Ted Collins and Tayla Relph start South Australia Road Racing Championship season to great success over long weekend

The pair both took out a podium finish at McNamara Park in Mount Gambier, with Collins, 22, winning the overall Superbike category and Relph, 25, finishing third overall in the Supersport 300 category.

The weekend marked a special return for the talented Relph, who hasn't raced for over two years.

"I went into this weekend with little expectation on myself as I haven't raced since January 2020," she said of the weekend.

"So to come home with third overall on my Yamaha R3 in my first race back is a pretty special feeling.

"I put together a strong qualifying time which saw me start my races from second on the grid.

"After finishing races one and two in second place, unfortunately I couldn't quite back up that result in race three with a strong downpour of rain seeing me cross the line in sixth.

"I was only one point away from finishing second overall, so for my first race back I'm pretty happy with that."

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Collins also impressed many onlookers over the weekend, with the 22-year-old qualifying on pole position and backing the result up with two excellent race wins on Sunday, seeing him take out first place overall.

He said it was a great feeling to be back out racing competitively again and more importantly believed he was in strong form.

"I've been feeling really comfortable on my JC Motorsports Yamaha R1 this year, and I think my results really speak for themselves," Collins said of the win over the long weekend.

"I'm now leading both the Victorian and the South Australian Road Race State Championships in the superbike class, which is a pretty good feeling after having not raced for so long."

Both Relph and Collins say their strong results are with thanks to their recently developed South West Track Days initiative, as well as riding at the Warrnambool Kart Track every Wednesday over the summer period.

"JC Motorsports is a family run team, so myself and Tayla couldn't have done it without their support with Dad working tirelessly to get the two of us out on track for each practice session and race," Collins said.

The pair will both head to round two of the South Australian Road Race Championships in June where they will be hoping to continue their impressive form.

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