Oz RR: Coxhell, Holland and Jones take Oran Park 6 Hour victory
The Demolition Plus team of Craig Coxhell, Russell Holland and Gareth Jones have won The Bel-Ray 6 Hour at Oran Park this afternoon, capping off the last ever motorcycle race at the iconic circuit.
The final flag falls for Oran Park Raceway, with Demolition Plus rider Russell Holland winning the Bel-Ray 6 Hour with Craig Coxhell and Gareth Jones. Image: Andrew Gosling.
The Demolition Plus team of Craig Coxhell, Russell Holland and Gareth Jones have won The Bel-Ray 6 Hour at Oran Park this afternoon, capping off the last ever motorcycle race at the iconic circuit.
International rider Holland took the chequered flag for the team on a Honda CBR1000RR Superstock-spec bike with 277 laps under their belts, taking a popular win in front of an estimated crowd of over 4000 fans on a day that reached over 40-degrees in temperature.
Coxhell, Holland and Jones made for a solid combination in the event that kicked off with a Le Mans start at 10.30am and ran until 4.30pm, with a strong run in the mid-stages of the race stretching a lead out for the #36 squad.
“Endurance racing is a team sport and we simply couldn’t have made it happen without these two other riders on the bike or without our team, who have put in an incredible effort all weekend,” said 2003 Australian Superbike Champion Coxhell. “I’ve raced a 24-hour race in Europe before and the heat today made this race even tougher.”
Demolition Plus completed three more laps than second place finishers Big Kahuna Racing, featuring Yamaha factory rider Dan Stauffer, Grant Hay and Zac Davies, also a strong showing for the Yamaha YZF-R1-mounted team.
Davies was fast all weekend after setting Superpole for the Big Kahuna outfit, recently ruled out of the ASBK series due to a lack of funding for the 2009 season.
The Big Kahuna team also took the fastest lap of the race on the 90th lap, right before the halfway point of the race.
Rounding out the podium was The 6 Hour team of promoter James Spence, who was joined by former double World Endurance Champion Warwick Nowland and British Superbike rider David Johnson.
The #1 Dean Evans Revolution team of Damian and Alex Cudlin finished fourth overall as the top team with just two riders, putting in an ironman effort to finish six laps behind the victors.
Completing the top five results for the weekend was top Production class finishers Team Green Racing, made up of Jason Kain, Rodney Taplin and Mark Hatch, riding a ZX-10R to the finish 16 laps behind the leaders.
Team Astute was the top Superstock 600 team, finishing with 246 laps for 12th outright, while the Mick Cole Motorcycle team was a very close 3.388-seconds behind in second (13th outright).
An excited James Spence told supporters from the podium that The 6 Hour will be back once again in 2010 despite Oran Park being demolished in favour of a housing estate in January next year, with the new venue yet to be finalised.
Stay tuned for a Moto Talk interview with all three riders from the Demolition Plus team to be posted on Tuesday morning.
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