Redline Crash day Taupo

[scracha]

Arrived at Taupo with Simon Limbtwin. Bloody nice having a driver & pit bitch.

Squirted round on my ZX-6r for about umm....15 laps. Damn, Drew is the man. Felt like a new bike. From being bloody awful at Taupo a couple of weeks back it just felt awesome. Rear tyre not being down to canvas helped with confidence.

Came back to pits, back out on Johan's Ducati 998 about 10 minutes laster. Did a 35ish lap endurance stint on it (almost full tank but someone's bike broke so red-flagged) and was really getting a good rythm.

Went back out on the 998 after lunch. Did about 4 laps. Caught up with Flying Fred who was schooling someone on a road bike. Tagged on behind the pair of them to see if I could get some insight from one of motorcycling's masters. 2nd lap, going very slow, concentration dropped and dickhead here forgets he's on a race shift and bangs the 998 down to first instead of 3rd as I'm just tipping into T2. Almost saved it. Threw me out saddle and over the bars. Think bike ran over me but unusually the crash was a blur. Someone mentioned highside

Fuck. Right hand very sore. Possibly fractured. After grovelling to Johan I went back on my ZX-6r for about 7 laps to ensure my head wasn't fucked. Seemed to be able to brake OK regardless of hand.

Stupidest crash ever.

No..actually....the stupidest crash ever was the lunchtime carnage into T2 after the 2nd practise race start. After the 1st practise race start on the ZX-6r and being cut up by a motard (first time for me saving a front end slide with my knee slider), my spidey sense told me to start at the back. My spidey sense was correct. Darren Humphries landed on his head and I think a couple of other bikes went down. Too busy avoiding flying bikes to be sure. Bit of a pit-lane set-too between 2 fast 600 riders but thankfully one of them calmed down before punches were thrown as he's a buff fucker and I didn't fancy my chances of being able to haul him away from the other rider who I'd estimate was half his weight.

Fuggin entertaining day by anybodys standards. Dreading this bill

[KS34]

Oh dear that sux! Hope the hands ok and the bikes not too bad, good on you for getting back on the horse.

[Kiwi Graham]

Bad luck scracha, its one bummer after another eh! Nursing sore bits on the body, then replacing broken bits on the bike and you were only practising!

Good on ya for getting back out there, hope the hands ok.

[White trash]

No..actually....the stupidest crash ever was the lunchtime carnage into T2 after the 2nd practise race start. After the 1st practise race start on the ZX-6r and being cut up by a motard (first time for me saving a front end slide with my knee slider), my spidey sense told me to start at the back. My spidey sense was correct. Darren Humphries landed on his head and I think a couple of other bikes went down. Too busy avoiding flying bikes to be sure. Bit of a pit-lane set-too between 2 fast 600 riders but thankfully one of them calmed down before punches were thrown as he's a buff fucker and I didn't fancy my chances of being able to haul him away from the other rider who I'd estimate was half his weight.

I've heard rumours but this single paragraph confirms it. These "race/track" days seem to be largely inhabited by egos without skills. The dudes such as yourself and Johann who want to practice and get tracktime would be better at a test day mate.

Did those two homos on the 600s have a disagreement on who's handbag was a prettier pink or what?

[Rob Taylor]

Arrived at Taupo with Simon Limbtwin. Bloody nice having a driver & pit bitch.

Squirted round on my ZX-6r for about umm....15 laps. Damn, Drew is the man. Felt like a new bike. From being bloody awful at Taupo a couple of weeks back it just felt awesome. Rear tyre not being down to canvas helped with confidence.

Came back to pits, back out on Johan's Ducati 998 about 10 minutes laster. Did a 35ish lap endurance stint on it (almost full tank but someone's bike broke so red-flagged) and was really getting a good rythm.

Went back out on the 998 after lunch. Did about 4 laps. Caught up with Flying Fred who was schooling someone on a road bike. Tagged on behind the pair of them to see if I could get some insight from one of motorcycling's masters. 2nd lap, going very slow, concentration dropped and dickhead here forgets he's on a race shift and bangs the 998 down to first instead of 3rd as I'm just tipping into T2. Almost saved it. Threw me out saddle and over the bars. Think bike ran over me but unusually the crash was a blur. Someone mentioned highside

Fuck. Right hand very sore. Possibly fractured. After grovelling to Johan I went back on my ZX-6r for about 7 laps to ensure my head wasn't fucked. Seemed to be able to brake OK regardless of hand.

Stupidest crash ever.

No..actually....the stupidest crash ever was the lunchtime carnage into T2 after the 2nd practise race start. After the 1st practise race start on the ZX-6r and being cut up by a motard (first time for me saving a front end slide with my knee slider), my spidey sense told me to start at the back. My spidey sense was correct. Darren Humphries landed on his head and I think a couple of other bikes went down. Too busy avoiding flying bikes to be sure. Bit of a pit-lane set-too between 2 fast 600 riders but thankfully one of them calmed down before punches were thrown as he's a buff fucker and I didn't fancy my chances of being able to haul him away from the other rider who I'd estimate was half his weight.

Fuggin entertaining day by anybodys standards. Dreading this bill

So do you own a 998 now?????:girlfight:

[Duke girl]

Whats the news on Darrin's well being?.

[Clivoris]

Shit luck man. Be a while till you're bragging about not crashing I s'pose:whistle:

[Mumbles]

Maybe time for a new avatar then steevie... Owwwweee poor weee ... you know what I mean :whistle:.

Bugger that man, hope your hand is ok for boxing day dont want you having a reasonable excuse not to compete ... ;)

[KS34]

Whats the news on Darrin's well being?.

Was one of the 600 boys the Ginga Ninja?

[Benk]

That sucks mate.

[Duke girl]

Was one of the 600 boys the Ginga Ninja?

He actually rides a Yamaha R6 bike No: 75.

[KS34]

He actually rides a Yamaha R6 bike No: 75.

Yep thats the Ginga Ninja (well my little pet name for him) Hope Mr Humphries is OK. Love his determination .

[sharky]

Stink one Stevie McScratcha. Sounds like an eventful day. Are you partnering Johan in the endurance or something?

[slowpoke]

Blardy hell Stevie, sounds like a helluva day! Shame about the luvverly 998, Johan has/had it setup pretty nice eh? What did you think of it 'round Taupo?

[rustys]

Skip just had a txt from Darrin and though he is pissed off with what happened and wont be racing in the Tri Series because of sustaining concussion he is ok which is great news.:2thumbsup

[scracha]

Stink one Stevie McScratcha. Sounds like an eventful day. Are you partnering Johan in the endurance or something?

Yep. We'd just got the bike all sorted handling wise (If I'm being pedantic then still strange mid-corner vibration and brakes not yet perfect) and everything was peachy. Unless I've damaged engine / electrics then Johan should have it up and running again for the endurance race as I had replacements for most of the broken bits in Clive's shed (all the race bits from my old 748r). I'm very sore and bruised today.

UPDATE:
A very sore and pissed off R6 rider at the Mansfield test day has just texted me to say he's totally trumped my "highside a 998" effort. If he can type I'm sure he will be posting soon.

[Peter Smith]

You binned the 998!! :bash:
Johan's baby was beautiful, I gonna go and have a cry. :crybaby:
Your a naughty weee man. :mad::mad:

[scracha]

You binned the 998!! :bash:
Johan's baby was beautiful, I gonna go and have a cry. :crybaby:
Your a naughty weee man. :mad::mad:

Johan still had all the scrawped/taped fairings from his previous bin so it wasn't as bad as it seems.

[Kornholio]

Whoa, bummer man... when did I see you? Monday I think... Sounded like a hell of a track day lol.... Lol Jimmy... handbags at dawn :p

[scuzeme]

Just a couple of things:

Firstly: Stevie you were going great guns out there on Thursday on that 600 all good mate.

Secondly: I was not involved in any near punch ups because i was out cold and then on my way to Rotorua hospital for the nite :)

Thirdly: Before anyone starts putting the boot into the Redline track days format just remember that accidents can happen anywhere, most of the good riders are good because they are aggressive and have an ego, ego is only a problem when you think your fast when your actually a twat getting in the way of riders who are actually fast.

I dont blame anyone for the crash on Thursday, the Redline format is by far the best no nonsense way for a racer to get good track time outside of racing it is aimed at the racer/fast rider everyone else should stay home.

OK that was three things :)

[CHOPPA]

Redline track days sound good and having the ambo there is good for obvious reason but have you guys ever considered just going to a test day? No one on the track do what you like....

[scracha]

Redline track days sound good and having the ambo there is good for obvious reason but have you guys ever considered just going to a test day? No one on the track do what you like....

<40 bikes for the whole day means there isn't a hell of a lot of traffic. I suspect Redline will reassess their instructions for the "race starts" practise. Other than that it's a good format.

Johan just emailed me to say I'd also killed the rear wheel and the electrics are playing up. No endurance race :-(

Stink stink stink.

[slowpoke]

......most of the good riders are good because they are aggressive and have an ego, ego is only a problem when you think your fast when your actually a twat getting in the way of riders who are actually fast.


Glad to hear you're OK mate and hopefully the bike isn't too banged up.

Dunno about your statement above though. Aggressive and egotistical doesn't sound like too good a combo to me, at any level. Speed is relative after all: a fast road rider is probably a slow track rider, a fast trackday rider might be mid-pack in a race, a fast club racer mightn't be that fast at the National level, Stroudy would be "slow" in MotoGP company etc etc. At what point is it OK to be stroppy and up yourself?

I reckon the good guys are fast 'cos they are skilled, smart, methodical, analytical, adaptable, resilient, able to keep learning, have faith in their abilities/machine etc.....oh yeah, and they're freaks. Check out Dennis Charlett, Glen Williams, James Smith, Andrew Stroud, Craig Shirriffs, Gareth Jones and co at a track or race day: there's no FIGJAM attitude or histrionics. You could walk straight past 'em in the pits, or stop for a chat, and it's only when you see 'em doing amazing things on the track that you realise they are a different species.

That's my 2cent sermon anyway.

[scuzeme]

Glad to hear you're OK mate and hopefully the bike isn't too banged up.

Dunno about your statement above though. Aggressive and egotistical doesn't sound like too good a combo to me, at any level. Speed is relative after all: a fast road rider is probably a slow track rider, a fast trackday rider might be mid-pack in a race, a fast club racer mightn't be that fast at the National level, Stroudy would be "slow" in MotoGP company etc etc. At what point is it OK to be stroppy and up yourself?

I reckon the good guys are fast 'cos they are skilled, smart, methodical, analytical, adaptable, resilient, able to keep learning, have faith in their abilities/machine etc.....oh yeah, and they're freaks. Check out Dennis Charlett, Glen Williams, James Smith, Andrew Stroud, Craig Shirriffs, Gareth Jones and co at a track or race day: there's no FIGJAM attitude or histrionics. You could walk straight past 'em in the pits, or stop for a chat, and it's only when you see 'em doing amazing things on the track that you realise they are a different species.

That's my 2cent sermon anyway.

Let me clear up what i mean about being aggressive and having an ego.
By being aggressive i mean having a bit of the mongrel in you, your never ever going to be at the sharp end of the sharp end without taking some calculated risks, when two riders are neck and neck its the aggressive one, the one who wont break first or change their line that is going to get in the front, nice guys go nowhere, if you want to be polite and open the door for me then im going to be infront of you until you out HP me on the straights.

As for ego we all have one ego equals confidence you can have a big ego without coming across like a up your self look down your nose type of person, if you dont believe in your self (have some ego) then how can you ever compete let alone beat your adversaries.

I said aggressiveness and ego the negative side of these traits is "stroppy and up yourself" but you need to employ the positive side of these traits if you want to stand out from amongst the masses.
I agree with your comments about being "skilled, smart, methodical, analytical, adaptable, resilient, able to keep learning, have faith in their abilities/machine" read my blog i preach that stuff! the point im trying make make is what happened on Thursday was not anyones fault and i dont blame anyone for what happened, i didnt start to improve in my racing until i started to believe i could beat certain people and push through the pack.

As for the freaks of nature you mentioned i agree, i find them unassuming and even quiet in the pits but they do have egos and they are aggressive no doubt otherwise they wouldnt be where they are today right?

Cheers.

[slowpoke]

I kinda hear what you are saying but we'll have to disagree on some of your points. We're coming at the whole racing thing from different perspectives, which is cool, we're all different.

For me racing is a bit like golf, in that you almost have to forget about who you are playing with and just concentrate on playing the course. I'm just trying to improve and find a bit more speed everytime I go out. I figure if I'm fast (for me) then the placing will look after itself.

I also figure that it's taken me a lotta years to reach the point where I can finally afford to race, and I'm not about to jeopardise continuing to race, or my families income, doing something stupid whilst battling for 17th place at a club meeting at the arse end of the world. I'll just concentrate on learning to go faster and racing another day.

Let's face it mate, we aren't 0.5 or even 2 seconds off the pace, we're fuggin' miles away. I'm just determined to find some of those seconds.

[scracha]

I kinda hear what you are saying but we'll have to disagree on some of your points.
You pair gonna kiss and make up?

[roadracingoldfart]

Johan just emailed me to say I'd also killed the rear wheel and the electrics are playing up. No endurance race :-(

Stink stink stink.

Ohhh dear , need a hand ???

[slowpoke]

You pair gonna kiss and make up?

We wuvs each uvver weewy!!!!:love::love::love:

I've race with Darrin in close company and enjoyed every minute of it, so no animosity is intended.......stay out of our lil' luv fest ya durty ducati dicker!

Nah, sorry for the hijack mate, sorry the duke gig ended in tears woulda been a lota fun. Fingees and toseys crossed for a miraculous resurrection.

[wharfy]

Just a couple of things:

Firstly: Stevie you were going great guns out there on Thursday on that 600 all good mate.

Secondly: I was not involved in any near punch ups because i was out cold and then on my way to Rotorua hospital for the nite :)

Thirdly: Before anyone starts putting the boot into the Redline track days format just remember that accidents can happen anywhere, most of the good riders are good because they are aggressive and have an ego, ego is only a problem when you think your fast when your actually a twat getting in the way of riders who are actually fast.

I dont blame anyone for the crash on Thursday, the Redline format is by far the best no nonsense way for a racer to get good track time outside of racing it is aimed at the racer/fast rider everyone else should stay home.

OK that was three things :)

Onya mate, :2thumbsup

[sosman]

You pair gonna kiss and make up?

nope! there gonna take it out on the track...:woohoo:

[DVS 69]

Let me clear up what i mean about being aggressive and having an ego.
By being aggressive i mean having a bit of the mongrel in you, your never ever going to be at the sharp end of the sharp end without taking some calculated risks, when two riders are neck and neck its the aggressive one, the one who wont break first or change their line that is going to get in the front, nice guys go nowhere, if you want to be polite and open the door for me then im going to be infront of you until you out HP me on the straights.

As for ego we all have one ego equals confidence you can have a big ego without coming across like a up your self look down your nose type of person, if you dont believe in your self (have some ego) then how can you ever compete let alone beat your adversaries.

I said aggressiveness and ego the negative side of these traits is "stroppy and up yourself" but you need to employ the positive side of these traits if you want to stand out from amongst the masses.
I agree with your comments about being "skilled, smart, methodical, analytical, adaptable, resilient, able to keep learning, have faith in their abilities/machine" read my blog i preach that stuff! the point im trying make make is what happened on Thursday was not anyones fault and i dont blame anyone for what happened, i didnt start to improve in my racing until i started to believe i could beat certain people and push through the pack.

As for the freaks of nature you mentioned i agree, i find them unassuming and even quiet in the pits but they do have egos and they are aggressive no doubt otherwise they wouldnt be where they are today right?

Cheers.



I get what ya saying and i tend to agree, i also agree with slowpoke in regard to gotta go to work to pay for kids clothes school books and all the un exciting stuff. Its all fun tho thats the only reason i go to the track is to have a blast :-) ............. Great read:rockon: