phantom67
31st July 2009, 16:24
24-25 July 2009
Glen Orwin and I arrived at Steve's House in Palmerston North early Thursday evening, after our (way too long) drive from Auckland. After a less than impressive last round, I was keen to get out on to the track again, and I was pretty happy that we'd be getting a test day this time around to give us some time to get familiar with everything again, instead of getting thrown into deep end like we have been up until now.
Friday (Test Day)
We got to the track fairly early on Friday morning for the test day. At first I was a bit concerned about the wet weather, but despite the rain, it turned out to be a very valuable day for me in terms of training. Our first session on the track was quite damp, but even so, we didn't bother with wet tires. I just figured I'd take it easy first time out on the slicks, and treat it like a Sunday ride just to get into the swing of things. The entire session was pretty uneventful, and after about 15 minutes of riding I went back into the pit again, as our session had come to an end.
By the second session, it had gotten quite a bit wetter than before, so we opted for full wets on the front and rear. Seeing as this was my first time in the wet, on wet tires on the front and rear, I took it pretty easy early on, but after a couple of laps of circulating, I felt right at home. As the session went on, I tried to experiment with different lines through the corners. I guess my legs started getting tired, because I kept missing gears through Turn 3, just about every single time I went past.
I spent most of the third session just going around and around the track, to get some more time on the bike, but I kept missing gears on the same turn every time, so I called an early end to the session and went into the pits so we could adjusted my gear lever a little bit.
Going out for the fourth session, I felt really good on the bike, my feet felt firmly planted on the footpegs (whereas before, my feet kept sliding off and grinding on the ground going through tight corners). The extra padding on my seat really helped, as it put more weight onto the footpegs, and it made it easier for me to get behind the bubble.
By the fifth session, it started bucketing down with rain, and seeing as I had done so well during the earlier sessions, I decided to end my test day on a high note, rather than to risk crashing in the wet.
Saturday
We got to the track at around 8:30. Despite the light showers earlier in the morning, the sun eventually came out. There wasn't a whole lot for me to do other than sign in, as we spent the latter part of the day before moving all of our bikes and gear across into our new pit garage.
Qualifying:
We went out for our qualifying session late that morning. I took it pretty easy since it was still a bit damp from the showers earlier on. On top of this, I started noticing some abnormal behavior on the front suspension, as the bike started clattering heaps under heavy brakes (going into hairpins from the straights). I didn't really feel confident because of this, and I was pretty slow during the whole session and ended up qualifying in 8th place, with a lap time of 1:32.654.
Race 1:
Fortunately for us, it warmed up quite a bit for Race 1, and there was heaps of grip on the track. I had a pretty bad start. I thought I had the bike going, but I left the clutch too early, and bogged down a little bit. The first few laps were tense as usual, battling it out with the 250s, I eventually managed to get ahead of most of them. On about the third lap, I got passed by Will Baker, but as we went through Turn 3, he grabbed a bit too much of the front brake, bringing up the rear of the bike, running off the track and dropping it. I sat in 5th place for a few laps before getting passed by Glen which put me back into 6th place, where I stayed for the rest of the race.
Race 2:
Our second race of the day was delayed by quite a bit, due to a number of crashes in the races prior to ours, and by the time we went out, it had cooled down quite a bit, which meant we'd have less grip out there. I had another disappointing start. I pushed myself off the line, and held the clutch for what seemed like ages, but even so, by the time I got going, even the 150s had caught up to me. As before, I spent the first few laps getting away from most of the 250s, except Adrian Billington. All it took for me was to mess up a couple of shifts through Turn 3, as I had been doing all weekend for him to overtake me. For a couple of laps, it seemed like I was gaining on him, before I messed up another shift, and lost him completely, Glen on the other hand didn't seem to have too much trouble passing both of us. Other than my shifting problems, I felt quite good on the bike, but strangely enough, my lap times were slower than in Race 2 (I was only able to manage a 1:28.077, compared to my 1:27.273 in Race 1). Due to Jaden Hassan falling out with a busted motor, I got put up into 5th place.
Overall I feel like this is easily my best weekend so far, as we got lots of track time between the Test day and the Race day. Due to the adjustments we've made to the bike, I feel much more comfortable on it, and I can now focus on the actual racing aspect of things (brake points, apexes, getting on the throttle early, etc) , rather than having to worry about my feet constantly dragging on the ground every time I go through a tight turn. I genuinely feel like I've progressed onto the next level after this weekend, and I don't think I should have too much trouble improving my lap times even more from now on.
Grats to Avalon Biddle on the double, and Cheers Steve, Mike, Robbie, Vic Club, Our sponsors, and everyone else for another great weekend. Bring on Round 4 :)
Glen Orwin and I arrived at Steve's House in Palmerston North early Thursday evening, after our (way too long) drive from Auckland. After a less than impressive last round, I was keen to get out on to the track again, and I was pretty happy that we'd be getting a test day this time around to give us some time to get familiar with everything again, instead of getting thrown into deep end like we have been up until now.
Friday (Test Day)
We got to the track fairly early on Friday morning for the test day. At first I was a bit concerned about the wet weather, but despite the rain, it turned out to be a very valuable day for me in terms of training. Our first session on the track was quite damp, but even so, we didn't bother with wet tires. I just figured I'd take it easy first time out on the slicks, and treat it like a Sunday ride just to get into the swing of things. The entire session was pretty uneventful, and after about 15 minutes of riding I went back into the pit again, as our session had come to an end.
By the second session, it had gotten quite a bit wetter than before, so we opted for full wets on the front and rear. Seeing as this was my first time in the wet, on wet tires on the front and rear, I took it pretty easy early on, but after a couple of laps of circulating, I felt right at home. As the session went on, I tried to experiment with different lines through the corners. I guess my legs started getting tired, because I kept missing gears through Turn 3, just about every single time I went past.
I spent most of the third session just going around and around the track, to get some more time on the bike, but I kept missing gears on the same turn every time, so I called an early end to the session and went into the pits so we could adjusted my gear lever a little bit.
Going out for the fourth session, I felt really good on the bike, my feet felt firmly planted on the footpegs (whereas before, my feet kept sliding off and grinding on the ground going through tight corners). The extra padding on my seat really helped, as it put more weight onto the footpegs, and it made it easier for me to get behind the bubble.
By the fifth session, it started bucketing down with rain, and seeing as I had done so well during the earlier sessions, I decided to end my test day on a high note, rather than to risk crashing in the wet.
Saturday
We got to the track at around 8:30. Despite the light showers earlier in the morning, the sun eventually came out. There wasn't a whole lot for me to do other than sign in, as we spent the latter part of the day before moving all of our bikes and gear across into our new pit garage.
Qualifying:
We went out for our qualifying session late that morning. I took it pretty easy since it was still a bit damp from the showers earlier on. On top of this, I started noticing some abnormal behavior on the front suspension, as the bike started clattering heaps under heavy brakes (going into hairpins from the straights). I didn't really feel confident because of this, and I was pretty slow during the whole session and ended up qualifying in 8th place, with a lap time of 1:32.654.
Race 1:
Fortunately for us, it warmed up quite a bit for Race 1, and there was heaps of grip on the track. I had a pretty bad start. I thought I had the bike going, but I left the clutch too early, and bogged down a little bit. The first few laps were tense as usual, battling it out with the 250s, I eventually managed to get ahead of most of them. On about the third lap, I got passed by Will Baker, but as we went through Turn 3, he grabbed a bit too much of the front brake, bringing up the rear of the bike, running off the track and dropping it. I sat in 5th place for a few laps before getting passed by Glen which put me back into 6th place, where I stayed for the rest of the race.
Race 2:
Our second race of the day was delayed by quite a bit, due to a number of crashes in the races prior to ours, and by the time we went out, it had cooled down quite a bit, which meant we'd have less grip out there. I had another disappointing start. I pushed myself off the line, and held the clutch for what seemed like ages, but even so, by the time I got going, even the 150s had caught up to me. As before, I spent the first few laps getting away from most of the 250s, except Adrian Billington. All it took for me was to mess up a couple of shifts through Turn 3, as I had been doing all weekend for him to overtake me. For a couple of laps, it seemed like I was gaining on him, before I messed up another shift, and lost him completely, Glen on the other hand didn't seem to have too much trouble passing both of us. Other than my shifting problems, I felt quite good on the bike, but strangely enough, my lap times were slower than in Race 2 (I was only able to manage a 1:28.077, compared to my 1:27.273 in Race 1). Due to Jaden Hassan falling out with a busted motor, I got put up into 5th place.
Overall I feel like this is easily my best weekend so far, as we got lots of track time between the Test day and the Race day. Due to the adjustments we've made to the bike, I feel much more comfortable on it, and I can now focus on the actual racing aspect of things (brake points, apexes, getting on the throttle early, etc) , rather than having to worry about my feet constantly dragging on the ground every time I go through a tight turn. I genuinely feel like I've progressed onto the next level after this weekend, and I don't think I should have too much trouble improving my lap times even more from now on.
Grats to Avalon Biddle on the double, and Cheers Steve, Mike, Robbie, Vic Club, Our sponsors, and everyone else for another great weekend. Bring on Round 4 :)