Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Vic campaign - 2010

[Racey Rider]

This year, Steve Robinson at Northwest Motorcycles New Plymouth had given me the free offer to race a new 2008 Hyosung GT250r. A Twin cylinder 250cc four stroke. Motorcycling NZ have created a new class for this type of machine called "Production Light". With the aim of replacing the ageing 150cc two stroke fleet with these newer bikes as an entry level / lower cost racing class.

With a bash at the Manfield national round being my first practice on the bike, and a couple of rounds at Taupo also in the bag, I was keen for the start of my main Vic Club, 6 round Winter series.
The Shop got a set of fiberglass fairings made for the bike, and their idea was to paint it Bright Hot Pink so as to be noticed. To save a dollar I offered to do it myself, but soon found Hot pink is not a easy colour to buy. It was suggested I mix it myself, but that's not as easy as it sounded ether. Due to running out of time we ended up with a redy/pink pink, and that's how it was to stay for the first round!

I had decided last November that lossing another 5kg body weight would be in order to help battle against the light weight young riders entering the class. I lost 5kgs last year for racing, and through a change in diet, steadily lost the 1kg per month needed to hit my goal 70kgs racing weight by May.

I had planed to get to the practice day before the race day to test a few ideas, but the bike wasn't ready, and it was testing in qualifying once again. I surprised myself with achieving a second place in qualifying with some smooth riding on a wet track.

Unfortunately, on my third lap of practice, I felt the bike drop onto one cylinder, and suddenly I was a 125 racer. I limped the GT back to the pits, and resigned myself to the fact that the bike had a coil problem.

Now what to do??.
The budget had not allowed for any spares for this bike as yet, so the best I could come up with was, bash it with a hammer and hope for the best!
Maybe not.

Other options.
I considered the fact that there was only five 250's in my class today. So If I was to start the race only on one cylinder....... that would still mean 15 points per race, even if I crawled round slowly, as long as I past the chequered flag. Knowing those point may be crucial come the end of the series it made sense to give it a go, and just hope I didn't get Black Flagged.

I slowly putted round the warm up lap at full throttle. Being one of the last bikes to arrive, I moved through the large pack of angry 150 two strokes that started behind my class.
"This might not be such a good idea" - crossed my mind.
Found my grid spot. Looked behind to see how much space the rider behind me had to launch, and realize.... I was going to be in his way - going slow. In hind sight, I should have told him I would be moving off the line slowly!
The lights came on. The lights went out. We were racing! ....... Well..... They were racing.
Half the power of Nothing had me clutching and clutching and clutching, as I try desperately to get the GT moving on one cylinder.
Not surprisingly, I was last into the first corner, and I settled into my 'Sunday Ride'.

Now... Being on a Pink bike and going fast is one thing. But being on a Pink bike and going slow...... made me feel.... a bit gay to be fair.
So it was with some thankfulness that even the one good coil I had, decided 'Na - this is too much to handle' and the bike stopped completely before I finished the second lap.
DNF = No Points.

Thankfully I did not have to repeat the process on the second race.
My pit team had arrived. and I experienced for the first time what the TEAM approach was about.
In the past, if I had a problem, I sorted it myself - or I packed up.
But a group of interested supporters from Northwest were quickly over to see what could be done.

A little bit of chat around the pits, and Peter F was soon offering the coil out of Tyler's Crashed RG150. Would it work? The consensus seemed to be it probably would.
So in it went, and the GT was soon idling away like a happy twin.

Race two was on a dry track, and an ok start had me in a decent position out of the first corner. Ben had grabbed a good lead already so I settled into a fight for second place. I had one chance in the race to achieve that, by drafting Max down Denny Hulme straight. I pulled out of his slipstream, Gained three quarters of a bike length on the inside attack to Higgens corner. But alas, my lack of track time showed as I buttoned off to early allowing Max to regain the advantage into the corner.
Came home 3rd out of 5 in class. 2 seconds a lap away from my BT at Nationals time.

But, 20 points in the bag. Not quite the start I was hoping for. But that's the racing game. You deal with the frustrations, and try not to let them happen again.

Big Thanks to the Firn's for providing the coil,
and Thanks to the Team. (get yourself a team everybody, their priceless!)

Thanks to:
Northwest Motorcycles (http://www.northwest.co.nz/).
Bike Passion (http://bikepassion.co.nz/) - Motorcycle accessories Importers

DP Brakes
Heidenau tyres
Devil Exhausts
Motorex oils

See you all next round. (June 12/13th)

Racey

[John_H]

Awesome mate, really enjoyed reading your post.

[scracha]

Good on you Racey and good on your sponsors.

[SWERVE]

I admire you determination and agree about gettin a good support crew....................... however knowing your problem would make you slow off the line and you only had to finish i believe starting at the back would have been a better decisioin in hindsight.......... you we very nearly collected by 2/3 riders on that first start. All turned out ok this time but it could have been a different story. Hope its all ok for next round.

[Clivoris]

Great write up man. The future of pro-lites is looking very good.

[Racey Rider]

Very true, I should have started at the back. Didn't enter my mind on the day.
Hopefully by writing down our silly mistakes, others will read and we all learn together.

[Racey Rider]

Well, another disappointing weekend for 'Triple R team'. ('Racey Rider Racing'. I just thought of that)(Nar maybe not!)

The coil problem from last month was sorted, so we thought. The shop had replaced both coils with something that was supposed to work. And they did work fine, in the shop. But within half a lap on the track it was obvious they were incompatible with the bikes engine management system. and the GT chugged round the track cutting in and out, which put quite a dampener on qualifying times.

On a good point - we had Lost the Pink from the bike, as Hot pink was too hard to achieve. So new Red colour had me Looking Fast, even as I cruised to 25th place on the grid of the Streetstock bike mix.


There was a plan to have someone bring to coils of the other GT250 in the shop from NP. but that wouldn't be till Sunday. So with One race on Saturday it was at least a chance to pick up 15 points for fifth place in class, if These coils would at least let me finish ... and starting from the back of grid, I wasn't going to get in anyone’s way.

The bike did alright for the first half of the race. Nowhere near full power, but it got along ok. But at half distance it did cut out on one cylinder totally and my speed did reduce. I was still moving though, and kept an eye out for the leaders coming through to keep out of their way.
It seemed 15 points may have been in the bag, but race control decided I was a hazard to other riders and Black flagged me with one lap to go. It really didn't worry me the way I was feeling, as my Championship hopes for second place were over by now anyway. It was a Case of:- O Well.... That’s just 'DEE' way it goes!


Coils arrived early the next day, but where of course off a EFI bike and not the carb’ed model that I run. They did the same thing - bike would not run - Day over!

On a better note - I got to watch all the streetstock team doing there thing in the wet. I have been helping the croft family since they started as we all had KR150's. It been so good seeing them develop and now finish a race 1, 2, 3 ! Three Kawasaki's on top. That was their dream when they started and now it's happened. Well done team! And that Sam Croft - He deserves a sponsor.

[Racey Rider]

Well after the disappointments of the last two rounds of the Actrixs Superbike Winter series, it was well time for things to start going right for the Northwest M/c team.

And go right – They Did.

John L had done a great job of tracking down the electrical problem that had plagued the campaign so far. Would you believe – it was a issue with the electronic dash unit. By removing it from the bike, all order was restored, and the bike ran perfectly in the electrics department all day.
The track was a little damp as we rolled out to do our practice qualifying laps, and at the test day beforehand , apparently 'something' had been spread around the track of a slippery nature. This ‘something’ was now covered in the ‘high grip’* cement dust, which really has the ability to ‘do your mind in’ should you keep your Eyes open.
Qualifying went ok, with one stop in the middle to make a change as I hadn’t got to the test day to perfect my theories. That put the pressure on a bit, as it gave me just one lap left to put in a fast time.

When the grid sheet came out, I place 13th out of 26 in the Streetstock/pro light class. 3rd Pro light, with Ben on the Kawasaki way ahead on the first grid row in third place. At 4 seconds a lap behind Ben’s Best Lap Time, I knew there was plenty of work to do.

In Race 1 I got a good start off the line.
I noticed throughout the day my starts seemed much easier without a rev counter to distract me. One less thing to think about it would seem. Just ‘listen to, and feel the bike’ was working for me.
The race was pretty much over in the first couple of laps from what I remember. Ben pulled away, not to be seen again with the gaggle of Streetstock 150 two strokes between me and him. I spent my time making sure young Kyran on his GT250 didn’t get past. I came home 2nd Pro light bike, but the gap between me and Ben worsening to 5 seconds a lap. He certainly has it going on that boy as he run’s consistently BT’s of 1:32’s .

Race 2 was remembered for a great battle with Rachel on her KRR150. Mid race – I had slowly gained on her, and crossing the start line once again, I was in a close enough position to attack.
Not much chance under brakes into T1, try and get the drive on early to hold station and set up splash. Rachel enters Splash mid track – so I take a wider entry not wanting to just ‘follow the leader’.
I carry some good speed and getting better drive, aim for the inside line in the right hander before the hairpin. With me right on her back wheel the welcome mat is out and the door is wide open for the pass. I ‘Gun it’. (Which... I’m not quite sure what that means, as the throttle on the GT250 four stroke has been wide open for the last two seconds anyway). As we tilt for the corner, I’m halfway up on her. The Mat has been pulled away, and the doors not looking quite so ‘Open’ anymore. ‘She’ll back off’ I think, and put a little more pressure on the already at the stops throttle.

Cornering like that –full throttle – with a competitor rubbing elbows on your fairing, to me is what brings me back time and again. It’s what gets you through the bad days, when nothing seems to go right, and you’ve just wasted so many $$ to find – you can’t start the first race of the day anyway.
It makes the difference between Track day, and Racing!

For the record, I got through on Rachel. We then continued to battle for the next lap before I was able to break away from her. By race end I felt comfortable I had it, though the timing stats show, I was still just under 1 second ahead when the chequered flag fell. Kyran had got away from me at the start of that race, so he took 2nd in class this time, and my BT on Ben was back to a 4 second gap.

So at the start of race 3, Kyran and I (who are on the same Hyosung GT250’s) had one win each between the Hyo’s. A Small wager of 50 buck was offered on the winner of the final race, but Kyran Wisely declined. I made a change to a couple of things on the bike (as per the rules) and they seemed to work.
I started the race well, jumping right on the tail of Kyran’s bike as we exited the first corner. This was going to be a good battle I sensed. Through into splash, about to tip it in and throttle on, and through comes Mr Croft on his KR, wobbling all out of shape right between Kyran and I.
( Obviously he’d been ‘paid off’ to create some distraction to my smooth racing style. (and I thought DC and I were mates)).
As fate would have it, despite the five bike length gap that that had created, I was able to come home before Kyran (and Rachel ), as he had a DNF. But most pleasing was the reduction in the Best Lap time between Ben and myself that I had now got down to just 2.5 seconds. So I’m making improvement it would seem, and Ben is stuck in the 1:32 range.

A bit more time in the seat, and I hope to be ready to go Kawasaki Hunting.

Next round 14th Aug.
Thanks for reading.
Racey.

Thanks to:
Northwest Motorcycles.
Bike Passion - Motorcycle accessories Importers

DP Brakes
Heidenau tyres
Devil Exhausts
Motorex oils



*sarcasm **

** It means :- saying something is that is obviously not so. ***

*** Just explained so I don’t lose WT. ****

**** WT – A common KB shortening of our beloved member ‘White T .... Orr Never Mind!

[wharfy]

Great write up's !
Good effort with the improvement in times.
It was good to find out why that pink bike was going so slow at round 1 !

[eelracing]

Quote Racey Rider...I carry some good speed and getting better drive, aim for the inside line in the right hander before the hairpin. With me right on her back wheel the welcome mat is out and the door is wide open for the pass. I ‘Gun it’. (Which... I’m not quite sure what that means, as the throttle on the GT250 four stroke has been wide open for the last two seconds anyway).

Cornering like that –full throttle – with a competitor rubbing elbows on your fairing, to me is what brings me back time and again. It’s what gets you through the bad days, when nothing seems to go right, and you’ve just wasted so many $$ to find – you can’t start the first race of the day anyway.
It makes the difference between Track day, and Racing! Quote




Haha the "gun it" quote is classic.This is excellent stuff,keep it up.

[Racey Rider]

Given the loss of my employment recently, going to the test day on the Friday didn’t look like a plan that would get past the wife. So we were taking a bit of a risk, that Race day qualifying might be on a dry track, to scuff in a new front tyre we were trying for the first time. (Generally Brand new tyres need a few Kms put on them before they really come into grip.)

The day unfortunately turned out showery, with practice/qualifying on a damp track, which, with the concerns of a un-scrubbed tyre under me, put pay to any half decent grid placing for the start of our two, ‘longer’ races on the day. 20th out of 25 riders in the Street stock classes.

The tyre we were trying was a intermediate DoT approved race compound, which given the changeable conditions of the day, should have work well we thought.

But with only 4 laps of the Manfield Long track on it, Lining up for the first race – My confidence was not high.

Ben on the Kawasaki was not there today, so Kyran, Russell and I had a guaranteed top three finish in our class as long as we kept it upright till the end of each race.
In one sense it was disappointing that we had the chance to take our first class win, - but without your main competition there, the win didn’t mean as much.

First race I got off to a good start. Was mid pack when someone in front went down on the corner before the hairpin. This caused me to loose focus, and while thinking about ‘Who was that that crashed’ two other bikes flew past as they attacked the braking zone. I gave myself a thoughtful ‘slap in the face’ and told myself to concentrate on the job.

The race was a 12 minute + 1 lap affair, and though I had lessened air pressure in the new front tyre (to try and increase heat and grip), for the first half of the race I struggled to get a feel for what was happening under me. I could see I was 3rd in class. Kyran was doing well in first, and Russell was about 15 metres in front of me.
Sometimes you need a bit of Motivation to get your head down and push a little more past your comfort zone. I had found my motivation.
O the Shame, to be beaten by Russell! I knew I was better than that.

To my benefit, the bikes going round and round had started to create a dry racing line, and with this I finally found some confidence in the grip of my tyre half way through the race. Confidence is the name of the game it seems, and I quickly started to reel in Russell. Passing him with two laps to go, I then set my sights on Kyran. But the laps ran out without me gaining on him at all, Kyran took the class win (well done), with me in second. 12th out of 25 in the street stock mix.

Race two was 15 minutes +1 lap on a drizzly wet track. I had hoped, that now my tyre had ‘run in’, it would handle the track conditions well. But that was not the case. The whole race I felt I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Came home second again, and felt pleased that I had kept it upright really. 14th/of 24 SS.


So - a few more things learnt.
Three Hyosungs on the podium on the day. :whistle: (Prolight class)
Next race 18/19th Sept. Two days on the short track. Yehar.


Thanks to:
Northwest Motorcycles.
Bike Passion - Motorcycle accessories Importers

DP Brakes
Heidenau tyres
Devil Exhausts
Motorex oils

[Racey Rider]

Two days racing at Manfield.

Up at 4am (so I didn't have to sleep in the car for two nights), to get there by 7am (and get a free pit bay under cover).
By 9am Day one was canceled without a motor being started, due to flooding of the track.
By 10am Day two had been written off too.
By 11am I was packed up and ready to head home.
By 12pm I was stuck on the side of the road by a big slip over SH3 South of Whanganui.
By 3pm I was halfway through my 6 hour stint stuck at Turakina* (*a petrol station, pub and a chip shop) (and maybe a house of disrupt I'm not sure, I didn't go looking!)
By 5pm I was considering the ramifications of spending $5.50 on fish, sausage and chips.
By 6pm I was off on my way, chancing my luck that more of the mud cliffs above SH3 wouldn't crash down and engulf me, ending this sorry saga.
By 8pm the lights of New Plymouth flickered through the windscreen wipers as I recounted the days adventure that had cost my business account $70 of fuel. and the children $5.50 of there inheritance.

Why do I do this again?!?

[Racey Rider]

Turning up at the track with the Heidenau ‘Dot (road) approved’ wet tread tyres still on the Hyosung, was a bit of a ‘wait and see’ approach as too what conditions would be like on the day.
Overnight showers had cleared, and a drying track in the wind had Young Jeff W. making a comment about my poor choice of tyres. But given the cold track, and our wanting to try these new Heidenau K73’s . I decided not to change to the ‘Dry’ tyres I had as back up, and see what happened.

Is seemed that a Day of ‘Things going my way’ was about to ensue, as what happened was - As soon as my class was called up to prepare for our practice/Qualifying run, The heavens opened with a Monsoon of heavy rain, which postponed our entry out to the track for ten minutes.
‘Course I’m sitting there Happy as Larry with my ‘Wets’ on Thinking “Today just might be My Day”!
“Good choice of tyres” said Jeff as he walked back the other way.


As the rain turns into light spits, we headed out onto a soaked track, and within half a lap I’m feeling really confidant in the grip I’m getting out of these tyres. Catching people I’d struggled to catch before. Keeping up with the top guys. Dropping two seconds from each and every lap I completed.
It felt good. But I was still surprised when the timing sheets came out and I had qualified 4th out of 26 riders in the field. Front row of the start grid for the very first time.

For the start of Race One, a damp but drying track was going to be a good test of these ‘wets’ on how long they would stay composed and not over heat. I got an ok start, but muffed a gear change down to the first corner. Thankfully the tyres were griping well, allowing me to go exactly where I wanted to go, and I was able to regain a few of the spots I had lost from the start. The bike was running well, and I was in a good position to watch the lead 150 riders scraping it out for the whole 10 lap race. As expected, the track quickly dried, and by half race I was feeling that effect on the wets under me. A little bit of ‘squirminess’ and ‘not total control’ was being felt through the corners. Not unexpected, as these conditions were not what the tyres were made for, but it had me going looking for puddles to ride through in an attempt to cool the rubber.
Under examination after the race, while the front look ok, the rear was quite tortured on the edges.
Still, they had done their job, and I was able to finish 6th on the track, and take out my first Race Class win!


Race two
With the track in a much warmer state, and very light showers quickly being blown away, I decided to change to my ‘dry’ tyres. This then would be a good test of my ability under ‘normal’ conditions. (though what is ‘normal’ for this year’s Winter series is a discussion that could go Well into the night!). Another ok start, and little bit of corner passing practice with a couple of the 4 cylinder 4 strokes in the first few laps, they would then re-pass me down the straight bits.
Came home 7th on track, and again, 1st in class.

So as you can imagine, I was thrilled with the days events.

But my turn of good fortune hadn’t finished yet.
While at prize giving at day’s end, a name was drawn out of all those who had entered all the rounds of the Actrix Winter Series. A name that sounded very similar to mine. Wait a minute... That IS my name! What have I just won?
$1000 from Kiwibike Insurance.

Wow! Could it be my run of misfortune could be over?! What does one say?!

Thank you very much to Kiwibike Motorcycle Insurance. Putting back into the Motorcycle fraternity.
Please support Dave at Kiwibike (http://www.kiwibike.co.nz/), by allowing him the chance to broker a deal to cover your next Insurance needs.

Thank you also to Steve Robinson at Northwest M/c (http://www.northwest.co.nz/) New Plymouth for providing the Hyosung GT250r Twin cylinder four stroke. (I told you Red is faster than Pink!)

And to the other sponsors and supporters onboard for helping me through, what has been a real development season:
Bike Passion
Heidenau tyres
DP Brakes
Devil exhausts
Motorex oils
John L
RideLife – Motorcycle Stuff, for the Motorcycle buff!

We seem to have the bike sorted now - lets hope we can get out there again and prove what the bikes capable of.

Thanks for your interest.

Racey / Alex
Pro Light #41
(where's the Photo Team?!)

[quickbuck]

Well done on the wins Alex.
Congrats on winning the Grand at prize giving too.

Look forward to racing you in the near future.

[J_Buell]

Well done, I was seriously impressed with your pace in the wet.