Whanganui motorcycle riders clean up on Nelson st circuit
The Whanganui team Jayden Carrick (left), and former WHS students' Ben Dowman, Richie Dibben and Scott Dowman stand ready to do battle on the streets of Nelson on Tuesday.
A brilliant ride in the rain on the streets of Nelson on Tuesday has sparked the resurrection of Jayden Carrick's formula one motorcycle racing career.
Carrick was unbeaten at the Port Nelson meeting on Tuesday.
Dogged by mechanical issues, the Whanganui former F2 ace, has been left out in the cold for the past two seasons since debuting in F1 in 2014.
However, yesterday Carrick rode a heady race to weave through the pack to take line honours in race one of the F1 class at the Port Nelson street races. The tight, turning track, especially with rain falling, was not ideal for his Wanganui Welldrillers/Wanganui Toyota-sponsored ZXR10 Kawasaki.
Under the rules for Port Nelson meet, grid positions are determined by peroformance from the previous, but being a newbie to the circuit, Carrick was forced to start from the back.
A hungry Carrick made no race of it in the end winning the first race by a widening margin in steady rain.
With the track drying despite lingering showers, Carrick led them home again in the second of the F1 races with wets on instead of slicks.
A change to slicks made no difference to Carrick's performance in the third F1 race. He went straight to the front and easily won the four-lap sprint,
Meanwhile, 2017 Suzuki Series super motard champion Richie Dibben and Dowman brothers Scott and Ben were also forced to the back of the grid for their attacks on the super moto class on their Honda CRF450 machines.
It mattered little as Dibben repeated his unbeaten Suzuki Series run after making the lead in a 20-strong field and stretching out to a widening margin to claim race one, almost by the length of the straight. The Dowman Contracting-sponsored brothers Scott and Ben finished fourth and fifth respectively.
The super moto class featured former Kiwi world number two motocross rider Josh Coppins, who held on for third after a close battle with runner-up and 2016 super moto and King of the Port winner Andrew Rudd. This event was not held last year.
In race two, Dibben made a rare mistake when coming to grief on a corner while leading the pack in lap one. He quickly remounted and quickly raced through to fifth by the second lap, then was leading into third. However, the lap scorers failed to see him in front, scoring him a lap down.
In typical Dibben style there was no worries in the camp.
Dibben's father Chris posted on facebook: "We're not stressing, it's only fun."
Scott Dowman also had a fall, while brother Ben finished fifth. No injuries were sustained.
Dibben rounded out the day with victory over all-comers in the King of Port Nelson event albeit by default.
He was in front when the red flag came out and following the restart was leading again into third lap when the red flagged was waved again. Because he was leading Dibben was declared the winner.
The King of the Port field is made up of those with the fastest lap times in each class including super bikes.
Unfortunately, Carrick did not make the start line after blowing his clutch and bad luck struck the Dowman team when Scott had a bad spill and was taken to hospital by ambulance. Early reports suggested rib injuries.
Mr Iain Hyndman
Wanganui Chronicle 3/1/18