discodan
3rd November 2009, 12:10
Best weekend ever!
Some one was thinking when they organised for the NZPCRA meeting to be held on the Saturday and then the PMCC round to be held on the Sunday at Taupo. This meant that any twins / post classics could have two days of sunny racing bliss, if you didn't know then you should have checked here www.trackspot.co.nz ;)
So I packed up the bike and drove up to Taupo on the Friday, thanks to 'Cookie' I had somewhere to stay and got woke up to a glorious day on Saturday.
NZPCRA GP
Got to the track and went out for Qualifying in the Protwin / BEARS class, which was basically the Ducati class, and got up to speed fairly quickly with an unknown lap time but good enough for 3rd on the grid.
Race 1 - Got a poor start but didn't lose too much ground and just kept my head down to finish a lonely race in 4th behind Paul Dobbs on a 999, Sam Smith on a 749 and a sweet looking Ducati 888 with a couple of yellow dukes closing in.
Race 2 - A better start this time and followed Sam and Paul through the infield until they powered away to leave my all on my own again. I thought the 888 would come past eventually but he must not have started the race, instead concentrating on his post classic class. This time I had a good gap over the rest to finish 3rd.
I heard over the speaker that I had done a 1:41.6, which was a new PB so happy with that. I also picked up the coolest trophy (complete with a little helmet that you can spin ;)) for finishing 3rd inProtwin/BEARS. Thoroughly enjoyed the event and wondering why there weren't many SVs there?
PMCC Round 1
Woke up to sunshine again and got set up at the track for a busy day. After riding the previous day I felt right in the groove from the first lap and qualified 3rd on the grid for F3/Protwin with a 1:16 on the short track behind Glen Williams and Scott Moir. Also qualified 13th in supersport.
Super Sport Race 1
Pretty much just went out to have a bit of fun dicing with the 600s and finished 14th.
F3 / Protwin Race 1
Got an OK start and ended up 4th into turn one behind Neil Chappell, which I decided was alright with me for now and settled into a rythem. It was only a couple of laps later that I realised that Russel Josiah (on a protwin) was ahead of me and my direct competition. So I started to push a bit more and got past Chappy to catch up to Russel. We both got held up by back markers a bit but he got pushed wide quite badly on the last turn, which meant I was right behind him and passed him on the second to last lap. I managed to hold on to finish 1st inProtwins and 2nd on track behind Glen, with everyone close behind me.
F3 / Protwin Race 2
Not such a good start this time and I got that sinking feeling that I was in trouble if I wanted to catch Russel - who got a flyer. Luckily the guys in front of me were all going pretty quick so we all ended up circulating at about the same pace. I started to make my way through the pack, which wasn't easy with the likes ofJette Josiah who was really quick. After a few block passes I managed to get past Russel and back into 2nd place overall to get my head down and set some fast, consistent laps. As luck had it I crossed the line with a bit of a gap and a PB of 1:15.1 so I was really happy.
Super Sport Race 2
I decided that my Pirellis were nearing the end of their life so thought I might as well go out in Super Sport again and just had a bit of a play with braking markers etc and found some areas that I could go a bit faster. On the last lap I pushed to see If I could get past a couple of 600s in front of me, which didn't work but had a blast trying and finished 11th.
Overall, finished first in protwins and capped off an awesome weekend of racing.
Both days racing ran smoothly so thanks to the organisers.
I'm doing the Tri-series next so it seems like a long wait but I'm sure I will end up prepping the bike the night before. See you there!
Some one was thinking when they organised for the NZPCRA meeting to be held on the Saturday and then the PMCC round to be held on the Sunday at Taupo. This meant that any twins / post classics could have two days of sunny racing bliss, if you didn't know then you should have checked here www.trackspot.co.nz ;)
So I packed up the bike and drove up to Taupo on the Friday, thanks to 'Cookie' I had somewhere to stay and got woke up to a glorious day on Saturday.
NZPCRA GP
Got to the track and went out for Qualifying in the Protwin / BEARS class, which was basically the Ducati class, and got up to speed fairly quickly with an unknown lap time but good enough for 3rd on the grid.
Race 1 - Got a poor start but didn't lose too much ground and just kept my head down to finish a lonely race in 4th behind Paul Dobbs on a 999, Sam Smith on a 749 and a sweet looking Ducati 888 with a couple of yellow dukes closing in.
Race 2 - A better start this time and followed Sam and Paul through the infield until they powered away to leave my all on my own again. I thought the 888 would come past eventually but he must not have started the race, instead concentrating on his post classic class. This time I had a good gap over the rest to finish 3rd.
I heard over the speaker that I had done a 1:41.6, which was a new PB so happy with that. I also picked up the coolest trophy (complete with a little helmet that you can spin ;)) for finishing 3rd inProtwin/BEARS. Thoroughly enjoyed the event and wondering why there weren't many SVs there?
PMCC Round 1
Woke up to sunshine again and got set up at the track for a busy day. After riding the previous day I felt right in the groove from the first lap and qualified 3rd on the grid for F3/Protwin with a 1:16 on the short track behind Glen Williams and Scott Moir. Also qualified 13th in supersport.
Super Sport Race 1
Pretty much just went out to have a bit of fun dicing with the 600s and finished 14th.
F3 / Protwin Race 1
Got an OK start and ended up 4th into turn one behind Neil Chappell, which I decided was alright with me for now and settled into a rythem. It was only a couple of laps later that I realised that Russel Josiah (on a protwin) was ahead of me and my direct competition. So I started to push a bit more and got past Chappy to catch up to Russel. We both got held up by back markers a bit but he got pushed wide quite badly on the last turn, which meant I was right behind him and passed him on the second to last lap. I managed to hold on to finish 1st inProtwins and 2nd on track behind Glen, with everyone close behind me.
F3 / Protwin Race 2
Not such a good start this time and I got that sinking feeling that I was in trouble if I wanted to catch Russel - who got a flyer. Luckily the guys in front of me were all going pretty quick so we all ended up circulating at about the same pace. I started to make my way through the pack, which wasn't easy with the likes ofJette Josiah who was really quick. After a few block passes I managed to get past Russel and back into 2nd place overall to get my head down and set some fast, consistent laps. As luck had it I crossed the line with a bit of a gap and a PB of 1:15.1 so I was really happy.
Super Sport Race 2
I decided that my Pirellis were nearing the end of their life so thought I might as well go out in Super Sport again and just had a bit of a play with braking markers etc and found some areas that I could go a bit faster. On the last lap I pushed to see If I could get past a couple of 600s in front of me, which didn't work but had a blast trying and finished 11th.
Overall, finished first in protwins and capped off an awesome weekend of racing.
Both days racing ran smoothly so thanks to the organisers.
I'm doing the Tri-series next so it seems like a long wait but I'm sure I will end up prepping the bike the night before. See you there!