MV AGUSTA WINS 2006 BEARS CHAMPIONSHIP

Thursday August 17, 2006

The 5^th and final round of the 2006 BEARS Championship was held at Victoria’s Phillip Island circuit on Saturday and Sunday August 12 and 13.

Sydney’s Steve Cutting piloted his MV Agusta F4 1000 to victory in the premier F1 class, winning all 3 races at the final round after qualifying on pole and also setting a new lap record in the process of 1:40.35, which is .15 seconds quicker than the previous lap record.

Steve did have his work cut out at the final round with Kiwi Jared Love pushing him all the way.Last years F1 class winner Phillip Gray had an unfortunate incident in race 3 where his bike stalled on the start line and was collected by Terry Hughes from behind.Even though a DNF in the final race for Phillip, he was still too far behind in points to contest for the F1 championship lead held by Cutting.

Cutting dominated the 2006 BEARS Championship winning an impressive 16 of the 21 races and was the only MV Agusta rider on the track amongst a field of Ducati’s and Aprilia’s.Cutting is no stranger when winning championships on MV Agusta’s, he also won the 2004 Production class in the Bears Championship on an F4 750.

What made this championship victory even sweeter was the fact that the F4 1000 was virtually stock with the exception of a radial front brake master cylinder, a Power Commander injection unit and an RG3 muffler.Even the fork and shock springs remained unchanged.

“I’m thrilled with the victory.The F4 was actually a borrowed bike which I knew I could be competitive on and the first time I’ve raced an F4 in a season.The F4 was faultless and obviously more competitive in stock form than all of the other worked machines out there. It was satisfying campaigning the MV as it was the only one of its kind on the track.” Said Cutting after the race.

RESULTS (after 5/5 rounds) 2006 BEARS Championship – F1 class