SWERVE
10th October 2010, 15:22
Seem to have spent most of the week at Ruapuna.......... a whole day helping to coach the juniors especially my youngest Chris who has now got the racing bug too.
Then friday with Ants testing and then another twilight training session on fri eve.
Ants hadn,t raced at Ruapuna for some time so we decided to do the friday test, another lovely sunny day saw him trying a few minor changes and finished the day doing 1:45.4 so slowly chipping away at his times. I got to ride the SV during the week and loved the new front settings ... but the zx10 rear shock just doesnt cut it anymore! Very hard to hold a tight line from mid corner under gas , you have to climb over the tank and forward to get weight over the front.
My lack of fitness made this bloody hard work....... and i only did a handful of moderately paced laps.
Ants was confident on Sat morning of going qiucker...... however the weather had other ideas. Pro-Twin practice started just dry enough for dry tyres but soon turned into a monsoon. So times were slow and those who did a quick lap in the first two got the better grids.
Qualified on the second row of F3/PT. Race 1 was wet but not raining so put on a part worn wet rear incase the track dried....... it did a little. Ants got a good start and was 3rd out of T1 held that for a couple of laps but got passed by a few mid race and finished 4th PT.
Due to hold ups and weather it was decided to only run 2 rounds of racing with the second race being 8 laps
Race2. Very wet (previous F1 race was red flagged and re-started due to hail) so put on a new wet rear. Got an awesome start and led from T1, pulled a decent gap from James Hoogie & Jonny Small in the first two laps. However by lap 3 he was slowing his pace and was caught and passed by both James & Jonny. Finished in 3rd.
He was gutted when he got back to the pits........ turns out he just rode on the ragged edge for the first 2 laps to try and get a gap but couldn,t keep it up any longer. (huge slide at pothole on lap one) He had the same problem i had encountered earlier with the bike not wanting to turn from mid corner so running wide on every exit (ok ish in the dry but really bad in the rain).
However we got a glimpse of what he can do in those first few laps........ all we gotta do now is equip the bike with some decent rear suspension. It was on the cards but has now become top priority.
Big turn out of riders for this meeting....... ran out of sign on forms and transponders. A lot of new faces and machines. John Ross debuting his BMW S1000 on Friday. Ryan Hampton dominating Sat with some impressive sideways and one wheel action in Superbike.
Looks like a good season ahead................if only the bloody weather would play ball.
Then friday with Ants testing and then another twilight training session on fri eve.
Ants hadn,t raced at Ruapuna for some time so we decided to do the friday test, another lovely sunny day saw him trying a few minor changes and finished the day doing 1:45.4 so slowly chipping away at his times. I got to ride the SV during the week and loved the new front settings ... but the zx10 rear shock just doesnt cut it anymore! Very hard to hold a tight line from mid corner under gas , you have to climb over the tank and forward to get weight over the front.
My lack of fitness made this bloody hard work....... and i only did a handful of moderately paced laps.
Ants was confident on Sat morning of going qiucker...... however the weather had other ideas. Pro-Twin practice started just dry enough for dry tyres but soon turned into a monsoon. So times were slow and those who did a quick lap in the first two got the better grids.
Qualified on the second row of F3/PT. Race 1 was wet but not raining so put on a part worn wet rear incase the track dried....... it did a little. Ants got a good start and was 3rd out of T1 held that for a couple of laps but got passed by a few mid race and finished 4th PT.
Due to hold ups and weather it was decided to only run 2 rounds of racing with the second race being 8 laps
Race2. Very wet (previous F1 race was red flagged and re-started due to hail) so put on a new wet rear. Got an awesome start and led from T1, pulled a decent gap from James Hoogie & Jonny Small in the first two laps. However by lap 3 he was slowing his pace and was caught and passed by both James & Jonny. Finished in 3rd.
He was gutted when he got back to the pits........ turns out he just rode on the ragged edge for the first 2 laps to try and get a gap but couldn,t keep it up any longer. (huge slide at pothole on lap one) He had the same problem i had encountered earlier with the bike not wanting to turn from mid corner so running wide on every exit (ok ish in the dry but really bad in the rain).
However we got a glimpse of what he can do in those first few laps........ all we gotta do now is equip the bike with some decent rear suspension. It was on the cards but has now become top priority.
Big turn out of riders for this meeting....... ran out of sign on forms and transponders. A lot of new faces and machines. John Ross debuting his BMW S1000 on Friday. Ryan Hampton dominating Sat with some impressive sideways and one wheel action in Superbike.
Looks like a good season ahead................if only the bloody weather would play ball.