All of the late nights spent designing and developing a sidecar motorbike to contest rounds of the Australian Sidecar Championship have paid off for Mount Gambier racer Stephen Jones, with the talented rider recently experiencing a ‘better than expected’ weekend at Tailem Bend’s The Bend Motorsport Park for the final round of the championship season.
Jones is no stranger to the sidecar racing world and is a regular competitor on the Sidecar – Master of Mac Park calendar feature event, claiming wins in 2005 and 2006 before joining forces with his father David to score additional victories around the picturesque McNamara Park circuit in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
All the time spent in developing the bike paid off at the final ASC round at The Bend, with Jones getting the ride in tip-top shape to ensure it was ready to go come race day with Rebecca Boggiano jumping on board for the ride in the sidecar for some hot laps around the Tailem Bend circuit.
I have predominantly built the bike myself from the ground up,” Jones said
“I have done a fair bit of racing in the past, but I have had a bit of a bit of a break in between, so the aim was to see if the bike was up to the task … and if I was up to the task as well,” he said
Jones said during the practice sessions he was ‘at his wits end’ with the bike, with a few teething issues making dialing the bike in tricky.
“We had a few small issues during practice when we laid, they bike over on the corners it would cut out but fine on the straights,” Jones said.
“After all the issues we ended up qualifying ninth, which was really pleasing.
A host of other categories also took to the track over the course of the championship round, with Jones lining up on the 600CC grid and enduring a tough start to the first race of the event.
“We qualified for the class and in the first race we broke the chain unfortunately,” Jones said.
“The track was half wet (and) half dry and I chose to go out on slick tyres, which was the right choice because I was running up in fifth place when the chain let go.
“We came to a grinding halt very quickly and put things backwards a bit.
Despite being behind the eight-ball, Jones knuckled down and didn’t let the nuisance hamper his spirit, bouncing back in race two to cross the line in third place for the class.
“We fixed (the bike) up for the second race and we ended up seventh – and third for the class – in a pretty good field,” he said.
“Our aim really was just to see if we were competitive with the other bikes and we were definitely in the mix.
“It was very pleasing to get where we did.
“It was the final round of the Australian Championship, so that is the best in the business. (We were) not too far off the mark, so a little bit more and hopefully I will get there,” Jones said.
Reflecting on the 2022 season, the Jones’ racing team has enjoyed the highs and lows motorsport has to offer.
“I have had a bit of a mixture of a year this year, so I will go back and look at the season we had and work through things,” Jones said
“I only started at the start of the year and our first race was at the Master of Mac Park (where we) came out firing and got a win in one of the races and we had a second overall for the weekend.
“I had my work cut out with the quality of riders in the class, but we hung in there and got some results.
Now with the season done and dusted, Jones will head back into the shed and continue the research and development to squeeze some more speed out of the bike and make it go ‘super-fast’ come round one next season.
“The engine has not even been looked at, as it is pretty much a standard engine straight out of a road bike.
“It will come out and have a freshen up and while that is being done, I will work on handling and set the bike up for next season and hopefully be quicker and look forward to a few more podium places.
