Brits break through

22nd International Island Classic

23-25 January, 2015 – Phillip Island, Vic.

After 11 years of trying, the United Kingdom squad finally claimed victory in the Tahbilk International Challenge, the feature event at the 22nd running of the Phillip Island Classic on the Australia Day long weekend. Northern Ireland’s Ryan Farquhar finished top individual points scorer after the four six lap races to claim the Ken Wootton Trophy, but he only snared the win after Australia’s consistent Brendan Roberts broke a chain on the final lap of the final race. Although the usually-dominant Australian squad claimed three of the four race wins (Shawn Giles winning two and young sensation Jed Metcher the final encounter), numerous problems robbed the home side of much needed points. Steve Martin suffered engine troubles, as did Giles in one race, and Rob Phillis failed to start at all with terminal engine troubles on his new Suzuki XR69. Jeremy McWilliams snatched the win in race two, then stalled his HarrisYamaha on the grid in the third race and had to be push started, finishing back in 17th place. Cameron Donald was lucky to make the races after a spectacular crash in qualifying that almost destroyed his Suzuki XR69. Donald, along with Steve Martin and Jed Metcher, all crashed when they hit oil at Turn One and were extremely lucky to escape unscathed. However after an all-night rebuild using parts borrowed from Mick Neeson, he led all races at some stage but fell at Honda Corner in race two and failed to finish. In many ways, Metcher, having his first outing in an Historic meeting on a newlybuilt Katana owned by Melbourne’s