Mudflaps
14th June 2010, 21:44
So after a great start on the Saturday I was really looking forward to getting out there again on the Sunday. Woke up at about 5.15 am and it was pissing down with rain!! I was staying at Bert's place (thanks again bro) on the Massey side of Palmerston North, so I was hoping that it wasn't raining at the track. It was!! Got to the track just before 8am and gave the bike a clean and sorted my gear out. It was pretty cold and the track was already wet when it started raining again just after the riders briefing.
I went out in the 'scrub' laps (groups of six bikes all sizes for three laps). I don't think there were any other ss bikes out there, but I can say that wet tires on the 600's and 1000's send water firing out behind them like it was coming out of a water cannon!!!! Lucky they weren't in front of me for long, as I would have got wetter from them than the rain that was coming down. The track was very very wet, but I didn't have any dodgy moments which is what I was looking for by going out. I obviously didn't need to scrub my tires, but wanted to see how slippery it was before race one came around.
I chucked on some good heavy sounds on the i pod and studied my track map again. Craig warmed my bike up and then it was go time. I was still nervous about the start as there was a lot of bike in front of me and it was still very wet. Got a pretty good start but still had a lot of bikes in front. Worked my way past a few people through splash. I really like that part of the track! I was feeling pretty good about the corner speed I taking out of corners, but still not happy with my line on the long left hand sweeper after the hair pin in the back section. I ended up behind a group of bikes just before Splash. I made a plan and went to try it out when two of the bikes slid off the track and I had to do a bit of quick braking and a bit of side stepping to avoid it all. The rest of the race was going really good until Andrew Croft passed me on the very top 90 degree corner in the long track. I had no idea he was there. He had had a huge task in front of him as he had a bad start and ended up last, but worked his way all the way back into 3rd place!! Now that's racing. A huge effort!! I tried to catch him back up but couldn't do it. Ended up coming 4th by 400th of a second! This racing caper is heart breaking sometimes, but losing to a great ride that isn't bad at all. Good work Andrew!! I was a little gutted to just miss out on a third, but very very happy with a 4th. Being able to sort through the traffic and sort my lines is all thanks to Craig Frethey! I'm really looking forward to doing more racing with him around to help as he has a huge amount of knowledge to share and is great to learn from!
Race three was to be on a slightly drier track, but still damp in places. Everyone in frotnt of me got a heaps better start than me and I ended up just staying back out of the 1st corner traffic/chaos and deciding to try and work my way through the pack. This worked quite well and I had a couple of good laps as I caught a few people up. The next time I went round the infield hairpin I saw Andrew C. sitting up on the wall. He was ok but this opened up a chance for me. I looked across the track while going down the middle straight and saw that he others were ahead, but not too far to keep pushing. When I came past on the white flag I could see Ants Singer going around turn one!! I thought that if I pushed hard I might be able to close the gap a bit. By the time we got to the back of the track extension there was only 20 odd metres between us. I had a little chat to myself on the way around the the back hair pin about hanging on and not backing off on the gas at all around the left hand sweeper as it would be my only chance to catch Ants. It was a bit hairy going over the repair patch half way round but managed to stay on and ended up being a gear higher already because of the extra speed I was carrying compared to my other laps. Because of this though it pushed me quiet wide onto the entry of the back straight, which in turn put me a little lower than normal into Dunlop. My heart was going a trillion billion miles an hour by this stage because Ants and I ended up side by side exiting Dunlop and onto the finishing straight. It was a straight out drag to the line and to my surprise, I JUST managed to get in front on the line. I say just because I only beat him by 2 tenths of a second!! I was so happy and there was quiet a lot of yelling going on in my helmet!! That was awesome!! I was so stoked. My last lap was the fastest for the ss class (but Sam Croft had backed off a bit, but still, I'll take what I can get). I had finished in 4th again and couldn't have asked for a better week end out! I then got told that I had come 3rd overall in the ss class for the weekend!! YAHOO!!!! Holy cow!!! That was the icing on the cake for sure. I never thought that the weekend could have gone so well. So I got to stay for prize giving ( in the freezing cold with about 11 other freezing people) and got a certificate and frame to put it in.
Now that's going straight to the pool room!!
This week end could not have been any better for our team! I owe everything I experienced over the three days to Chrissie and Craig!! Thanks heaps!! And a big thanks to all the people in our pit garage that stood out there and cheered me on and helped out over the week end, and to all of the others that were there for me too!!
How many sleeps till next round!?!
I went out in the 'scrub' laps (groups of six bikes all sizes for three laps). I don't think there were any other ss bikes out there, but I can say that wet tires on the 600's and 1000's send water firing out behind them like it was coming out of a water cannon!!!! Lucky they weren't in front of me for long, as I would have got wetter from them than the rain that was coming down. The track was very very wet, but I didn't have any dodgy moments which is what I was looking for by going out. I obviously didn't need to scrub my tires, but wanted to see how slippery it was before race one came around.
I chucked on some good heavy sounds on the i pod and studied my track map again. Craig warmed my bike up and then it was go time. I was still nervous about the start as there was a lot of bike in front of me and it was still very wet. Got a pretty good start but still had a lot of bikes in front. Worked my way past a few people through splash. I really like that part of the track! I was feeling pretty good about the corner speed I taking out of corners, but still not happy with my line on the long left hand sweeper after the hair pin in the back section. I ended up behind a group of bikes just before Splash. I made a plan and went to try it out when two of the bikes slid off the track and I had to do a bit of quick braking and a bit of side stepping to avoid it all. The rest of the race was going really good until Andrew Croft passed me on the very top 90 degree corner in the long track. I had no idea he was there. He had had a huge task in front of him as he had a bad start and ended up last, but worked his way all the way back into 3rd place!! Now that's racing. A huge effort!! I tried to catch him back up but couldn't do it. Ended up coming 4th by 400th of a second! This racing caper is heart breaking sometimes, but losing to a great ride that isn't bad at all. Good work Andrew!! I was a little gutted to just miss out on a third, but very very happy with a 4th. Being able to sort through the traffic and sort my lines is all thanks to Craig Frethey! I'm really looking forward to doing more racing with him around to help as he has a huge amount of knowledge to share and is great to learn from!
Race three was to be on a slightly drier track, but still damp in places. Everyone in frotnt of me got a heaps better start than me and I ended up just staying back out of the 1st corner traffic/chaos and deciding to try and work my way through the pack. This worked quite well and I had a couple of good laps as I caught a few people up. The next time I went round the infield hairpin I saw Andrew C. sitting up on the wall. He was ok but this opened up a chance for me. I looked across the track while going down the middle straight and saw that he others were ahead, but not too far to keep pushing. When I came past on the white flag I could see Ants Singer going around turn one!! I thought that if I pushed hard I might be able to close the gap a bit. By the time we got to the back of the track extension there was only 20 odd metres between us. I had a little chat to myself on the way around the the back hair pin about hanging on and not backing off on the gas at all around the left hand sweeper as it would be my only chance to catch Ants. It was a bit hairy going over the repair patch half way round but managed to stay on and ended up being a gear higher already because of the extra speed I was carrying compared to my other laps. Because of this though it pushed me quiet wide onto the entry of the back straight, which in turn put me a little lower than normal into Dunlop. My heart was going a trillion billion miles an hour by this stage because Ants and I ended up side by side exiting Dunlop and onto the finishing straight. It was a straight out drag to the line and to my surprise, I JUST managed to get in front on the line. I say just because I only beat him by 2 tenths of a second!! I was so happy and there was quiet a lot of yelling going on in my helmet!! That was awesome!! I was so stoked. My last lap was the fastest for the ss class (but Sam Croft had backed off a bit, but still, I'll take what I can get). I had finished in 4th again and couldn't have asked for a better week end out! I then got told that I had come 3rd overall in the ss class for the weekend!! YAHOO!!!! Holy cow!!! That was the icing on the cake for sure. I never thought that the weekend could have gone so well. So I got to stay for prize giving ( in the freezing cold with about 11 other freezing people) and got a certificate and frame to put it in.
Now that's going straight to the pool room!!
This week end could not have been any better for our team! I owe everything I experienced over the three days to Chrissie and Craig!! Thanks heaps!! And a big thanks to all the people in our pit garage that stood out there and cheered me on and helped out over the week end, and to all of the others that were there for me too!!
How many sleeps till next round!?!