The American dirt-track ace held off the Aussie hotshots to win his second successive Troy Bayliss Classic
AUSTRALIA’S TOP DIRT track racers and a sprinkling of top riders from other disciplines could not stop US star Jared Mees from becoming the first two-time winner of the Troy Bayliss Classic when the 2017 Motul Pirelli Classic meeting presented by Shannons Insurance was staged at the Old Bar track in Taree, NSW, on 21 January.
It was back-to-back wins for the four-time AMA Grand National champion, who also won here in 2015 (last year’s Bayliss Classic was washed out).
Mees capped an exciting day and night of racing in ideal conditions.
Trade displays and two shows by a stunt plane added to the on-track activities, which was not just the 57-event program but also included another sensational display by Japanese rider Masatoshi Ohmori getting his bike down to some inconceivable angles when cornering.
Even though spectator numbers were down slightly, the large crowd, including those who treat the day as a reunion with like-minded souls, was treated to a slickly run program that for most of the day was running ahead of schedule.
Day-time events gave little hint as to the likely outcome of the main night events as the All Stars class fine-tuned themselves and their bikes for the feature races.
Mees topped the points in the All Stars heats, shading Superbike champion Troy Herfoss from Goulburn and another American, Sammy Halbert, while there were also heat wins for Bayliss himself and dirt track star Luke Gough.
The Americans have only ever experienced an oiled track with both left and right corners at Old Bar – not that you would know it by how they adapt and how good they were again this year.
The 12 riders to contest the 21-lap Troy Bayliss Cup finale were determined by a Superpole Shootout where the All Stars and Legends, plus the top two from the supporting 450cc class (34 riders in all) went against the clock on a flying lap.
The hopes of local fans were raised when Luke Gough went fastest to head the nine Australians who qualified for the main event, along with the three Americans.
Dirt track regulars Luke Richards, Robbie Menzies, Kurtis Tydd (via the qualifier) and Michael Kirkness got through, as did some riders who are usually better known for their exploits on tar – Josh Hook, Troy Herfoss, Broc Parkes and Troy Bayliss.
Surprisingly missing from the cut-throat final line-up were Jarred Brook, Marty McNamara and veteran Paul Caslick.
Mees made a great start in the decider and had to withstand pressure from Kirkness and then Herfoss, who came home second.
Herfoss’s third runner-up placing in four attempts left him feeling frustrated, while Kirkness added another third place to his impressive record of a win and a third in the Classic.
By PETER BAKER
American pride
THE ‘AMERICANA’ EVENT was again a crowd favourite. This is where four heats of 10 riders are whittled down by progressively eliminating last-placed riders until only three of the original 40 riders are left.
There are twelve races in all, just three laps at a time, so starts were paramount and survival was more important than race wins – at least until the final when Herfoss delighted the fans by holding off American pair Jared Mees and Sammy Halbert. Michael Kirkness, American Henry Wiles and early leader Luke Gough bowed out in the semi-final.
Mees saw the irony in that result as the Americana was held around the oval track, which is Mees’ specialty in the US, while all the other races at Old Bar were conducted on the specialised local track, which features both left- and right- hand corners.
All for the love of dirt
LONG-TIME FANS of the sport revelled in watching the Legends in action as big names from various disciplines brought memories ooding back.
Recently retired dirt track star Darren Herrick was the standout, taking out the Barry Cockle Trophy by outpointing road racer Damon Buckmaster, world speedway champion Jason Crump and dirt track legend Chris Watson over the three rounds.
The exciting support events held in the afternoon session produced wins for Kurtis Tydd in the 450cc class, Kye Thomson over American Henry Wiles in the 500cc two-stroke class, and Amy Wedd in the keenly contested Women’s class.
The junior classes were also appreciated by fans with wins for 10-year-old Senna Agius (Under 13s) and two Taree club riders – seven-year-old Hayden Nelson (Under 10s) and 13-year-old Kye Andrews (Under 16s).
Bayliss banter
THERE WERE TWO messages from Troy Bayliss.
Firstly, reports of his retirement were exaggerated: “I’ll be riding for the rest of my days,” he said.
But on the future of the Troy Bayliss Classic, he was not as emphatic: “The future is not 100 per cent sure in my mind unless we get more support.
“Our focus was always to put on a great event here at Taree and help promote dirt track racing here in Australia, and
it has done both those things. But we don’t want to keep the
meeting at its current level, we want to be able to bring more and better riders and put more off-track features into the event to make it even better. But that requires more support and more backing.”
PLACINGS
1 JARED MEES
2 TROY HERFOSS
3 MICHAEL KIRKNESS 4 SAMMY HALBERT
5 LUKE GOUGH
6 ROBBIE MENZIES
7 LUKE RICHARDS
8 JOSHUA HOOK
9 BROC PARKES
10 HENRY WILES
