Blue Thunder Race Report Vic club 05

[Racey Rider]

Well,, It’s been a long time since I last wrote one of these.
And a longer time since my last good run at the track. Basically, I’m still a newbe when it come to track riding (Excuse #1), and it showed yesterday.

Some of you may have read about my long term hassles getting this KR150 running right. After seizing it in practice in Round 1, I’m please to say it went well all day at yesterdays
Vic club Winter series Round 2.
After the detonation caused seizer of round 1 I had to re-sand the barrel, sand down a old, heavily scratched piston, and fit it with old rings back into the motor.(Excuse #2).
Motor had 120psi compression (130+ is normal). and with a bit of a thrash up our country roads at home, I couldn’t make it detonate or seize no matter how long I held it open on 96 Octane.

Race day started with drizzle, wet track and a big oil line spread 9/10ths of the way across the first hairpin corner. “No worries! Us novices will go out first and test track condition for you all!” So I say my prayers, and out I go with the other 150 two strokes & 250cc four(/)s. I get a couple of laps in before I see the BLACK FLAG come out.
Nobody else seemed to slow down,, so I come round the s,s thinkin, ‘was that for ME?!’
Sure enough I get the finger from a official, so pull off the track, end of practice without even getting a fast lap put in. (#3). They black flagged me because of the cheap disposable rain coat I tried out was coming apart and flapping around behind me.

No worries! I had also entered the 150 in F3 to get extra track time, so had another track practice to come. The track was drying when I rolled out with 40 odd F3 bikes to show Two Smoke some lines. Got another couple of laps in before I felt something tapping my boot heel. Looked down to see my side cover had come off.
Luckily I had plastic tie to hold it on in one place which kept it with the bike. I was able to pull into pit lane (allowing TS to get pasted me), to get it back in place, but on returning to the track, the cover came off again in no time as I had lost a rubber grommet that holds it in place. So practice 2 was over to soon for me as well. (#4).
So on the grid in race 1 of Streetstocks (SS) because of the Black flag incident I was 10th of 11 in the class.
Green flag goes down, and I would have had a good start, except the guy next to me suddenly pulls right into my line, and I have to get off the gas for a moment to avoid hitting him. (#5). Not having a good practice showed as I wasn’t on the pace at all, but it was dry and I put in my best BT for the day of 1:36 (My PB from back in August 03
was 1:33), to finish 8th of 11.

Race 1 of F3 was also dry. I lined up at the back of a 40 strong grid, with one other 150 on the row in front of me. 40 bikes, but in my mind it was just Me & Him! He (Neil I think?) was the man to beat. I got a good launch of the line and pass some bikes down to the hair pin. Was surprised at how much later on the brakes I was than a lot of the other bikes.
WIMPS!
(O yer! that felt good saying that!)
But with their extra power they soon got me back and were gone. Neil had his cornering technique sorted well and also got passed me. I was also surprised that My sad motor KR had more top speed than his RG, which made for a interesting battle throughout the race.
For the record I beat him by .169 of a second.
EASY

Race 2 SS.
It was now light rain, and the track had got quite slippery in places. My back tyre is just an old half worn Touring (probably) thing (#6), and it let me know quite often around the track that it didn’t like what I was expecting from it. The old tyre on the front felt reasonably well planted, but the rear was sliding around in, not a dangerous manner, but one that makes a newbe feel uncomfortable. Still, I stayed upright when two others did not, and picked up 7th place.

Race 2 F3.
Still wet, so didn’t go out for this race as was sliding on my tyre and didn’t want to smash my new signwritten bike unnecessarily. (More about that later)

Race 3 SS.
I gave my Vid cam to Lynda Blair to get some footage of me riding in this race. On viewing it I have a new appreciation for the term ‘Riding like a Nanna!’ Talk about Sunday Driver! How embarrassing! it looks so Slow! So Thankyou LB for saying on the tape “how slippery it was out there”. Tho I remember getting wheel spin off the start line which was a First. Another 7th place.

Race 3 F3
But the last race of the day was my best race. A 9 lap, drying track. Halfway through the race I spotted a GSX400 Impluse ahead of me and set my sights of catching him. My tyres were warmed up and I was braking later and cornering faster than him. He had more speed on the straights, but if he made any mistakes...... Well,, there was a chance!
A few laps later and I was on him,,, Two more corners,,, and I was through!! Only to be taken again down the front straight.
Through the s,s, the hairpin, the far sweeper was My area. The straights were His,, the rest was Even! Right on his tail through the s,s, taking him on the outside at the hair pin, both nailing the gas down the Danny Hulms straight. He pulls away,,, I follow him down the straight, unable to stay in his slipstream.
Coming into Higgins sweeper I’m telling myself ‘Don’t brake yet, Don’t brake yet!’ And I out brake him into the corner. Somehow I keep infront of him down the back straight and around to get the white flag. Last lap,, and I’m in front still at the end of the front straight. Through the hairpin,, through the s,s, I get round the next hairpin and take a quick look back. The lead riders are in front of me, and there’s plenty of bikes coming about to lap me,, But I can’t see Impluse man anywhere. On the gas down and through the next sweeper,, I look again. Lots of bikes,, No Impluse man. Nailing it down the back straight I’m thinking, ‘Maybe he’s come off,, Maybe he’s amongst those bikes and I haven’t seen him’. Not wanting to take any chances, I go into the last sweeper holding the throttle half open all the way in, instead of closed as I was normally doing. ‘Keep the bike under power! Don’t slow down through here or He’ll have you if he’s there’ I was thinking. Hit the apex,, hit the power,, onto the front straight,, chequered flag in sight,, Three seconds,, two seconds,, one second,, YES!
BUT at that exact moment,, this bike barrels past me. I look up to see a @%##*%! Suzuki GSX400 IMPLUSE.
YOU DIDN’T JUST PIP ME ON THE LINE DID YOU??!!

???????????????????????????????

So I park my bike.
and doubtfully trot over to wait for the results sheets.

And the official word is:



NO! I BEAT HIM!!! 0.62 of a second.

Stick That up you GSX400 and smoke it!

So all in all, finally a good day for me.
I didn’t smash the bike in the wet.
The motor held together well.
And Me and my 150 beat a 400!
I know it was only a Suzuki, but still!

Happy days my Friend,
H A P P Y DAYS!!
Racey.

[Sensei]

Great write up RR Will have to come watch ya sometime . Good to hear your Handy work held togehter for the day { Motor that is } Go the Naki

[Coyote]

Shame I wasn't there. Hope to make it for round 3

Who one the SS?

[Two Smoker]

Awesome stuff RR When you were showing me some lines you were right up that GSX's arse

[Brian d marge]

Race 3 SS.
I gave my Vid cam to Lynda Blair to get some footage of me riding in this race. On viewing it I have a new appreciation for the term ‘Riding like a Nanna!’ Talk about Sunday Driver! How embarrassing! it looks so Slow!

that sounded like a lot of fun..well done ...

The video camera is very handy ..I use it to see what I am doing right ( as I do to much wrong ,,, ) and to see whats happening to the suspension ..but I need another operator ..the boss gets bored at the MX track ( cant understand why though ???

Yes is not nice looking at oneself on tv ..it feels scary ..but when you watch it ,,,look its wimp boy ,,,

Stephen

[LB]

;
;
Great write-up Racey.

Let's hope the June meeting has fine weather!

I hope my video footage was okay - I hope I didn't swear too much while doing it!!
;
;

[Racey Rider]

My run of indifferent luck continued in the last two rounds of the Vic club series.
Tho I probably shouldn’t use the word ‘Luck’, which conveys uncontrollable events, but more un preparedness, as I know what the problem is, but just haven’t got the means to fix it.
My sad motor, that I am continually trying to patch and repair on a tight budget, again dominated my race days.

June 18th
For round three of the Vic club races I came down a day early to make use of a track practise day and improve my riding. Sadly on my first full-on blast around the track after a slow couple to do warm up and initial checks, I looked down to see the temp gauge showing a major engine over heat. Somehow the bike was out of cooling water.
I had had the head off the motor 6 or seven times in recent weeks while checking for detonation of the piston after making jetting/fuel mix changes. It seems now the head gasket was no longer sealing. So my practise day was spent trying to get this gasket to seal up, and the motor to hold it’s water. I was sold some gasket goo stuff which I applied and tested, only to have the water leak past it within one lap of the circuit. As the test day was now over, I had to trust that leaving the goo to set over night might be the answer.

So after doing a errand in P. North, and a bite to eat, I drove my truck around in the dark till I found place downtown Fielding, with good lighting and out of the chilling wind to sit on the side of the road, strip down and re goo the 150’s motor. Placing the head/ re gooed gasket/ and cylinder together, I started the truck and propped the barrel on the end of the truck exhaust to heat it up and hopefully cure the goo. 3 hours of tinkering, under shop lights on the footpath finally had the bike together and loaded back on the truck waiting, ready, (fingers crossed), for race day.

June 19th
Sleeping in my truck at the gates to Manfield, (once again, to save a $), I was first in come opening time. (around 7am). Unbeknown to me I had a flat tyre on my truck over night, and to make it worse, by driving the truck that 100 metres from the gates to the pits, put a split in the side wall of that tyre, making it unrepairable. An almost New tyre!
Now That’s Bad Luck!!

I didn’t bother setting too much stuff up it my pit bay, as a test of the motor was the first order of business. So after filling it with water, the bike was started up. Allowing the motor to warm up, it look promising with no obvious leaks. But when removing the radiator cap with the motor running, it showed bubbles rising with the water flow, which meant engine compression getting into the coolant flow. A definite indication of a still leaking head gasket. O well, I tried. No point even signing in today.





Given the fact that I had five weeks before the next race day, you’d think that that would be amble time to get things sorted. It was the end of the first week that I ordered the replacement gasket, (4 weeks to go). It arrived in short time. the wife picks it up and brings it home.
Gasket doesn’t look the same.
Might work,, but not the same as the one that came out of the bike.
So I go to shop to get it checked. They fax Kawasaki NZ to confirm the right part.... waiting to hear back from them.

At the end of the next week I go in and are told, “Have to get one from Japan,, have ordered it air freight for you”. No worries, still got 3 weeks to get this small bit from japan.
So a bit of patience is called for.
(2 weeks till race day) Patience.
(1 week to go) Patience.
(5 days to go) Go into shop and ask,, “is my gasket here yet?” No.
(3 days to go) Go into shop and ask,, “is my gasket here yet?” No. “Is it in NZ yet?” Don’t know.
(2 days to go) Go into shop and ask,, “is my gasket here yet?” No. “Damm!” Well I better take back that other ‘Almost right’ gasket and see if I can make it work then. So I line up this ‘Almost right’ gasket to the motor,,, and I’m still not happy with how it looks,,, so decide to take it and my barrel/head into the shop tomorrow to get a mechanics opinion on how best to make it work.
(24 hours to go till race time!) Walk in the shop with my motor bits,, and what do you know,,, the right gasket has finally turned up!! Lots of hugs and kisses all round, and I’m outa there, back to my humble garge to bring life to Blue Thunder.

Hoping that this gasket is the sole cause of my problems, and it not more serious like a warped head or something, I stick it in,, start the bike,, and are pleased to see no sign of problems. A short test run up the road is all I have time for before it’s time to start loading up for the trip to Manfield. Was hoping to get a lot more jetting/fuel octane testing in before the race day, but once again, just had to hope things would hold together.

more to come....

[Racey Rider]

July 23rd
Sleeping down at Manfield again, I awake (makes it sound like I actually got some sleep that night. Not!) to a reasonable day. I selected a pit bay by a power point as I have brought with me a TV/vid player and a copy of last months racing that I videoed seen as my bike wouldn’t go. Kept the vid going all morning, and a number of guy were keen to watch a bit of their own riding skills.

We were to ride the circuit in reverse direction today, (The track, not us).
I found I really liked the track better in this direction. It just seems to flow better for me. This was the first time out with my new rear tyre. It gave me a heap of confidence after a couple of practice/qualifying runs (Streetstocks and F3), to know the rear was heating up well, and well planted on the track.
I had a good run, and qualified 7th out of 13 in my class for Streetstocks which put me on the second row of the grid come race time. As I still wasn’t happy with my jetting setup, I checked the spark plug after each practice run, and found the bike to be running very rich still. I could also feel this at full RPM’s, it wasn’t running crisply. Being the type that wants to get things perfect, I decided to remove the air filter to allow more air flow through to balance the fuel air mix a little better. In hind sight It would have been safer for the motor if I had left it running rich. Learn as you Go.

Race one of Streetstocks.
After the warm up lap, I tried to find my grid position. What a mess the grid was with other riders not knowing were they were suppose to be. Sort it out beforehand Riders! It’s Not Hard! I couldn’t go were I was suppose to be, as someone had pinched my spot. The Marshall gave up trying to sort it out. To Bad,,, Lets just GO!

I got a ok start, and felt I held my place into the first corner. Within a lap or two I was fifth, and gaining on the group ahead as I sorted my cornering out and got into a rhythum. It was to be a 12 lap race, so there was plenty of time to pull in the leaders. By lap four or five, I was in a group of 3 or 4 bikes at the right end of the field. The 150 race leader was getting away from us as we jostled for positions 2/3/4/5. It was all pretty hectic, so I think that’s what was going on? Someone correct me if they saw it otherwise.

By mid race, another rider started getting away in 2nd, and I found myself fighting for 3rd place. I was stoked just to be there! 3rd place out of 13. I was riding really well. The best I’ve ever felt. One guy, Greg, must have done ‘something’ to his bike, cause it was never that fast in previous rounds! He would pull away from me on the striaghts, but I was feeling confident, and outbraked him/ ran faster corner lines, went through the inside or around the outside of him at will in all the corners. (Feel free to tell it differently if thats the way you saw it Greg!). Around lap 8 I thought I had a bit of a break on him. A realistic goal of holding my first Third place finish. And I hadn’t lost sight of the guy in 2nd,, he was still catchable!

But On tipping it into the Higgins sweeper I felt the familiar feeling of the motor locking up. A partial seizer in the corner after the back straight. When the bike locks up in a corner it’s not good. Very easy to get chucked off. I did one thing right by pulling the clutch in. What I also should have done was keep my eye on the track, and just ride it out AROUND the corner.
But,,, I panicked. Pulled the clutch in,, straightened the bike up,, hauled on the brakes,, looked at the grass! So where did I go? Out on the soft grass,, and mud! Was never gunna control it on that soft stuff, and down I went. Hit the ground, tucked my arms up to my chest and went rolling over a few times.
That went well I thought to myself as I stood up unharmed and spit mud out of my mouth. (or did I just say Damm?,,, I can’t remember). I went and picked up my bike to find nothing but a crash bung broken, but the hole thing covered in mud and stones. I then looked at myself. Have I mentioned the MUD? Covered from head to toe.

So the motor seized because of piston detonation. Small bits of piston fakes jammed between rings and cylinder. More testing time could have prevented this seizer, but them’s the breaks. As it turn out, it was lucky it happen.

Sadly there was a Major Incident the F3 race that I was suppose to be riding in. A rider died and others were Hospitalised. Had my bike still been running, I could have been right in the middle of that.

Good points: Had my best ride ever. Almost a 3rd place.
Bad points: RIP brother biker.

Thanks to my sponsors: Webfarm/Freeparking, and TSS Motorcycles Lower Hutt.
Thanks for reading.
Racey.

[Sensei]

Great write up Alex Your going to have to get the motor sorted Dude from blowing up all the time . Sounds like you need to run alittle more clearance to allow for the heat . . & shotpen the piston perhaps.

[Racey Rider]

. . . & shotpen the piston perhaps.

What does that mean?

We aren't allowed to do much to the Streetstock bikes anyway. The rules say only tyers/jetting/external gearing can be changed. The rest must be stock.

If it came down to the fine print, even me taking the air filter out could be protested in theory.


Who's got any thoughts on how to train my mind to focus on the track in times of trouble, not just think about the grass!
I wrote it in my race diary to read on race days. (But didn't read it last Saturday )

[Racey Rider]

Well,,, What a series.. Well done Vic club for putting on 6 great race days this winter. We got through the highs and lows of motor racing, and although I had a shocker,, I thank those involved for giving us the oppertunity.

My year started out with promise, with a new barrel on the bike, and getting my first sponsorship deal. Webfarm/Freeparking
But with the rotor nut, then rotor coming off at the January track day, it all went down hill from there.

I only got one good days racing in over the series, as I struggle with this sad motor. The main problem has been a lack of money to repair things properly.
Dispite this lack of track time, my sponsor has been more than happy with what I have provided them in other areas, so hopefully I can retain their help next year.

What I need to do now is get job that pays more than just the cost of family living.
Procure another motor or barrel.
Then get down to some track days to prove I've got this motor reliablity under control.

Some people might just say, buy another bike.
But even though I seem to push it more than race it,, I love this bike.
And the fact that it has put me through so much disapointment, will make the day I win my first race on it all the sweeter!

Thanks to those that have help out with suggestions.
Next year maybe.

Racey.