Aprilia Australia

Nicky Diles was given the opportunity to compete as a wildcard in the 2009 Australian 125cc Grand Prix at Phillip Island onboard an Aprilia RSW 125. Below Nicky recounts his weekend to give us an insight into the life of a Grand Prix Wildcard:

Wednesday - We arrived on Wednesday afternoon to collect our credentials from IRTA (what a great bunch of people). That’s where I met Danny Webb and Jasper Iwema who race in the 125cc Grand Prix class. With all the registration out of the way, we went about setting up our pit garage in the extreme cold, wet and windy conditions.

Thursday - We finished setting up on Thursday morning which gave me the afternoon to sit with my mentor Rob Carter, going over strategic planning for practice, qualifying and racing. Later in the afternoon I attended a photo shoot and interviews for the Sunday Herald Sun. The photographer, Stephen Harman, showed how committed he was by lying on the wet track to take some awesome photos.

Friday - The Friday practice session was used to collect feedback and data for tuning the bike as we were using a FIM Approved Fuel which is a lower octane. In this session we were also able to work on improving suspension set up. We found by using the lower octane fuel, we were losing top end speed.

Saturday - Free practice was first up at 9:00am. We had made some tuning adjustments from the previous day’s feedback to see if this improved on top end speed as I was holding good corner speed but losing time on the straight. This practice session was also classed as a qualifying session and I was able to qualify with a time of 1:45.847, however I could only get a top speed of 211.6km/h. Ahead of the afternoon qualifying session we continued to work on improving the outright speed of the motorcycle. In qualifying, we managed to increase the top speed to 217.2km/h, my qualifying time was 1:44.063 placing me ahead of Luca Marconi (CBC Corse). My times placed me in 31st position on the grid.

Sunday - I spent the first five laps of the warm up session running in a new piston for the race. With further changes to suspension, gearing and tuning the bike felt good but still lacked top end speed. I was able to slightly increase my speed to 219.5km/h, and improved on my qualifying time with a 1:43.305.

125 GP Race - We went into the race knowing that we still hadn’t managed to drastically improve on top end speed and that the change to the gearing meant it was going to be a tough start off the line. Aware of this, I remained positive knowing that if I continued to maintain my corner speed, I could work my way through the positions. By the end of the first lap I had made two positions. On the second lap, I gained another position going into Southern Loop.

While tipping into turn four, a rider took me on the inside and with nowhere to go, I came in contact with his rear tyre causing me to slide off the track into the swamped section of the circuit. By the time I managed to start the bike and rejoin the race, I was already down one lap. As a result of the accident my accelerator was intermittently jamming and mud that found its way into the air box. I continued for another five laps however not wanting to cause further damage to the bike and for safety reasons I returned to the pits and retired. I was devastated at the time, but that’s racing and anything can happen.

The 125cc Grand Prix was my fifth race in the 125 class. I am proud of my achievements and the experience has made me stronger and more determined to come back to compete as a wildcard in 2010 if given the opportunity.