The sixth round of the GYTR Australian Superstock Cup promised so much for SD Racing but the team's home round turned out to deliver about as much as a postman on a Sunday. Anyone watching the team's rider in action, Darren (Super Damage) Sciberras, would have been excused for thinking that they were at a dirt track event rather than the nation's premiere road racing series. Through the course of the weekend Daz had more off road excursions than the Leyland Brothers in their hay day as he tried to pilot his TW-Performance R6 around the demanding 3km circuit.

The initial signs were positive with Daz finishing Friday's sessions 4th fastest even though he had to endure a stomach bug that had hit over night. But the cracks started to show during Saturday morning's final qualifying and he was relegated to 8th which is were he would start the weekend's 3 races. Race 1 saw a super start from Daz moving his way up to 5th by the end of the first lap. Fighting hard to stay with the lead bunch Daz seemed to be struggling a little on the brakes and on lap 5 run off the circuit as he tried to make up time. He eventually rejoined to finish a respectable 7th but with the knowledge that it could have been better.

The start of race 2 wasn't as good but it really didn't matter, Daz crashed out, smacking his head quite hard, while trying to make up places after another off track excursion. Luckily Daz was unhurt, again highlighting what a fantastic job his Tiger Angel leathers have done this year, Daz has certainly given them a work out and thankfully they have been up to the task! All of a sudden what had started as a potentially good weekend had gone horribly pear shaped. As disappointing and frustrating as the situation had become the team remained calm and upbeat for the 3rd and final race of the weekend. A poor start saw Daz in the middle of a heap of traffic as the 22 rider field jostled their way around the tight and twisty circuit. Trying to avoid a certain accident Daz had no choice and was forced from the track on the opening lap and once again was off into the dirt. By this stage the care takers at the circuit had cancelled the lawn mowing service planed for the coming week as they watched the infield being continually trimmed by Daz and his TW-Performance R6. He fought hard to make up lost ground tangling with Michael Riddle on his way through slowing the progress that would eventually see him finish in 13th place.

Darren Sciberras: To be 100% honest I am gutted by my performance this weekend, I should have been able to deliver better results at our home track.  Things started off ok even though I had a stomach bug and thanks to the usual help from Ian and some extra input from Megacycle's Kenny Onus, we finished Friday on the front row.  But as has been the case all too many times we have failed to deliver when it has counted.  The amount of times I ran off the circuit this weekend was a joke and personally I feel somewhat embarrassed by it.  We had pace at times but I struggled to put it all together.

I had problems on the brakes but not so much from the brakes themselves. It was more so containing the awesome power of the Performance Friction pads, I knew they had so much more stopping potential but for some reason I couldn't tap into it.  I just tried to fight whatever the issue was rather than approaching it from another angle and it wore me out in the process.

In the wash up it turns out that the issue was caused by a combination of my braking technique, which needs a fair bit of work, and somehow by mistake we had the front end suspension settings set wrongly.  Unfortunately for us suspension guru Trevor Manley wasn't on hand this weekend and not having him there just highlighted how much his work and advice has helped this year.  After going through all my notes with him and Ian, when we returned home, he was able to diagnose the problems straight away but the dumbest thing off all was that I didn't get on the phone to him during the weekend.

Again I am disappointed for Lisa and Ian after all the work they put in and I thank them for that but I also know it's another case of my inexperience and I still need to give myself time to learn.  All credit to Ian Andrews and Chris Trounson, even if I had got everything right they still would have been bloody tough to get anywhere near, they rode great!

Eastern Creek is next but after another crash I guess we better get off to Shocktek to get that frame straightened first! Hopefully I can keep it on the black stuff this time around but if not maybe the Leyland boys are looking for a two wheeled partner? Thanks again to everyone for their help."

The damage was mininal thanks to the Valtermoto Rearsets that are designed to crash well and have stod up to quite a pounding from Daz this year!

Hopefully these young boys can keep in on the road a bit better than their Uncle Daz.