Laps and Learning for DVS Honda
Adam ‘Krusty’ Fergusson and the DVS Honda team had another successful outing in their second hitout of the year as part of the World Superbike support races at Phillip Island this weekend. Two fourth placings and an eighth left the team 6th overall, 1 point behind pit lane room-mate and Team Allect rider Glenn Allerton who once again took the honor of being the top placed Honda CBR1000RR rider.
Adam ‘Krusty’ Fergusson and the DVS Honda team had another successful outing in their second hitout of the year as part of the World Superbike support races at Phillip Island this weekend. Two fourth placings and an eighth left the team 6th overall, 1 point behind pit lane room-mate and Team Allect rider Glenn Allerton who once again took the honor of being the top placed Honda CBR1000RR rider.
The weekend started well, with final qualifying tweaks finding a good race setup and having a relatively clear run to take 3rd place on the grid, the team’s first front row start on the Dunlop shod Honda. Race one saw ‘Krusty’ putting in a gutsy ride to work his way back from 9th after a slow start and finish 4th, the first Honda rider across the line.
Adam ‘Krusty’ Fergusson (qual:3rd , r1: 4th, r2: 4th, r3: 8 ‘I left myself with too much work to do off the line again in that one. Our lap times where right up there with the front runners, but when you have to work your way back from that far back in the field its hard work. By the end of the race all the front runners tyres were knackered, ours included. We were all riding pretty bloody hard, just the times didn’t show it – there just didn’t seem to be much grip out there this weekend for some reason.’ 
After some minor tweaks to the bike setup for race two ‘Krusty’ got off to a much better start and was fighting Charlton for fourth position in the shortened 4 lap race. He was eventually able to get past but by that stage the front runners had a big enough gap and he ran out of laps in his bid to chase them down, but was again the first Honda to cross the line.
James Murray-Parkes – Engineer ‘We made some small changes to the bike to try and give ‘Krusty’ a little more feel off the line and it seemed to do the job. Overall the bike is performing really well but it’s obviously early days yet. There’s still a lot to learn and a long way to go with this package and I’m sure we’ll make mistakes as part of that process. But we’re pretty happy with where we are at the moment and we’re having a lot of fun. To be this competitive this early in the season is testament to the whole team and all of the support we’re getting from our partners. This weekend was a good test for us and gave us some more feedback prior to the second round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Winton later this month’
Race 3 saw the new team slip down the order with a rear tyre that was struggling for grip.
Adam ‘Krusty’ Fergusson
‘I knew something wasn’t right as soon as I pulled onto the track for the warmup lap and the rear started coming around on me. Pretty much everyone ran the same tyre for the second and third races and unfortunately our particular rear tyre didn’t want to grip second time out. I had to push the front everywhere to try and keep up with the other guys, it was ragged edge stuff! I was close to binning it a couple of times each lap, but figured it was better to get some points and keep it shiny side up so I backed off and nursed it home in the end for 8th. It’s a pity really, as I think we got pretty much on top of our start line problems this weekend and showed that our race lap speed is right up there, but that’s racing.’
Pictures courtesy and copyright Stephen Piper.
