Dunedin Dirt bikes at Levels Winter series Rnd1

[GaZBur]

Some boys from Dunedin went up to Timaru for Canterburys Round 1 of the Levels winter series. Four of us in the truck, Hayden WR450, Scott CRF450, Mark DRZ400 and my DR650 for the Motard class.
Stayed on Friday night at Haydens mums and were given a huge breakfast to start the day. Good for me being the old bugger amoung the young ones coz I got the bed with the electric blanket.
Lots of other Dunedin riders there. They did a full scruitineering and while I was lined up to get checked Ronny came over and she said "Isn't your front tyre on backwards, it will pump water into the centre of the tread instead of out the side!". Good eyes thanks Ronny, I guess the shop saw it was a Mag wheel and assumed the disk was on the right of the front instead of the left when they put it on. There was a guy from Alex changing wheels and as I had no clue so asked him to do it and offered to pay. He did it quick smart and wouldn't take any payment, thanks Mike(I hope I got the name right?). Ronny didn't get to ride her new RS I think is was because she had no tyres suitable for the very wet conditions.
Talk about wet, it was wet all day and we got damp and my boots leaked. But we had a ball.
There were 19 Motards there - 4 full rows. Some real serious kit there - some even with full wets and tyre warmers - I kinda felt like the poor country cousin with the practically standard DR650.

First race was realtively good for me - started of on the 3rd row and got to pass a few and managed to get around with little drama. Had a laugh trying to pass a DRZ400, crept closer each corner till finally close enough to slipstream him on the straight. Inched up until i was right on top of him then pulled out of the slipstream to pass, slingshot up to his front spindel before the wind pushed me back in behind him again - damn! Got past him eventually but because of the wet track everyone was using the whole track and I was being extra carefull. Got past him and a couple of KTM's and a CRF from invercargill? passed me on the inside as I was leaving lots of room. Kept in front of the young-uns first race.

Second race 3rd line of the grid again, got a good start and went ok till the corner off the main straight. Braked first - down to 4th, turn in aiming for a conservative line with neutral throttle when it all turned a bit scary. The back stepped out in a slide - caught traction again and came back with a snap that broke the traction of the front and threw the front into a slide (FECK this is it!) I thought. It caught again immediately and came back throwing the back out again - then guess what!! Yep it came back throwing the front again. I seriously considered just sitting it up and riding off the track as it would be better than dropping it ath that speed in front of the other bikes that were right behind. But luck was with me and my conservative line intending to leave heaps of room turned out to run right to the edge of the track. Really threw my confidence for a while though. Slowly picked my confidence back and got stuck behind a KTM for a while and Hayden came up and tried to pass both of us on the inside of the start/finish straight. Ohhh noo you don't young fella!! I went around the outside of the KTM and coz i had an easier line outbraked and slid through in front of Hayden (he couldn't see the smug grin I had on but I bet he knew it was there). It wasn't for long though as he passed me a few corners later and soon was out of my reach, nice smooth cornering and I was left well behind.

Third race same ol same ol for me with Hayden passing me mid race and slowly dissapearing in front of me again.

Overall I was happy coming somewhere in the middle of the bunch. I was impressed with the general standard of riding for the conditions. The fast guys dissapeared from me pretty quick and those around me kept good steady lines and didn't give me any scares. Mark and Scott were
enjoying dicing with the extra competition as well and hopefully Marks DRZ is finally showing some of the form it should. Missed seeing Tims (RS125) off in the first lap of his last race but he was heaps faster and way off in front - but I did hear him berating himself about it afterwards.
Can't wait for round two and hoping for dry conditions.

[Buddha#81:Me]

Arh Mr Bur....I was there on my bucket and Postie in Clubmans, now i've put two and two togeather I'll come and say hi next round.

Are they RG wheels and what tyres are you running on the DR? Look like good cheap fun.

[GaZBur]

Arh Mr Bur....I was there on my bucket and Postie in Clubmans, now i've put two and two togeather I'll come and say hi next round.

Are they RG wheels and what tyres are you running on the DR? Look like good cheap fun.

The wheels are off a GSXR 250. They were put on by GJS engineering in Dunedin. Took them a bit of work to get them in as they needed to machine down the sprocket carrier and also shave 5mil off the floating disk - which apparently is a bit of a bastard of a job as well as making the spacers and resizing the axle bearings. The tyres are Dunlop 501's 110 front and 150 rear. Designed as a touring wet its a harder compound than most motarders will look at. I like the idea of harder tyres as they slide earlier - but hopefully more predictably. Worked well in the dry at Teretonga but was a little slippery in the wet when cold.
By all means say hi - we will be there for round two so see you there.

[scorry]

Hey Gaz, good write up mate.
Looking foward to next round, i hope its dry mate.
good dicing wif ya!