This past weekend, May 15 - 17, Team VAMMUS Racing attended Round 2 of the RACE Superseries. This round was held on Shannonville Motorsport's Park, Long Track. This is a track that favours a precise rider with it's 15 turn, 4 kilometre circuit.
Friday's practice sessions were greeted with fantastic sunny and warm weather. The team's set up for the Ducati 1098 improved and it showed in the very first pro Superbike Session of the day. Right out of the box, Vammus ran second fastest in the session right behind National Factory Yamaha rider Kevin Lacombe. For the remainder of the day Vammus continued to run in the top four positions in the Pro Superbike Class.
Saturday arrived and with it came a drastic weather change. The temperature dropped and rain rolled in for the day. Vammus got some wet track practice in in the morning and in the afternoon the heat races would be run on a drying track. Vammus had a great run in the Pro Superbike Heat. Having to start in the 5th row 15th position, with no points from the prior round, Vammus got a great start and carved trough the pack earning a 7th place finish for a second row start for the final. In the Thunder Heat, Vammus broke the lap record and won the race. In the Heavyweight class, Vammus fought off a fading shock and took his second win of the day over rival Jim Proulx. The faded shock destroyed a brand new tire in only one session.
For Sunday the weather conditions continued to worsen as morning temperatures were only 5 degrees above freezing. Vammus opted out of Morning practice as several riders crashed in the frigid conditions.
For the first final of the Day, the Heavyweight class, Vammus ran in second place the first lap. He soon took the lead over rival Proulx, and led the next several laps. The cold and blustery conditions took their toll an the riders and Vammus made several mistakes as his body tightened up from the cold. On the last lap Vammus ran wide and Proulx took advantage of the mistake. Proulx would take the race win with Vammus a close second.
In the Thunder Race Vammus took a flag to flag win. Even though he was victorious, the team realized the rear suspension had faded so badly it was almost unusable. As a result of the faded shock, tires were being destroyed with very few laps on them. The team considered dropping from the Pro Superbike Feature for a second week.
For the Pro Superbike Feature the Team took a big gamble. They mounted a brand new Dunlop Tire, took the suspension, and seeing that the oil was already faded they closed off all the damping circuits. The gamble paid off as Vammus got a good start and battled his way through to a 7th place finish. More impressive was that during the Superbike race Vammus' electronic quick shifter failed, but he still managed to turn his best ever personal lap times on the Long Track.
The weekend had some solid results and Vammus retains his lead in the Heavyweight Class Championship.
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2009 Season
Sportsman HeavyWeight Final
| 1 |
Derek Vammus |
139 |
| 2 |
James Proulx |
111 |
| 3 |
Robert Busby |
73 |
| 4 |
Dean Plater |
58 |
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