scuzeme
21st October 2009, 14:03
Jamie Rejek delivered my bike back to me on the Friday test day and it was up to me quickly fit the last pieces to the bike to complete its resurrection from my round 5 Epic Crash.
I set up the “Operating Theatre” completed with carpeted stable and started to fit my second set of fairings, with the new Dunlop’s the front tyre has such a high profile that it was rubbing against the front of the belly pan some ugly adjustments got that sorted.
I had to lengthen the drive chain for the same reason, the axle had to be moved right back in order to make room for the 200 profile rear tyre.
With the help of Sam Love I got my fairings drilled and attached to the subframes.
Got the bike started and headed out for a practice lap, as I came out of pit lane and went to turn round Toyota the bike wanted to do a complete 180 as soon as I tipped it in!, the whole front and rear end felt alien almost wallowing very strange and disconcerting then the dash display went dead! I managed to get the bike back to the pit and discovered that the battery was dead due to a faulty rectifier.
After some time I managed to fit my spare rectifier and spare battery but not before losing my battery connection bolts somewhere between the top of the engine and the exhaust pipes, about this time a Ginga volcano was ready to erupt and I noticed that everyone disappeared from around me including my lovely wife.
New rear sets, new clip ons, new tires I was thinking that I had made a serious mistake having made all these changes before race day :(
There was time for one more practice before the day closed and I managed to get Keri Dukie to make some front end adjustments that seemed to tame the bike a little and not make it feel so unstable.
We got our bikes into our garage and left to get a feed and a wee drink, but I was not feeling confident about race day.
Long story short, me Rachel, Gah, Wharfy, and Keelim went out and were joined by Marcus and Domini I needed some serious stress relief which resulted in a great night but left me with a serious hangover sitting in the pit the next day Hahahaaaa man I felt sick.
F2 Qualifying
R Taylor came over and made some more adjustments to the Yamakazi and we went out to qualify, I was stopped by the officials at the end of the qualifier and told that my transponder was not being picked up by the timing gear, this is what happens when you have your own transponder but forget to charge it the night before :weep: there it was your last on the grid mate.
I knew my top 10 attack was pretty much dead in the water at that moment.
F1 Qualifying
Got fitted with a Gibbs transponder and went out still getting used to the feel of the bike and lacking a little confidence out of splash into the right hander, couldn’t believe I qualified just badly with a high 1:17 2nd to last on the grid. I was feeling pretty bummed at this early stage of the day.
F2 Race 1
Keri Dukie has come over to me a couple of times during the series and given me some short sharp advice which had always paid dividends, we had a short discussion about my qualifier and he told me what I needed to do in each corner before the middle straight in order to make up some places.
Lined up im on the last grid on the far right hand side Bang! I got my best start ever straying further right and hugging the edge of the track all the way down to Toyota I passed the last third of the field riding the apex and keeping it tight out of Toyota and into the right hand sweeper I passed a couple more bikes, round splash wide passed another bike , switching to the left side at the right hander (where I crashed) and holding a straight line into the hairpin I got a good drive onto the middle straight and passed a couple more bikes sweet ive gone from dead last to mid field in HALF A LAP THANK YOU KERI!
Spent a couple of laps dicing with Gah on his rocking new red Kawa, and managed to get in front of him even though he was out braking me everywhere. HMMMMM was that Marcus on the wall at Toyota Hahaaaaa it is!! Martin and Bruce were up ahead dicing it and I spent the reminder of the race trying to catch them but to no avail.
Saw Wharfy had gone down at the hairpin and the race was red flagged I had two things on my mind and they were Hope Kevs old bones held up and I hope they don’t restart the race because im going back to that place grid again if they do!
15th Place from last on the grid I was pretty happy considering my bad luck.
By the end of the race I had come to grips with the changes and I had made to my bike and my mind was made up that these Dunlops were fantastic!!.
F1 Race 1
I was over towards the middle on the grid for these races and my F2 race tactics didn’t work so well, I managed to claw my way up through the back of the field and fought hard to get infront of Mark Bennet to come home 13th with a respectable 1:14.5 best lap.
F2 Race 2
Another good race for me where I managed to make up quite a few places by the time I got out of Higgins, I felt really confident on the bike now and just seemed to be flying and getting ahead of all my usual die hard mates like Bruce, Marty, Gah.
I was in 14th position and closing on Cameron and Mark Bennet, Cameron’s GSXR was bloody fast but I was making up meters into and out of the corners especially Dunlop, Mark got infront of Cameron and I was right on Cams rear wheel when the race was red flagged, I felt that if the race had of gone the distance I would have got past Cam and Mark but it wasn’t to be so 1 I finished 14th with a 1:14.3 only one tenth off my best time!
Gah unfortunately had highsided out of the hairpin and both he and Kev ended up in Palmy Hospital.
F1 R2
For some of us it was a brave decision to compete in the last F1 race, for most of us we played it safe and decided not to go out in the storm conditions and possibly add to the day of carnage, I was happy with my decision not to go out and we spent the time loading our own wagons as well as Kev’s and Gah’s and organizing drivers ;)
Thanks to:
VMCC for a well organized, well run event, many of us don’t have a clue what you do to get a series like this up and running, im sure there’s a lot of sacrifice, tongue biting and patience required especially when some wanker competitor starts complaining, WELL DONE GUYS AND GALS.
Thanks to:
All my sponsors, those that have backed me this series with sponsored product, and freebies and discounts Thanks Andrew at Forbes and Davies, Stew and the TSS Red Baron Team, Dave, Grant and Ian at Moa Signcraft, Dave at Jack Daniels Bodyshop, my own Company EM Services.
Thanks to:
All the people that have befriended me this year, opened their homes, fridges and liquor cabinets, people like Dave and Dayna, Darrin and Trudes, Gah Chan. People that took it upon them selves to help me out when I asked and sometimes when I didn’t, Jamie Rejek I give big respect without him I wouldn’t have got to the last round, Keri Dukie, Robert Taylor, Sam Fitzgerald and BJ Cawthorn all helped and gave me free service or good advice.
Thanks to:
My pit buddies Dodgy, Wharfy, Gah, Phil and of course Marcus all you guys rock.
Marcus thanks for putting up with a lot of shit but giving more back and thanks for showing me what it means to succeed and have victory even against the odds mate.
Thanks to:
My biggest sponsor and biggest fan Rachel.
Well I succeeded in all my goals and exceeded them all, I missed out on top 10 F2 but ill be back next winter series looking to go even better.
I will have more to say on my last winter series blog when it’s posted.
Cheers.
I set up the “Operating Theatre” completed with carpeted stable and started to fit my second set of fairings, with the new Dunlop’s the front tyre has such a high profile that it was rubbing against the front of the belly pan some ugly adjustments got that sorted.
I had to lengthen the drive chain for the same reason, the axle had to be moved right back in order to make room for the 200 profile rear tyre.
With the help of Sam Love I got my fairings drilled and attached to the subframes.
Got the bike started and headed out for a practice lap, as I came out of pit lane and went to turn round Toyota the bike wanted to do a complete 180 as soon as I tipped it in!, the whole front and rear end felt alien almost wallowing very strange and disconcerting then the dash display went dead! I managed to get the bike back to the pit and discovered that the battery was dead due to a faulty rectifier.
After some time I managed to fit my spare rectifier and spare battery but not before losing my battery connection bolts somewhere between the top of the engine and the exhaust pipes, about this time a Ginga volcano was ready to erupt and I noticed that everyone disappeared from around me including my lovely wife.
New rear sets, new clip ons, new tires I was thinking that I had made a serious mistake having made all these changes before race day :(
There was time for one more practice before the day closed and I managed to get Keri Dukie to make some front end adjustments that seemed to tame the bike a little and not make it feel so unstable.
We got our bikes into our garage and left to get a feed and a wee drink, but I was not feeling confident about race day.
Long story short, me Rachel, Gah, Wharfy, and Keelim went out and were joined by Marcus and Domini I needed some serious stress relief which resulted in a great night but left me with a serious hangover sitting in the pit the next day Hahahaaaa man I felt sick.
F2 Qualifying
R Taylor came over and made some more adjustments to the Yamakazi and we went out to qualify, I was stopped by the officials at the end of the qualifier and told that my transponder was not being picked up by the timing gear, this is what happens when you have your own transponder but forget to charge it the night before :weep: there it was your last on the grid mate.
I knew my top 10 attack was pretty much dead in the water at that moment.
F1 Qualifying
Got fitted with a Gibbs transponder and went out still getting used to the feel of the bike and lacking a little confidence out of splash into the right hander, couldn’t believe I qualified just badly with a high 1:17 2nd to last on the grid. I was feeling pretty bummed at this early stage of the day.
F2 Race 1
Keri Dukie has come over to me a couple of times during the series and given me some short sharp advice which had always paid dividends, we had a short discussion about my qualifier and he told me what I needed to do in each corner before the middle straight in order to make up some places.
Lined up im on the last grid on the far right hand side Bang! I got my best start ever straying further right and hugging the edge of the track all the way down to Toyota I passed the last third of the field riding the apex and keeping it tight out of Toyota and into the right hand sweeper I passed a couple more bikes, round splash wide passed another bike , switching to the left side at the right hander (where I crashed) and holding a straight line into the hairpin I got a good drive onto the middle straight and passed a couple more bikes sweet ive gone from dead last to mid field in HALF A LAP THANK YOU KERI!
Spent a couple of laps dicing with Gah on his rocking new red Kawa, and managed to get in front of him even though he was out braking me everywhere. HMMMMM was that Marcus on the wall at Toyota Hahaaaaa it is!! Martin and Bruce were up ahead dicing it and I spent the reminder of the race trying to catch them but to no avail.
Saw Wharfy had gone down at the hairpin and the race was red flagged I had two things on my mind and they were Hope Kevs old bones held up and I hope they don’t restart the race because im going back to that place grid again if they do!
15th Place from last on the grid I was pretty happy considering my bad luck.
By the end of the race I had come to grips with the changes and I had made to my bike and my mind was made up that these Dunlops were fantastic!!.
F1 Race 1
I was over towards the middle on the grid for these races and my F2 race tactics didn’t work so well, I managed to claw my way up through the back of the field and fought hard to get infront of Mark Bennet to come home 13th with a respectable 1:14.5 best lap.
F2 Race 2
Another good race for me where I managed to make up quite a few places by the time I got out of Higgins, I felt really confident on the bike now and just seemed to be flying and getting ahead of all my usual die hard mates like Bruce, Marty, Gah.
I was in 14th position and closing on Cameron and Mark Bennet, Cameron’s GSXR was bloody fast but I was making up meters into and out of the corners especially Dunlop, Mark got infront of Cameron and I was right on Cams rear wheel when the race was red flagged, I felt that if the race had of gone the distance I would have got past Cam and Mark but it wasn’t to be so 1 I finished 14th with a 1:14.3 only one tenth off my best time!
Gah unfortunately had highsided out of the hairpin and both he and Kev ended up in Palmy Hospital.
F1 R2
For some of us it was a brave decision to compete in the last F1 race, for most of us we played it safe and decided not to go out in the storm conditions and possibly add to the day of carnage, I was happy with my decision not to go out and we spent the time loading our own wagons as well as Kev’s and Gah’s and organizing drivers ;)
Thanks to:
VMCC for a well organized, well run event, many of us don’t have a clue what you do to get a series like this up and running, im sure there’s a lot of sacrifice, tongue biting and patience required especially when some wanker competitor starts complaining, WELL DONE GUYS AND GALS.
Thanks to:
All my sponsors, those that have backed me this series with sponsored product, and freebies and discounts Thanks Andrew at Forbes and Davies, Stew and the TSS Red Baron Team, Dave, Grant and Ian at Moa Signcraft, Dave at Jack Daniels Bodyshop, my own Company EM Services.
Thanks to:
All the people that have befriended me this year, opened their homes, fridges and liquor cabinets, people like Dave and Dayna, Darrin and Trudes, Gah Chan. People that took it upon them selves to help me out when I asked and sometimes when I didn’t, Jamie Rejek I give big respect without him I wouldn’t have got to the last round, Keri Dukie, Robert Taylor, Sam Fitzgerald and BJ Cawthorn all helped and gave me free service or good advice.
Thanks to:
My pit buddies Dodgy, Wharfy, Gah, Phil and of course Marcus all you guys rock.
Marcus thanks for putting up with a lot of shit but giving more back and thanks for showing me what it means to succeed and have victory even against the odds mate.
Thanks to:
My biggest sponsor and biggest fan Rachel.
Well I succeeded in all my goals and exceeded them all, I missed out on top 10 F2 but ill be back next winter series looking to go even better.
I will have more to say on my last winter series blog when it’s posted.
Cheers.