality automotive friction products. Bendix brake pads are made using world’s best practice manufacturing and quality control systems. If you want to keep your braking systems at peak performance, get onto Bendix pads.
 
For more info on the impressive Bendix product range visit www.kenma.com.au

After the big trek to Darwin and taking on some of the most extreme weather ever seen at an ASBK round, Mark managed to walk away 8th in the 600 Superstock championship with some impressive results.  

Friday saw the MWRacing56.com rider have a disappointing qualifying session with Mark unable to get a clear lap on the short Darwin track resulting in a 14th place starting position for the weekends 10 lap races.
 
Race 1 on Saturday afternoon got underway with Mark making up for a poor start with some aggressive overtaking to quickly work through the field to 9th place position in the field of 24 riders in the 10 lap journey.
 
Sunday brought Race 2 early in the morning and torrential rain to the track with Mark making a competitive start running with the leaders until lap 8 when Mark had a huge moment, touching the infamous wet painted lines that brought many riders unstuck throughout the weekend. The MWRacing56.com rider was one of the lucky few able to keep the bike upright and cruise home safely to the finish in 8th place.

Mark duelling with the white line at Hidden Valley

 
Race 3 on Sunday afternoon proved to be a disaster for the team with Mark breaking the chain on the Kawasaki as he was exiting pit lane. The MWRacing56.com team were able to replace the chain and get back out onto the track only to be black flagged deemed to be a non starter due to missing the sighting lap.
 
Mark commented after the race:
“We had a real up and down weekend. We started with some setup issues on Thursday and my team worked really hard to have the setup right for me on Friday. The first 2 races went really well for us. In the wet on Sunday I had a huge moment and I thought I was gone. But somehow we stayed upright. It cost me a place but that was better than crashing!”
 
“The chain breaking is just plain bad luck. It was a new chain for the races and it’s a really disappointing end to the weekend. But we take the positives that all weekend we were inside the top ten and we moved up to 8th from 10th position in the championship”
 
MWRacing now shifts its focus to Round 3 of the Australian Championships held at Queensland Raceway on June 3-6.
 
MWRacing would like to thank the following sponsers:
  ROMPdesign.com.au
  Plaza Auto Sales
  Pennzoil – the Oil Warehouse
  Probolt Aust – www.tastynuts.com
  Bendigo Car Bike and 4WD
  Redline Motorcycles
  Elliott Bros of Bendigo
  Berik Leathers

MWRacing travel to Darwin this weekend to compete in Round 2 of the Australian Superbike Championships. MWRacing crew chief John Wilkinson started the 4-day trek on Easter Sunday with new team member Graeme Svanosio, and will arrive in Drawin on Wednesday morning just in time to pick up rider Mark Wilkinson from the airport.

“I am confident of building on the great results from Round 1 at the island” commented Mark. ”With improvements to the bike, and a level playing field from a widely unknown track we should do well. I will also be better rested having flown with Dad and Graeme driving up. I’d like to thank Graeme for joining MWRacing and planning the trip for us!”

MWRacing also recently completed manufacture of a new custom bike trailer just in time for the Darwin trek. The new single-axle  trailer has been built from scratch and can accomodate two 600/1000cc motorbikes plus spares. As you will agree from the below photo’s the trailer has come up a treat, and will be painted and stickered-up soon after the trip.

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Mark will also benefit from additional track time on an invition ride onboard a locally-prepared Honda RS125. Mark jumped at the opportunity to get back on a 125 to familiarise with the Hidden Valley circuit. Having cut his teeth in the 125GP category Mark should be compeitive, without taking too many risks to upset his preperation for the ZX6R Superstock 600 races.

Mark will be on the track Thursday thru to Sunday, and you can watch the live timing from all races at www.computime.com.au.
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MWRacing are excited announce a new sponsorship deal with Probolt for the 2010 season. Probolt are a leading supplier of high-end fastener kits for any application. Visit www.tastynuts.com for more information on their extensive range.

The World Superbike round at Phillip Island was a great weekend for MWR, with Mark placing 10th overall for the round in the Superstock 600 events held over 3 races. He steadily improved his lap times throughout the event, quickly achieving personal best times.
 
Friday saw the MWR rider qualify in a comfortable 11th place for the weekends 8 lap races, with the team quickly coming to terms with the new Dunlop control tire. Finding a good setup which looked after the tires for the duration of the event would prove crucial for the team in the later stages of the event.

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Race 1 on Friday afternoon got underway with Mark making up for a poor start quickly working through the field to a credible 8th position in the field of 30 riders in the 8 lap journey.
 
Saturday brought Race 2 early in the mourning on a partially damp track with Mark making a competitive start running with the leaders until lap 7 when technical difficulties forced Mark to retire just 1 lap shy of race distance. 

Race 3 on Saturday afternoon proved to be the telling point of the weekend with several riders struggling with tire wear. MWR were able to take full advantage of their superior setup work earlier in the weekend, with Mark able to run in 4th for the majority of the race dicing with a group of 4 riders eventually placing 6th.

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Mark commented after the weekend “This has been a very encouraging weekend for the whole team as we were able to setup the bike quickly with minimal track time for the new control tire that we had not ridden on before this weekend”
“I was fairly devastated after the disappointing result in race 2. But we were able to overcome it and take advantage of what we learnt early in the race to give me an even better setup for race 3.”
“We came here aiming to leave in the top 10 in points. Race 2 DNF result aside we achieved our goals for the weekend and we have good points to start the championship”