SSAA WA Wiseguy racing

You’ll have to look fast at the Quit Motorplex race track in Western Australia to clearly see but that is the SSAA logo proudly printed across SSAA member Keith Bentley’s Kawasaki race bike.

The team started racing in the 2003/2004 season with a Kawasaki Gpz900r machine with a custom rear Kawasaki chassis and a Kawasaki Gpz1170cc motor. During that season, Keith’s team received awards for Best Appearing Bike and Crew (December 2003), Winner of Round 5 (January 2004), Runner Up Newman Outback Drags in a Modified Drag Bike (August 2004 and August 2005) and Rookie Rider of the Year (2003/2004). The bike qualified in eighth position at the Winter Nationals in Brisbane (2004) and fourth place overall in Championship. Its best run was 9.79sec at 136mph.

Keith, who is also a keen shooter and shoots competition handgun, field pistol, mandar and action match as well as rifle and shotgun, first approached the SSAA for sponsorship last year.

“My two passions are shooting and drag racing and not only do I try to get racers and spectators interested in the shooting sports, I also try and get shooters to have a look at drag racing through the team,” said Keith.

“The SSAA started sponsorship in 2005 and hopefully will continue into the future as I feel it is a good partnership,” he added. The sponsorship is currently 50 per cent WA and 50 per cent National.

The race machine has recently been upgraded for the 2005/2006 season to a Kawasaki ZX10 with a custom Wiseman 4130 cr Molly chassis and a new 1500cc APE race motor. This motor produces about 50 per cent more horsepower and 60 per cent more torque propelling the machine to eight seconds at 170mph - the aim being to reach the number one qualifying position and to step up into Group 2 racing. Other noteworthy bits include an APE big block kit, MTC pistons, Webtech cams and a Forbes and Mills Engineering custom crank, which will all assist in spinning the 10x26x15^ carbon fibre rear wheel.

Keith says his team has invested a large amount of resources and funding to take on all competitors to achieve their goals and to make the team “superior in both appearance and performance”. He is not, however, cocky about their abilities and realises there is more work to be done.

“As we will be on a new learning curve with a new machine and extra performance, we will be attending as many race meetings as possible to extract top performance,” he added.

Keith’s Wiseguy Racing team currently competes in the A/Modified Bike (A/MB) competitions at the Quit Motorplex, situated at Kwinana Beach in Perth’s southern suburbs. There are three levels of ticket pricing at the Motorplex: bronze, silver and gold. Silver and gold tickets allow spectators into the pit area to view race machines and talk to racers. About 80 to 90 per cent of spectators take up this option and there is a steady flow of spectators near the Wiseguy Racing pit area at all times, which the team enjoys and encourages.

“The pit area has a carnival type of atmosphere and is very friendly,” says Keith.

SSAA WA President Ron Bryant is proud to be associated with the Wiseguy Racing team. He said that after meeting Keith for the first time and going over the proposal late last year, the opportunity for the Association was just too good to miss.

“The amount of people who go through the turnstiles at the drag racing events and the coverage received is outstanding,” said Ron.

“Keith and the team set up a mini SSAA stand in the bikes pit area and they hand out heaps of SSAA brochures and info. The team also not only visits country areas of WA but attends the interstate major events as well, so the Eastern states folks are just as likely to run into him.

“One aspect I enjoyed seeing after a visit to a recent event was the way that young kids were freely encouraged to sit on the bike in the pit area while Dad was given a rundown on Keith’s other sport,” added Ron.

Users with fast Internet connections can view footage of the SSAA WA Wiseguy drag bike in action by clicking here