quickbuck
19th January 2011, 16:15
Due to commitments to the National Racing Series, ie running in the F3 bike at Hampton Downs, Team Air Force Racing consisted of ONE person. Yours truly, competing in Production Lite, with no support in the pits…….. Not to worry, the Ninja 250R isn’t exactly maintenance intensive.
I arrived at Manfeild nice and early to set up my pit area and prepare for the day ahead. The wind was already starting to pick up. I helped Sam Fitzgerald, of Celtic Leathers, to put up his Gazebo, which proved to be a little challenge. Before long it was time for Practice/ Qualifying.
Qual
I was one of the first to head out and took it easy on the first lap to ensure the track went the same way as it had last time I rode it. The other reason is to warm everything up before going for it. I was following a CBR150 Street Stock bike for 3 laps, trying to get a good time for qualifying. The wind was already proving a real challenge. I was trying to draft him down the back strait to get some more speed… After 4 laps I caught some of the slower bikes in the class, and got baulked in a corner, so gave up trying to draught the Street Stock bike. I spent the next couple of laps exploring a few different lines in corners in case I needed to use them. At the end of my Qualifying I ended up 7th on the Grid (3rd Production Lite), with Lap Times all in the 1:35’s… Fastest lap of 1:35.304 was when I stopped pushing…. There is a lesson there!
Max W got a freak lap by his own admission… Following a very quick CBR 250 (Sarah E) might have been the reason. They went past me like I was standing still, but Max weighs in at about 45kg fully kitted. Max was fastest Proddy Lite in position 3 on the front row. Blair M ended up position 6, and Alex H (Championship Leader was on the other side of me in 8th, all on the 2nd row of the grid. Russell F was back on the 3rd row somewhere….. So, it was time to chill, and keep the ears out of the wind before the race.
Race 1 (8 Laps)
The Lights went out and we were off. Blair M, Alex H, and I all got a reasonable start. Max W got what I would call a poor start off the front row… So, here we were accelerating down the straight and Alex and Max decide they wanted to be closer to each other. I was getting the squeeze! To preserve limbs, I backed out of that game and let them go hoping to get a different line through turn 1 to make it back. I sort of got a better line, right up to the point where I was getting squeezed through turn 2 on the inside, then on the outside of turn 3… Somewhere I managed to get ahead of Alec, while Blair and Max disappeared up the track a little. Then the extra power of Blair’s 1988 GPX became apparent as he could really make some ground on the back strait into the wind. I was left to swap positions throughout the race for the remainder. It got quite “exciting” when we came up on a back marker in “Splash”. The speed differential between a modern 250 twin and a 145cc Honda Single is apparently HUGE! We managed to avoid the back marker, and carry on with our battle. I ended up in front of Alex at some point, and went on to beat him by a small margin.
I ended up finishing 3rd in class. This meant I closed in on the championship leader by 2 points. More importantly it gave me a boost in confidence to know I could beat the championship leader. I was pleased to see my laps were consistent 1:35’s, with the exception of the 1:37 when we overtook the back marker.
Race 2 (8 Laps)
After a break for lunch and a good rest, and checking the bike over, we were up for race 2.
The plan was to get a better start, and gain some more points on Alex.
After the lights went out the race to the first corner was pretty tame this time, and we all got through fine. The race was very much the same as the first after we all settled down into the usual pecking order. I got ahead of Alex about lap 4 and stayed there trying to chase down the CBR150 to get a draft off him. Then on the last lap coming into the hair pin I made the mistake of turning in too early. This meant my side stand bracket ground itself into the track. I lost a little momentum through that. Going into Higgins I knew I was faster than Alex through there, unless he managed to get his bike turned in as quick as me (something he was struggling to do). I tucked right into the bike into the head wind hoping Alex could’t get my draft. Half way down the straight my hopes were dashed, as Alex flew past me with about 10k more speed. He got my draft, and told be later it was like hitting Turbo boost. Into Dunlop I tried to get up the inside of him, and then we came across the CBR150 that was slowing on the outside of the track. I gave Alex some room to move as it could have ended very badly. Alex crossed the line 0.303 seconds ahead of me, and got back the points I gained on him in the previous race.
So, championship (with my dodgy maths) now looks like this: Alex (Hyosung) 85, Me (Ninja 250R) 80, Blair (GPX 250) 69, Russell (Hyosung) 68, Max (Hyosung) 50.
Sadly I can not attend Taupo to compete in Round 3, as it clashes with my roll as Mechanic for the Nationals.
My focus from here is on the Actrix VMCC Winter Series starting in May. There are some of the 150 Street Stock guys building 250’s in there garage at the moment, and the series is over 6 rounds. 5 Rounds are at Manfeild, and the final one at Taupo in October. By the winter series I intend to finally obtain some Fibre Glass Fairings, and get the bike painted in Team Air Force Colours, and loose some weight.
So, time to hit the pushbike to shed off some kg’s…..
QB
(Team Air Force Racing #42)
Thanks to:
Dunlop Tyres – They stuck like glue all day.
Bike Rider Magazine – For making it cheaper to enter the racing.
Pacific Motor Cycle Club – For organising a great day, with minimal disruptions.
RNZAF – For continued employment so I can afford to do this…..
I arrived at Manfeild nice and early to set up my pit area and prepare for the day ahead. The wind was already starting to pick up. I helped Sam Fitzgerald, of Celtic Leathers, to put up his Gazebo, which proved to be a little challenge. Before long it was time for Practice/ Qualifying.
Qual
I was one of the first to head out and took it easy on the first lap to ensure the track went the same way as it had last time I rode it. The other reason is to warm everything up before going for it. I was following a CBR150 Street Stock bike for 3 laps, trying to get a good time for qualifying. The wind was already proving a real challenge. I was trying to draft him down the back strait to get some more speed… After 4 laps I caught some of the slower bikes in the class, and got baulked in a corner, so gave up trying to draught the Street Stock bike. I spent the next couple of laps exploring a few different lines in corners in case I needed to use them. At the end of my Qualifying I ended up 7th on the Grid (3rd Production Lite), with Lap Times all in the 1:35’s… Fastest lap of 1:35.304 was when I stopped pushing…. There is a lesson there!
Max W got a freak lap by his own admission… Following a very quick CBR 250 (Sarah E) might have been the reason. They went past me like I was standing still, but Max weighs in at about 45kg fully kitted. Max was fastest Proddy Lite in position 3 on the front row. Blair M ended up position 6, and Alex H (Championship Leader was on the other side of me in 8th, all on the 2nd row of the grid. Russell F was back on the 3rd row somewhere….. So, it was time to chill, and keep the ears out of the wind before the race.
Race 1 (8 Laps)
The Lights went out and we were off. Blair M, Alex H, and I all got a reasonable start. Max W got what I would call a poor start off the front row… So, here we were accelerating down the straight and Alex and Max decide they wanted to be closer to each other. I was getting the squeeze! To preserve limbs, I backed out of that game and let them go hoping to get a different line through turn 1 to make it back. I sort of got a better line, right up to the point where I was getting squeezed through turn 2 on the inside, then on the outside of turn 3… Somewhere I managed to get ahead of Alec, while Blair and Max disappeared up the track a little. Then the extra power of Blair’s 1988 GPX became apparent as he could really make some ground on the back strait into the wind. I was left to swap positions throughout the race for the remainder. It got quite “exciting” when we came up on a back marker in “Splash”. The speed differential between a modern 250 twin and a 145cc Honda Single is apparently HUGE! We managed to avoid the back marker, and carry on with our battle. I ended up in front of Alex at some point, and went on to beat him by a small margin.
I ended up finishing 3rd in class. This meant I closed in on the championship leader by 2 points. More importantly it gave me a boost in confidence to know I could beat the championship leader. I was pleased to see my laps were consistent 1:35’s, with the exception of the 1:37 when we overtook the back marker.
Race 2 (8 Laps)
After a break for lunch and a good rest, and checking the bike over, we were up for race 2.
The plan was to get a better start, and gain some more points on Alex.
After the lights went out the race to the first corner was pretty tame this time, and we all got through fine. The race was very much the same as the first after we all settled down into the usual pecking order. I got ahead of Alex about lap 4 and stayed there trying to chase down the CBR150 to get a draft off him. Then on the last lap coming into the hair pin I made the mistake of turning in too early. This meant my side stand bracket ground itself into the track. I lost a little momentum through that. Going into Higgins I knew I was faster than Alex through there, unless he managed to get his bike turned in as quick as me (something he was struggling to do). I tucked right into the bike into the head wind hoping Alex could’t get my draft. Half way down the straight my hopes were dashed, as Alex flew past me with about 10k more speed. He got my draft, and told be later it was like hitting Turbo boost. Into Dunlop I tried to get up the inside of him, and then we came across the CBR150 that was slowing on the outside of the track. I gave Alex some room to move as it could have ended very badly. Alex crossed the line 0.303 seconds ahead of me, and got back the points I gained on him in the previous race.
So, championship (with my dodgy maths) now looks like this: Alex (Hyosung) 85, Me (Ninja 250R) 80, Blair (GPX 250) 69, Russell (Hyosung) 68, Max (Hyosung) 50.
Sadly I can not attend Taupo to compete in Round 3, as it clashes with my roll as Mechanic for the Nationals.
My focus from here is on the Actrix VMCC Winter Series starting in May. There are some of the 150 Street Stock guys building 250’s in there garage at the moment, and the series is over 6 rounds. 5 Rounds are at Manfeild, and the final one at Taupo in October. By the winter series I intend to finally obtain some Fibre Glass Fairings, and get the bike painted in Team Air Force Colours, and loose some weight.
So, time to hit the pushbike to shed off some kg’s…..
QB
(Team Air Force Racing #42)
Thanks to:
Dunlop Tyres – They stuck like glue all day.
Bike Rider Magazine – For making it cheaper to enter the racing.
Pacific Motor Cycle Club – For organising a great day, with minimal disruptions.
RNZAF – For continued employment so I can afford to do this…..