scuzeme
14th June 2010, 14:50
VMCC Winter Series Round 2, 12th & 13th June 2010
Arrived at the track for a test day on Friday, the weather was undecided and track wet until late afternoon, long story short i conserved my tyres and my wallet and left off going out thinking there wasn’t any advantage since we were using the short track on the day, this was a first for me and it ended up being a weekend of firsts for me in more ways than one.
Met up with Stevie, Phil, Dom & Markus and we made our way over to “The Drover” for a few quiet ones, had what was to be one drink too many and after leaving Dom and Markus me Phil and Stevie wound up in some Asian Restaurant, somehow got back to their accommodation and crawled out of bed in the morning feeling like complete shite.
Got to the track set up the garage which i was sharing with Travis and Fred slapped on some wets and went out for qualifying still feeling terrible but managing a 2nd in F2 and a 6th in F1.
Saturday F2 Race 1
The track was really greasy by the time we went out for the first F2 race got a reasonable start but had to pass both Mike Reid and Marcus to sit in behind Luke and Travis who were trailing Jamie by a good margin. My wets held up well but had atleast a couple of moments where the back lost its way, the front end was more of a concern especially in the long right hander leading into splash and the long left hander coming round back onto the short track, both places had horrible bumps in the surface where at speed i was losing momentary traction causing the bike to dive sideways. Didnt want to push it and settled for a 4th place finish wanting to chuck the contents of my stomach by the end of the race Haha. Was pleasing to get a sub 2 minute lap PB in those conditions.
Had a chat to Rob Taylor after the race and he advised me to remove the front forks so he could check the spring rate and make the necessary changes to give me greater front end compliance, at this point the little voice that had been telling me not to bother with doing the F1 races suddenly got a whole lot louder and i decided to take the pressure off myself and put the F1 points aside for the weekend, reason being less pressure in regards to tyre changes, conservation of rubber, less chance of a crash in risky conditions and a chance for a good rest between F2 races. Forks got whisked out , changes were made and i reinstalled them ready for the next days racing.
Sunday F2 Race 2
Had an early night and got up feeling pretty good, got to track and got setup with very black clouds looming. On the grid for the F2 race i was feeling more nervous than usual and just got swamped by everyone, i think i was somewhere midpack coming out of Toyota but managed to pass bikes into through and out of splash and again a couple more at the hairpin. The front end felt amazing even in the pouring rain and i knew coming out of Higgins that my pace was going to increase dramatically through the next four corners, got past Mark Bennet round the outside on the entry to the long track full lean pissing down Hahahaaaa bike was stable as, managed to pass Matt, Travis and Luke by lap end and sat in behind Jamie until i managed to get on the gas early out of Higgins and pass, he quickly overtook me at the next left hander but i gassed it hard all the way round the corner and into the next right hander, by the end of the 2nd lap i was out in front, i had to tell myself not to look back because i thought Jamie was sitting right behind me, i just went head down arse up to the finish with no moments to take the chequered.
Sunday F2 Race 3
Man it was cold but i was lucky my wife and the Merkel support team kept feeding me hot food, the rain had stopped but the track was still wet. At this point i had started thinking about points, placings, outcomes and the weight of just wanting to keep up the momentum and pull another good finish out of the bag was giving me huge nerves, as we lined up on the dummy it started to rain, by the time we had finished the warmup lap it was really raining Bang! Another dreadful start i just let everyone pass me at Toyota and it felt like i was the last bike to go round but by the end of the first lap id settled into forth behind Travis, Luke and Jamie Rajek, by the 2nd lap it was me and Jamie again i just felt really confident and chose my moment to get past him under acceleration. I kept pushing it hard and the rain got worse and worse then i had a huge moment on the right hander out of splash where i lost front and rear grip simultaneously but managed to correct then again coming through onto the long track running wide and leaned right over accelerating hard the rear let go, gripped, let go, gripped and caused the bike to pogo ON THE LEAN!, it corrected itself and after a look back couldn’t see Jamie so i buttoned off about 2 secs a lap to the finish.
A forth and 2 firsts gave me enough points to secure first place in supersport for that round and also make me 2nd equal on 108 points for the series. I hope we continue to have really wet rounds for my sake .
Cheers again for everyone that encouraged me and a special thank you to Rob Taylor for his invaluable input and advice. Obviously with the right suspension settings and a nice set of DUNLOP wets you can hang your arse out quite far in the pouring rain at Manfeild.
Cheers to TSS Red Baron Petone as always with your prompt service and invaluable support/advice (and allowing me to tick up stuff).
Thanks i hope you enjoyed my report.
Arrived at the track for a test day on Friday, the weather was undecided and track wet until late afternoon, long story short i conserved my tyres and my wallet and left off going out thinking there wasn’t any advantage since we were using the short track on the day, this was a first for me and it ended up being a weekend of firsts for me in more ways than one.
Met up with Stevie, Phil, Dom & Markus and we made our way over to “The Drover” for a few quiet ones, had what was to be one drink too many and after leaving Dom and Markus me Phil and Stevie wound up in some Asian Restaurant, somehow got back to their accommodation and crawled out of bed in the morning feeling like complete shite.
Got to the track set up the garage which i was sharing with Travis and Fred slapped on some wets and went out for qualifying still feeling terrible but managing a 2nd in F2 and a 6th in F1.
Saturday F2 Race 1
The track was really greasy by the time we went out for the first F2 race got a reasonable start but had to pass both Mike Reid and Marcus to sit in behind Luke and Travis who were trailing Jamie by a good margin. My wets held up well but had atleast a couple of moments where the back lost its way, the front end was more of a concern especially in the long right hander leading into splash and the long left hander coming round back onto the short track, both places had horrible bumps in the surface where at speed i was losing momentary traction causing the bike to dive sideways. Didnt want to push it and settled for a 4th place finish wanting to chuck the contents of my stomach by the end of the race Haha. Was pleasing to get a sub 2 minute lap PB in those conditions.
Had a chat to Rob Taylor after the race and he advised me to remove the front forks so he could check the spring rate and make the necessary changes to give me greater front end compliance, at this point the little voice that had been telling me not to bother with doing the F1 races suddenly got a whole lot louder and i decided to take the pressure off myself and put the F1 points aside for the weekend, reason being less pressure in regards to tyre changes, conservation of rubber, less chance of a crash in risky conditions and a chance for a good rest between F2 races. Forks got whisked out , changes were made and i reinstalled them ready for the next days racing.
Sunday F2 Race 2
Had an early night and got up feeling pretty good, got to track and got setup with very black clouds looming. On the grid for the F2 race i was feeling more nervous than usual and just got swamped by everyone, i think i was somewhere midpack coming out of Toyota but managed to pass bikes into through and out of splash and again a couple more at the hairpin. The front end felt amazing even in the pouring rain and i knew coming out of Higgins that my pace was going to increase dramatically through the next four corners, got past Mark Bennet round the outside on the entry to the long track full lean pissing down Hahahaaaa bike was stable as, managed to pass Matt, Travis and Luke by lap end and sat in behind Jamie until i managed to get on the gas early out of Higgins and pass, he quickly overtook me at the next left hander but i gassed it hard all the way round the corner and into the next right hander, by the end of the 2nd lap i was out in front, i had to tell myself not to look back because i thought Jamie was sitting right behind me, i just went head down arse up to the finish with no moments to take the chequered.
Sunday F2 Race 3
Man it was cold but i was lucky my wife and the Merkel support team kept feeding me hot food, the rain had stopped but the track was still wet. At this point i had started thinking about points, placings, outcomes and the weight of just wanting to keep up the momentum and pull another good finish out of the bag was giving me huge nerves, as we lined up on the dummy it started to rain, by the time we had finished the warmup lap it was really raining Bang! Another dreadful start i just let everyone pass me at Toyota and it felt like i was the last bike to go round but by the end of the first lap id settled into forth behind Travis, Luke and Jamie Rajek, by the 2nd lap it was me and Jamie again i just felt really confident and chose my moment to get past him under acceleration. I kept pushing it hard and the rain got worse and worse then i had a huge moment on the right hander out of splash where i lost front and rear grip simultaneously but managed to correct then again coming through onto the long track running wide and leaned right over accelerating hard the rear let go, gripped, let go, gripped and caused the bike to pogo ON THE LEAN!, it corrected itself and after a look back couldn’t see Jamie so i buttoned off about 2 secs a lap to the finish.
A forth and 2 firsts gave me enough points to secure first place in supersport for that round and also make me 2nd equal on 108 points for the series. I hope we continue to have really wet rounds for my sake .
Cheers again for everyone that encouraged me and a special thank you to Rob Taylor for his invaluable input and advice. Obviously with the right suspension settings and a nice set of DUNLOP wets you can hang your arse out quite far in the pouring rain at Manfeild.
Cheers to TSS Red Baron Petone as always with your prompt service and invaluable support/advice (and allowing me to tick up stuff).
Thanks i hope you enjoyed my report.