Damo on the sidelines mid race

Taree's Damian Cudlin has taken a hard fought 5th place finish at round 4 of the World Endurance Championship in Belgium on the weekend.

Held at a new venue to the WEC calendar, the Zolder 6hour race proved to be an action packed one that saw the order of the top 10 positions change frequently.

After struggling a little with the bike set up in free practice, Cudlin qualified as fastest rider for the Phase One Yamaha team to take 8th place on the grid for the start.

"We still didn't have the optimum set up in qualifying, but I was confident we could run a pretty good pace on race tyres." Cudlin said.

"It was a very abrasive surface in Belgium so our tyre choice for the race was tough, but Dunlop gave us a hard compound tyre that worked real well. It proved to be a good choice."

Cudlin burst off the grid and moved to 4th by the end of the 1st lap before settling into a groove over the next 30mins inside the top 6.

Approaching the halfway mark of the first rotor, Cudlin's Dunlop shod Yamaha began to string together fast laps and slowly gained on the riders ahead. It was at this stage of the race that disaster struck for the young aussie.

"I'd just caught and passed Vankeymeulen and was trying to break him off my tail when we came up to a slower pack of lapped riders." Cudlin said. "I was keen to get through them as fast as I could but made a wrong call and slammed into one of them at the 2nd chicane. Next thing I knew I was flying through the air."

"I got slapped down pretty hard in my fall and was stiff and sore, but felt strong enough to go on. Problem was that I took a bit of a knock to the head and Russel, my team boss, didn't want to put me back out there." Cudlin explained. "He was only looking out for me, but I wasn't too happy at the time. I just wanted to get back through the field."

Cudlin was left in the pits for the next 3hours to watch team mates Nowland and Minnin claw back vital seconds. The pair had climbed to 7th before a gear change mechanism failure cost the team another 3 minutes in the pits.

Back in 13th place, the Nowland/Minnin pairing again charged through the field to get inside the top 6 with an hour to run.

Cudlin convinced team boss Russel Benny to put him back on for the final rotor and didn't disappoint with an impressive run to a 5th place finish.

"It was a hard day's work that's for sure. One of the toughest races I've had." Cudlin said. "I really owe a lot to Warwick and Christer who both rode great today. They were handed a heavy work load in that heat after my crash, but they both did a top job. Our 5th place today considering all the drama's was a good result, it could've been much worse. We are now 5th in the championship and ready for the 2nd half of the season."