Rnd 5 Hampton Downs Updates

[Rcktfsh]

KiwiRacer/NZsbk websites will again be posting results and video interviews from Hampton Downs throughout the weekend for those that are unlucky eneough not to make it to the track this wekend. Updates can be found at http://twitter.com/NZSBK , or just text "NZSBK" to 8808 to receive free updates to you mobile.

[Duke girl]

Its actually Round 5 Hampton Downs Updates.

[boostin]

Not to mention live timing updates.

http://nzsbk.blogspot.com/2010/03/live-online-timing-from-final-round.html

[Tony.OK]

Not to mention live timing updates.

http://nzsbk.blogspot.com/2010/03/live-online-timing-from-final-round.html

Finally!!!.............long time coming, but bloody shit hot news!!

Well done team!

Looks like Craig had an off.........hope he's good to go for tomorrow.

[Rcktfsh]

Its actually Round 5 Hampton Downs Updates.

must prove i'm not prone to exageration then

[Pussy]

must prove i'm not prone to exageration then

Certainly not about your height, anyway.... :)

[feral1]

Can't wait to catch up with how the weekend evolves. There will be some exciting classes of racing for champ positions. The best of luck for all racers. Go hard and stay safe.

[Rcktfsh]

Certainly not about your height, anyway.... :)

Theres half a million pygmies in the Congo Rainforest alone who would consider me a man of impressive height.

[jellywrestler]

Theres half a million pygmies in the Congo Rainforest alone who would consider me a man of impressive height.
that's a bit like saying you're the tallest dwarf

[sharky]

Finally!!!.............long time coming, but bloody shit hot news!!

Well done team!

Looks like Craig had an off.........hope he's good to go for tomorrow.

Yeah he lost the front at turn 1 I think. He was back out on track again soon after.

[Tony.OK]

http://nzsbk.blogspot.com/2010/03/bugden-leads-leader-board.html


Bugden leads leader board.
The first practice for Superbikes was cut short after Castrol Honda Rider Craig Shirriffs crashed and was taken to Hospital.Robbie Bugden clicked off a 1.04.996 time to lead the feild on lap 4 . Before his crash Shirriffs was second on the grid.

Andrew Stroud lapped consistantly in the 1.05's along with Bugden and Shirriffs.Less than 1 second seperates the top 5 superbikes.

Tony Rees leads the Open Stock Class on a Yamaha R1.

Bugden 1.04.996
Shirriffs 1.05.257
Frost 1.05.571
Fitzgerald 1.05.671
Stroud 1.05.856
Hampton 1.07.176

Rees 1.07.506

Hope Craig's ok.....

[Ivan]

is anyone else struglling withlive timing its just a screen shot on myne nothing changes or nothing

[Tony.OK]

is anyone else struglling withlive timing its just a screen shot on myne nothing changes or nothing

It refreshes every 45 sec, there may be gaps between classes goin out or crashes etc.

[wharfy]

LIVE Timing is GREAT

[Tony.OK]

NZSBK Craig Shirriffs hurt foot in Crash at Hampton Downs , but intends riding in Qualifying this afternoon on team mate's spare bike.

Sketchy fastest in 2nd practise, followed by Cole.

[SWERVE]

While you are all watchin craig/robbie/andrew dont forget that name that keeps poppin up in 5th/6th place..............Ryan Hampton ............first season in road racing definately a HUGE talant ...............watch out next year.....................GO RYAN (and not forgettin team mate in the 600,s John Ross.

[Tony.OK]

While you are all watchin craig/robbie/andrew dont forget that name that keeps poppin up in 5th/6th place..............Ryan Hampton ............first season in road racing definately a HUGE talant ...............watch out next year.....................GO RYAN (and not forgettin team mate in the 600,s John Ross.

They're both goin well..........:yes:

[Gremlin]

So Mr Shiriffs... doooo tell us.... wotcha fink of Turn 1?

You shoulda taken your bucket out to have a play in the last race ;)

[Chrislost]

So Mr Shiriffs... doooo tell us.... wotcha fink of Turn 1?

You shoulda taken your bucket out to have a play in the last race ;)

Shiriffs corner is a good place to bin...
It was pretty fun even at my (slow) pace when it was covered with oil today!

[Gremlin]

I'm assuming sidecar 111 will receive some pit justice... dropped his oil twice in 3 days (and then a subsequent fire after the 2nd time). Plenty of time spent having to try to clean that up, except I got lucky. Neither incident affected my point.

[gsxr&crf450]

Hampton Downs was a public disaster today, hours spent waiting for the racing, the last super bike race finished at around 6pm, and most of the public had gone home before it started. The organisation needs a massive overhaul if they want the public back. At motocross meetings you get through 24 races in 5 hours, obviously that is not possble with road racing, nevertheless, speeding up things would help.

[SWERVE]

just another reason to get rid of sidecars................i have seen these at the Nurburgring and similar european tracks when the grids are full and they are great to watch..but im sorry NZ contingent is a shambles. They take up same if not more tracktime as 1000/600,s for 6 teams (OK a couple more if they are all running)
Sorry guys but just saying what i see.

[BM-GS]

Hampton Downs was a public disaster today, hours spent waiting for the racing, the last super bike race finished at around 6pm, and most of the public had gone home before it started. The organisation needs a massive overhaul if they want the public back. At motocross meetings you get through 24 races in 5 hours, obviously that is not possble with road racing, nevertheless, speeding up things would help.

I dunno, me and 2 son (4) enjoyed it. Amazed anyone turned up at all with the LACK OF ADVERTISING OF THE EVENT. People like me need about a month to schedule a day away and avoid the kids fixtures/parties/events and whatever, and I was digging around to find out about this well before that. I didn't find out a damned thing about times until Saturday, and that was by chance - and out by about 2 hours, as it happens. Thing is, the delays yesterday were down to the organisers (presumably) trying to sort out issues with the new venue, riders' issues, etc, not bodies on the track which have delayed things at Puke in the last few years. I think I prefer the first reason.

No, I didn't see the big boys race yesterday as the boy needed a rest and there wasn't a lot left to keep him amused over lunchbreak, but I'll be back next year maybe with the family and a few more distractions. I reckon they'd get/keep more public if they can build on the few trade stands & stuff they had yesterday, and maybe put a few more $ in the pockets of the industry in general. Maybe have a raffle for 3 laps on a new BMW S1000 thingy for some lucky punter?

On the topic of sidecars, I reckon they're a spectacle, but maybe close racing in all classes will bring in punters too? The first 2 races were a bit processional (though 2 guys launched out of it on lap 1 in one of them). I didn't get to see a lot more as a small person was dragging me around, but I'd guess they were better, though race 3 had a small, mixed field which may have spread a bit too, not that I actually saw it. Still, the atmosphere counts for a lot, and the video is watching WSB for me as I type, and will let me know how that was later.

Actually, it was nice not to be crammed in with 119,999 other people, like last time I went to a WSB round...

See you next year, and thanks for letting hang out yesterday.

[trev]

Hampton Downs was a public disaster today,

a new track, facilities nowhere near complete, a drought with dust etc. everywhere, first up meeting (as far as I know) - it didn't strike me as a disaster. It was more a chance to see what will be available / possible once the track facilities are complete.
I had a most enjoyable day. It was great to watch racing on a track with elevation ; be able to easily get to different sections of the track ; (safely) stand literally only a few metres away from bikes going insane speeds. If / when they complete stage 2, being flat it will be fully visible so it will be possible to see every section except from Turn 1 to parts of turn 3 & a couple of well placed screens will cover that.
I can't wait to go back .
Well done to the racers - I don't know if you were having fun but it sure as hell looked like you were - & that isn't just my opinion several people commented on it.

[cmoore]

Im assuming there is a lot to be learnt from yesterday...delays are expected but the tannoy could not be heard anywhere outside of the pits...so no one knew what was happening....being a new track it was good to wander around and try out different places to watch....no shelter from the sun was a pain....and next time it will be deck chairsn shelter for sure.....i guess some of the crowd left due to Stroud winning the title in the first race....Also unlike puki you can't sit and see the whole track from one spot...i thought some of the riders had a hell of a time getting out to pit lane with all the people walking around the area....and finally...the food was awful.....also....should there not be a podium for the racing winners to stand and be presented with something....watching Stroud come back to his stand was so dull.....people just stood around.....why don't they replicate the motogp idea...winning bikes into a box....riders up onto the podium....a few cheers...maybe a few words.....next race.....this is meant to be the NZ champs??

[scracha]

=cmoore;winning bikes into a box....riders up onto the podium....a few cheers...maybe a few words.....next race.....this is meant to be the NZ champs??
A few valid points there but I thought the food was excellent????? Especially compared to Manfeild. Something to entertain the crowd during crash/oil cleanups is a must: Big farkoff LCD screen(s) would be great and couldn't understand the long silences over the PA system, especially when I saw "the Rock" radio station ute at the track. Superbike race was ran far too late and not sure why they insisted on running full length races for some classes when the programme was so far behind schedule (especially since they dropped a class). Decision should have been made on Saturday to merge the faster qualifying streetstock riders with posties as watching 6 bikes putting around wasn't crowd friendly. Likewise 125's with F3 as I'm sorry, but a handful of bikes out on the track doesn't look very professional.

For a first effort at Hampton Downs, overall I was pleasantly surprised and quite impressed.

[javawocky]

Catering was above average. Had the bacon and egg bab both mornings which was great after the long ride from the Norf Shorr. Was in a hurry at lunch of Sunday so went for the humble pie - chucked the pie away and either the wrapper, it was more nutritious.

Loved the fact that you could walk around the pits, even asked one or to riders for some advice before the heat of the day started.

Yeah, they can do lots to improve things - advertising would be a great start, but for a first up attempt it was a great show.

[Devil]

I thought the delays were pretty embarrassing really. The racing was great when it happened. Whats with the massive turn-around times between races? I understand a pickup here and there and there, but what the hell?
What gets me though is the track is able to be used from 8am, but it wasn't touched till 10am (with the programme saying 9am start).

[Genestho]

Loved it, for sure there are improvements that could/can be made, that I'm sure will be! The Racing was awesome! The track looks great from a spectator POV.

What I did notice, is that spectating of Road Racing in NZ is very much alive and well, by the size of the crowd, and this needs to be nurtured!

Thanks for a fantastic days Racing to ALL involved!!! :D

[Kiwi Graham]

A great weekends racing with a big thumbs up to AMCC for organising the event.
It cant of been easy, new track to learn, limited infrastructure etc. Of course lessons will be learnt for next time, delays are always kept to a minimum and those that happened were for very good reasons.

Every year this place is going to get better and better, garaging, power, a race contro tower (instead of the luxury appartment Chris and Neil used ;) ), the extension to the full international length circuit to name but a few. 5 years from now we wont recognise the place.

Viewing was good, from the pits we could obviously see the start and a quick jog round the side we could watch the two hairpins round to the last right hander (thought the 'unused food outlet' at barrel 51 was in a shit place though).

The marshals did a fukin awesome job cleaning up the contents of 'the pirates' engine. I had a skid round in the pace car and man it was a mess out there. I like to see the sidecars at events but put them out last would be my advise.

I thought the food was excellent and thanks Chris for the early morning call for coffee ;), a good atmosphere in the pits, an unusual prize giving in the dark and only an hours drive home bloody brilliant.

Well done Andy, Nick, Glen, Alistair, Geoff and Steve & Den for your national titles.

Role on next year, theres going to be at least one more superstock bike out there ;)

[Biggles08]

The marshals did a fukin awesome job cleaning up the contents of 'the pirates' engine. One lesson to be learnt from this would be to provide more brooms for cleanup...saw some marshals unable to help speed the cleanup up because they had no more brooms apparently.... was kind of painful watching turn one-turn two (aka Shirriffs corner) get cleaned up with one broom, one bucket of sand and a 'supervisor' standing by watching.

Over all I thought the day was pretty successful and besides what has already been mentioned (not starting til 10am etc) I thought AMCC did a better job than previous meetings I've been to...for a start it wasn't at Pukekohe shithole ;-)

[javawocky]

I captured heaps of short clips of practice on Saturday and Random clips from Sunday, I hope to edit them together at some point into a music vid or something, but here is the unedit far away clip of the off at the start of the 600's involving Skachill and Smith. Sorry its so far away, but its a cheap o cam from my bike with no zoom, so put your glasses on pops...

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xEXoNiDgBtI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xEXoNiDgBtI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

[sidecar bob]

I'm assuming sidecar 111 will receive some pit justice... dropped his oil twice in 3 days (and then a subsequent fire after the 2nd time). Plenty of time spent having to try to clean that up, except I got lucky. Neither incident affected my point.

I think he should be put against a wall & shot with a ball of his own shit.
As a result of the delay & the fact that he has undone in one weekend, 10 years of sidecars trying to shake the reputation of oil dropping, sidecars were put to the end of the programme.
Understandably, superbikes didnt want to take the risk of going out after them again.
The upshot of that was, that the two south island sidecar teams had to miss the last race in favour of catching a plane, & superbikes lost most of their spectators.
If i were in their situation, i would be heartily pissed off.

[wharfy]

I think he should be put against a wall & shot with a ball of his own shit.
.

It's a long time since I've heard that expression used...........:rofl:

[scracha]

I think he should be put against a wall & shot with a ball of his own shit.

Questions I have to ask:
Was it known that there was a strong possibility of it $hitting itself again?
Why didn't the catch tray erm...catch it?

Maybe they were just unlucky 3 times.

[cmoore]

FOOD....Im sure it was ok at some stage....i lined up on sunday avo with 20 or so others...they ran out of chips just before i got there....then ran out of buns....and they lost my order..so i waited and waited....after a while i had a groan and they took the "meat" outa some other poor persons order and gave them to me.....becuase they were the last buns...this was at about 2-3pm...

Can someone also explain the pit lane thing?.....people walking all over it and then getting yelled at......bikes having to weave through people to get to the pit lane....and as everyone else has said...it was a great day and they will only get better, what a great facility and so close to Auckland...

Lets hope they also get the timing right on other biking events as we seemed to have three clashing and some people would have liked to have gone to all of them...

[sidecar bob]

Questions I have to ask:
Was it known that there was a strong possibility of it $hitting itself again?
Why didn't the catch tray erm...catch it?

Maybe they were just unlucky 3 times.

Given the competitor's track record, there was a high chance of it $hitting itself again.
The catch tray didnt catch it all because unfortunately thay are not designed to catch the ENTIRE CONTENTS of the sump.
The two leaks on different days were caused by failure in totally different areas.

[kittytamer]

It was a great day of racing despite the holdups. These things happen all the time. Even WSBK can be delayed due to cleaning up mess from previous races.
I was impressed with the crowd turn out and the stands put on by the manufactures. The BMW's were awesome. It looked very impressive from the motorway on the way down.
I took a bunch of photos of the last F3, F2 and Superbike races. Have a look here: Hampton Downs Photos (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=198877&id=121539623114&saved#!/album.php?aid=198877&id=121539623114)
I may even have a go on track next year...

[Gremlin]

Can someone also explain the pit lane thing?.....people walking all over it and then getting yelled at......bikes having to weave through people to get to the pit lane....
Its a matter of conflicting rules and desires. The racers want to put on tents, displays etc, have the public walking past, and they need it. However, this creates crowds in the pits, becomes a safety issue in terms of crowds, bikes trying to get through and technically, children are not allowed on the pit wall and jandals are not allowed in pit lane (closed shoes only - same requirement for marshals)

Questions I have to ask:
Was it known that there was a strong possibility of it $hitting itself again?
From speaking to others, I believe it has done it enough times before to be known... The issue is, if they say its been fixed, and it passes scruntineering... what can you do? (Besides cleaning up after it of course). I was highly in favour of sending them out to clean up their own mess. That type of thing can happen in a matter of seconds, and it takes us freaken ages to dust it enough and then clean up the dust. After that delay (which was long as roughly half the tracks racing line had to be cleaned) the superbikes were still reporting it was slippery.

There were delays for several reasons... Also, you can't put any entertainment round the track while marshals are out, due to safety. On the big mess, several brooms from points were rounded up for that, usually one broom per point, at least one fire extinguisher and at least one bucket of dust. Also started late due to changes being made from lessons learned on the previous days, photo taken at the corkscrew of marshals and officials, and from just before 8am, almost 50 marshals signed in, geared up, assigned to points, briefed and so on... tis a lot of organising. Also had a shortage of radios due to changes in marshal layout...

[CHOPPA]

I saw a tractor going around the track early in the morning with a big ass sweeper on the front why wasnt that used to sweep all the gravel off??

[PirateJafa]

I saw a tractor going around the track early in the morning with a big ass sweeper on the front why wasnt that used to sweep all the gravel off??

There was a tractor with a sweeper working at sweeping the track. Unfortunately, believe it or not, tractors go around Hampton Downs a bit slower than your superbike does.

[Pixie]

Yes, it's all very well knowing the reasons why there were long delays,now.
For all the casual spectators,some of them first timers,who got pissed off at watching a Subaru,Holden and a Blue ute go round and round the track for an hour,as far as the spectators knew for the car occupants' pleasure,it was a lost opportunity to create some new road racing fans.
Comments I heard:"Too disorganised","Oh no,they are f**king going around again!"etc.

Get a little more professional AMCC.Put the sidecars on at the end of a meeting for a start.

[cmoore]

there were a couple of riders missing from the second 125GP race? the one where three went down on the first lap (about 4pm)......i saw one of them get really pissed off and try and get the officials to let him start since the race was re started anyway.....does anyone know why they missed and or couldn't restart??

[Kiwi Graham]

there were a couple of riders missing from the second 125GP race? the one where three went down on the first lap (about 4pm)......i saw one of them get really pissed off and try and get the officials to let him start since the race was re started anyway.....does anyone know why they missed and or couldn't restart??

It was poor old Jaden Hassen that wasnt allowed into the restart, he crashed on the warm up lap on errr.....some oil left by a postie that was cleaned after their race and before the superbikes. Bloody shame he couldn't start.

[Bikernereid]

[QUOTE=javawocky;1129700262]I captured heaps of short clips of practice on Saturday and Random clips from Sunday, I hope to edit them together at some point into a music vid or something, but here is the unedit far away clip of the off at the start of the 600's involving Skachill and Smith. Sorry its so far away, but its a cheap o cam from my bike with no zoom, so put your glasses on pops...

Great to see someone took a camera so that those of us who couldn't make it can see some of the races. Will keep an eye for your other footage. Lets hope that Hamptons makes it on to the TV at some point but wont hold my breath.

[javawocky]

Great to see someone took a camera so that those of us who couldn't make it can see some of the races. Will keep an eye for your other footage. Lets hope that Hamptons makes it on to the TV at some point but wont hold my breath.

Yeah, lets hope I get time to put it all together, no idea how it will come out, but that's half the fun.

It should be on TV at some point. Was chatting to an interesting old fella on Saturday who's son works on the TV crew who were filming on Sunday. Says they film it an offer it up for sale to the broadcasters - most likely go to the Sunday slot on TV1 in about 2 months. Really wish it could go up on something like www.speedbox.tv

[javawocky]

there were a couple of riders missing from the second 125GP race? the one where three went down on the first lap (about 4pm)......i saw one of them get really pissed off and try and get the officials to let him start since the race was re started anyway.....does anyone know why they missed and or couldn't restart??

Yeah, it was a bit of a pressionary race after that. Its a major pitty the 125GP race on Saturday wasn't filmed it was probably the race of the day. Three way dice between Jaden the other guy and Avalon. Watching those 125's dive into the hairpin was spectacular.

[Bikernereid]

Yeah, lets hope I get time to put it all together, no idea how it will come out, but that's half the fun.

It should be on TV at some point. Was chatting to an interesting old fella on Saturday who's son works on the TV crew who were filming on Sunday. Says they film it an offer it up for sale to the broadcasters - most likely go to the Sunday slot on TV1 in about 2 months. Really wish it could go up on something like www.speedbox.tv

Here'e hoping. I just don't get bike racing here. OK the UK sucks as a country but at least we promote BSB to the hilt and at my home track you are likely to get 10s of thousands of fans. There would be a national outcry if races weren't televised. Most people will travel from one end of the country to the other to watch racing but if for some reason they can't they know it will be on tv. Maybe us POMEs are just a bit gobier and demanding......
Quality aside it is great that you are taking the time to get your vid sorted which has given me a kick to get my Ruapuna Endurance race pics on here as well.

[Kendog]

I just don't get bike racing here.
It's a minority sport.

[DidJit]

It's a minority sport.

I remember seeing races featuring Wayne Gardner and Mick Doohan on state television once upon a time... *sigh*

[White trash]

Here'e hoping. I just don't get bike racing here. OK the UK sucks as a country but at least we promote BSB to the hilt and at my home track you are likely to get 10s of thousands of fans. There would be a national outcry if races weren't televised. Most people will travel from one end of the country to the other to watch racing but if for some reason they can't they know it will be on tv. Maybe us POMEs are just a bit gobier and demanding......
Quality aside it is great that you are taking the time to get your vid sorted which has given me a kick to get my Ruapuna Endurance race pics on here as well.

Yes. But how many people live in the UK my dear? 'Nuff said.