The horror continues for Whanganui racer Richie Dibben as he struggles to make his Supersport 600 National Championship debut.
The 29-year-old was taken out in race one of the second round of the national series by another rider who was later reprimanded for his behaviour at the Levels track in Timaru at the weekend.
Barracks Bar/Total Span Steel Buildings team mentor and bike builder Brian Bernard said Dibben suffered lacerations to his chin and neck from his helmet straps and was concussed in the crash prompting a mandatory two week stand down period.
"We came to Timaru following that debacle in round one in Christchurch were a serious crash then the massive oil spill halted racing at Ruapuna. We tested the bike (GSXR600) out in practice and every thing was going well. Richie managed to qualify on the front of the grid (4), so that was great,"Bernard said.
"Well it was great until that other rider took Richie out. We protested and the guy was later reprimanded for his behaviour, but unfortunately Richie was stood down from any further racing after suffering a concussion.
"We've been down south two weeks now and have yet to complete a race, but none of this has been down to us, it's all been stuff out of our control that has held us back. We are on our way back homeas we speak for a bit of down time, while the trailer and bikes are already in Invercargill in readiness for the Burt Munro Challenge (Feburary 6-10)."
The 13th annual Burt Munro Challenge is a one-off race meeting on the team's programme and despite their setbacks they will continue to contest the national Supersport 600 Championship.
After round three at Hampton Downs in March, the nationals continue on in the Manawatu on March 30-31, before wrapping up at Taupo on April 5-7.