Desert Racing

Penrite Honda Team Leave Hattah 2018 with a Podium

Posted:

Thursday, July 12th, 2018

1:10 AM

Mark Grove lead the way for Penrite Honda at the 2018 Penrite Hattah Desert race taking a podium in the 250 class and finishing 15th outright. Photo: Kane O‰ÛªRourke

Penrite Honda Racing‰Ûªs Mark Grove took to the podium in the Hattah Desert Race in Mildura over the weekend.

The father of four from Bacchus Marsh, Victoria powered his Honda CRF250R to 2nd in class and 15th outright.

‰ÛÏI made it hard on myself by qualifying 35th; I had to make up a lot of time on my rivals. I pushed hard to make up for that and passed 20 riders to get 2nd. I should have qualified better but these things happen and overall I am happy to come away with a podium,‰Û

Caleb Auricht passed over 30 riders on his way to 4th in the 250 class. Photo: Kane O‰ÛªRourke

Caleb Auricht also rode a very convincing race, passing over 30 riders on his way to 4th in the 250 class.

‰ÛÏI made a mess of qualifying and had to go full throttle from the beginning, it was basically a sprint race from the moment we took off. I really wanted a podium finish so it‰Ûªs unfortunate that I fell short. I will learn from it and next year I will ensure my qualifying performance sets me up for that podium finish I so badly wanted this year.‰Û

Jacob Smith finished in the top ten outright. Photo: Kane O‰ÛªRourke

The teams 450 riders had their own battles respectively throughout the race. Jacob Smith made gains early as he moved up to third in class but trying track conditions saw him finish 5th in class (10th outright)

‰ÛÏI went hard early and worked my way through the pack, but on the last lap I lost third position and had to settle for 5th. It is difficult to accept as I felt I had a decent pace, especially for the first three and a half hours. The crash I sustained in prologue definitely hurt me towards the end of the four-hour race and I realised as the track broke down we needed a stiffer set up. Overall I am happy with the speed we had, we just need to work on a few things for next year,‰Û

Callum Norton had to fight from the back after starting ten minutes behind 400 riders after a mechanical problem on the start line. Photo: Kane O‰ÛªRourke

The teams other 450 rider, Callum Norton faced the biggest comeback of his life after failing to start the race with the rest of the riders as he experienced a technical glitch off the line. The 17 year old started the race from last in the pits as his crew came together to solve and fix the electrical issue.

‰ÛÏThe team was calm and calculated in evaluating what was wrong, and fixing it so we could get going, I lost over 10 minutes and started last,‰Û