BYRinc.com :: Racing :: 2006 Race Report by Michael Micallef
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What was the 2006 AIPP like for Bendigo Youth Racing? BYR’s Michael Micallef, gives punters the run down from the Murray Bridge 24hr - the largest 24hr race for recumbents in the world. “There were 214 entries this year, spread out over 2.16km/1.3miles of sealed public road -That’s about 10 metres of space per bike. I raced with Bendigo Youth Racing, in our new vehicle “BY-06”. It was an absolute rocket, now holding the top 10 shootout lap record and also the fastest lap in race conditions. It was also very tough to break as we found out, yet more on that later.

BYR's 2006 Team: Daryl "Daka, Daka" Luke "Floata" Tim "Vanilla Ice" Matt "Browny" Rowan "Old Bluey" Dean "Deano" Nigel"Presto Valve Jnr" Chris"Crowey" (Pitcrew) Mark "Davies" (Pitcrew) Michael "Megapixel" (Race Report author)

So without further ado, here is how the Murray Bridge 24hr looked through my eyes. Enjoy! Daryl had placed us in pole position for the start of the race, something that had never been done before by Bendigo Youth Racing. We were, as a team, kind of annoyed that we were involved in the Top 12 Shootout. It seriously reduced our extra time to fine tune BY-06, but you get that! After a spell of 2 hours, the tension was rising for the 12 noon start. The door to our vehicle was rushed onto the grid and bolted on, whilst Nige' made the last adjustments to the derailleur - all this whilst the ceremony was in full swing! With the vehicle 100% race-ready, the largest Australian flag in the state was waved over the first 3 or so rows of vehicles, with our race starter, Browny, commenting later on how refreshing the flag's breeze was from the confines of our vehicle.

The rolling warm-up lap started with the vehicles gently cruising through the hottest part of the day. On the next lap, they all came screaming through! I was at the first corner, a right-hander and Ballistic, BY-06 and Firetruck ( Berwick SC) were leading the pack. Browny gave Ballistic some room through the corner, then they drag-raced all the way to the hairpin 200 metres away. Ballistic and BYR blew Firetruck away at that stage, with BY-06 getting through the hairpin first. The next 45 minutes was all Browny’s, being 3 to 5 seconds faster per lap then Ballistic. By the time Browny pitted 45 minutes later, we were over 1 minute in front. Nige' was in next and he stretched the lead further over Ballistic. He pitted an hour and 30 minutes into the race and big Deano hopped in. After the first lap around, there looked to be damage to the left hand side. He comes around again and I took a closer look - it turns out to be a bit of rubber from the tyre of another vehicle. Apart from that, Deano also kicked some serious butt!

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BYR's 2006 Team: Daryl/ "Daka, Daka ", Luke/ "Floata", Tim/ "Vanilla Ice", Matt/"Browny", Rohan/ "Old Bluey", Dean/ "Deano", Nigel/ "Presto Valve Jnr", Chris/ "Crowey" (Pitcrew), Mark/ "Davies" (Pitcrew), Michael (Race Report author)/ "Megapixel"