2008 Race Season

This year I'm participating in the Australian Superbike Championship (125gp 2 stroke / 250gp 4stroke). So far after round 1at Eastern Creek Raceway held on March 14th – 16th, I'm 2nd in the Moriwaki 250 GP 4 stroke class. It certainly has not been a smooth ride so far. Truthfully it has been very disastrous start to the season with 2 consecutive crashes in qualifying. Not once but twice we had to repair the bike in time to start the first race that took place on the Saturday. But unfortunately I withdrew from that race, as I was not completely happy with the setup of the bike. Sunday we were hoping for a better day, but once again the day did not start out well. Race 2 took place mid morning on the Sunday where I finished 23rd out of 25 due to carburation problems. After a few adjustments the bike was running a lot better. I was starting at the back of the grid for race 3. I got a flying start from 25th to 9th at the first corner. Due to the bike being stock standard for the first round one by one the 2 strokes picked me off at every possible chance leaving me being pipped on the line to finish 21st in that race.
I am looking forward to a good year, but none of this would be possible without sponsors. I’m still looking for sponsorship to help me to get to every round of the Australian Superbike Championship. But at this stage it is looking unlikely that I will be able to get to every round of the championship unless I can receive help in this area soon.
I have decided not to compete in round 2 of the championship that is being held at Mallala in South Australia. Instead I decided to look at getting some setup work done, to be more competitive for round 3 of the championship.
I have also competed in the local competition held at Morgan Park Warwick. Round 1 of the Southern Downs Championship saw me take out right first place over the 125gp bikes.
Motorcycling Queensland
Ride! eNewsletter Issue 14 - May 2008
'With the new Moriwaki 250 racing with the 125GP bikes, things are changing fast in the class, and Daniel Youl made sure of that posting a trio of race wins on the new 250 four stroke single machine. Time will tell if the 125 two strokes can bounce back at Morgan Park Raceway."

Round 3 of the Australian Superbike Series took place at Winton, Victoria on May30th - June 1st. I qualified a little disappointing 20th of 26 starters; therefor I had a lot to do to make sure I at least finished in the top 15. Race 1 I had a fairly decent start and battled closely with a number of 125gp bikes and made a good improvement on my times to finish 16th for that race. Race 2 saw me finish 15th overall with another improvement in my times. Unfortunately Brodie Waters from Honda Technic team had a crash on lap 2 which handed me 1st for the MD250H Class. For race 3 I knew all I had to do is to stay upright and I would finish in 1st place for the weekend. I had the best start for the weekend. I manage to get past Cameron Madders and Matthew Walters on the 3rd lap to finish 13th for that race and only 1 place behind Brodie Waters. It was the best weekend of racing for me. Not only did I finish in first place I had no crashes and the bike performance was phenomenal.

On Monday the 9th of June saw us at Queensland Raceway for round 2 of the Champions Ride Days Championship. It was cold and overcast and threatening to rain. I qualified on the front row in 3rd position; that was something I had never experience. I was wrapped front row I just couldn't believe it. Race 1 I had a blinder of a start, I led for half of the first lap only to lose the front end on turn 4. I was so disappointed to have a DNF for that race. Race 2 came and again another great start. On the second last lap I managed to overtake James Mutton to finish in 3rd place. On lap 5 I did my fastest lap at QR 1:00.330 and being the 2nd fastest in that race. I was wrapped. Race 3 was a bit of a mix. A great start, lead for a lap and a half; then disaster struck, I almost high sided but managed to stay upright 10 metres in on the damp grass. I regathered myself and found my self behind in 4th place as I rode back on to the track. I was so determined to try and catch the front 3. Looking back if only I had at least 2 more laps and I would have caught them up. But it just wasn't to be. The most exciting news I got was when the lap times came in, I did 59.960 again the second fastest lap time and my fastest ever. The bike has so much potential and I can't wait to unleash it in the upcoming round of the Australian Superbike double headed at Qld Raceway on 10th - 13th July.

Round 4 and 5 of the Australia Superbike Championship at Queensland Raceway has come and gone with a mixed bag of results for me. With being a double header at Qld Raceway it saw us at the track on the Thursday for official practice. Dad and I tried a few things with set up/ timing and gearing to no avail. I had two other 250 four strokes to contend with for this round and being my home track my times were down; it was rather discouraging. First practice I was 8th fastest with a 1:22.989 lap time. Second practice I was slower with the few adjustments we did doing 1:23.716 lap time placing 10th fastest. The third practice session was very disappointing finishing 14th overall with a time faster than the first practice of 1:22.653.

Friday saw us in some very fast qualifying sessions with the fastest of the 2 strokes doing 1:16.954 lap time. Although I improved my time I was to start from 14th on the grid with a time of 1:21.689. This was not too bad when put into perspective of the fastest four stroke with a time of 1:20.502. If we hadn't wasted time on the Thursday practice day I may have had more of a chance to improve my times.

Day one of racing took place on the Saturday I was very excited and ready to challenge my fellow four stroke competitors. I finished in second place less than one and a half seconds behind first of the four strokes. I felt comfortable on the bike today and happier about the whole weekend. Race two took place in the afternoon and I finished third of the four strokes but did the second fastest time of the privateers behind the factory team rider of 1:20.875. I left for the day with my thoughts towards day two of racing to take place on the Sunday with hope of beating the factory rider.

Sunday morning I was feeling quite confident. I lined up on the grid set for a good start and that was exactly what I got. Although I was third in line of the four strokes, I the fastest time through
turn two which helped me get closer to the other privateer in second place. I finally took him coming onto the front straight on lap 4; I posted my fastest lap with a time of 1:19.702. I was only 2 seconds off the fastest pace set by a two stroke for that race. By the final lap I was gaining on the factory rider. I went as hard and fast I could with the though that if I could do another lap one second faster I could possibly take him over the line. Luck just wasn't on my side as I approached turn two just as fast as before the front end decided to let go sending me across the gravel trap tumbling through the air. As I came to rest saw my bike in pieces and intense pain shooting through my right leg. I truly thought I had a broken leg. The red flag came out and therefor with me being the cause of the red flag my results were removed from the time sheet. If only I completed the lap I am sure I would have come first of the four strokes and posting a possible low 1:19's or even a high 1:18.

I saw the rest of my weekend from the hospital bed where i was to be cleared of any neck or spinal injury. I left the hospital that afternoon with soft tissue damage and bone bruising on my right heel. Which was good for me as I got my medical clearance mid week that week so I could race in the MRRDA at Warwick that following weekend.

We all frantically repaired the bike in time for the MRRDA that weekend. With my confidence a little low I had another off coming onto the front straight. With some minor repairs thanks to the Hook family I was back onto the track for racing where I finished second overall for the weekend.The next round of the Australian Superbike Series takes place in Tasmania at Symmonds Plains 29th - 31st of August.

Round 6 saw me contesting the Australian Superbike Championship in my Grandparents home
state, Tasmania. I stayed with them which help out tremendously financially as racing is not a cheap sport by all means. As it was once said to me when I purchased my first race bike " welcome to motorbike racing the sport of the eternally poor". I didn't truly understand it then but now I do. I only have a part time job and all I earn has gone into racing. I am pretty fortunate that my parents are so supportive of my desire to race that they help out when ever I fall short. This is why sponsorship is so important.

I attended the privateers practice on the Thursday and I was able to get a good understanding of the track as I had never been there before. The hairpin is more than you see in the TV when the V8's race at Symmonds Plains. There is a drop of at least a metre and a half on the down turn with a cambered angle of about 10 degrees. It quickly got named as the thunder dome. Another part of the track on the way to the thunder dome was a chicane it too got aptly named the bus stop after a few riders came off there. Friday saw the weather turn cold and overcast with the threat of rain. Practice in the morning was dry yet the afternoons 1st qualifying session was very cold and windy.

Saturday came and the rain came in the form of drizzly enough to see the wet weather tyres to come out. This meant the 2nd qualifying session will be in the wet which was good for us four stroke riders. I qualified 5th in that session and I was so desperately praying for the first race later that day to be wet. The rain always makes for a more level playing field between the riders. Unfortunately the rain eased I finished the first race down in 13th after a really bad start.

Race 2 I had a really good start I was up into 7th just after the first corner. On lap 6 I slid out at the thunder dome and subsequently finished the race in 12th. The bike set up with a new rear shock spring I found was not good, the bike was not responding well out of the corner's as I throttled on. Dad and I made a few adjustments but it still made no difference. So it was decided that I would just need to take it easy for the last race to take any points that maybe on offer.

Race 3 on Sunday afternoon saw the clouds from the west come rolling in; Mum kept saying to Dad "maybe we should put the wets on"; but Dad and I said no as it would most likely not rain. I got a reasonable start, it could have been better though. Just as the race got into the 2nd lap the rain appeared. I took the pace back a little and one by one the boys were coming down which saw me take 8th for the final race of the meet.

Overall I took 9th place and finished 2nd in the 4 stroke class. After not competing in the second round of the Qld round I am now down in points and currently placed 3rd for 250 four stroke class overall. I will need to pull something special out of the bag to finish 2nd in the championship in the final round at Eastern Creek.


Round 7 of the Australian Superbike Championship took place on the weekend October 17th -19th. I went to the final round without any real expectations but to try and improve my lap times and to stay on after the last time I was at the track back at the beginning of the year. I managed to improve my times by 5 seconds and no crashes. I qualified 14th out of 19. I wasn't too worried about that as in the two practice sessions I ran my bike in after having the bike refreshed with a new piston. Therefore I had really one practice session at full throttle and that was in the second qualifier on the Saturday before race 1.

Race 1 took place on Saturday afternoon. I didn't get a good start in fact it was really bad. In the first few laps I tried to stay with bike number11 of Paul Campbell's. As the laps went by he slowly pulled away and therefore I lost ground and finished where I qualified in 14th place and 3rd for the 250gp mono class.

Race 2 on Sunday morning wasn't one of my best races by far. It was extremely hot; a scorching 31c degrees and a track temperature of 44.5c . I finished the race down 2 places in
16th. I found myself resigning to the fact that it just wasn't to be my weekend. My thoughts quickly turned to making the most of the final race of the weekend and the season.

Race 3 in the late afternoon with a bit of cloud cover made it a little more comfortable to race. There was also a bit of a possibility of rain. However the race was dry and I got a great start but once again was quickly overtaken by the 2 strokes. My bike compared to the fully worked Honda Technique factory bike was down on considerable power. In the closing laps of the race the Honda factory rider tried a risky move to overtake Australia's Redbull Rookie rider, Dylan Mavin. The move unfortunately didn't come off and as a result he and Dylan crashed. Dylan was able to restart and complete the race which was great, but down in the points. Fortunately that gave me 2nd for the 250 four strokes for the race and the weekend. That's racing and I guess finishing is one of the most important things to do when racing.

Overall for the round I finished in 16th and 2nd in the 250 four stroke class. Looking back on the race meet the most positive things to come out of it was that I had once again found my confidence and was able to improve my times since the last time at Eastern Creek. A lot of my confidence came from the set up of the suspension thanks to Julian.

For the season of the ASC I finished in 15th out of 30 starters at the beginning of the year. Which I think was good for my first year of the top racing here in Australia. I also finished in 3rd place of the 250 four strokes class in it's inaugural year.

I'm not sure at this point in time if I will be able to compete in the Australian Superbike Series next year if I am unable to receive sponsorship as there will be 8 single rounds in total next year and no double headers.

The final round of the Southern Downs Championship took place out at Warwick took place a week later. this round was truly going to be a confidence tester for me as the last time at this track I had a fall. I took part in the practice day on the Friday which was great I topped the lap charts against the 400cc class on my Moriwaki 250 in the 1:08.879. I just knew I was going to have a great weekend of racing.

On the Saturday I qualified fastest with yet another 1:08. However although i qualified fastest the race format was for me to start the front row of the 250 for strokes and 125gp 2 strokes behind the 400cc class.

For race one we grid-ed up with row 5 of the grid blank and I started from pole from the 6th grid on. The lights went out for the 400cc class as we thought, only to realise that the race format for the rest of the field being my clashed change and we were supposed to start on the same light.
With dad signalling for me to go the rest of the field had left the grid with myself being last to leave. Talk about a bad start!!!! The fastest of the 400cc bikes was already half way round the 2.11km circuit. I had a lot of making up to do I posted the fastest lap time of 1:07 for the race and still managed to carve my way threw the field to finish in 2nd place. What a confidence booster.

Race 2 on the Sunday, I blitzed the start and was contending for first place once again. I had to fight hard against the 400cc racer of Scott Heyes of Startline Racing to take the win posting another 1:08 for the weekend.

Luck just wasn't going to go all my way with race 3 about to start, I geared up to only to discover when starting my bike the clutch bearing had decided to give in. I was unable to race and get a third win for the weekend but I was certainly able to prove that I was the best for the weekend and back to full confidence and looking forward to my next ride. I am unsure when that will be as a lot of mantainace on the bike is of priority before then.

Thank-you for taking the time to read my year of racing for 2008. If you have liked what you have read you can always sponsor me for next year and be able to be a part of the most exciting racing. No matter how big or small the sponsorship is, it is always greatly appreciated.

Without the following people this year of racing would not have been possible.

THANKYOU to Scott Cooper of Quantum Racing Industries
Lindsay Donai Motorcycle Specialist
Shell Advance Motorcycle Oils













DanYoul
DanYoul
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