Jones & Huddlestone win 2022 Motorworks Michelin 2-Hour at Baskerville

2022 Motorworks Michelin 2-Hour

Baskerville Raceway

With Bill Burford

An outstanding weekend of racing, camaraderie and sportsmanship was seen at the 2022 Motorworks Michelin 2-Hour.

Before Sunday’s racing could get underway there was the small matter of sorting grid positions. This took place Saturday afternoon beneath glorious Tasmanian sunshine pushing the mercury to a high of 25 degrees, for nearly perfect conditions. There was much talk of the existing Brett Simmonds lap record being lowered as a result.

This was of little concern to the Brett Simmonds/Jed Metcher team who found themselves riding an unfamiliar ZX-10R. The team’s weapon of choice was to be their 2010 CBR1000RR but come race weekend the Fireblade did not want to play ball, or in this case, start.

Electrical gremlins were the suspected culprit but the exact one causing the trouble could not be found. Fellow racer Chris McGrath stepped up and made his ZX-10R available to Simmonds and Metcher for the weekend, so the boys were back, albeit riding a bike they had never sat on prior to the weekend.

Superpole saw Jed gave it his best shot, posting a 54.07 lap, pushing the Jason Spencer/Ted Collins team (54.16) down a position to second. Final competitor of the day was Mike Jones (teamed with Jeremy Huddlestone) and he was looking confident, if maybe a little too confident.

Jones wound up entering turn one with more pace than he had done all weekend and struggled to pull the R1 up before the edge of the track. Fortunately, this was the only blemish on an otherwise polished lap, and he still crossed the line to secure pole with a 53.19, less than two-tenths away from bettering the existing lap record.

Many spectators and fellow competitors were left wondering just what the new record could have been lowered to, and if it would be broken on Sunday’s race day.

Sunday dawned cooler than Saturday, with slight cloud cover overhead, and travelling to the track the River Derwent was looking particularly flat and calm – usually a good omen for a smooth day ahead.

With the morning’s sprint races completed, officials grabbed a quick bite to eat before things got extra serious after lunch with the day’s feature races. A quick walk around the paddock noted that there were many last minute preparations taking place, refuelling strategies being confirmed, and lots of nerves requiring a few wise words from those that had been there before.

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Peter McEldowney was the victor in the Golden Oldies handicap six-lapper. Isaac Simmonds stormed home with metres to spare to clinch the Junior’s (13-16 yrs) handicap challenge.

Robbie Wilson and Jeremy Archer were victors in the Sidecar Cup, Liam Waters taking a big victory in the 20 lap Lites feature race after his closest rival, Taran Ocean, winged himself in Saturday’s proceedings.

As the 2 pm start time for the 2-Hour approached, the breeze lifted a little and the mercury nudged 21 degrees, perfect conditions indeed. The bikes lined up on the edge of the track – riders lining up opposite, ready for the traditional Le-Mans style start.

And they were off racing, everyone getting away cleanly with no drama.

Ted Collins grabbed the holeshot into turn one followed by 600 cc competitor Matthew Long. Mike Jones was a little slow off the line and slotted into sixth position.

Lap two had Ted Collins continuing to lead with Kawasaki mounted Brett Simmonds now close behind. Mike Jones banged out a 53.17-sec lap five to move up to third, Matthew Long leading the Supersports but bumped down to fourth.

The first five laps were reeled off quickly, making it hard for local riders to relax into an endurance rhythm when surrounded by some of the countries best riders offering the opportunity of ‘catch me if you can!’

Brett Simmond’s weekend of misfortune continued when he lost his left knee slider with only a few laps completed. It was enough of a distraction that by lap 20 Jones had caught and passed Simmonds to put them a lap down what was still an early stage of the contest.

By lap 20 Jones had lapped the entire field apart from Ted Collins, who remained 15-seconds in arrears. Jones seemed to be in a groove and as his confidence grew, getting ever closer to scrubbing the armco on the entry to turn one every lap.

At the 38-minute mark Mike Jones then pitted for fuel and haned over pilot duties toh Jeremy Huddlestone

At 46-minutes Ted Collins pitted for fuel and the rider swap, team-mate Jason Spencer re-entering the track 23-seconds behind Huddlestone.

At 53-minutes Simmonds entered the pits, swapping with Jed Metcher and refuelling, while minute-56 saw the first of the 600s pit as Mitch Hawksley entered the refuelling area for liquids and swaps with regular Tassie visitor Ryan Taylor.

A the 65-minute mark leading solo competitor Jonathan Hughes pitted.

At the 76-minute mark Jesse Woods (AKR) found neutral entering turn one on his YZF-R6, leaving the bitumen and losing the 600 cc lead position, 54-year-old Jonathan Hughes on a Triumph 675 inheriting the 600 category lead.

A strong riding Jeremy Huddlestone returns to the pits still holding first position at 83-minutes, handing a comfortable lead to recently crowned Australian Superbike Champion Mike Jones for his second stint.

By 94 minutes AKR rider Jesse Woods had regained the lost ground from earlier track sweeping duties, moving into not only the 600 cc lead but the overall too. Giving the fading Jonathan Hughes a tasty carrot to chase, so much so that with 20-minutes to run Hughes then passed Woods for the 600 cc lead.

Mike Jones, however, was lapping away in the 55s and at the 98-minute mark regained the outright lead from Jason Spencer.

Jones slowed slightly to 56.5 sec laps by minute 109, Jed Metcher was riding the wheels off the ZX-10R to try and unlap his team and he was threatening the Baskerville lap record with just minutes remaining, and even less rubber.

Reaching the 120 minute mark, one lap remained, and Metcher managed to unlap his team on the very last corner, securing a fine second place finish in spite of the disrupted preparation.

Mike Jones and Jeremy Huddlestone are the Motorworks Michelin 2-hour victors for 2022, from Simmonds/Metcher and Spencer/Collins in second and third respectively .

600 cc victory was taken by Hamish Sellers and Jesse Woods, with Matthew Long and Marcus Delaney in third, while the ride of the day has to go to solo rider Jonathan Hughes who took second place in the category. Hughes set himself the challenge of riding solo and exceeded his own and everyone else’s expectations putting in a magnificent display of stamina and tenacity.

Motorworks Michelin 2 Hour Endurance Race Superbike Results

Motoworks Michelin 2 Hour Endurance Race Supersport

Golden Oldies Cup Feature Race Results

Tassie Junior Cup Feature Race Results

Sidecar Cup Results

Lites 20 Lap Feature Race Results