CM2005
3rd October 2011, 11:12
Bit of a race report from the 24th September :woohoo:
I began my preparation for round 5 three weeks before the meeting itself actually started. After having a fairly disappointing set of results in round 4, I'd got my bike into the shop to get a bit of work done on the bike, and to get my rear suspension sorted out.
When I initially went to pick my bike up, the week before the races, it hadn't yet been finished so I left it in Wellington and the guys sent my rear shock up to Rob Taylor at CKT to work his magic on the oily spring bits down the back. Friday before race day I went back to Wellington and picked my bike up, which was finally all ready to go.
The plan for this weekend was to try and claim top 8 in the championship, with the hope of a top 6 overall if I can do well in the final round.
The other difference is that I finally had tyre warmers. I don't mind riding on cold tyres, but the warmers allow me to accurately set my tyre pressures and eliminate one of the handling variables.
Woke up on race morning to a grey sky, and wondered how long the weather would hold up!
Practice/Qualifying -
Went out with warm tyres and a sorted rear shock, this made the bike feel much more responsive and eager to turn in, but I hadn't stiffened the front up at all so found the bike backing into splash on each lap. Qualified down the order in 16th, which was no problem for me as I prefer to be up against the pit wall at Manfield.
Best Lap 1.28 Position 16/19
Race One -
Due to my qualifying I had been put on the grid right on the outside of row 4, generally my favourite starting position. I was on the grid again behind my mate Scott on his ZXR750, who I've been having a bit of competition with as to who is the fastest Kawasaki. Got an ok start, and moved up to 14th, then got caught in traffic at the hairpin and dropped back to 15th. I rode the last lap by myself, slowly catching Malcolm Foster on his 999 Ducati, finishing just over a second behind him, maybe in another couple of laps I would have got him. Set a best lap of 1.23 which has equalled my previous best lap at manfield, yet only for 15th. Show how far everyone has improved this season.
Best Lap - 1:23 Position 15/19
Race Two -
Before the start of race two the F2 race had been postponed and the meeting declared "Wet". This means that regardless of the weather the racing will carry on so you better have your tyres sorted. By the time Clubmans race two was coming around a large dry line had appeared, I asked Sloan Choppa Frost what he thought about using a dry tyres in these conditions after most of the opinion in pit lane was to run wets, and he thought dry tyres would be fine. I got back to my pit and changed just my rear tyre back to a dry, leaving the wet front on for the still damp parts of the track. Onto the grid and I see most of the field on full wets. Got a good start, from 16th to around 8th into turn one, and hold that position for most of the race, a lot of people riding probably too conservatively. In the last couple of laps I am catching Scott on his ZXR750 a lot into Dunlop and I can see that he is having rear trouble getting the power down on wets on now a fully dry track. I pull him in on the entry to Dunlop and just scrape by him on the line to take 6th by 0.23secs. A good finish for me and an enjoyable race. Also a good win for my mate Mark Brehaut.
Best Lap 1:25 Position 6/19
Race Three -
The track had stayed dry for the rest of the afternoon, and all of us had switched back to fully dry tyres. On the line, red lights go on and it starts to hose down. Got an excellent start, from 16th to 3rd by turn one. Everyone was riding very slowly due to the rain and I held 3rd for a full lap. Scott got me into the hairpin on slicks in lap two and I tried to follow him, but a front end slide on the entrance to Higgins slowed me down and Malcolm Foster came past on full wets, lapping 5 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field. He went on to dominate the race and I held off Mark B to take 5th, a career equalling best result. I was happy with this race it was a lot of fun feeling the bike sliding around on the gas, but I wish I'd left my wet front on as I could've challenged for a podium.
Best Lap 1:33 Position 5/19
Overall a successful meeting, I gained 8th place from 10th/31 in the championship..
Quick thanks to Sarah311 for a space in her pit garage - Cheers!
Josh
I began my preparation for round 5 three weeks before the meeting itself actually started. After having a fairly disappointing set of results in round 4, I'd got my bike into the shop to get a bit of work done on the bike, and to get my rear suspension sorted out.
When I initially went to pick my bike up, the week before the races, it hadn't yet been finished so I left it in Wellington and the guys sent my rear shock up to Rob Taylor at CKT to work his magic on the oily spring bits down the back. Friday before race day I went back to Wellington and picked my bike up, which was finally all ready to go.
The plan for this weekend was to try and claim top 8 in the championship, with the hope of a top 6 overall if I can do well in the final round.
The other difference is that I finally had tyre warmers. I don't mind riding on cold tyres, but the warmers allow me to accurately set my tyre pressures and eliminate one of the handling variables.
Woke up on race morning to a grey sky, and wondered how long the weather would hold up!
Practice/Qualifying -
Went out with warm tyres and a sorted rear shock, this made the bike feel much more responsive and eager to turn in, but I hadn't stiffened the front up at all so found the bike backing into splash on each lap. Qualified down the order in 16th, which was no problem for me as I prefer to be up against the pit wall at Manfield.
Best Lap 1.28 Position 16/19
Race One -
Due to my qualifying I had been put on the grid right on the outside of row 4, generally my favourite starting position. I was on the grid again behind my mate Scott on his ZXR750, who I've been having a bit of competition with as to who is the fastest Kawasaki. Got an ok start, and moved up to 14th, then got caught in traffic at the hairpin and dropped back to 15th. I rode the last lap by myself, slowly catching Malcolm Foster on his 999 Ducati, finishing just over a second behind him, maybe in another couple of laps I would have got him. Set a best lap of 1.23 which has equalled my previous best lap at manfield, yet only for 15th. Show how far everyone has improved this season.
Best Lap - 1:23 Position 15/19
Race Two -
Before the start of race two the F2 race had been postponed and the meeting declared "Wet". This means that regardless of the weather the racing will carry on so you better have your tyres sorted. By the time Clubmans race two was coming around a large dry line had appeared, I asked Sloan Choppa Frost what he thought about using a dry tyres in these conditions after most of the opinion in pit lane was to run wets, and he thought dry tyres would be fine. I got back to my pit and changed just my rear tyre back to a dry, leaving the wet front on for the still damp parts of the track. Onto the grid and I see most of the field on full wets. Got a good start, from 16th to around 8th into turn one, and hold that position for most of the race, a lot of people riding probably too conservatively. In the last couple of laps I am catching Scott on his ZXR750 a lot into Dunlop and I can see that he is having rear trouble getting the power down on wets on now a fully dry track. I pull him in on the entry to Dunlop and just scrape by him on the line to take 6th by 0.23secs. A good finish for me and an enjoyable race. Also a good win for my mate Mark Brehaut.
Best Lap 1:25 Position 6/19
Race Three -
The track had stayed dry for the rest of the afternoon, and all of us had switched back to fully dry tyres. On the line, red lights go on and it starts to hose down. Got an excellent start, from 16th to 3rd by turn one. Everyone was riding very slowly due to the rain and I held 3rd for a full lap. Scott got me into the hairpin on slicks in lap two and I tried to follow him, but a front end slide on the entrance to Higgins slowed me down and Malcolm Foster came past on full wets, lapping 5 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field. He went on to dominate the race and I held off Mark B to take 5th, a career equalling best result. I was happy with this race it was a lot of fun feeling the bike sliding around on the gas, but I wish I'd left my wet front on as I could've challenged for a podium.
Best Lap 1:33 Position 5/19
Overall a successful meeting, I gained 8th place from 10th/31 in the championship..
Quick thanks to Sarah311 for a space in her pit garage - Cheers!
Josh