Motoracer
28th June 2005, 11:56
From the rest of the race reports, I think you have already found out that it was damn wet! I was having real doubts about wether I really should even race as I was supposed to put the bike for sale after the race. However I thought, I might as well have just this last race on it before I say goodbye to my Gixxer.
Time came for practice and I just wanted to get the feel for riding in the wet while running in my new rear tire. I could say that I just had normal proddy tires and not wets but Johnboy and TS have already taken away my excuse by doing so darn well on their proddy tires. Bastards!!! Anywhoo, I started to cruise along at a very slow pace (not being modest by any means here). For some reason, even at near walking pace I was having little slips at the left hander where I crashed before and the hairpin. So I didn't want to take any chances with a bike that I was supposed to be selling. I put down an embaracing 1:41 lap time but I expected something stupid like that as I was going quite very very slow. For comparison, TS qualified at 1:30 just after me.
Then it was time for Race 1 of super sports. Everyone went to the dummy grid and rode into the track through the gates. I wanted to get away from the pits at the last possible seconds to keep the heat in the tires from the tire warmers. So when I left the pits, they had even closed the gates already. After I made my way around the track to get to the starting grid all the rest of the racers were already almost all lined up. It was time to do this, in pissing down conditions. I know I am not good in wet conditions at all and crashing was not an option so I decided that I'll be the last guy if that's what it was going to take to bring the bike back safely. We got the start after the green flag was waved down and I couln't belive how everyone else was having problems with getting a good start. Maybe my rear tire was still hot and theirs wasn't. If I had wanted to at this stage, I could have gone right up front, just for the start but there would be no point in being a road block for turn one for the others. So I just backed off and kept my position. The rest of the race was fairly good and I was just playing around with one R6 who was taking it real easy like me as well. I'd over take him then he'd overtake me when I made some mistakes. This was a pretty relaxed fun which was pretty cool. At one stage I was going around the left hander which I had crashed in at the last round. I lost the front for a bit and that freaked me out. Then I had to go a bit wide and sort my self out. Meanwhile a Supermotard must have been right up my arse the whole time wanting to pass me. As soon as he saw me going wide, he made his move but unfortunatly for him, that corner really was quite sliperr. So he instantly lost his front and landed on his arse. All this was visable to me from the corner of my eye and now I was seeing this motard rider and his bike sliding towards me. Not wanting to have my self taken out, I went even a bit wider and squeezed through the edge of the track and the motard rider and his bike. Then as I was leading the R6 guy, another GSXR600 went down at the hairpin. Since I was going so slow I easily avoided him by slowing down and going around him but the guy on the R6 had a better line and he overtook me once again. Then he was really timid with the throtle even in a staright line so I past him again pretty easily. As we got lapped near the end, it was pretty mean seeing Craig Sheriffs and nick cole FLY and I mean absolutly fly past me exiting higgins. So after having a bit of excitement, I managed to finish the race ahead of the R6 dude and bring the bike back home safely. My best time for race 1 was a 1:36s.
After a bit of hesitation of wether I should race or not for the rest of the day, I decided to go ahead and just ride the GSXR at the same pace and basically enjoy my day since I had come about 700kms from Auckland for this and even bought that new rear tire which I wanted to get some use out of. So the time came for the F1 race. Again, I waited and I waited till the last possible second to get out of the pits. TS’s gf had pointed out to me that the rear tire warmer wasn’t heating up for some reason just before I was going to leave, as the tire warmers make great hand warmers as well on a freezing day. So I checked it out and it wasn’t hot but it was still warm so I didn’t think anything of it. I shot off the pits, and onto the track. I went around the esses and went around that dreaded left hander where I crashed in the last round, being very carefull as I had more than enough reasons to be careful. Yet what happens? I lose the rear quicker than anything and I ended up sliding on my arse with my torso still upright. It was as if I was in the best possible seat to see my bike which slid ahead of me into the ditch. The bike slid for a bit and bounced off the ripple strip and into a little swamp like water puddle making a big splash as it rested in it’s sorry state. You know what’s the worst part is? This was just the warm up lap and I never even made it to the starting grid!! This was a joke really and I was actually laughing at how stupid this crash was and from all of my riding years I can not explain why I crashed the way I did…
When we came back into the pits, I looked over the bike and it was mainly just cosmetic with a few bent bits like the clip on and rear set. At this stage, I heard that nicko had a retirement because of mechanical faliur in his bike. I instantly thought if we could get nick’s rear set and his rims with the wets on my bike, nicko could ride my bike and score some points for himself towards the championship as my hopes of the championship had already ended long ago. So through out the whole lunch and pretty much till the last possible second till the guys were actually entering the track for the race, we worked on the bike and managed to finish fixing my bike just in time! Nick went out there and raced my bike carefully, by not wanting to tempt fate. Because of the wets he did manage to get some poinst for himself through out the day which made my day by seeing that between me and nick at least both of us didn’t end up loosing, at least he got to race and get some points towards his hopes for the championship.
Time came for practice and I just wanted to get the feel for riding in the wet while running in my new rear tire. I could say that I just had normal proddy tires and not wets but Johnboy and TS have already taken away my excuse by doing so darn well on their proddy tires. Bastards!!! Anywhoo, I started to cruise along at a very slow pace (not being modest by any means here). For some reason, even at near walking pace I was having little slips at the left hander where I crashed before and the hairpin. So I didn't want to take any chances with a bike that I was supposed to be selling. I put down an embaracing 1:41 lap time but I expected something stupid like that as I was going quite very very slow. For comparison, TS qualified at 1:30 just after me.
Then it was time for Race 1 of super sports. Everyone went to the dummy grid and rode into the track through the gates. I wanted to get away from the pits at the last possible seconds to keep the heat in the tires from the tire warmers. So when I left the pits, they had even closed the gates already. After I made my way around the track to get to the starting grid all the rest of the racers were already almost all lined up. It was time to do this, in pissing down conditions. I know I am not good in wet conditions at all and crashing was not an option so I decided that I'll be the last guy if that's what it was going to take to bring the bike back safely. We got the start after the green flag was waved down and I couln't belive how everyone else was having problems with getting a good start. Maybe my rear tire was still hot and theirs wasn't. If I had wanted to at this stage, I could have gone right up front, just for the start but there would be no point in being a road block for turn one for the others. So I just backed off and kept my position. The rest of the race was fairly good and I was just playing around with one R6 who was taking it real easy like me as well. I'd over take him then he'd overtake me when I made some mistakes. This was a pretty relaxed fun which was pretty cool. At one stage I was going around the left hander which I had crashed in at the last round. I lost the front for a bit and that freaked me out. Then I had to go a bit wide and sort my self out. Meanwhile a Supermotard must have been right up my arse the whole time wanting to pass me. As soon as he saw me going wide, he made his move but unfortunatly for him, that corner really was quite sliperr. So he instantly lost his front and landed on his arse. All this was visable to me from the corner of my eye and now I was seeing this motard rider and his bike sliding towards me. Not wanting to have my self taken out, I went even a bit wider and squeezed through the edge of the track and the motard rider and his bike. Then as I was leading the R6 guy, another GSXR600 went down at the hairpin. Since I was going so slow I easily avoided him by slowing down and going around him but the guy on the R6 had a better line and he overtook me once again. Then he was really timid with the throtle even in a staright line so I past him again pretty easily. As we got lapped near the end, it was pretty mean seeing Craig Sheriffs and nick cole FLY and I mean absolutly fly past me exiting higgins. So after having a bit of excitement, I managed to finish the race ahead of the R6 dude and bring the bike back home safely. My best time for race 1 was a 1:36s.
After a bit of hesitation of wether I should race or not for the rest of the day, I decided to go ahead and just ride the GSXR at the same pace and basically enjoy my day since I had come about 700kms from Auckland for this and even bought that new rear tire which I wanted to get some use out of. So the time came for the F1 race. Again, I waited and I waited till the last possible second to get out of the pits. TS’s gf had pointed out to me that the rear tire warmer wasn’t heating up for some reason just before I was going to leave, as the tire warmers make great hand warmers as well on a freezing day. So I checked it out and it wasn’t hot but it was still warm so I didn’t think anything of it. I shot off the pits, and onto the track. I went around the esses and went around that dreaded left hander where I crashed in the last round, being very carefull as I had more than enough reasons to be careful. Yet what happens? I lose the rear quicker than anything and I ended up sliding on my arse with my torso still upright. It was as if I was in the best possible seat to see my bike which slid ahead of me into the ditch. The bike slid for a bit and bounced off the ripple strip and into a little swamp like water puddle making a big splash as it rested in it’s sorry state. You know what’s the worst part is? This was just the warm up lap and I never even made it to the starting grid!! This was a joke really and I was actually laughing at how stupid this crash was and from all of my riding years I can not explain why I crashed the way I did…
When we came back into the pits, I looked over the bike and it was mainly just cosmetic with a few bent bits like the clip on and rear set. At this stage, I heard that nicko had a retirement because of mechanical faliur in his bike. I instantly thought if we could get nick’s rear set and his rims with the wets on my bike, nicko could ride my bike and score some points for himself towards the championship as my hopes of the championship had already ended long ago. So through out the whole lunch and pretty much till the last possible second till the guys were actually entering the track for the race, we worked on the bike and managed to finish fixing my bike just in time! Nick went out there and raced my bike carefully, by not wanting to tempt fate. Because of the wets he did manage to get some poinst for himself through out the day which made my day by seeing that between me and nick at least both of us didn’t end up loosing, at least he got to race and get some points towards his hopes for the championship.