Gearing
A common mistake at Eastern Creek is to gear the bike for the super-long front straight. You must gear it for the corners because there are so many second and third gear corners that if the bike isn’t jumping out of them the lap time will never come.

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Grid Position
Not as critical here as some places because there is such a long drag to and through turn one. Most bikes don’t even need to brake for turn one off the start. The ideal position though is on the outside where pole is, or even seventh or eighth which places you on the outside of the second row. A good start can get you around everyone into turn one.

TURN ONE
This is a really awesome corner regardless of your bike size because it is so fast and open that you can make up so much time through this turn when you get it right and feel comfortable running into it. The bike always gets a little light going into it over the bumps from the dragsters. On the 250 Production bike it was top gear and some say it could be done flat out. I tried it once while leading the Australian Championship race in 1996 and lost the front on the bump that is halfway around it. In Supersport it was fifth or fourth gear depending on gearing and the Superbike was fourth. One of the only real overtaking places is into turn one out of the slipstream and up the inside if your bike is fast enough.

TURN TWO
What you could do into turn two depended on your run through turn one. Other than that it’s a pretty boring double apex corner where you could lose more than you could gain if you tried too hard. It’s about getting out of it well then short shifting to get the run over the tunnel that could open up another passing opportunity down the inside.

TURN THREE
This is the first right hand corner on the track so you have to make sure the rear is up to temperature because getting the right run through here could open up a passing chance into four. Keeping the front wheel down over the tunnel is an issue on the bigger bikes.

TURN FOUR
You need to hit the inside apex early here over the bump because keeping it tight all the way around is important for setting up turn five. Pick the throttle up early through the right but not too aggressive so you can set up turn five in third gear.

TURN FIVE
As soon as you flick it left, pick up the throttle even before apexing the left to get the run up the hill. Getting it right means you drift out onto the ripple strip exiting the turn. I remember the first time I tested Kev Curtain’s race winning ZX-6R. I was loving the fact that for the first time on the road I could spin the rear in third gear.

TURN SIX 
Turn Six used to actually be two corners but in recent years SMSP have straightened out the entry and eliminated a turn. Back to second on the ZX-7R Superbike the exit here is really fun in spinning it until it’s upright. The drive is really important out of here because a passing opportunity into turn nine starts here.

TURN SEVEN
Corporate Hill, as it was called, is a fun corner on any bike. Blind on entry over a bit of a rise and as soon as the bike is settled, it’s straight back on the throttle again. Many people get in trouble getting into turn seven so it’s one of those turns you have to sacrifice a little going in so you can get a super exit on opening up the possibility of diving up the inside of someone into turn nine.

TURN EIGHT
I found you can pretty much use any line going into nine without losing anything as long as you get it stopped and can open the throttle quickly on the exit.

TURN NINE
Really fast entry here that doesn’t need a lot of braking, mostly when you are upright picking it up to tip into turn 10. I found out the hard way grabbing a big handful of brakes just as I tipped in one day on the RGV 250.

TURN 10
You need to pay attention to the inside kerb on a Production based bike because I have seen many people touch the case on the inside kerb here and go down. Once into 11 you need to pick the throttle up again drifting out to the kerb before pulling it back in for the entry to turn 11.

TURN 11
Along with turn one, this is probably the most important corner on the track because the exit out of here determines your straight-line speed and chances of getting a slipstream or stopping someone getting in your slipstream. Getting it turned and pointing down the straight before you open the throttle allows you to open it very quickly and get all the important drive over the rise and down the hill.

OTHER THINGS
Among other things that stand out in my mind at Eastern Creek is the afternoon sun. Any time after about 4:00pm going into turn one becomes pretty tough, along with corporate hill as you’re suddenly blinded going into turn nine.

The pit roof is another unique aspect to Eastern Creek with everybody going up there to watch the races and then running from one side to another to see the bikes come down the straight, over the tunnel and into turn nine.

The lovely NSW Police Force also set up on Brabham Drive under the expressway, at the roundabout and behind the huge spectator mound outside turn one. A cynical person would say that this is purely to book people as they enter and leave the area…

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Turn One
Depending on what size bike you are taking through there, this is not really much of a turn and is more of a fast kink. On the ZX-6R it was back one gear from sixth and then rolling the throttle back on slightly before turn two.

Turn Two
After drifting to the outside of the track coming through the turn one kink in fifth, I would pick the bike upright a little to brake in a straight line while shifting back two more gears before tipping into turn two. It is important to release the brakes early here to let it keep rolling and pick up the throttle early to keep the rpms from dropping too low and get a good exit which could allow one of the very few passing chances up the inside into turn three.

Turn Three
On your own (or at a track day) you would approach from the outside white line, shifting back to third for a fast entry but in a racing situation you had to cover yourself a little from someone coming up the inside.

Turn Four
Was simply about pulling it back to the left a bit and shifting back to second and even a mid-track entry was okay here because you tended to park it a little before you started to build speed again through the next series of turns.

Turn Five
After picking it up a little and driving out of turn four over the slight rise, turn five was slightly faster as you went down through the dip that was the apex, all the time being careful not to grind out the cases and foot pegs through here and ending up on your arse in the dirt. 

Turn Six & Seven
This turn meant building speed around the right and keeping the bike stable before flicking it left through the fast turn seven.
Depending on the bike and gearing again, but usually it was up to fourth through here to soften the bike slightly under acceleration before grabbing the brakes and back to second for the tight left.

Turn Eight
Here it was basically just a matter of getting it stopped and lining it up for the exit onto the next faster section. After apexing the turn you would get on the throttle smoothly, a little like the 11 and 12 combination at Eastern Creek. Picking up the throttle and letting it run out before pulling it back in to apex again.

Turn Nine
Having shifted up to third on the exit of turn eight and sometimes fourth (again to keep the bike settled), it was then the flick right and on to turn 10. You really needed to be inch perfect through here – outside white line, inside white line and outside white line again to get the run onto the back straight and hopefully create a passing chance into the last turn on the track, the tight second-gear turn 11.

Turn Ten
Following KC around here in the early days was when I started to realise that rushing in all locked up on a bigger bike wasn’t always the best way because although I liked to be able to close the gap a lot on Kev on the brakes I would lose all of it and more again every time on the exit.

That was when I started to realise I wasn’t using the power on the exit because I couldn’t get the throttle opened. All because I was still trying to get it stopped and all back in line and I was carrying way too much lean angle while Kev was already gone with the throttle fully open.

Overall I really enjoyed riding around on my own at Wakefield Park and loved the layout but racing on it left me a little frustrated trying to find passing places. I would imagine it must be a pretty tough race around there with a field of superbikes unless you had qualified on the front row and got away at the front. Saying that though, compared to some of the BSB tracks I have seen, Wakefield Park leaves them standing in the shade.

Being honest though, if they can run car races around Wakefield Park, then back in 1997 when I last raced there in my early Supersport days I probably still had a fair bit of my overtaking craft and manoeuvres to learn. 

Wakefield Park is located near Goulburn in NSW and is named after the founder of Castrol Oil. WORDS: Andrew Pitt PHOTOGRAPHY: Keith Muir, John Smith

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The pictures always showed how much sand there was everywhere at Barbagallo and that the bikes stayed upright in the sand when they ran off the track, even when the riders were no longer on board! My first experience over there was in 1994 for the round of the Shell Oils Australian Road Race Championships.

The only viable option expenses-wise was for a whole group of riders to get together and crate all the bikes up in a pantec truck and get someone to drive them over and back via Mallala for their round of the Championship.

Chris Taylor’s Dad, Alf, was the driver so he didn’t have to pay as driving was considered a pretty good contribution. A certain Troy Bayliss had his ZZR600 in the truck, too! This allowed the rest of us to fly over and see our bikes again at the racetrack. Everyone seemed to be on the same Qantas flight over from Sydney with all the factory Superbike riders of the day stationed up the back of the plane conducting the party.

We were staying at the Wanneroo Tavern with Phil Harper and his dad Bob and the Buckmasters – Malcolm and Damon. Phil knew the Buckmasters pretty well from the NSW Central Coast and they had advised us to stay there as it was pretty close to the track but could get a little noisy and rowdy on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. 

That didn’t worry Malcolm though because he would just get up and go and sort them out. As a 17 year old I hadn’t had many nights out or seen too many things out of the ordinary such as topless waitresses on Thursday nights around the pool tables and a pub rocking all night, but the Wanneroo Tavern gave me all of those things. 

After dinner in the bistro on Thursday night, the old boys decided they needed a beer or two so we riders accompanied them in for a squash before official practice started the next day only to be greeted by naked ladies everywhere. Needless to say we probably drank all the squash in the joint before getting off to bed to get some sleep.

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The Saturday topped it all though when the general pub noise was getting louder and louder and I was sleeping like a log until woken yelling just outside our window. Dad was awake so we got up to see what was going on. 

Phil and Bob were up too with their door open and Malcolm was definitely up. Apparently one of the drunks had wandered over, obviously lost and had tried to get into their room through the window and Malcolm had come straight out ready to have this bloke. Upon seeing big Malcolm, the bloke shit himself. Realising he had made a big mistake on his room choice, he skipped up onto a car and then onto the motel roof to get away from Malcolm. 

What we had heard was Malcolm telling this bloke to get down and accept his punishment and the bloke pleading with Malcolm to be let go in one piece. A good old-fashioned stalemate was what we had but it all ended peacefully and became a good story to tell about the Wanneroo Tavern. 

The track surface was very abrasive but also very grippy especially in the wet which I suppose it had to be considering when the wind came up the sand blew onto the track. The track goes clockwise so right, right, right most of the time, which I liked.

As the years went on, dad and I did it together in a Hiace bus that went over on the train and we drove it back across the Nullarbor picking up Craig McMartin’s trailer after their vehicle had broken down in a race to get to Mallala for the next round. Needless to say the fuel economy went out the window towing the trailer across the desert coupled with the fuel prices out there. The year after, Peter Doyle agreed to throw our private ZX-6R in their truck and dad and I managed to get two third places against all the factory teams and that weekend probably got me started with Doyley and crew. At the very next round, the latest model I had been waiting for was ready and prepared by TKA and it led to second in the championship that year behind Damon Buckmaster.

The pit facilities were always good with competitors side by side in the carports in the early days, to the more upmarket lockable sheds that were generally privately owned and made available for the bigger teams over the weekend.

The Supersport bike was all about corner speed and maintaining momentum while the Superbike was all about getting it up and managing the wheel spin and hence tyre life. I have to say though, the Superbike was by far the most fun around there especially getting out of the bowl out the back.

The accommodation changed from the Wanneroo Tavern to Hillary’s Boat Harbour as things got better but it was always the round that everyone looked forward to all year – from the welcoming club and fans over there to the Sunday night parties in the clubhouse at the track. There was always the core group of workers headed by Denise that put on a great weekend and made everyone welcome and nothing had changed when I went back in 2009 for the Kings of Wanneroo.

“Thankfully an Australian Championship round has returned there because it was simply criminal they lost it and it’s not a real Australian Championship without going to Wanneroo.”

I told you I would finish the story of the rental car going around the adjacent motocross track so here are a few more details. Now I won’t mention any names and it was a few years before my time so maybe it’s just myth but as I said a rental car was rumoured to be taken around the motocross track and by the end it would only go in fifth gear and reverse. To make matters worse, it was bent through the middle and the doors wouldn’t open so when it was finally returned to the airport all occupants had to get out through the windows.

Summing up Wanneroo there is no doubt it always provides great racing and passionate spectators but by week’s end there will always be a few new stories to tell.

TURN ONE
It has a pretty short front straight and depending on gearing, fifth gear was about as high as you would ever get (and sometimes only fourth). Normally you’re grabbing the brakes well past the end of the pit wall (around the pit lane exit), going back to third and running in really fast. It wasn’t a key overtaking spot but it could be done, you had to block the other rider a little, stopping yourself and trying to prevent running those couple of bike lengths wide allowing your competitor straight back past you on the inside. 

Third gear seemed generally a little tall on the entry but it made you keep it rolling around the long right to keep the corner speed up for the exit which ended up being a quick run up to the uphill left. Getting it up onto the fatter part of the tyre was important on the exit because it was very easy to lose that jump off the turn while it was spinning

TURN TWO & THREE
These two weren’t really turns for me just flicks left and right as quick as possible before getting into the fast uphill Turn Four. Although, through the right flick you had to be very careful not to touch the inside kerb with the engine case and then not touch the drain on the inside of the entry to Turn Four.

TURN FOUR
Was the only real left hand turn on the track but it was long and allowed you to easily get the tyres scrubbed and enough heat into them. It was third gear on all bikes and was uphill so I always found myself running in really fast but still thinking maybe I could have pushed a little more going in. Once the bike was settled it was straight back on the gas to keep the speed building. It was critical to keep it tight all the way around the uphill left but circuit knowledge was also critical because you couldn’t see the next right! 

Until you knew exactly when to flick it right you were guessing, which meant sometimes doing it too early and heading for the inside kerb and sometimes too late and getting out into the sand on the exit. During that flick to the right there was also a gear change up to fourth and then another one to fifth at the crest of the hill as you were touching the outside kerb on the exit to keep the front wheel down before heading down into the bowl.

TURN SIX
This is still one of my all-time favourite corners because of how much fun you can have on the exit with wheel spinning and tyre smoking, especially on a bike with some horsepower. It was downhill braking, back to third and also a really good overtaking opportunity if you had gotten over the top of the hill before well. It was a matter of getting it in there and hitting your apex, getting it pointed in the right direction and then start opening the throttle and let the fun begin. It really was dirt-tracking skills at their best. The exit just opened up and there was so much room heading back up the hill with the tyre spinning while you were grabbing gears. All the talk at the end of the races between riders was how much smoke was coming off your tyre and how much smoke we were riding through.

TURN SEVEN
This was the last overtaking chance and probably where all the races were settled. I won battles there but also lost a few, too. Getting the bike over the hill in top gear without flipping it was the first issue, well before the braking duels started but once you touched down it was about going in as deep as possible. The middle part of the braking zone starts going uphill after the steep downhill run and this was the first time I have ever felt front forks bottoming-out under brakes.

After sneaking up the inside of someone you had to hold your line or they would be back up the inside on the exit and beat you to the line while you were trying to stay off the big high kerb on the exit. That kerb is also where it can all come unstuck trying to jump it, or if you get the rear over the crown, it lets go really quick (as happened to Crusty one year). The key was to just use the inside part of it as a bit of a berm. This was where all the spectators were and generally there was plenty for the marshals to clean up in the sand after some of the moves didn’t stick.

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THE ESSES
Into the Motorsport Esses could present you with a real chance to get past someone even on the first lap, but it was still a bit desperate and you had to lock it all up and somehow get through the chicane and out the exit on the black stuff. 

On a flying lap I took it in third because it was quite a fast chicane and second would have slowed me down too much. Third on the exit seemed a little lazy but the boys assured me I wasn’t losing out up the hill to the finish line.

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TURN THREE
I am going to call Turn three the old Turn one (Honda Corner) up on top of the rise where the grid was when I raced there.

So it was all about braking on the outside of the track and back to second, while tipping in – trying to apex where the track dips away on the inside. This corner has a really nice camber allowing you to pick up the throttle early, driving towards Turn four. You had to watch a little on the exit as you drifted towards the outside of the track when the camber flattened and the rear tyre would step out a little just as you were picking it up.

TURN FOUR 
Still in second for Turn four grabbing just a little brake to wash some speed off and pull it into the apex setting yourself up for a really good hard exit carrying as much momentum into the long fast Turn five.

Exiting Turn four I would grab third gear as the front was going light trying to pull it over to the right for the entry of Turn five.

TURN FIVE
Turn five was where you could really get some time especially on the run in on the front but to do this you needed confidence in your front tyre and setup. I found the best way was to run in quite fast trying not to grab too much brake as washing speed off then meant you needed to crack the throttle early again to get the momentum up again.

It was easy to panic a little getting in there really fast and grab too much front braking on the side of the tyre. I saw a lot front lockups there and bikes cart wheeling through the infield. The trick was to get as far around the corner as you could on your entry speed, then picking up the throttle later just to keep it rolling along.

TURN SIX
The next flick through this section reminds me a lot of the uphill left right over the hill at Wanneroo where you need hold it tight around the left until exactly the moment when you flick it right and try to straight line it through. Though it is a bit easier at Winton because it is flat and you can see the right. Hold third through here and rev it all the way to the limiter on the outside of the track before grabbing the brakes while straightening up, to be able to brake as hard as possible for the Turn seven hairpin.

TURN SEVEN
Turn seven was one of the few passing spots at Winton because it is mostly a one line track but here if you had gotten the previous two corners right you could find yourself with an unexpected chance to jump up the inside of someone. Honestly if you had made a really good job of Turns five and six you could be almost alongside someone before you grabbed the brakes. It was critical to get it stopped here though because if you missed the apex just by a metre then who ever you passed would be back past you.

TURN EIGHT
This next corner was where you just needed to give it a smooth, gentle little squirt from apex to apex and letting it run in and around the corners, trying not to stop/start it too much. This was where Kev was good. I did all this in second thinking it felt slow but actually it turned out to be the quick way through it all smooth and keeping the bike balanced.

TURN NINE
Turn nine had you approaching a bit faster and braking hard into the apex to hit the apex and set up for a run along the short straight and maybe try and get up the inside of someone but when you are racing factory Ducatis on Michelin tyres you’re kidding yourself if you even think you can stay close to them on acceleration. Especially with jockey size Craig Connell on one! Even though Steve Martin had to carry quite a few more kilos there was no keeping up with him on acceleration either. Around somewhere like Winton with all the stop/starts it was the never-ending stretching rubber band game. They would jump away out of the turns and I would pull it all back on the brakes.

TURN 10
Turn 10 was back from third into second again trying to get it stopped because if you missed your apex just a little you lost so much exit speed down the next little straight trying to stay on the track and get the throttle open.

TURN 11 & 12
Turn 11 was exactly the same if you rushed in too fast shifting back from fourth to second you ran out too wide on the exit and couldn’t open the throttle between 11 and 12. So it was a matter of outside white line braking into turn 11, then inside white line apex, drifting out to outside white line while picking up the throttle before 12 and then trail braking into the inside white line apex for 12 to get that exit onto the start/finish straight.

The ZX-7 could stretch its legs slightly more here getting into fourth for only the second time all lap and into fifth for the only time. 

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