Daniel Mettam - Champion

I’m sure you have all heard me say I don’t think the racing can get any better in the WIL Sport Hyosung Cup. Well Sundays show in the final round certainly proved it could and did! With 25 entry’s you all showed up in good form on a near perfect day for racing. The points table going into the grand finale had Dan Mettam leading Nathanael Diprose by 15 points and Gavin Veltmeyer sitting in third, all with a mathematical chance of taking out the title. The late decision to make this a double points round opened this up to more contenders and whilst the same for all the possibility of losing several positions with a DNF was on the cards.

Qualifying is very important in the Cup as it is very hard to come through the pack from anywhere but the first two rows. 1:23’s were a must for the front row which had Dan Mettam on pole (1:23.355) securing 2 bonus points and the Super pole trophy. Next to Dan was Nathanael Diprose, Josh head and Gavin Veltmeyer rounding out the front row. Row 2 went Daniel Parry, Connor London, Jacob Stroud (X4R) and a welcome back to Alec Sumner. The scene was set for super Cup racing.

When the lights went out for race 1 there was absolutely no holding back from 7 of the regular front runners. The lead was swapped regularly between Dan Mettam, Gavin Veltmeyer, Nathanael Diprose, Jacob Stroud, Daniel Parry and Connor London (top 6 finishing order). Josh Head was also

in this group until he lost the front at barrel on lap 3. Four abreast going into turn one was an impressive sight as not one of them wanted to be first to roll off the gas. The maturity and respect for their fellow competitor shown in this group was as important as their display of skill and bravery. Connor London set a new lap record (1:22.648) on his way to 6th place but this entire group was covered by no more than 1.5 seconds. The chasing pack also had some great battles like the Chris Houlgrave and Troy Rayner show for 10th and the Paul Crockett, Paul Long and Beau Dobson pack for 12th. We had 4 DNF’s in this race fortunately with no injuries.

The 2014/15 WIL Sport Hyosung Cup Champion would be decided in the last race of the 13 race season. The Le Mans start races have the potential to mix things up depending on more than just good leg speed. Five riders immediately set about a very fast tactical battle at the front. Again it was Dan Mettam, Nathanael Diprose, Gavin Veltmeyer, Connor London and Daniel Parry (finishing order). Jacob Stroud on the X4R had a battle on his hands to run this pack down after a poor start, but he was a young man on a mission and enjoying the new set up of his X4R. The racing was sublime and the pace extraordinary as all 6 of these riders broke the lap record set by Connor in the morning. The gap covering the first 6 was 1.4 seconds across the line. Usually a big group like this slow each other up so this was a special display of skilled slipstreaming and positional tactics. Meantime Jacob was busy smashing the record for fastest ever Hyosung 250 down to a final mark of 1:21.7 as he caught the back of this pack on the final run to the finish line. This on the new single cylinder X4R. Again many battles through the field which was very exciting for riders and their supporters. Some new names cracking the 1:30’s like Eamon Thomson, “Cup Cop” Andrew Ansell, Shaun Parker and Paul Crockett. We lost Troy Rayner at high speed in turn 1 and new boy Paiva Santos at turn 4 luckily no injuries again.

So the Championship has been decided and it was Dan Mettam taking the WIL Sport Hyosung Cup for a third time in four years with a remarkably consistent, highly skilled display of 250 racing, scoring good points in every race. It was a season of “two halves” though it must be said, as Nathanael Diprose won 6 of the first 7 races to finish runner up and was always in the hunt to be the Cup Champion. Last year’s Champion Gavin Veltmeteyer banked consistent points to be third and the new JDAS trophy for best finishing first time Cup competitor was Joshua Head who came

in 7th overall.

Read the rest of the report here.

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