Source: BigPond Sport

LUCKY 7 V8 Supercar Driver Tim Slade will turn his talents to off-road racing when he competes in the Queensland round of the Australian Rally Championship later this month.

While Slade has no experience in rallying, he couldn't resist the opportunity to test his skills in a Polaris RZR 900 XP as part of a Side-By-Side Challenge event.

"Apart from a bit of paddock bashing out in the paddocks, I haven't done anything more serious than that," Slade told BigPond Sport.

"Dad did a little bit of rallying back in the day and I remember being around rallies when I was a little kid. It's something I've always been interested in. Anything motor racing related I'm interested in."

Motorsport and Event Co-ordinator for Polaris Australia, Lincoln Burns says Slade is in for an eye-opener.

"The biggest thing Tim will notice in the RZR is the suspension characteristics," says Burns.

"It is so forgivable  and can handle any terrain at any speed, that's what he'll notice the most. Coming from a V8 Supercar where you don't want to hit a kerb and break something, he'll be able to fly over the biggest bumps at 100 kilometres per hour and won't even feel it."

While excited about testing out a new set of wheels on foreign terrain, Slade isn't tempted to make a permanent switch to rallying.

"For me I've got to remember it's all a bit of fun," says Slade.

"I have my priority with my V8 Supercar career. I'm not going to go out and do anything stupid. I want to enjoy something new and learn lots along the way, as a rallying format is different to what I'm used to with timings and services and having someone beside me telling me what to do!"

For more on Polaris RZR 900 XP: www.polarisindustries.com.au
For more on Tim Slade and Lucky 7 Racing: www.luckyseven.com.au

2012 MX Nationals

12th & 13th May

Australian Pro Quad MX Championships Round 2

4TEEN Press Release

Held at Wanneroo Park on the weekend, the infamous sand track claimed to be one of the toughest in Australia, with varying degrees of difficulty of Jumps, step up and step downs, and becoming one of the most whooped out tracks of any in the MX nationals series, did'nt fail the crowds on the weekend. Perfect weather all round, with approximately 5500 spectators spread across the many newly installed or non permanent viewing and VIP areas, the AJS Club showcased to all what they had accomplished in just 10 months of solid construction and many hundreds of hours of work from the members and committee.

Racing stretched across two long days with Rookie Lites featuring WA's fastest Juniors, B&C Grade Amateurs, Pro Quad Championship MX1 and MX2 The Pro Quad Championship leader and Australia #1 Luke Gaisford was out to hold his lead on the Championship and take away another round win.

Being in fine form Gaisford got away to a great start in the first moto, claiming the first holeshot of the day but giving that up early on a berm in the middle of the track bottoming out his quad for enough time for a couple of riders to pass him. Unfortunately by the time he made the passes and got into second, Ryan Lancaster had built a lead that he couldnt close. Second place was nothing to be sneezed at but Gaisford was angry he had made a rookie mistake and it had cost him the win.

Race 2 was another good start and Gaisford was up in the front few and going strong until hitting a corner and finding Ryan Lancaster lodged into the rear of his bike, untangling quads is hard work, and by the time they got them apart the whole grid was half a lap in front, Luke took off quickly and within 2 laps started passing back markers and then getting into more groups of riders, Lancaster passed him and lead through some more riders til two laps to go. Both were now up into the top five riders, Lancaster took the inside line behind Mitch VanVliet, Gaisford took the outside and passed them both along with Jordan Dummet, last lap board was shown and the leader Daniel Middleton from NSW riding Lukes practice bike and for team 4TEEN for the weekend was in his sites, Gaisford and Lancaster closed the gap but Middleton pushed for the last lap to hold on for his first ever Pro Race win at Nationals with Gaisford and Lancaster coming across the line for 2nd and third.

Race 3 the last one for Saturday was on an extremely rough track and Luke Gaisford got out in front just after Wanneroo Jump, Lancaster and Dummett hit each other and Lancaster again had to make a huge effort to retrieve some good points, Luke had checked out in front amd lead from start to finish  with New Zealand rider Andrew Vincent finding his sand form finishing the race in second, Ryan Lancaster in third Daniel Middleton took 4th across the finish line about half a wheel in front of Joel Mortimer.

Race 4 on Sunday morning saw some sore and sorry bodies on the start line, injuries aside everyone was out to make an impression in front of the huge crowds and it was sheer determination that got Lancaster across 1st after two horrible moto's,  Gaisford cruised across in second with Joel Mortimer sealing that third spot in front of Daniel Middleton and Tasmania's Jye Stokes.

All in All Team 4TEEN had a great weekend both riders on the podium, couldnt have gone any better Luke Gaisford 1st Ryan Lancaster 2nd Daniel Middleton 3rd

Luke and Daniel proudly wore their team 4TEEN shirts on the podium and celebrated with the many family and friends that made the whole weekend possible.

Daniel especially liked to thank Luke for the use of his 4TEEN Honda, Simone Gaisford for Pit Boarding and bike Maintenance, David Norman Transport and running around and the Bosnakis and Gaisford families for accommodation etc.

Luke thanked all his sponsors and especially TAW cylinder heads and TRS along with Malibu Fresh Essentials for helping his team 4TEEN with a successful hectic start to the season. Short break and on May 27th we head to Collie's Stockton Park for round 2 of the WA State Round.

Photo Credits to: ATVPro and WAQuadMX.com

Article Credit: WAQuadMX.com

Press release

Monster Energy Motocross Nationals 2012

Australian Pro Quad MX Championship round 2 of the 3 round series will be held at AJS Motorcycle Club, Wanneroo Park on May 12 & 13. Australian Champ Luke Gaisford privateer and owner of Team 4TEEN has started the 2012 season with a perfect round of 4 wins at Coonabarabran NSW in April , following this up a week later at Coastal Park WA to start the WA State Championships again with 3 wins to be leading both series.

Gaisford on board the Honda TRX450ER heads to AJS this time just 100kms away with mixed feelings about the AJS track, having suffered one of the worst crashes in his career into the infamous Quarry, Gaisford stated "Wanneroo Park is not for the faint hearted and shouldnt be taken lightly, racing with over 150 riders this weekend the track will rough up and whoop out and racing will become survival towards the end of the day, the Quads will be doing 4 x 7 lap moto's and anyone coming down to see us race should know we race 3 moto's Saturday and just one early Sunday Morning"

On board for Team 4TEEN for the AJS round is NSW rider Daniel Middleton, currently sitting in 5th position for his rookie year in the Pro Quads. Daniel is also a privateer and the constraints of such a journey to WA had put Daniel out for the round until Luke Gaisford offered a 4teen Honda  for Daniel to compete on. Daniel will arrive Wednesday and spend Thursday on board the Honda getting used to this unfamiliar bike, as Daniel is similar build, height and weight to Luke, bike setup should come down to small tweeks. Daniel looks forward to coming to WA and racing AJS.

WA Riders and Yamaha Australia sponsored Ryan Lancaster and Jordan Dummett hold 2nd and 3rd in the National and WA series and a week out from the Nationals are spread across the state training, Lancaster in the states North West while Dummett in the South West trains in the deep sands of the Bunbury Motorcycle Club in readiness for the AJS onslaught. Sean Woodhead and Anton Versaci also trained at Bunbry and look forward to their first race in the Nationals. Coastal Park sand specialist Brad Filbey has also entered the Nationals, his reputation in rough sands precedes him and he will enjoy the track as it roughs up across the day.

AJS Club members lead by Pro Rookie Joel Mortimer sitting in 6th in the Australian Series and 4th in the WA series has a long history of sand racing and will definitely be one to watch up the front, Tyron Robertson comes off a win in the WA Series clubman class and along with Luke Ovens will try to take some home track advantage into the round. Chris Brown from Brown Brothers Racing took it to Luke Gaisford in a local round of the ATV Club last Saturday Night, while Jye Stokes has been away working, and off the grid to the race fraternity. Johan Foord shifted to WA from Qld and made his debut at Coastal Park on the weekend as a lead up to his rookie year in the Pro's.

Victorian riders Jake Van Vliet Canam XTEAM and Mitch Van Vliet WPS Yamaha will be making the trip across, not having ridden AJS since they were Juniors back in 2006 in the 200cc class. Four Brothers racing Manager Trudy van Vliet  stated " Both Jake and Mitch have been training hard and are out to improve on their National series  first round results on equal points in 10th and 11th, Mitch is also entered in the B&C Grade Amateur Cup on a full grid of 40 riders, so it will be a massive weekend for him"

New Zealand Rider Andrew  Vincent shifted to WA for the Race season and  started out the WA Season in 6th after a forgettable National series where a mechanical stopped the youngster from competing. Andrew showed moments of brilliance at State Round with a holeshot in race 2 and a pair of 4ths in race 2&3, he will be looking to redeem himself at AJS.

Dont miss a minute of the Nationals, all the fan fair over 2 days, plenty of racing both 2 and 4 wheels                         AJS Motorcycle  Club Wattyl Avenue Neerabup

Press Release and Photo courtesy WAQuadMX.com