MTA February 2023 SA

10
UNITECH RACING
Unitech
Promising
Big Things
in 2023
South Australian Superbikes team
Unitech Racing is promising to make
an even bigger noise in the Australian
Superbike Championship in 2023.
The boutique team, formed in 2016
by MTA members Peter and Donna
Hoeymakers, helped steer Adelaide
Yamaha rider Arthur Sissis to a sixthplaced
finish in the 2022 season, 14
points clear of his nearest factory rival.
Now, they’re daring to dream of the
ultimate success.
“I hope Arthur’s on the podium at
every race meeting. I do believe we
can achieve that,” Donna said.
The season culminated with the
27-year-old achieving his first podium
finish in the final meet at Tailem Bend.
“It just lifted all of us - it was just
fantastic and it was fantastic for
him. I think he’s had his doubts
over the time.”
Big things too are tipped for junior
riders Samuel Pezzetta, 17, and
Cameron Rende, 16, who will feature
in the Supersport 300 series.
“I think for Samuel we can achieve
first or second at every race and
hopefully he wins the championship.
“And for young Cameron I think we’ll
see him progress, at the moment he’s
probably midfield. I think he’ll be up
the front end of the field by the end
of the year.”
Unitech has slowly but steadily been
winning admirers from its peers
and rivals for its ability to punch
significantly above its weight in a
sport where winners traditionally
are determined by the weight of
sponsorship dollars and the merits
of the manufacturer’s bike.
“When we first came along to the
paddock (the pit area) not many
people would look at you or talk
to you,” Donna said.
“But I guess now they see that
we’re still there and at the last race
meeting we heard the commentators
say ‘Unitech racing team is bubbling
away in the background. They’re on a
limited budget and all their riders are
in the top of their field’.
“I think we’ve earned a lot of respect
because they know our resources
are limited and we are beating
factory teams.”
They’ve done it, starting from
scratch, scrounging together every
sponsorship dollar they can, with
a team full largely of volunteers
who help keep two dreams alive -
husband Peter’s to work in the sport
and Sissis’ to keep riding in it.
“He’s the most naturally talented,
gifted rider many people have seen
but unfortunately, little old South
Australian, here in Virginia, hard to
get sponsorship within our state,
it was very hard to keep him there.”
Sissis’ father approached Peter
when the money ran out to keep
his Moto Grand Prix career afloat.
The Hoeymakers already owned
Hoey Racing, a well-established
motorcycle suspension business
in Pooraka. But it was about to
chart a whole new course.
“Peter and I had always had the
dream for him that he could be
involved with Superbikes.
“Once Sissis’ father realised that
Pete and I were in it for the long
haul and dedicated to the cause,
things changed from there.
“Our philosophy is we saw a need
here within this state because of
Arthur’s story that young talented
riders cannot make it overseas
because there are too many
limitations.”
The first and ever constant challenge
remains money, and it prompted
Donna to enrol in a sponsorship
course, netting the team $25,000
in its first year.
“We’ve relied on lots of people giving
bits and pieces of sponsorship. We
still need a few more just to relieve
that load a little bit from some of the
others but it is difficult,” Donna said.
The Hoeymakers’ maiden foray into
the world of professional motorsport
was anything but glamorous. The
MTA members now compete against
the best of the best.
“We did it very economically, people
camping in swags, we didn’t book
accomodation. Just had to trailer it
across as best we could to the other
states and did it on a really, really
tight budget.”
Theirs is a team where virtually
no-one is paid.
“Most everyone on our team are
volunteers, we’ve probably got
about 25 personnel in total.”
Data technician Scott Heyes from
Edge Competition in Brisbane has
been flown in from Queensland for
the last two years.
“He just charges us half rate and
that’s his sponsorship to the team.
“We do, out of our sponsorship,
pay for a couple of mechanics to
come from Queensland which is a
bit sad because we’d rather be a
South Australian team as such but
we had to have dedicated people
that would be there and committed
to every round.”
The sport’s lack of media exposure
remains a constant frustration to
Donna and works against her desire
to secure more financial support and
local people on the ground to work
with the team.
“That’s my biggest grump,” she said.
“If it’s not football or a couple of other
sports, you don’t hear much about
it whatsoever.
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