Project Yamaha has had its first competitive run out at the 2019 Racegear WA Brookton King of the Hill. The event saw a return the Brookton track which is a big part of off road racing history in Western Australia. The event format would be 3 heats, with each heat lasting for 1 hour, or 5 laps, whichever came first. The team drove up to Brookton on Friday night and passed scrutineering with flying colours. For this event Jason Galea and his fiancee and navigator Kiera Mann-Piercy would be piloting the Yamaha in its first race
Saturday morning saw the first of the heats and the #6606 machine would be starting from the rear of the field due to being its first race. The SXS was on the move early, pushing hard and passing Danielle Joyce and also John Flynn who had suffered a flat tyre during the first lap. From here there was clear air and the crew got to work punching in consistent times, good enough to finish the heat in 4th and be sitting 10th outright
Saturday afternoons section was to be another 5 laps and with the sun starting to set the dust was really starting to be a problem. The team pushed hard and set a strong time on lap 1, but just a few hundred metres into the 2nd lap were pulled over with a flat tyre after pushing just a little bit too hard. A slow tyre change dropped the team to the rear of the pack, but from there on out were on the charge. The team finished all 5 laps, but with the final lap finishing just outside the allotted hour were only credited with 4. They would place 5th in their heat and 11th outright
After checking the vehicle overnight, there was only 5 more laps of the 13km course which was beginning to rut up and have a heap more rocks exposed. Starting back in the pack after the flat tyre the day before the team were in for a dusty run. Early on lap 1 caught the Super 1650 of Flynn, but couldnt get close enough safely due to the dust so sat just behind for the best part of 2 laps when Flynn then overtook the trophy truck of Chris Hill. As Hill pitted at the end of lap 2, Galea pushed hard an caught up to Flynn again early on lap 3 managed to make a pass. With clear air for the final 1 and half laps the Yamaha was flying, and managed to place 2nd fastest in the heat and set the best lap time of the heat. With the strong finish to the race the crew managed to move up to 6th outright, win the SXS Sport class and be first SXS home, pretty much the perfect debut run
Thanks must go to WAORRA for organising a fantastic event and the property owners for bringing off road racing back to Brookton. Cagetec Racing now have a short turnaround before Round 3 of the Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship where the #6606 Yamaha YXZ1000r will be back for another run
