Jake Holden Australian Superbike Update, Day 2

October 17, 2009 (Phillip Island, Australia)– Day two of the Australian Superbike Championship round at Phillip Island started out cold with threatening skies.  The Woodstock Bourbon/ Evolution Sports Group Honda crew took advantage of the late start and rolled into the track facility around noon.  With the motogp circus in town, the Australian Superbikes were limited to one session today at 4 pm–and it was a race!

Overnight, the crew made no changes to the chassis and only a slight change to the motor electronics.  Jake would grid up in seventh place based on his Friday qualifying.  The limited schedule also included one more new wrinkle for Jake– no morning warmup.  Promptly at 4:20 pm the Australian Superbike field left the paddock for one sighting lap, one warmup lap, and then the race.  Friday’s race increased Jake’s track knowledge by six laps, albeit without a fast guy to follow after avoiding a stalled out bike at the start of race one.

Even with the limited track time, Jake was confident going into the race.  The fastest rider in the field, the Phillip Island specialist, was only 1.2 seconds faster than Holden.  The plan was to get a good launch, follow the lead group, and try and learn something from the leaders.  When the lights went out, Jake nailed the start and drove around the outside of the field in turn two and continued his push through turn three, heading into the braking zone for turn four he was in third place.  It was a short-lived thrill for his crew as he overshot the entry and headed towards the slick grass off the track surface– a victim of an electronics change that inadvertantly turned off the engine braking.

Now, dead last and way behind, he put his head down and took off after the field.  By the end of the first lap he caught and passed six riders, the second lap he caught and passed the next eight.  Knowing it was only an eight lap race, he wasted little time and by the time the checkered flag flew, he was in twelth place.

After debriefing with his crew, they corrected the engine braking setting and are confident going into Sunday’s final two races even though there is no more practice or warmup on the schedule.

Jake Holden:

“Oh man, what can I say?  I guess I got the strategy half right… I got a great start and was feeling good until the bike freewheeled into turn four and I was carrying too much speed on the entry to make it.  Tomorrow, I just need to nail the start and find out where the leaders lines are and watch them for how early I can get on the throttle.  I don’t know if I can make up the 1.2 seconds of the fastest guy around here, but I know I can go faster than the 1:34.0 I did today!”

For Jake Holden sponsorship inquiries or ride opportunities, contact:

Murph (Michael Murphy)

Syndicate Motorsport Management, LLC

+1 831 464 3458