Trevor Jackson
A HOT pace at the Master of Mac Park motorcycle meeting over the weekend produced fast lap times, including two new lap records.
Furner rider Dallas Skeer claimed one of those, with a new fastest lap for the 600cc category.
Skeer had previously held the record, but Tye Lynch took that away at the Easter meeting.
However, with a fast track and ideal weather, Skeer was able to dip into the one-minute nine-second mark, with a blistering 1-minute, 9.688-second run in the first of four legs of the SA state championship.
The other record came from Master of Mac Park winner Arthur Sissis, as he lowered the time to 1:07.846, an impressive effort on his 1000cc Superbike.
While Sissis claimed the feature race honour and Ted Collins greeted the chequered flag in second place – also on a 1000cc machine – Skeer was certainly on the pace on the smaller bike.
His main plan for the weekend was to reclaim his lap record, which he did, along with a class win in the Supersport category, which he also achieved with four wins from four races.
It was certainly an impressive weekend for the young racer, with his times akin to the national Australian Superbike series where he races in the Supersport class.
In the feature race the two riders ahead used the ideal conditions to ensure their bigger Superbikes were untouchable at the pointy end, which made it tough for Skeer to challenge.
But far from being disappointed, Skeer said he was happy with the performance overall, especially regaining the lap record.
“ I’m pretty happy … I did what I went there to do,” he said.
“On Friday I was off to a bit of a slow start, about two seconds off the pace.
“Saturday morning I just pushed myself to do it.
“I qualified on pole and I pushed myself to do a low 10 (1:10), then the nines came.
“I did a 9.8 and matched the lap record so I tried to go lower again and did a 9.6.
“I surprised myself – I have never into the nines and it was good to dip well into them and get my record back.”
While it was a hot pace, Skeer appeared to do it comfortably.
From the sidelines he seemed to be cruising, which is often the tell-tale sign of a fast lap.
“I felt really good and did it pretty easily,” Skeer said.
“Obviously I was pushing but I didn’t have too many moments – I had a couple of little slides but nothing major.
“It is good I can do that pace because Tye Lynch, who had the record, is second in the Australian Championship.
“It also wasn’t a one-off thing – I did a couple of nines on the weekend.”
While the weather was almost ideal for racing, Skeer still struggled to keep up with the bigger Superbikes in front.
With their extra 400cc capacity it meant a faster exit from the corners, which Skeer simply could not patch.
After the feature race was red-flagged twice due to accidents, Skeer said he was off the line well in the final restart, but again the bigger bikes had the advantage.
“The last start we did was my best start,” he said.
“I was right on them at turn one but as soon as they opened it up they pulled five bike lengths.
“I had a dip for a few laps but it wasn’t worth throwing it away.”
With the remaining ASBK rounds fast approaching, the weekend gave Skeer the confidence to push hard when he returns to racing at The Bend.
“I feel pretty good on the bike and my fitness is there,” he said.
“It is hard to tell what it will be like at another track but we get to Tailem Bend at the end of the month, so I will see how I go there.
“The weekend was another confidence booster.
“We will just keep building momentum and see where it goes.”
