The free bike and gear transport and free rider entry it really made it possible for Nathan Houterman to compete at the Australian Superbikes event held in Darwin. Without that assistance it would have been difficult for Nathan to race being a privateer. The following is an account given by Nathan in his journey to compete at Australia’s premier road racing event.
As Darwin is such a long distance to travel we had to do some pre-planning. We managed to get a trail bike crate and a pallet from Geoff Udy’s shop at Gatton. Dad and I had to turn up at the truck depot at Wacol, Brisbane two weeks earlier and disassemble the bike to make it fit in the trail bike crate and pack the pallet ready for the long trip to Darwin.
Early Thursday morning we left to catch the plane and just our luck the car actually breaks down very conveniently at Wacol. We had grandma race out and drive us to the airport but we still missed our flight by minutes. Luckily we could get a plane to Cairns then had to wait 7 hours before boarding a connecting flight to Darwin. We were greeted by the scrappiest motel that was nothing like the brochure described with one toilet per 15 rooms – they didn’t tell us that when we booked!
Luckily early Friday morning when we arrived at the Hidden Vale circuit our crate and pallet was sitting in our pit bay in perfect condition for us to get ready for racing. We managed to get the bike together just in time for scrutineering and the final touches just before my first practice.
Practice went okay but I didn’t have a clue what to do with my suspension. I was just trying to learn the track which I really liked and felt the track suited me. Also got to meet my pit buddy Matthew Tooley from Nowra, New South Wales who was a really nice bloke and we got to compare stories of Phillip Island. Like me, Matthew is also a small time privateer.
On Saturday we had two qualifying sessions and one race. Qualifying was fun and very hot. I had a final qualifying time of 1.15.69 which placed me fifteenth on the grid. Come my race we noticed my brake pads were not right so I had to ride with brand new pads that had to be bedded in during the race which was not good. During the race I had numerous issues, my handle grip slid down out of place which felt different and something didn’t feel quite right with the power as I was getting easily overtaken by other competitors down the straights but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I finished a disappointing twelfth.
In my second race on Sunday I went out for the warm up lap and just as we entered the track it started pouring rain. They allowed us a 15 minute break to change tyres. So I raced in and dad took off the rear tyre and I raced the tyres to the Dunlop truck where they changed tyres. Dad and I just managed to do the change in time with help from Richard Pieper, just missing my warm up lap but I was able to make the grid. I was so keen for my first ever wet race then in the warm up lap my bike was feeling very restricted with power and it wasn’t revving out. I still lined up on the grid not knowing what’s going on with the bike. The start lights went out and the race started as I managed the worst start as the bike was not revving out at all. I just made it around a few corners before it wouldn’t go at all causing me to pull off the track and DNF the race. I was so disappointed and unhappy with the bike. I brought the bike back into the pits to find the bike had blown a clutch.
Mum and I went searching for a clutch we could buy. Just when we thought we were out of luck, Andy Lawson went out of his way to find us a clutch which we were very pleased with. Straight away dad and I with the help of Colin Adams went to work trying to change the clutch and my tyres for my last race, but we were all doubtful whether we would make it in time. Luckily Colin really knew what he was doing and we managed to get it all ready for my last race. Given we were working on the bike and struggling to get it together we didn’t think about my tyre pressures. I went out for my last race with about 40psi in the back tyre when it should have been around 22-24psi which made the bike feel very bad, I had so much trouble getting the power down and got a terrible result for it. All up it would have been one of the most expensive and worst weekends ever but all in all, it was a great experience and I still really liked the track.
The top three finishers were Matthew Walters, Jesse Austin and Aaron Morris, all from NSW, and I finished a disappointing seventeenth for the round and am currently running in eleventh position overall in the ASBK Suzuki Superstock 600 Championship. I’m really looking forward to the next round which is at Queensland Raceway, Willowbank on 5-6 June.
