Ben Burke and the BCperformance by Bikesconnect team claim more podiums at the Northern Territory‰Ûªs Hidden Valley circuit in the Australian Prostock 1000cc championship during a hot and humid weekend. Patrick Lee joins the team for a second time this season.
The Top End‰Ûªs only Australian National Championship road race was held at Darwin‰Ûªs Hidden Valley circuit. The fast and flowing circuit is well known for its great racing, huge crowds and hot humid weather, meaning riders Burke and team sponsor Lee would have to be in a good physical condition for the 4 days of on-circuit action.
Three 12-lap Prostock races were spread over two days with Race 1 on Saturday and Races 2 and 3 on Sunday. Local motorcycle dealer Holeshot Kawasaki joined the team as a sponsor for the event.
After two days of practice on Thursday and Friday, both Burke and Lee spent the time familiarising themselves with the circuit and gained set-up data for the qualifying sessions that were held on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
Riding his Kawasaki ZX-10R, Burke set a fast lap time of a 1:08.782 during Fridays first Qualifying outing, dipping under the current race record by a massive 0.336 and placing himself in 2nd behind series leader, Matt Walters, who was 0.589 faster again.
The second outing held in cooler conditions on Saturday morning gave Burke a chance to close the gap to the BCperformance supported rider, Walters and put in a super-human effort to close the gap to 0.267 with a 1:08.460, consolidating his 2nd position and setting himself up for a good front row start.
Aprilia RSV4-mounted Lee, who had never visited the circuit before, put in a good showing to claim a fourth row start in 14th position with a personal best time of 1:19.413.
