Slade’s memory lane
Supercars driver rolls back years
TIM Slade is back to where it all began. With the Gold Coast Supercars driver’s acquisition of a new Harley-Davidson yesterday came flashbacks of how the his love of motorsport kickstarted.
“Actually before I started on four wheels, I started on two wheels,” Slade, 32, said, admiring the Harley 2018 Breakout 114 model.
He recalls riding a Peewee 50 motorbike when he was three or four in McLaren Vale, which was like a country town outside of Adelaide.
“When we first moved into a house, there was half an acre out the back which I used to blaze around on the little Peewee 50 and I actually did a couple of races on that.
“And then I had lots of mates with properties so I always had dirt bikes growing up but I have never done too much with road bikes.”
Slade will head north this morning for the Townsville 400, meaning his first chance to try out some of the best riding routes around the southeast will have to wait for now.
“I do a lot of cycling so I kind of know most of the good places around the Coast,” he said.
“We’re spoilt for choice really – we have all the coast, here, south or north, and obviously all the Hinterland, so it’s quite good for riding.”
Sitting 11th in the Supercars standings (one place ahead of Brad Jones Racing teammate Nick Percat) Slade believes his season to date has been “OK” but his disappointment is noticeable around the struggle to maximise opportunities.
However, he has taken hope from seeing traditional midfield teams Erebus and Nissan battle the giants in recent rounds.
“Nissan found their speed in the last two or three events. Before then I was thinking: ‘it’s just Penske and Triple Eight (at the front). It’s going to be a matter of fighting it out for best of the rest for everyone other than them’.
“But with Erebus being genuine contenders and then Nissan of late, it definitely gives you a bit of confidence that it is actually there (for the taking). You have just got to try to find it.”
The Townsville 400 is the first of three Queensland events on the Supercars calendar, with races on Saturday and Sunday.