FROSTY
22nd May 2005, 00:29
Holey cow ---what a totally fantastic day.
The whole effort really started badly--First will mella yella blowing up on me. Then on friday morning the new motor in my van got pretty hot.
Off to doctor Motu and awaited the verdict --which was-NAHHH mate I wouldn't risk it till I figure out whats wrong
Some frantic phone calls and we were back under control--Thanks a millin Bruno for offering to step into the fray and SPARKY for carting quazis bike all the way to taupo.
For purely selfish reasons I was hoping it would rain all day and it looked like my prayers were answered when the day dawned with liquid sunshine everywhere.
Got to the track just as AJturbo my saviour turned up with mella yella.
Awrighty then --Time for the bullshit to stop Frosty,
My plan was to get the 25 points I needed in pre89 as fast as possible and basicly use it as practice for F3 2 third place finishes would be enough
Totally unfamiliar with the new motor and some chasis adjustments that had been made I went out in the scrub in tyres session
I was getting into a groove passing people pretty easily in the wet --Only to get BLACK FLAGGED -worried sick I pulled into the pits -to be told that
you werent allowed to pass in that session.
(what was said at riders brief was dont pass the lead rider )
Totally pissed off with loosing valuable track time I went out in the F3 practice really fired up.
The track was slippery as all buggery but my faithfull steed on his well worn GPR70's let me post times at least into the 50 second range
Net result I ended up with pole position in Formula 3 and grid 3 in pre89
Yes POLE in F3 --I was stoked.
A break for lunch and I was first up for my first pre89 session.
The track had dried out totally by the time we started racing.
In the first pre89 race I stuck to plan but it became clear that on Taupo I was a lot faster than the gixxer1100's-except on the straight where they just blew past me. (except of course phil Duxbury) They just ran away from me down the back straight.I had an incredibly frustrating time trying to get around one guy -every passing oppertunity I just couldn't predict where he was going with him dropping down the track with no warning then just having four times my grunt down the back straight and exiting the hairpin the whole time I had a guy I think was on a tz350 or similar right behind me sniffing to pass.The Tz guy made his move on me on the exit to the sweeper on the very last lap and did a slipstream slingshot manouver to finish the race whith just his front wheel in front. really frustrating -but still with 9 or 10 points I was happy.
OK now here we have it F3--A KB front row with me KK and Quazi across the front row.
The flag dropped and KK shot out in front of me followed by 3 other bikes. --
Ohh no ya dont -not on MY watch. I got a guy on a motard fairly easily so it was down to KK,another zxr400 and a guy on a panta600.
The guy on the zxr cleared out fairly quickly to clear track leaving a 3 way battle for 2.3 and 4
Lap 2 and KK went way hot into the hairpin which made him go wide and mr panta man tried going underneath but lost his bottle and backed off - shit shit shit -I was following him through to close the door on ol KK so I had to brake hard to avoid hitting KK and Mr Panta. I outbraked the guy on the panta in to turn one and my beady eye was fixed on KK.
N0 holds barred this time. We had almost identical straight line speed with KK getting fractionally better drive out of corners.KK went slightly to hot and wide into turn one -Thank You I'll have that and I blasted past him to the hairpin.Thanks to a bit of luck and a couple of (for me ) well placeed 125 backmarkers I pulled quite a decent gap on KK and basicly dismissed him as being way back there behind.I tried to settle into a groove to catch the zxr400 in front Fuck knows where my head went for the next 4 laps --I suffed up gear changes braked too early in corners--simply lost concentration. It was enough for KK to get within striking distance of me.
Last lap Im thinking Im home free for a second place finish and ol KK passes me entering the last corner --the sweeper--NO way boyo not this time.
I keep the gas on and stay high whilst KK does his classic looow move --I thought Yeaaa i gotcha back -If I can just get the gas on fast enough.
But no KK gets on the gas quicker to beat me over the line by .03 of a second--BUGGER>
Second pre89 race was a repeat of the first with me getting a fourth place finish. -another 10 points.
Second F3 race and flag drop had KK charging away with me in hot pursuit.I got past him and the motard guy fairly quickly only to be passed by the zxr400 guy -again so I and settled down to going as fast as i could with a clear track ahead of me.
I was really enjoying myself just basicly like on a track day -with the odd slow 125 rider getting in my way but all very experienced racers so they were easy to pass.
With a certain second place within my grasp i was gobsmacked when that cheeky little shit KK pulled exactly the same move as he did in the last race. Same result too with me beaten by a fraction of a second.
well planned -well executed--onya KK
An unintended compliment from KK was that he said he wasn't game to pass me earlier because he knew id just pass him right back.
OK well now the game changed. The rain came down in a steady drizzle.
Pre89 race 3 and I realised it was seriously slippery out there with the tight line into turn one icey and the exit to the sweeper giving me huge wheel spin or slides. The rest of the track was pretty slippery but not as bad.
I gingerly picked my way round the track for a third place finish in pre89 and possibly my slowest lap time ever -1.03 -but I was riding for points so No way did i wanna crash.
Unfortunately i saw 6chris6 have his little adventure on the hairpin--He'll telll ya about that one.
I came into the pits and warned quazi to be careful cos it really was slippery out there.
F3 and I'm thinking--well its now or never so I put my head down and beat KK into turn 1 In front of me was a motard and zxr400 man on full wet tyres
Bugger me--ol Quazi sneaks on past on the right hander and I have a battle for a couple of corners reeling him back in and passing him and the motard guy.
I rode to the limits of tyre adhesion getting a series of little slides exiting the sweeper and turn one and I heard a chirp/grinding noise behind me which turned out to be quazi having his little offroad excursion.
I just couldnt ride any faster on road tyres and I settled for a pretty uneventfull second place finish. lap times in the 56 second range I was proud of given it was so slippery.
Race 4 pre89 was another parade with my third place in the series cemented I just used the time to get heat--no read that as margonal warmth into the tyres and try to find a slightly less slippery line.
For the final F3 race I was really fired up --I'd calculated my points and I needed a win or minimum of second place to get me the 4 point lead over the guy in third place for the series. -KK still shot into the lead off the line but I quickly passed him only to end up behind mr motard. SHIT -Mr zxr400 on his full wet tyres just powered away from me getting grip where I could only slide. So I was in a battle for second with mr Motard.
We had identical straight line speed but being a single he could out grunt me out of corners.I was able to use my "practice" in the last race to put the power down earlier and lean a ltlle bit further and earlier with confidence.
We had a heck of a battle with him using very defensive lines and me keeping on whittling away at him corner after corner -up the inside up the outside shit if I have to up the bloody middle --But i just couldnt make any move stick.It was just too slippery to try any gung ho moves . Finally 4 laps into the race he made a little mistake that let me through on the sweeper Once past the guy into clear track I used every bit of grip I had and every bit of speed I could lay down to clear a good gap.
I had 4 laps to go so i settled down into a groove and tried to catch mr zxr400
I couldn't catch him he just had way more tyre grip than me and once again I settled for a second place finish. Never have I been happier to see that black n white flag/
Wow what a day --
Now the best part of all
With my two third place and two second place finishes I managed to get a total of 72 points in Formula 3 which means
BIG DRUM ROLL---I finished THIRD in the series in F3 as well as third in series in pre89
WOHOOOOOO
A million thanks to a shit load of people that made this possible
The whole effort really started badly--First will mella yella blowing up on me. Then on friday morning the new motor in my van got pretty hot.
Off to doctor Motu and awaited the verdict --which was-NAHHH mate I wouldn't risk it till I figure out whats wrong
Some frantic phone calls and we were back under control--Thanks a millin Bruno for offering to step into the fray and SPARKY for carting quazis bike all the way to taupo.
For purely selfish reasons I was hoping it would rain all day and it looked like my prayers were answered when the day dawned with liquid sunshine everywhere.
Got to the track just as AJturbo my saviour turned up with mella yella.
Awrighty then --Time for the bullshit to stop Frosty,
My plan was to get the 25 points I needed in pre89 as fast as possible and basicly use it as practice for F3 2 third place finishes would be enough
Totally unfamiliar with the new motor and some chasis adjustments that had been made I went out in the scrub in tyres session
I was getting into a groove passing people pretty easily in the wet --Only to get BLACK FLAGGED -worried sick I pulled into the pits -to be told that
you werent allowed to pass in that session.
(what was said at riders brief was dont pass the lead rider )
Totally pissed off with loosing valuable track time I went out in the F3 practice really fired up.
The track was slippery as all buggery but my faithfull steed on his well worn GPR70's let me post times at least into the 50 second range
Net result I ended up with pole position in Formula 3 and grid 3 in pre89
Yes POLE in F3 --I was stoked.
A break for lunch and I was first up for my first pre89 session.
The track had dried out totally by the time we started racing.
In the first pre89 race I stuck to plan but it became clear that on Taupo I was a lot faster than the gixxer1100's-except on the straight where they just blew past me. (except of course phil Duxbury) They just ran away from me down the back straight.I had an incredibly frustrating time trying to get around one guy -every passing oppertunity I just couldn't predict where he was going with him dropping down the track with no warning then just having four times my grunt down the back straight and exiting the hairpin the whole time I had a guy I think was on a tz350 or similar right behind me sniffing to pass.The Tz guy made his move on me on the exit to the sweeper on the very last lap and did a slipstream slingshot manouver to finish the race whith just his front wheel in front. really frustrating -but still with 9 or 10 points I was happy.
OK now here we have it F3--A KB front row with me KK and Quazi across the front row.
The flag dropped and KK shot out in front of me followed by 3 other bikes. --
Ohh no ya dont -not on MY watch. I got a guy on a motard fairly easily so it was down to KK,another zxr400 and a guy on a panta600.
The guy on the zxr cleared out fairly quickly to clear track leaving a 3 way battle for 2.3 and 4
Lap 2 and KK went way hot into the hairpin which made him go wide and mr panta man tried going underneath but lost his bottle and backed off - shit shit shit -I was following him through to close the door on ol KK so I had to brake hard to avoid hitting KK and Mr Panta. I outbraked the guy on the panta in to turn one and my beady eye was fixed on KK.
N0 holds barred this time. We had almost identical straight line speed with KK getting fractionally better drive out of corners.KK went slightly to hot and wide into turn one -Thank You I'll have that and I blasted past him to the hairpin.Thanks to a bit of luck and a couple of (for me ) well placeed 125 backmarkers I pulled quite a decent gap on KK and basicly dismissed him as being way back there behind.I tried to settle into a groove to catch the zxr400 in front Fuck knows where my head went for the next 4 laps --I suffed up gear changes braked too early in corners--simply lost concentration. It was enough for KK to get within striking distance of me.
Last lap Im thinking Im home free for a second place finish and ol KK passes me entering the last corner --the sweeper--NO way boyo not this time.
I keep the gas on and stay high whilst KK does his classic looow move --I thought Yeaaa i gotcha back -If I can just get the gas on fast enough.
But no KK gets on the gas quicker to beat me over the line by .03 of a second--BUGGER>
Second pre89 race was a repeat of the first with me getting a fourth place finish. -another 10 points.
Second F3 race and flag drop had KK charging away with me in hot pursuit.I got past him and the motard guy fairly quickly only to be passed by the zxr400 guy -again so I and settled down to going as fast as i could with a clear track ahead of me.
I was really enjoying myself just basicly like on a track day -with the odd slow 125 rider getting in my way but all very experienced racers so they were easy to pass.
With a certain second place within my grasp i was gobsmacked when that cheeky little shit KK pulled exactly the same move as he did in the last race. Same result too with me beaten by a fraction of a second.
well planned -well executed--onya KK
An unintended compliment from KK was that he said he wasn't game to pass me earlier because he knew id just pass him right back.
OK well now the game changed. The rain came down in a steady drizzle.
Pre89 race 3 and I realised it was seriously slippery out there with the tight line into turn one icey and the exit to the sweeper giving me huge wheel spin or slides. The rest of the track was pretty slippery but not as bad.
I gingerly picked my way round the track for a third place finish in pre89 and possibly my slowest lap time ever -1.03 -but I was riding for points so No way did i wanna crash.
Unfortunately i saw 6chris6 have his little adventure on the hairpin--He'll telll ya about that one.
I came into the pits and warned quazi to be careful cos it really was slippery out there.
F3 and I'm thinking--well its now or never so I put my head down and beat KK into turn 1 In front of me was a motard and zxr400 man on full wet tyres
Bugger me--ol Quazi sneaks on past on the right hander and I have a battle for a couple of corners reeling him back in and passing him and the motard guy.
I rode to the limits of tyre adhesion getting a series of little slides exiting the sweeper and turn one and I heard a chirp/grinding noise behind me which turned out to be quazi having his little offroad excursion.
I just couldnt ride any faster on road tyres and I settled for a pretty uneventfull second place finish. lap times in the 56 second range I was proud of given it was so slippery.
Race 4 pre89 was another parade with my third place in the series cemented I just used the time to get heat--no read that as margonal warmth into the tyres and try to find a slightly less slippery line.
For the final F3 race I was really fired up --I'd calculated my points and I needed a win or minimum of second place to get me the 4 point lead over the guy in third place for the series. -KK still shot into the lead off the line but I quickly passed him only to end up behind mr motard. SHIT -Mr zxr400 on his full wet tyres just powered away from me getting grip where I could only slide. So I was in a battle for second with mr Motard.
We had identical straight line speed but being a single he could out grunt me out of corners.I was able to use my "practice" in the last race to put the power down earlier and lean a ltlle bit further and earlier with confidence.
We had a heck of a battle with him using very defensive lines and me keeping on whittling away at him corner after corner -up the inside up the outside shit if I have to up the bloody middle --But i just couldnt make any move stick.It was just too slippery to try any gung ho moves . Finally 4 laps into the race he made a little mistake that let me through on the sweeper Once past the guy into clear track I used every bit of grip I had and every bit of speed I could lay down to clear a good gap.
I had 4 laps to go so i settled down into a groove and tried to catch mr zxr400
I couldn't catch him he just had way more tyre grip than me and once again I settled for a second place finish. Never have I been happier to see that black n white flag/
Wow what a day --
Now the best part of all
With my two third place and two second place finishes I managed to get a total of 72 points in Formula 3 which means
BIG DRUM ROLL---I finished THIRD in the series in F3 as well as third in series in pre89
WOHOOOOOO
A million thanks to a shit load of people that made this possible