After winning the 2022 VRRC Supersport championship, Race Center’s Tim Large made the step up to the Superbike class for the 2023 Victorian Road Race Championship.
As cool as Superbikes are, leaving sick black lines at will on the exit of any corner, the step up from 600cc to the 1000cc machine brings a whole new set of challenges, not least of which is battling experience campaigners who have been riding these powerful bikes for years. From the get-go Tim was reasonably comfortable on the big bike. However, managing wheelies and the physicality of the 200hp Yamaha YZF-R1 became a bit of an issue once he started to push harder.
The 2022 machine also had a new electronics package for the team to get a handle on. Particular focus went into the revised throttle maps for the bike which made the R1a much more user-friendly machine than it is out of the box.
The development included starting with our existing base maps developed over the years here at Race Center HQ, then the boss man Daz developing updated and even more user friending, confidence inspiring power delivery. This even included seeing the old boy dusting off the leathers and doing some testing on the R1, using his experience to help dial in the bike for Timmo.
A bonus is that these new maps are now available to our customer base too!From there it was over to Tim and boy did he show just how much he is developing into a great rider.While no longer a newbie, Tim is still relatively inexperienced compared to some of the competition he is up against. His maturely, race craft, feel, feedback all combined with his natural speed is a beautiful thing to watch unfold
Above - Tim trying to keep the front wheel down entering the straight at PI - Photo Credit - Russel Colvin 783 Media
Highlights for the year was his round 1 dominance taking, 3 wins from 3 races, followed by a great performance at Phillip Island pumping out 1.36s plus hitting 302km/h in his first every ride at the track on a Superbike.
Taking decent points lead into the last round, Timmo and the team had the pressure on their shoulders not to crumble under the substantial heat applied by 2nd placed Ben Gotch. Gotchy was on fire at the last round, and he simply had too much pace for us, himself taking 3 wins from 3 races as Timmo did in Round 1. It must be said that Gotchy rode like a champion and gave us hell all year, championships mean so much more when you must fight so hard to win them.In the end Timmo backed up his 2022 Superport championship by becoming the2023 VRRC Superbike Champion, doesn’t that’s just sound cool.
It was our first Superbike Championship since Nathan Jones won his 4th and final one in 2019, making the victory even more special #NJ84.
Above - Photos from all 4 rounds - Photo Credit - Russel Colvin 783 Media
Despite how it may appear from first glance, motorcycle racing is far from an individual sport, it really is a team effort. Massive congratulations and thanks needs to go to:
Joshua (Bricks) Darmody - Schembri – Tim’s Lead Race Mechanic
Mick Large – Tim’s dad and assistant mechanic
Jake Drew– This project and jump up to SBK would not have been possible without him
Jen Large & Gabi – Tim’s mum and girlfriend and Num 1 ticket holders in the Timmo fan club
Daz – Technical Lead and Mentor
Harley Side and the whole workshop crew for their hard work back at HQ, it’s so nice that we have a business model that allows us to pass on our learning and developments from the racetrack to our customer base.
The whole Race Center Race Team and of course our Partners and Supporters for all the love and support we constantly receive, it is just so amazing.
Photo Credit - Alex Jovanovic FstylePhoto
We will cover our other classes and riders including Saucey, Will,Colin, Cucuzza and Alex in coming reports.
