A Podium at Last!

[Racey Rider]

If you can’t read my blue, you can always right click and highlight it to create a different contrast.

Short version: Made my first 3rd place in a race after three years of trying.

Long version: This is my third year of racing 150’s in only the Vic club Winter series.
in 06 I finished 8th in the Championship
in 07 I finished 5th .
in 08 I couldn’t race due to work commitments.
So in 09, ‘Blue Thunder’ and I were to try to keep the flow going with a top 3 finish.

Round one at Taupo was not such a great start - Wet cold slippery track. The carb jetting I had my hopes on just did not work. Qualified 8th out of 16 in the class.

I reverted back to my ‘fall back’ main jet for race one, which worked better. But on a drying track, basically just did not ride well. Just wasn’t yet ‘in the zone’, and finished a disappointing 9th.

In race two, the dry track, and maybe something to do with me coming out of the first corner as the first 150 (only one 250 in front of me), found me with my ‘game face’ on. A little bit of ‘Do or Die’ attitude kicked in, and the howling pack of two strokes behind me gave me a determination to hold them off as long as I could.
A couple of 250’s got passed me, but by the back straight I was still the 1st 150. A little bit of reality set in when Malcom went flying past on his RG halfway down the back straight. But second position was still more than I come even dream of - when is this checkered flag coming out anyway?
Oh thats right. we’re still on the first lap!
I’m pleased to say I held second place for another two laps, before again on the straights, two more RG’s went past me. I was in the end able to hold onto 4th to the flag.
My First 4th placing secured.

Round Two. Manfield long track.
Came down to the Friday test day and again played with jettings to try and find some speed along the straights. The lean jet I hoped would put me in the ball park showed definite detonation happening under track conditions. This scared me back to my ‘fall back’ rich jet, from which I worked my way back towards leaning it out, but ran out of track time. Can be a Frustrating game aye....

Qualifying on Saturday had me claiming third 150 on the grid, still 5 seconds off my previous BT on the long track, as I struggled to come to grips with those bumpy bits in the extension. But I’m normally good at my starts, so it was shaping up well to again be coming out of the first corner in a good position.

Race one - It was decided at streetstock briefing that we would all go off the same lights as the GP125’s infront of us, as they are so quick to lap us all. Yep - works for me. Get a good start and enter a mess of different bikes going into turn one. Have no idea where I’m placed, but seem to be at the pointy end of the 150’s. Put in a good ride - one or two RG’s passing - Highlight of the race was putting a text book pass on Russell going into Higgins sweeper. He had caught and passed me (Under a yellow flag I might add) down to the first corner, I regained my spot rounding into splash. Between splash and the hairpin he got the best of me again and lead me down the middle straight. Whether he made a mistake, I’m not sure, but I found myself gaining on him with a view to tucking in behind him to get a drag round the track. Unfortunately, by half straight mark I had gain on him so much that I was going to hit him if I didn’t change my plan! So... Slipstreaming ... Slipstreaming.... pull out to the right at the last second.... we get to the braking area.... I run a little deeper before braking to pull right up along side, and take control of the corner. Beautiful! Checking our lap time later, Russell put in his best lap getting away from me after that... so,, I must of had him worried.
I brought it home to the flag with no real confidence that I’d held another 4th spot. To my surprise on official results - I had my very first Third Place finish!!
My First Podium in three years of trying. :third: Ye Ha!

Race two - Was to be a 10 lap affair. 45kms at race pace.
Bogged the start a bit, but luckily, so did the other guys in front. It was now David (4th 150) that was leading us to the holeshot. Having inside track position on him I was again able to roll through and come out 1st 150. The two RG’s past me at some stage, and I mostly had a lonely race with them far ahead, and a big gap back to other bikes.
I did come under pressure though in the last couple of laps. Two young guys on RG’s had found their MoJo and were gaining on me quite well. The thought of championship points enters your mind at a time like this. How much do I continue to push hard to retain my position, but risk falling off and loosing all points. The sight of the white flag is a beautiful thing sometimes. One more lap without incidence and another 3rd place finish was achieved. A BT of 2:32 was a second slower than my BT of 2007. But I felt I could now push it harder into those bumpy areas and cut another second or two off that in the third race.
Sadly that race had to be canceled due to a few major crashers in other races. Heal Fast boys and girl.

Of course.. My euphoric bubble could be burst by pointing out that Malcolm wasn’t racing that weekend. And thats the only reason I got a third placeing....
But we’ll deal to that little hiccup when it come next round!.See you then!

Racey

Thanks to my supporters
Web Farm (http://www.webfarm.co.nz/)
2Day.com (http://www.2day.com/home.aspx)
Freeparking.co.nz (http://www.freeparking.co.nz/)

[Clivoris]

Was good to meet you and put face to handle. Congrats on the podium and thanks for being so bloody helpful with some other 150 racers.

[Billy]

Good to see you getting some rewards at last,Keep it up

[Str8 Jacket]

A couple of 250’s got passed me, but by the back straight I was still the 1st 150. A little bit of reality set in when Malcom went flying past on his RG halfway down the back straight.

That wasnt Malcolm, Malcolm took you and everyone else round the outside of the 3rd corner and buggered off after the 250's. That was after he almost ran off the first corner but kept it upright! I was right behind you when it happened cause as usual I got great start but couldnt maintain it, I couldnt believe it myself!

Congrats on your efforts so far, looks like you're going to have a great season!! Goodluck! :niceone:

[quallman1234]

Good stuff mate! Hopefully you can be rocking in some more podiums! Corner speed is key!

[rustys]

Great to see you back out there "Racey Rider", after a year off to come back with some good placings in the streetstocks.
Yep! will be interesting when Malcom gets back into the mix, i can see some good racing coming up in this class very shortly.
I hear some rumour that "Wanganui Street Circut" is interested in running StreetStocks as a class if there is enough interest, anyone else heard about this.?

[kiwifruit]

Well done man! :clap::wari:

[Racey Rider]

Thanks all.
Yes we were approched by someone suggesting that if 20 streetstock riders could be confirmed, Wanganui would put on a class for us.

In negotiations with the wife now! ;)

[ryanf062]

Exelent results mate keep it up.

[ajturbo]

about time you got up the front matey....

makes me want to rush out and get one....

thanks so much for noticing the trouble with the club's KR and know what to do about it...

and fixing it with a new spark plug!!!

the club owes you one!

AJ

[Shaun]

Good on ya Racy, it always comes to those who try hard eh mate

[koba]

Great to see you back out there "Racey Rider", after a year off to come back with some good placings in the streetstocks.
Yep! will be interesting when Malcom gets back into the mix, i can see some good racing coming up in this class very shortly.
I hear some rumour that "Wanganui Street Circut" is interested in running StreetStocks as a class if there is enough interest, anyone else heard about this.?


Thanks all.
Yes we were approched by someone suggesting that if 20 streetstock riders could be confirmed, Wanganui would put on a class for us.

In negotiations with the wife now! ;)


Hmm, Interesting...
Investigating this soon.

Also, good shit Racey Rider!

[SWERVE]

Well done:wari:
if the "street circuit" race goes ahead you can count my boy ANTS in for sure.
I was bringing the 675 anyway so there would be no excuses if we both could ride:Punk:

[chanceyy]

congrats Racey .. nice to see the dedication has paid off :clap:

[Racey Rider]

Round Three of the Winter Superbike Series was completed at Manfield last Saturday.

My goal - To do what I can to hold onto my current Third position in the series points.

The fast guys where all back on deck again, and a couple of the guys behind me in the race finishes, had spent the Friday Practice out on the track, so everyone was ready to pummel me.

I had returned my carb jetting to the stock standard #140 main jet, to again get a base line feel for the bikes pull at the days Temperature/Humidity/Barometric pressure. All of which I write down in my race diary, hoping to make sense of it all one day.

We were the last class out for qualifying, so the track was fairly dry on a clear but cool day.
I went out with a strategy in mind. My plan was to stay 100m behind Malcolm for the first two warmup laps, then when we were about to put in some decent fast laps for grid position, I may have an opportunity to slipstream Malcolm down the straight and pick up an extra second on a hot lap. While the plan sounded like a winner, Malcolm seemed to not understand the plan, (not that I had told him about it). I kept having to throttle off as I was catching his smokey little RG too quickly. For some reason Malcolm just wasn't riding fast enough for me. So I made a pass on him, and put the hammer down. Put in a few decent laps - but did notice some funny sounds coming from the motor at times.
When the lap times came in, I had placed 4th on the grid, 0.2 of a second behind Malcolm. (Hope you didn't slipstream me you cunning fox).

Though the bike ran well, I thought a sparkplug check was in order. Sure enough, there were signs of detonation on the plug, - flecks of aluminum from the piston crown. I'm thinking this could be caused by a pinhole leak in my exhaust header allowing air back into the cylinder in the reverse pulse. I changed to a richer jet which masked the problem for the day.

Race one.
In my favorite grid position on the outside wall of the track, I blast off down to the first corner to do battle with the 125's in the only stretch of the track we can 'hang' with them. Come out of it in a good spot, but not sure where in my class. The feeling of being at the front is classic, 'Go like a cut cat' feeling. You've all seen a cat fly across a lawn, up a fence, over the top, and it's gone, without so much as a look behind. That's how it feels to be at the front of the pack - having to give it every ounce of your being - cause you know ... Something's about to catch you!

Had another good dice with Russell (# 2 in the champs) this race. Even made the same pass move into Higgins that I did so well last month. One day he'll learn he has to take a defensive entry into that corner with me behind him. (Easy to say - not easy to do when you have no idea what the guy behind you is doing). Brought it home in 4th thanks to Malcolm's bike wanting to have a rest, but 0.3/sec in front of Russell. (yay, more points for me).

Race two,
was much the same with a new rider Marcus again giving me a lesson in how it's done.
Another 4th place.
But the most pleasing thing of the day was I finally got to my long term goal of a 1:33 lap time on the little Kawasaki KR150. This had bugged me for ages, having done 1:33's so easily years ago on a Suzuki RG150. But I did three laps in the 1:33's on the day, so was pleased with that.

The Series Championship also looks interesting, as I was able to close in on Russell (2nd place) who now only has a 3 point lead over me. And as Malcolm had a bad day, not finishing either race, I have a bit of a points gap on him too. May end up being an interesting last round in October as far as Championship points go.

See you next round.
Racey.

Thanks to my supporters
Web Farm (http://www.webfarm.co.nz/)
2Day.com (http://www.2day.com/home.aspx)
Freeparking.co.nz (http://www.freeparking.co.nz/)

[Clivoris]

:laugh: "Cut cat" I'm liking it. Awesome approach and skills Racey. Are you and Russell entered in the "Grant Russell Memorial Cup"?

[ajturbo]

DAM YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!:spanking:
you make me want to get out there again....

SOoooooooooo

badly..

will you STOP writing up these sort of race reports..!!!

well done matey!!!

[Racey Rider]

NoT I! Far to young. have to be over 45 don't you?

[Racey Rider]

Round 4 had a new Michelin tyre on the rear of the KR150, as the Dunlop TT900 was showing chords after the last race day.
The day started with me three points behind Russel who holds 2nd place in the championship. Three points wasn’t impossible to gain was my thoughts, and I felt confident in my ability to at least hold my grasp on Third in the series.

Qualifying gave me an uneasy feeling however. The new Race tyre I had ordered had not yet arrived in the country, so this cheaper ‘Pilot Sporty’ was thrown on for one round. The profile of this tyre was not feeling right to me, and I longed to have my Two and a half year old TT900 back.
The track was dry and I soon fell into a rhythm with a quick commute through the long circuit, interrupted now and again by that awkward hairpin and sweeper over the divot that I still haven’t come to grips with. But 2:32 was as good as I have previously got around the long track so was pleased with that, even though it only put me in 7th place on the grid, with Russel in 6th, and Ryan (the guy right behind me in the champs) in 5th.

Race one
Got a ok start, got ahead of the two guys mentioned, and put my head down to keep it that way. On the last lap I knew Russell was right behind me, but went too slow over the divot sweeper letting him get by. Not wanting it to be over that easily I aimed for a inside pass on the last sweeper before the Chequered flag. I followed Russell in there taking a tighter line, The move was on, (in my mind - just the way I’d seen Rossi do it). The tighter line allowed me to creep up in track position to be almost level with my opponent.
Another couple of feet and I would be able to inforce my position. Russel ofcourse had other ideas, (just as he had seen Rossi do it!), and continued to throw his bike into the apex, shutting the door right infront of me. I had to think fast - Do I keep the throttle open and imagine theres a gap for me (I’m sure Rossi does this), or do I back off, allowing us both to finish the race respectfully rather than in a smoking heap at the side of the track!

Russell 4th - Alex 5th. Dang! BT of 2:29.

Race two
Ok start, and this time a battle with another of the young guys on a RG150, Jeff.
Jeff got past me at my weak point and lead me into the last lap. Though he was six bike lengths ahead, I tried to keep some pressure on him, and was rewarded when he made a mistake at the first hairpin. I got past and lead him down to Higgins sweeper and onto the long track. Things where going well till I hit that far hairpin again. Pushing hard through here I felt the back tyre lose grip, then bite, then let go, then bite and let go. All the time I’m hearing my expansion chamber scraping the ground as I slide round the corner on it. This loses my flow through the corner dramatically and Jeff sails past. Triumphantly he leads me to the finish line, leaving me again in 5th. BT 2:28.
But Russell had a bad run it seems and only finished 8th, so I gained some point on him.

At the end of the day I made an overall gain of 1 point on Russell. So with two rounds to go I am now 2 points away from second place for the series.
But a lot can happen in two rounds.

See you then.
Racey.

Thanks to my supporters
Web Farm (http://www.webfarm.co.nz/)
2Day.com (http://www.2day.com/home.aspx)
Freeparking.co.nz (http://www.freeparking.co.nz/)

[Clivoris]

Choice mate.
Had me on the edge of my seat.

[sinfull]

good read Racey, Best of luck for the next two rounds !

[ajturbo]

so cool to watch matey..!!!!

and another GREAT write-up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Racey Rider]

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

This is how I was feeling 24 hours after the two day race weekend that was Vic club round five.

The Saturday started with some trash talk, making sure Russell knew I was only two points behind him in the battle for 2nd place in the series champs.
Last month my bike ran really well, and since I had done no changes to it, I was disappointed to find it feeling a little dull in qualifying.

The Stupid part was,
I had all the symptoms of the problem right at my finger tips,, but didn’t click to what the problem was.

Riding well - but slow laps times (1:36 put me 9th in a grid of 17.)
No over-rev - (As soon as I hit red line the bike started burbling)
Low barometric presser (affecting the jetting)

Had I clicked my bike was running Too Rich for the days conditions, the weekends outcome could have been different. So not only did I blow a chance to gain points, but I lost points to Ryan who had a cracker of a weekend, and bumped me back into 4th.

That said, I had great fun with some close racing all weekend. I was pleased with my starts, being confident to force my way into better positions in the first corner.

Current Standing’s:
Gareth: 231 points
Russell: 175
Ryan: 172
Alex: 167
Tyler: 134

Last round of the series 17th Oct.

Thanks to my supporters
Web Farm (http://www.webfarm.co.nz/)
2Day.com (http://www.2day.com/home.aspx)
Freeparking.co.nz (http://www.freeparking.co.nz/)

[Racey Rider]

I had been expecting a wet track, and to see what the other riders had to offer in the rain. But Manfield again put on a warm cloudy/sunny day.

Although last month the KR150 had run rich under the days conditions, We didn’t have the same low pressure on this day, so the bike rolled out of the pits un-changed from the previous round. I could feel the difference already after the first warm up lap, the bike was running perfectly under the mornings weather conditions. The track was in great condition ... I had great tyres on .... So now - it was all down to Me!

On lap two I slowed to allow traffic to get well ahead of me, to give room for a run at some ‘hot’ laps. Giving myself time to think about the job that needed to be done. 8 little points between me in 4th place, and Russell in 2nd on the ‘champs’ board. Ryan stuck between us was the ‘wildcard’, I didn’t know if he’d do well again today or not.

I rounded ‘Dunlop’, pinning the throttle wide open, and tuck low on the bike as the start line comes into view. I cross the line and the seconds start to tick. tick .tick. tick.
Into the first corner - Braking late - Braking hard - dropping through the gears - body position - tip the bike in - thinking smooth thoughts - little less brakes - down one more gear - thinking open the throttle early - brakes off/throttle open - exit corner - ..... next one.
Everything felt good, and I was pleased to put in three consecutive laps in the 1:34 range. This put me 5th on a grid of 16 150’s.

Race One:
Got off to a good start and forced myself into third 150 coming out of the first corner. My main competitors were behind me, and I saw no reason to change that! But by half race Ryan was showing his speed again, - past - and started pulling away from me. One more got by, but I was still holding my own against Russell. Last lap - last corner - Chequered flag in front of me - Great I’m going to beat him - But no! Right on the finish line I see Russell’s bike coming past me. He beats me by 0.003 of a second! I was SO ANNOYED!
Got back to my best time of 1:33

Race Two:
Red lights go out - and the 250cc bike right infront of me on the grid decides to pull a big wheelie and flip it’s self before it’s even gone 2 metres. (May have had something to do with rider input, but.... I’ll not be the judge.) I swing sideways to get past him, hoping not to get collected by oncoming racers myself, and drop into about 6th through the first corner. Red flags. Race stopped. Start again.
Another good start, but I soon found the changes I had made between races had not paid off. In qualifying the bike ran great. As the morning warmed, 11am, race one the bike was running just a little rich. So as our 2nd race was to be at 2pm, I thought the day would be hotter still and chose to go down Two jet sizes on the main jet. But with delays, we didn’t get race two till 3pm and the weather was not warmer. This really effected the power of the bike and most of my laps were 1:36’s. 3 seconds a lap down on where I should have been.

So 4th place this year in Streetstocks 150. Disappointing to the competitor within me.
But I guess that just means, I’ll have to come back another year!
Still lots to learn.

Thanks to all those that have shown an interest in my progress.

Thanks to my supporters
Web Farm (http://www.webfarm.co.nz/)
2Day.com (http://www.2day.com/home.aspx)
Freeparking.co.nz (http://www.freeparking.co.nz/)
Heidenau (http://www.northwest.co.nz/)

This has been

Racey Rider

[xr-rider]

well done on your 4th place. i enjoyed the few battles we had this season.

[wharfy]

Good read, and congratulations on the placing !

[Clivoris]

Great read man. I felt like commiserating about your 4th place for a while. Then I remembered that I've probably come 35th. Well done.

[ryanf062]

its a bit of a shame you had problems with your jetting especially with the point so close.its been great racing with you this season.
See you next year.