It has been an exciting month for the Cairns Coconut Resort Honda Racing team leading up to the 2015 Slattery Auctions Condo 750.
With the teams rough enduro-x debut behind them they were excited to be heading back to high speed desert racing.
The preparations were tight leading up to the Condo 750, with a huge transformation needed for the motorcycles to suit a completely different genre of racing which included technical navigation and high speeds.
Jake Haddrill filled in for the injured Todd Smith and showed great speed aboard the Honda Motorcycle, as did Jake Smith who was leading the opening day of the Condo 750 before a mechanical disaster would strike both riders.
"Day one started really good, I was excited to be out doing what I love and that's going fast in the desert." Smith said. "I took the lead after the first 30kms and put down a really good time for the opening stage.
"At the 55km mark of the second stage my bike stopped with a stator issue, the entire team was running an after market stator because we wanted to go above and beyond to minimise any issues with the power supply to the motorcycle, unfortunately this turned around and bit us in the bum with both motorcycles stopping within 20km of each other.
"To be honest it was heart breaking, the team had worked so hard with preparations and countless hours getting our Honda Motorcycles into rally mode. Overall the weekend was rough, during day two I clipped a small stump and went down really hard. The bike wasn't in great shape and I didn't see much point continuing the Condo 750.
"Jake Haddrill rode really well, day two Jake started from 14th position. Jake came through the pack to be the fastest rider on Sunday by over twelve minutes and finishing right behind 2nd and 3rd which was very impressive.
"We took a lot from the weekend, we know what we have to do in the future. Our Honda Motorcycles are really strong this year minus the stator issue which honestly cost us the win this weekend. We are looking forward to Finke Desert testing in the next few weeks." Smith concluded.
Todd Smith will return to the specialist this week in regard to his serious neck injury. Todd will find out about his injury and if he will be able to compete at the 2015 Finke Desert Race. It's now time for the Cairns Coconut Resort Honda Racing team to turn their attention to Finke Desert pre running and preparations.
The 2015 Condo 750 was one by Rod Faggotter
2015 Condo 750 Results
1. Rod Faggotter - 8:36:02
2. Lachlan Manwaring - 8:56:21
3. David Geeves - 8:59:37
4. Luke Buckland - 9:01:07
5. Grant Quade - 9:10:15
6. Ben Dickinson - 9:10:25
7. Harley Henning - 9:30:37
8. Matt Gillespie - 9:35:37
9. Tom Kennedy - 9:41:14
10. Bradley Deeves - 9:52:18
Image Credit: Max Sullivan
