Shane - Superlite (#43)

For the last couple of months it feels like I've been doing nothing but racing. Since 15th February I've done 5 events. Not many really but my wife hasn't been seeing me much on the weekends because even when I wasn't at the track I'd be fiddling with my bike. So the end of summer racing matches up with the AMCC round 6 quite nicely. After this event I get to have a rest for a while as I'm only doing the Hamilton MCC Winter Series, which is 3 races between May and August, just enough to keep me on the bike until next summer.

I hadn't done anything to the bike since the NZSBK round at Taupo but it needed an oil and filter change so on Saturday morning I grabbed those. When I rock up to where my bike lives I find everything is covered in concrete dust as the place I keep it is currently being renovated. So not only does it get the oil and filter change it gets a pretty decent wash as well. Even the spare wheels with wets on got a wash.

I'd also put on the stickers that Vince Burrell from Burrell Signs had sent me. They look great and I'm really happy with them. Anyone looking for stickers could do worse than giving Vince a call.

Sunday morning I wonder if my phone has changed from Daylight Savings or not so I crawl out of bed and check the computer. Assuming it has changed from Daylight Savings my phone is correct. So I head back to bed for 20 minutes cos it's far too early. I had a nagging doubt that the time on both my phone and computer were wrong until I got into the car and saw that it was reading 1 hour ahead of my phone. Good news as I wasn't going to be turning up at the track an hour early.

This time I decided I'd try a Z Bacon and Egg Pie instead of a BP one to see which was better. I think I'm going to have to find a bakery that's open at 6:00am though as neither of them is quite up to the task. I've got the coffee sorted though; a short shot of Nespresso Dharkan with heated milk and a teaspoon of Caramel syrup to ease me awake.

I definitely need the coffee though as it's really foggy, especially across the swamp between Huntly and Rangiriri where I'm down below 80kph cos I can't see far enough to drive faster.

Once I pull up behind the pit sheds I see Sean Bateman all set up in a shed so I start moving in there. It's good to see Gary Stirling wandering around as it means a spot in a shed is a straight-up $25.00 no brainer. When he's not taking care of the sheds it's a real pain in the arse having to get together enough people so that a shed is affordable. That's the kind of stress nobody needs and I wish they'd just charge $25.00 per bike all the time.

After signing in I head to scrutineering and Scottie finds one of the bolts on the rear sets has worked loose so I have to tighten that up. Over winter I should go over everything on the bike again as it's been almost 2 years since many of them were checked - so I'm not really surprised that the odd one has worked loose despite having lock tight on just about everything with a thread.

Back in the pits I want to lift the forks through the triple clamps a little but, of course, I forgot to bring the calipers to measure them with. So I have to ask around for a ruler or measuring tape and then find something the correct width. Turns out the black cable ties in my tool box are exactly 1mm thick so I tape 2 of them together. I put a thin strip of duct tape to mark the position of the clip-ons because I also forgot to mark the positions with a paint pen. Next I undo the clip-on, drop it down, slip the 2mm thick cable ties between the clip-on and triple clamp, do the clip-on back up, pull the cable ties out, loosen both top and bottom triple clamps, ease the front of the bike down on the stand to let the weight push the fork up through the triple clamp until the clip on stops it, do the triple clamps back up, add 1 turn of preload and we're good to go. Easy, except I have to take the entire front fairing off to do so and snap one of the bolts off.

The other thing to do is put on the new brake lever guard I had to get as the old one disappeared somewhere on the track at AMCC R5. Of course, this wasn't as straight forward as it should've been as the clip-ons are thick wall ones so the standard sleeve didn't fit but the clip-on wasn't thick enough for the inner sleeve. So in the end we swapped bits with the original until it was able to be done up securely.

At that stage Gary pointed at the lever guard and said, "Is that what that is? There's one sitting in the control room that was found on the track". Great, now I have spares although one is damaged from bouncing down the race track. Still, thanks to Gary for returning it and he even got a big hug too.

When Formula Auckland and F2 practice starts it's still a bit foggy. However, by the time Superlite got out there the sun had burnt off the fog and it was a brilliant, clear, sunny day albeit still a bit chilly. The surface temperature was still below 20 degrees so I wanted to take a couple of laps to see how the changes we made were working.

For the entire Superlite Qualifying the bike felt as if it was riding really low at the front. However, it had good grip and turned in nicely. As I started to get quicker the back came up rather quickly and surprised me a couple of times, first at turn 5 and, most alarmingly, at turn 1, after which Grant Douglas comes up the inside of me and then runs wide, taking me out almost to the white line. After that I took it a bit easier on the brakes, trying to see how hard I could brake without the back end waving around in the air. Consequently I qualified in 11th which wasn't too bad considering I had to hold back a bit.

I must've needed more coffee though cos it took me most of the Qualifying session to figure out what was happening even though it was blindingly obvious; lifting the forks up lowers the front end which puts more weight on it, which lowers it some more so that under brakes the front dives too far causing the back to lift. It's an easy fix, just unscrew the top of the forks and add 5ml of fork fluid to each leg.

I have a small 5ml syringe in the tool box just for this purpose. However, the one time I really need the spare fork fluid is the one time I forgot to pack it. The bottle is sitting on the floor of the shed right where I put it so I wouldn't forget it.

Nick Kampenhout came to the rescue with some fork fluid so I topped it up and we were ready to go.

First race I wasn't sure how much of a difference adding the fork fluid would make so I was going to take it easy to start with as I didn't want to get to turn 2 (no braking for turn 1 off the start line), grab a big handful and find the back end a metre in the air.

Rolling up to the grid I find my spot, the lights come up and we're off!!

I get an ok start, nothing fabulous, but Bryan Krzanich on the row behind me gets a great start and blows past me on the right side. Into turn 1 and Matt Ferguson is up the inside as well, closely followed by Mark Robinson. To say I was a bit surprised is an understatement as I didn't think I was taking it that easy, but obviously I was. Into turn 4 Matt and Bryan tangle, with Matt running a bit wide. Out onto the short straight and I'm starting to think that this is getting silly as I'm not meant to be this far back so I focus, get grumpy and start to hunt everyone down.

The second lap out of Turn 6 I pass Bryan and mentally paint a target on Neil Slater. A short while later I drive past Neil on the short straight into turn 6 and start hunting down Grant Douglas and Matt Ferguson. Next lap I've caught them and dive into turn 6 nice and fast, carrying good corner speed and getting on the throttle early, passing both Grant and Matt before the climb up the hill. Off in the distance is Mark Robinson but he's too far ahead for me to catch so I concentrate on putting distance between me, Matt and Grant. Through turn 4 and I find Mark Robinson's bike spinnning around on its side right on my exit line so I have to tighten it a lot, while Chris Thorn is paddling on the grass trying to get back on the track. I crack the throttle open and hope Mark's incident surprises the guys behind me so they can't take advantage. Across the finish line I see the white flag so put my head down for one last good lap. Nobody manages to pass me by the finish and I'm thrilled as it's been a fabulous race.

In the pits I've got a big grin on my face and I'm told the first lap was one of those "oh crap" ones. But each subsequent lap improved and I kept getting in front of another rider until I was ahead of the pack and then I managed to gap them. It was great to hear that it looked exciting as I was having a great time.

I still wasn't quite able to use full brakes so I wound on another turn of preload so it sits a fraction higher and is slightly slower diving when I get on the brakes.

Wandering around, Neil is furiously going over his bike to try and figure out where all his power had gone. Apparently the bike just went flat and wouldn't make any power early in the race so he rapidly went backwards. It was also the first race for the year for Bryan so he was very rusty (not that you'd know it given his start and first lap) and he's still suffering owing to medication that either turns him into the Energizer Bunny or knocks him flat on his back from tiredness. Also, Grant's front tyre is absolutely shot, explaining his running wide in qualifying and slowish race pace, so he should really just pack up and go home but instead he's just going to circulate.

Takes a bit of the shine off what was an exciting race for me but in racing you have to be on it when the lights go out cos that's motorsport.

Race 2 I got a much better start and got into things a bit more quickly than the first race, getting past Grant Douglas straight away but Mark Robinson got a great start and powered past on the run up to turn 1. Matt Ferguson pushed his way through on the inside of me into 1. Second lap and I got past him on the exit of turn 6. A couple of times I'm aware that Matt might have a go and he sticks a wheel up the inside but doesn't make it. After that I'm off after Mark. I make gains on the fast parts while he gets some of it back on the slow parts. At one stage I look up the inside of him into turn 4 but I'm not far enough forward and have to scrub more speed so I don't hit him, giving him a bit of a gap. Next lap out of turn 4 he has a "feet off the pegs" moment but I'm not yet close enough to take advantage of it. It does, however, allow me to get closer. Onto the last lap and he's looking back over his shoulder a lot. I fire it into turn 6 nice and fast, give it a big handful and sail past Mark on the exit so quickly I put a 1 second lead on him in the 500m to the finish line.

This race was a lot more settled for me but it was also a bit faster, the gap from the race winner to me being 2.5 seconds shorter than in the first race, mainly due to a much better first lap.

For the final race I roll up to the grid to find Mark Robinson sitting in my spot so I bump into his back wheel and give him a "what the hell?" look. He points at the empty number 10 spot and seeing as Angela is heading for the sideline I roll over to the empty spot, back up and hurriedly get my act together as the first light is up already. We take off and Mark gets away in front of me instead of having to get past me, quickly taking advantage of starting a row further forward by getting past another couple of people through turn 1.

Matt Ferguson shoots up the inside into 1 yet again (one day I'll learn). Out of turn 6 I'm past Matt again but he got good drive and I didn't, despite passing him. So the gap isn't anything like I want heading into turn 1. Matt doesn't appear so I head into turn 4 looking to see if he'll go up the inside on my right when he surprises the hell out of me by going around the long way on my left. It's a hell of a move and he's going hard to try and gap me. I'm pulling him back through the fast bits but he's able to stay ahead through the slow bits; the entire time I'm planning where to get past him. Onto the last lap and we're rapidly closing on Mark Robinson. Once again I fire it into turn 6 with lots of speed, give it a big handful and power past both Matt and Mark on the exit, charging up the hill and over the finish line with both of them less than 3 hundredths of a second behind me. Matt only just beat Mark by 0.019 of a second.

Another great day racing although I didn't lower my PB at all. I did, however, lower my average lap time significantly and even my qualifying time was much better than usual despite not being able to brake properly. It's pretty obvious that I love turn 6 and the fast parts of the track in general, but I'm still appalling at the slow turns, mostly turns 2, 4 and 5. There's a whole lot of time for me in the slow turns but until I get them sorted I'm not going to improve much.

However, that's the end of the summer racing and it's time for a bit of a rest now. Spend some weekends with my wife and get some other stuff done. Bit of a shame as I feel I've made lots of progress in the last two meetings and I want to keep the momentum up and keep working on things. But the only option is dragging my arse all the way down to Manfeild once a month and I got fed up with that sort of thing a long time ago.

I'd like to thank

• Cherie for helping out in the pits
• Vince at Burrell Signs
• the AMCC, marshalls and ambulance crew that made for such a good weekend
• Robert and Dennis at KSS for the suspension work and weekend back up
• Craig @ Grey Street Motors
• Stefan @ DL Consulting
• Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike

All images copyright Jason Taylor

I like turn 6


Using all of the track


A pat on the back for a good race