Heady times for Dural superbike rider Levy
DURAL’S high flying Mitch Levy is on track to improve on his impressive debut last season in the Australian Superbike Championships.
Hills Shire
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DURAL’S high flying Mitch Levy is on track to improve on his impressive debut in the 2017 Australian Superbike Championships despite a disappointing start to this year’s event at Phillip Island, Victoria, at the weekend.
The 23-year-old Yamaha rider shrugged off a poor start in the first race — he was 35th in the 40-rider field — to improve his timings markedly in the next three races.
“I was disappointed with my first race with 35th placing really bad,” Levy said.
Levy, who finished 10th in the 2017 championship, quickly adapted to the wet weather conditions and reeled off finishes of 21st, 14th and 17th in the next three races.
Levy admitted it was a good learning curve at the first round, which was also the start of the World Superbike Championship.
“I had hoped to finish in the top five but we have to regroup for the next round in Goulburn,” Levy said.
“But we did the best we could with what we had and came away with some points, so I’m proud of the whole team for their efforts.
“The entire weekend was a great learning experience for us and we’ll definitely be taking some added knowledge into the next round, where we’ll be focusing on tyre selection to suit the track and qualifying, which is vital to achieving a strong result.
Levy will now prepare for the second Australian Superbike Championship round at Goulburn from March 16-18.
Levy is a fourth generation racer and began his racing career with dirt bikes before an uncle provided an opportunity for him to hop on a road motorcycle.
This paved his move to Supersport class where he built up his race craft before moving into Superbikes last season.
“Being a privateer team, it’s definitely more satisfying to come away with a strong result against the factory teams and it makes you realise that you’ve definitely earnt it,” Levy said.
“The difference between how much time and effort can be put into both the rider and the bike in a factory team as opposed to a privateer team is fairly substantial and it’s definitely a challenge … but it’s also a very exciting one.”
His sponsors include: ATR, Greg & Nadene Seisun, Manshed Auctions, Adam Gorrell Automotive, Advanced Group, Held Australia, YRD, Wales Truck & Bus Repairs, Central Air Conditioning, Diacore, A1 Rubber, Airoh Helmets, Cut & Core, Beta Tools, and Motul.