AFTER a challenging season of fighting for the championship title, Jesse Conci, missed the title by a mere two points, after placing fifth overall at Dezzi Raceway.

Helluvafast’s team admin manager, Carmen Conci said, “As every racer knows, obstacles and set backs will always come at an unexpected time, but it’s how you approach the challenge that sets you apart from the rest of the field.”

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The last race day of the season, hosted by the KZN Road Racing Club, saw sunny and windy weather conditions. After weeks of preparation, Jesse set out for the final. Unfortunately, two laps into the qualifier, he hit a cold patch on the track and took a small tumble.

“Thankfully it was nothing major, no injuries and no damage to the bike. Jesse quickly got back up and finished off the qualifier session to position himself into fourth place on the starting grid,” said Carmen.

Off the grid and into the first corner of heat 1, Jesse lead the field with the next four racers following closely behind. He sadly lost the lead five laps into the race due to loss of power from his bike. The continuous power loss left Jesse slowly losing each position until he finished the race in fourth place.

“Once back in the pit-lane, we quickly found that the crash earlier in the day resulted in some oil flow problems, causing his motor to seize up, leaving Jesse with very little power to keep up with the rest of the field. What is a racer if not prepared? Yes, Jesse had brought with an entire other engine for a case such as this,” said Carmen.

With only two-and-a-half hours until the start of the next race, Jesse had managed to fit an entire new engine, as well the electronics and air/ fuel settings. Carmen said, “He had the bike ready for heat 2 in just one hour. Leaving him plenty of time to properly test and gear up for the second heat.”

Now ready and out on the starting grid, Jesse knew that every position gained meant edging him closer to the championship title. Although this new motor had not been perfected as much as the original one, it was enough to get him across the finish line.

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“It was quite clear from the start that Jesse did not have the power to keep up with the mighty two-strokes, but it certainly did not stop him from finding other ways to keep up. Two-stroke riders may have had the power advantage, but it takes a gutsy man to be able to pull off the same corner speeds and late braking that Jesse did. No matter how much they tried to pull away, Jesse hung onto their tails right until the end of the race and finishing in fifth place,” said Carmen.

She added that anyone that had the opportunity to watch the final race of the season would agree that they saw a standard of racing one would only see at professional levels.

“Sadly, Jesse did not win for the day, but finished in fifth place overall. According to our calculations, this leaves Jesse in a hard-earned second place overall in the championship standings, just two points off the championship winner,” said Carmen.

Jesse said when they started the season, he knew it would be challenging to race alongside some of the fastest racers around. “It has been a pleasure to watch the standard of our class rise higher and higher throughout the year and I am proud to be competing among such honourable racers. I cannot thank everyone enough for all the endless support, I would not have been able to get as far as I did without you,” he said.

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