Dibben says bring on round three
TIME OUT: Whanganui motorcycle racer (and former WHS student) Richie Dibben (right) and his dad Chris (left) flank American rider Steve Alkyer at round 2 of the FIM Asia Supermoto Championship in Malang, Indonesia.
Whanganui motorcycle racer Richie Dibben always knew he had it in him - he just needed an ounce of luck.
The two-time New Zealand Suzuki Series Motard champion has lept into second place overall in the FIM Asia Supermoto Championship after winning round 2 in Malang City, Indonesia last weekend.
Dibben got a late call up to compete in the championship after current Suzuki Series Motard champion Duncan Hart from Tauranga broke his collarbone a week before round one in Newcastle, Australia.
Dibben qualified second fastest in Newcastle and finished a luckless third in the first of two races after being targeted by a rival Australian rider. Dibben crashed, but remounted to run third. In the second race he also crashed, but damaged his bike ending his round 1 campaign. He finished in 14th overall.
However, round 2 in Malang was a totally different outcome despite some early hiccups.
Dibben was given a KTM bike to ride, but was required to bring his own wheels and tyres.
Unfortunately, the front wheel he carted from New Zealand did not fit the European machine and there were no suppliers within cooee in rural Malang - he was stumped.
"A Malaysian team mechanic came to our rescue," Dibben said.
"He said he had a guy flying in on the Friday night and he would ask him to bring a few bits and pieces to help us out, but he gave no promises," Dibben said yesterday.
"The guy turned up thankfully with some wheel spacers, although they weren't the right size."
Much-needed Kiwi ingenuity then kicked in.
Dibben is a motorcycle mechanic himself, but had brother Michael as team mechanic for the championship round. The pair began filing down the alloy spacer to make it fit.
"Normally you would just throw it on a lathe, but of course we didn't have one, so we had to do it manually. Thankfully it was alloy, so fairly soft metal and we only needed to shave about 2mm off, so it wasn't to bad."
But even that took several hours eating into practice time to get used to the new machine and setting it up to suit Dibben's style.
They got the job done, though and Dibben made the starting grid after qualifying fastest and winning the shootout to gain pole position.
In torrential rain and humid conditions Dibben had his work cut out to edge out several rivals in close finishes, but edge them out he did and win both races and take round 2.
"The KTM bike isn't a bad machine and it compares well with my own Honda CRF450. I always knew with a bit of luck I could do well in this series.
"The overall championship results have yet to be posted, but I'm pretty sure I'm sitting second behind Malaysian rider Mudh Habibullah who finished 4th in Malang. There is talk of me competing in round three in the Philippines in about a month, but that will depend on sponsorship - I want to go," Dibben said.
By Iain Hyndman
Wanganui Chronicle 13/10/16