scracha
25th January 2011, 20:48
Drove over to Hamilhole, picked up Mental Troooooosers and had a leisurely drive down. Sunny weather forecase and to be honest, I simply couldn't be arsed changing tyres so it was the Dunlop GPRA12 (rear) and A12 combo. If it rained, I was going to the pub. Saturday night got kinda pissed at Nick's place. That was to be the highlight of the weekend.
Posties Qualifying
Followed Anthony's VFR400 out to get things warmed up. Hmm...brake lever coming back to bar. Gah. Brake judder from front end just silly. I just don't feel "on it" 1.23 put's me 10th on grid. I'm behind Ernie Cudby (FZR600), George Gaisford (KR250) and Anthony Montgomery (VFR400). Oh dear. Going to aim for 2nds or 3rd as Ernie and his bike are simply way too fast.
F2 Qualifying
Shane "mental troosers" and I find time to bleed the brakes. They don't feel quite so $hite. Discover about 1mm runout on front disks. Strong headwind has developed on back straight, 6th gear is just a dream. 1.22 puts me erm....last on grid (ok, 2nd last but the other guy didn't come out for qualifying).
Posties Race 1
Grid looks busy, about 30 bikes. A great launch. Unfortunately the @#$@king frankencane gearbox just will not let me hook 2nd. I give up after two attempts and bounce it of the limiter into T1. Come out quite a bit behind the lead pack. George is in front of me. Chase is on. Bernard Ryan goes sideways into a corner in front of us on some skinny tyred Italian Guzzi and comes out sideways and nearly gets spat off twice. Nice!! The guy must have balls like a right whale. Anyways :eek: After 3 laps of closing the gap, a fantastic race ensues between George and I. For the next 3 laps I'm trying to block pass him but the damn brakes on the CBR aren't having it. Corner exit speed on the KR250 is raping me. Anthony is ahead of us and he's looking over his shoulder as he know's we're both going to pas him. 2nd last lap and Anthony's bike pack's a sad. Bummer. I'm going to have to use the fast sweepers to pass George but lapped traffic gets in the way and George gaps me. 2nd attempt and for once I get the lucky break when George is blocked by Martin Peck's GSXR750. The gap closes. Final lap, I nail the throttle earlier out of higgins, control the wee slide (ok, I'm bullshitting, Dr Taylor's finest does this) and drive past George's inside. To say I'm surprised when I find him on my (fairing) outside on the final corner is an understatement. Did he even brake...respect? Anyway, life's too short so I throw Frankencane on her side, pin the throttle again and 2nd place is mine...moohahaha. I can't hide my jubilation at gaining 2 places in two laps after crossing the line.
2nd PC Jr (6th overall amongst the big bikes). 2s of PB but I'm satisfied with very consistent 1.20's as I've hardly pushed the bike and dumbarse here hasn't got the correct gearing..
F2 Race 1.
First race after lunch Hmm...there's about 10 bikes on the track. Another good start. This time fully off gas and clutch right in before 2nd. I follow Mark Bennet for a lap before he warms his tyres up and farks off. One bike behind me (Boyes?) and I ride hard for 2 laps. Headwind has got REALLY strong and a couple of times out of T1 and higgins I think I've lost the front but it's the wind catching the bellypan. Disconcerting indeed. Barely hooking 5th gear now. Hard to keep a rythm on when not racing for position. Boyes passes. I start focusing on next race and concentrate on turn in and rolling on throttle earlier. Lap 5 and out of T1 I can see the leaders approaching. Blue flags are out. T5 hairpin and I go in about half bike width wider to leave obvious gap for lead bike. Start braking before turn and a few hundredths of a second later the bars are wrenched out my hands as lead rider has decided to go around the outside into a non-existant gap. I'm over the highside before I have time to react. LIKE WTF! Get up, throw gloves off in disgust and shake fists at the gods. Manage to refrain myself from throwing helmet. Frankencane is a fookin mess. I'm swearing like a trooper and the marshall who's trying to scoop up her remains must have the patience of a saint (sorry).
Posties Race 2. Well it's right after F2 Race 1 so I don't have time to find anyone stupid enough to lend me their bike. Fucksocks. Bye bye 2nd place in PMCC posties jr.
Aftermath. Fairing fucked. Seat fucked. Front subframe, fucked. Rear subframe, fucked. Front disks, fucked. RH clipon, fucked. RH footpeg and hanger, fucked. Brand new boots, fucked. Fairing blade, MIA. Helmet...dunno. For the first time ever I realise I'm not bulletproof and spend the next 2 days on light duties as I can hardly lift a laptop without pain in my right shoulder.
After booting a hole in my plastic fantastic warehouse toolbox, I waited 30 minutes to calm down and popped over to other rider's pit to state I wasn't too thrilled with his pass,there wasn't any need for it (NZ club racing, not nationals, not motogp and huge gap behind him) and an "are you ok" costs nothing. Unfortunately the Wolfpack bouncer came out with some cock and bull story about me shitting myself and losing it on the brakes before essentially tell me to fuck off. So that was that. Don't recall him being so chilled when I pulled him off Sam Love last year but there you go, that's racing. His time will come.
Thanks
Mr Nick "Mumbles" Dorman and his missus for putting us up on Saturday Night
Paul "roadracingoldfart" Martindale for taking the brokenarse frankencane back to his cave
Anthony Montgomery for taking the many broken bits of plastic down to Graham billington's most excellent fairing fixer upper palace.
Our awesome rider's rep.
I'm estimating at least 6 months off racing as after 5 years of this I owe too many good people on the scene money/favors and don't believe in constant bludging.
Posties Qualifying
Followed Anthony's VFR400 out to get things warmed up. Hmm...brake lever coming back to bar. Gah. Brake judder from front end just silly. I just don't feel "on it" 1.23 put's me 10th on grid. I'm behind Ernie Cudby (FZR600), George Gaisford (KR250) and Anthony Montgomery (VFR400). Oh dear. Going to aim for 2nds or 3rd as Ernie and his bike are simply way too fast.
F2 Qualifying
Shane "mental troosers" and I find time to bleed the brakes. They don't feel quite so $hite. Discover about 1mm runout on front disks. Strong headwind has developed on back straight, 6th gear is just a dream. 1.22 puts me erm....last on grid (ok, 2nd last but the other guy didn't come out for qualifying).
Posties Race 1
Grid looks busy, about 30 bikes. A great launch. Unfortunately the @#$@king frankencane gearbox just will not let me hook 2nd. I give up after two attempts and bounce it of the limiter into T1. Come out quite a bit behind the lead pack. George is in front of me. Chase is on. Bernard Ryan goes sideways into a corner in front of us on some skinny tyred Italian Guzzi and comes out sideways and nearly gets spat off twice. Nice!! The guy must have balls like a right whale. Anyways :eek: After 3 laps of closing the gap, a fantastic race ensues between George and I. For the next 3 laps I'm trying to block pass him but the damn brakes on the CBR aren't having it. Corner exit speed on the KR250 is raping me. Anthony is ahead of us and he's looking over his shoulder as he know's we're both going to pas him. 2nd last lap and Anthony's bike pack's a sad. Bummer. I'm going to have to use the fast sweepers to pass George but lapped traffic gets in the way and George gaps me. 2nd attempt and for once I get the lucky break when George is blocked by Martin Peck's GSXR750. The gap closes. Final lap, I nail the throttle earlier out of higgins, control the wee slide (ok, I'm bullshitting, Dr Taylor's finest does this) and drive past George's inside. To say I'm surprised when I find him on my (fairing) outside on the final corner is an understatement. Did he even brake...respect? Anyway, life's too short so I throw Frankencane on her side, pin the throttle again and 2nd place is mine...moohahaha. I can't hide my jubilation at gaining 2 places in two laps after crossing the line.
2nd PC Jr (6th overall amongst the big bikes). 2s of PB but I'm satisfied with very consistent 1.20's as I've hardly pushed the bike and dumbarse here hasn't got the correct gearing..
F2 Race 1.
First race after lunch Hmm...there's about 10 bikes on the track. Another good start. This time fully off gas and clutch right in before 2nd. I follow Mark Bennet for a lap before he warms his tyres up and farks off. One bike behind me (Boyes?) and I ride hard for 2 laps. Headwind has got REALLY strong and a couple of times out of T1 and higgins I think I've lost the front but it's the wind catching the bellypan. Disconcerting indeed. Barely hooking 5th gear now. Hard to keep a rythm on when not racing for position. Boyes passes. I start focusing on next race and concentrate on turn in and rolling on throttle earlier. Lap 5 and out of T1 I can see the leaders approaching. Blue flags are out. T5 hairpin and I go in about half bike width wider to leave obvious gap for lead bike. Start braking before turn and a few hundredths of a second later the bars are wrenched out my hands as lead rider has decided to go around the outside into a non-existant gap. I'm over the highside before I have time to react. LIKE WTF! Get up, throw gloves off in disgust and shake fists at the gods. Manage to refrain myself from throwing helmet. Frankencane is a fookin mess. I'm swearing like a trooper and the marshall who's trying to scoop up her remains must have the patience of a saint (sorry).
Posties Race 2. Well it's right after F2 Race 1 so I don't have time to find anyone stupid enough to lend me their bike. Fucksocks. Bye bye 2nd place in PMCC posties jr.
Aftermath. Fairing fucked. Seat fucked. Front subframe, fucked. Rear subframe, fucked. Front disks, fucked. RH clipon, fucked. RH footpeg and hanger, fucked. Brand new boots, fucked. Fairing blade, MIA. Helmet...dunno. For the first time ever I realise I'm not bulletproof and spend the next 2 days on light duties as I can hardly lift a laptop without pain in my right shoulder.
After booting a hole in my plastic fantastic warehouse toolbox, I waited 30 minutes to calm down and popped over to other rider's pit to state I wasn't too thrilled with his pass,there wasn't any need for it (NZ club racing, not nationals, not motogp and huge gap behind him) and an "are you ok" costs nothing. Unfortunately the Wolfpack bouncer came out with some cock and bull story about me shitting myself and losing it on the brakes before essentially tell me to fuck off. So that was that. Don't recall him being so chilled when I pulled him off Sam Love last year but there you go, that's racing. His time will come.
Thanks
Mr Nick "Mumbles" Dorman and his missus for putting us up on Saturday Night
Paul "roadracingoldfart" Martindale for taking the brokenarse frankencane back to his cave
Anthony Montgomery for taking the many broken bits of plastic down to Graham billington's most excellent fairing fixer upper palace.
Our awesome rider's rep.
I'm estimating at least 6 months off racing as after 5 years of this I owe too many good people on the scene money/favors and don't believe in constant bludging.