The 2015 South Australian Reliability Trials Championship headed to Robertstown for Round 3 of the series. The Velocette MCC played host to the ‘Lew Job 2 Day Reliability Trial’ with each day consisting of approximately 6 hours in duration. The start and finish was held at Robertstown Oval, Saturday was a Day/Night format & Sunday was run as a Daylight only. The event’s rider numbers were slightly down from previous rounds due to the 2015 Finke Desert Race being held over the same weekend in which a lot of South Australian Riders were competing. 95 competitors and a strong field of 19 Non Competitive Rally class riders took on the two day event.
Toby Lewis (Kessner Motorcycles) made it a hatrick clean sweeping the weekend taking out the first place in the A grade Unlimited class as well as finishing 1st outright, extending his overall series lead once again. Rowan Pumpa, was able to stay with Toby even after incurring a 120 point penalty to once again finish 2nd outright as well as 2nd in class, Shane Diener on Yamaha WR250F was back to good form, finishing up in the 3rd place outright and in the A Grade Class.
In the Open 2 Stroke D Class, A new class winner emerged with Zack Tremaine taking out the class win and just finished outside the top 10 in the outright placings on his Sherco SE-R300 even after incurring a 30 point penalty. Simon Haydon was able to continue his great form putting in consistent laps over the two days finishing 2nd in the class and just outside the top 20 outright positions. Matthew Lawrence would be happy to find himself on the podium in 3rd place after a DNF in the second round.
In the E Class Alex Heidenrich slipped down the order finishing in 5th after two round wins, leaving a gap open for Jayden Higgins to take out his first round win for the 2015 season. Jayden just missed out on top 10 outright finishing, finishing in 11th place. In 2nd place was Velocette MCC Patrick Neal and ever consistent Ben Mayne once again rounded out 3rd place in the E Class.
In the 271cc to 405cc 4 Stroke F Class Ben Prior had a stellar ride finishing not only 1st in his class but an outstanding 6th outright, Brad Manuel was able to move up one step from the previous round to finish 2nd and Mark Humble rounded out with third place.
Brendon Noble from the Clare MCC continued his success making it a hatrick taking out the G Class and also finishing within in the top 10 outright placings in 8th position. Luke Edelbauer continued his championship well once again finished 2nd place and finished within the top 20 outright placing and Damian Voss finished in 3rd place in the 406cc to 470cc 4 Stroke Class and finished just within the top 20 places outright.
Ian Kakoschke also made it a hatrick in the H Class, taking out the 471cc & Over 4 Stroke division, he also managed a fantastic 10th outright place. Hector Evans moved up a step on the podium from the previous round to finished 2nd and in 3rd was Fred Hillmer from the Gawler MCC.
In the veteran’s class, David Manuel continued his winning ways once again taking out the class win by a fair margin from Kevin Steinert in 2nd place, Stephen Tomlinson rounded out the 3rd place.
In the Master Class, Peter Minge was able to bump Brenton Matters off the top step taking out the Master class win with Matters in 2nd and David Hedger in 3rd place.
In the final class of solos the Pre 1990 Class was won by Adam Toolan & Peter Pring finished in 2nd.
In the Sidecar Division, in the Sidecar C Class, Clint Grabham and Lachlan Greehalgh took out the class win, the pair were also able to place in the top 40 outright. Malcolm Rasmus & Nathan Saegenchnitter were not far behind in 2nd place and John Harman and Shaun Harman finished in 3rd place.
Sidecar J Class was taken out once again by Barry Buckley with his son, Shaun Buckley, as passenger, 2nd was Colin Simpson & Ashley Ball and in the 3rd was Fred Weckert & Mark Roesler.
In the Sidecar K Class, Russel Bailey & Greg Greenham were able to take first place, with Jeffery Bailey and Samantha Baxter in Second. Unfortunately Kristy Shultz & Ayla Plowman had a DNF for this round
The Series now gears up for the biggest event on the Reliability Trials calendar, the Swann Insurance 24 Hour Trial, on 11-12 July in the rural town of Eudunda.
Photos – Chris Caust