Swelteringly hot conditions greeted the large field of competitors who travelled from across the country to take part in the opening round of the 2007 Macarthur Mercedes Benz East Coast Road Race Series held at Sydney's Eastern Creek raceway over the weekend, January 20 & 21.

With over 160 entries taken for the two-day event a full program of racing allowed everyone to get over the final effects of the festive season and prepare for the year ahead.

The round drew national competitors from WA, Qld, Victoria and NSW with the major attraction being the debut of the all-new MV Agusta Racing team who proceeded to right themselves into the factory's history books with their four race wins.

The Eastern Creek round marks the first of four rounds of the series held across NSW IN 2007.

Clarke takes MV Augusta to world first Superbike win

Twenty two year old Brisbane rider Brendan Clarke made history on the opening day of the series when he took his MV Agusta Racing F4 1000R to victory in the weekend's opening Superbike race for what is believed to be the first ever Superbike race win for the machine any where in the world. The Italian marque was made famous with its Grand Prix victories, but of late has been competing in Superstock events principally in Europe.

For 2007 MV Agusta's Australian distributor Paul Feeney Group have thrown their support behind the team headed by Craig & Steve Trinder where they will spend the year developing the machine for Superbike racing in a global assault along with legendry American tuner Eraldo Ferracci and a factory team which will compete in the Italian Championship.

The Superbike will be developed from the road going F4 1000R which retails for $32,990.

Heatwave hits the Creek

The heatwave conditions that struck the Sydney region of NSW over the weened saw temperatures at the Eastern Creek circuit rise to a staggering 43 degrees celsius ambient, with the track temperature soaring to 60 degrees celcius. If that wasn't hot enough, many of the top riders were reporting that their engine temperatures had risen to excess of 110 degrees celcius on their data loggers. As a result of the fierce conditions, officials reduced all races to a maximum of five laps.

Macarther Mercedes Benz heads a growing list of series supporters

Macarthur Mercedes Benz have continued their major support of the East Coast Road Race Series for the second consecutive year and head a growing list of supporters who have joined the series for the year ahead.

"The growth of the sport along with the fact that commercial vehicles play a strong role in the sport make for a formidable relationship," said Macarthur Mercedes Benz Sales Manager Adrian Faber. "Our vehicles are cost effective and extremely practical for these purposes and we are proud to be involved. We have an expansive range of commercials and passenger cars on display and have had a great response from the public."

As a competitor in the series himself, Faber mixed business with pleasure and put together a strong set of results aboard his Macarthur Mercedes Benz Suzuki GSX-R750. Competing in the C&D Grade Superbike class he completed his weekend 15th overall in a very large field.

New supporters of the series in 2007 include Strathfield Car Radios Caringbah along with distributor level support from Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki.

Broc Parkers Cup

An innovative aspect to the weekend's racing was a special season opening first day of racing held on Saturday featuring the Broc Parkes Cup for each of the categories competing over the weekend.

Broc Parkes grew up racing in the junior ranks and through the seniors and now finds himself as a title contender in the World Supersport Championship where he rides for the factory backed Yamaha Germany team.

Broc is personally sponsoring the awards for the day in recognition of the efforts all riders put into their racing.

Highlight of the afternoon races was the debut victory of the MV Agusta F4 1000R in the hands of Brendan Clarke in the Superbike race. Other inaugural class winners were Mark Wilson (Superbike C&D), Chris Quinn (Supersport), Blake Leigh-Smith (Lites), Lucas Vitale (Ladies & Clubsports), Terry Yates (Retro's & Bears).

Yamaha Australia Superbikes

Brendan Clarke scored the perfect opening round to this year's series, taking three race wins aboard his MV Agusta Racing F4 1000R. The Queenslander didn't have it all his own way as he had to work overtime to get the better of Shannon Etheridge (Circuit Breakers Ride Days Yamaha R1) in the opening two races.

Etheridge, who only picked up his ex-Scott Charlton Yamaha R1 on the Friday of the event, did extremely well to take pole for the round with a best time of 1:35.467, edging Clarke to second on the grid ahead of James Spence (Circuit Breakers Ride Days Yamaha R1) and Richard Zaja (Honda CBR1000).

Still familiarising himself with his new machine, Clarke came from behind in each race to work his way to the lead with his barnstorming ride in the opening race giving him a best time for the day of 1:34.907 in the stifling conditions.

Etheridge rode well first two seconds, but did not make the grid for the final encounter of the day, leaving Spence to chase Clarke home. Zaja put in three strong rides with a third, fourth, third for third overall, while other strong performances were posted by Brett Clark (Suzuki GSX-R1000) who was the best of the B graders.

"This is our first race meeting with the bike and it's great to be back with a supportive team of guys like the Trinder's," said Clarke. "The bike is awesome. It is still in stock trim with the exception of Dunlop slicks and is amazing as to how well it has performed in these hot difficult conditions over the weekend. The pace it has shown against some well sorted Superbikes has been very encouraging for us as it's the quickest I've ever been around here on a 1000cc machine and we look forward to competing in the remaining rounds of the series."

"I'm really happy with how we have performed this weekend given that we only took delivery of our bike on Friday," said 20-year-old Etheridge. "We've used the weekend to get used to the bike, play with a few settings and get comfortable on the bike. It's looking good already as the times we have done this weekend are in line with those of last year, so that's a great starting point for us in 2007. I was rapt to have set the pole winning time in qualifying and then backed that up with a couple of good close races with Brendan, so it's a good start to the year."

Queenslander Michael McMillan (Suzuki GSX-R1000) was rewarded with his trip down to Sydney as he dominated the C&D category by taking pole and three wins in what was his first ever open race event.

Strathfield Car Radios Carringbah Supersports / TSA Metal Superstock

Victorian Mick Kelly (Aark Electrics Yamaha R6) emerged as the overall round winner taking a hat trick of wins, but the leading national series competitor was chased had initially by Mitchell Carr (Suzuki GSX-R600) in the opening race, before Jason Cullen (Yamaha R6) took the fight to Kelly in the final two races after finishing third in the opener, finishing his day second overall.

Starting from second on the grid, Kelly did what was required to take the wins, but the battles for the minor placings were enthralling. Glenn Cullen (Yamaha R6) set the fastest time for the class with a 1:38.903 in race two and finished third overall behind his brother with a seventh, fourth and third.

"It has been a difficult weekend with the heat as it's been so hard to get the tyres and suspension sorted, it's near impossible," said Kelly. "I had three close hard races out there and came up trumps so that was good for us, especially as I've been riding with a sore left hand that I injured last week. Aside from that it's been a great weekend and being my first visit to the series, I've found it to be well run."

West Australian Ben Henry was rewarded for his long cross-country trip by taking out the overall Superstock class honours aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600. He finished second in the opening two races, initially to Brayden Carr (Suzuki GSX-R600) in the opener and then Jordan Burgess (Yamaha R6), before breaking through for a class win in the last.

R Marine Runaway Bay Lites / Sydmec 400's

Talented Queenslander Blake Leigh-Smith (Riviera Honda RS 125) showed why he is one of the rising stars in Australian motorcycle racing as the 17-year-old took three solid race wins in the Lites category. Competing in one of only a handful of events before he heads to Europe for a season racing in the tough German Championship, Leigh-Smith was joined on the grid for the first time with younger brother Jackson who after turning 15 earlier this month was mounted aboard Blake's spare machine for the round.

The battle for minor placings saw pole winner Brad Gross (Yamaha TZ125) dicing with Glenn Scott (Honda RS125), Jason Dunn (Honda RS125), Gavin Hainsworth (Honda CBR400) and Jackson Leigh-Smith.

Scott emerged second overall with a fourth and two seconds to finish ahead of Dunn, Leigh-Smith and Gross.

"I've had a few difficult weekend's here over the past year, so it's been great to come through this weekend with a few wins and with no issues with the bike," said Leigh Smith. "The conditions were tough out there for the 125's as the heat robbed us of a few horsepower while the track was quite slippery in places. We're still working on the geometry of the bike and feel that even though we are winning races, our times should be a lot quicker than they are, so we are looking at what we have to do to achieve that."

Hainsworth's battles with the leading 125GP riders earned him the best placed 400 for the round, heading another pair of Honda CBR 400's in the hands of veteran Keith Greentree and Steven Beach.

Pole Position Motorcycles Ladies Lites & Unlimited / Clubsports

Overall honours in the Ladies / Clubsports class went to Clubsports rider Lucas Vitale (Yamaha R6) who dominated the round by taking pole and three wins ahead of a determined Peter Ward (Yamaha FZ6) who finished with a second and two thirds. Dale Ballentyne (Inghams Enterprises Yamaha R6) take the final podium spot for the round courtesy of a third, fourth and second.

Nakeeta Quayle took out the Ladies Unlimited win aboard her (Eastern Creek M/C Wreckers Honda CBR600), edging out Amy O'Mara (Delmege Commericial Suzuki GSXR750).

The pair rode extremely well and took the battle to the leading male competitors with both having a best result of fourth in races three and one respectively.

Ducati Penrith Retro's / White Racing Products B.E.A.R'S

The combined class of Retro's and Bear's riders brought out three fantastic races with the Bear's riders coming out on top. Evan Jones (took the overall win aboard his MV Agusta F4 750 courtesy of a third and a pair of seconds, edging out Terry Yates (Triumph Daytona 675) after taking the opening two race wins, crossed the line in sixteenth in the third. Victorian Fergus Gibson (KTM 999) took the win in the last and third overall.

Retro honours went to Keith Greentree (Honda CBR400) in the Mid class, while Paul Tardivel (Yamaha YZF750) took out the unlimited.