quickbuck
20th December 2011, 14:06
As the one 1 &3 Hour Enduros were held the day before I decided to camp at Taupo Motor Sports park. This is something I had never done before a race meeting, and though I might as well get used to it. I was woken up very early by some birds in the trees that seemed right outside my tent, however the trees were about 300 metres away! Then I got back to sleep for a few hours…. I finally rose at 0600! Not the best nights of sleep, so I packed up the tent, air-bed, and sleeping bag, and headed for a hot shower. The Shower facilities at Taupo are great.
As the bike was scrutineered, and I had registered the night before, I didn’t really have to be awake until riders brief at 0845. I got chatting to a few people in the morning, and set up my pit beside Alex Hockley. Dan Plaisted from City Honda (and mechanic for Nick Cole) came up from Feilding to give me a hand for the day should I need one. We saw Blair Mason in the car park, and got him to set up his van between Alex and I. This gave us a bit of shade from the sun, as Blair has an awning that comes off the side of the van.
Once we were all set up, we went to rider brief. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that, so went back to our pit area until our call up for practice at 1000. Time ticked on, and at close to 1000 I finally got into my leathers. This was a nice relaxing start to the day. So relaxing I realised at this point that I forgot to have breakfast! Never mind, a sip of power aid, and some water should do it… Before much longer we were out for our Practice/Qualifying.
Qual:
I was feeling confident that I could put in a good time, as I had done 30 laps the previous day. I rode around quite relaxed, as this tends to produce the best times. I thought I had nailed qualifying, as I was passing bikes all over the place. When I got the time sheet I see I managed a 2:06.255! Where were the 2:02’s I rattled off on Saturday? This time put me on the second row in 6th position. I would have been better off with 8th. 6th is quite boxed in, as there are 4 bikes per row.
Never mind, what is done, is done, and I will have to deal with that in the race. As it turns out Blair had already went faster than my fastest lap of yesterday… Oh, and Aaron Hassen had managed to revert back to his 2:11`’s on his Ninja250R, so I figures the track condition must have a bit to do with it. As it turns out, there was a lot of rain in the afternoon of the day before during the 3 hour enduro, so this may have washed some rubber off the track. Also, the temperature of the track was colder, and this seems to affect Taupo a lot. So, more fuel for the bike, and don’t think about it. Oh, and Fuel for ME! So Chips it was (hope the dietician isn’t reading this), and I caught up with our mate Paul Buckley and we agreed it was all in my head.
Race 1:
Got the call up, and headed to the dummy grid. I was one of the first out, and wanted to get the bike nice and warm. I got a real good slide as I opened up the throttle in turn 3. Awesome! Still need more heat in the bike! Of course it wouldn’t have any heat in the tyre after 300 metres! Found the #6 on the grid and parked on it. It seemed like ages before the grid was ready, but you get that when you are first out.
The 5 lights come on one by one, and then go out. I had the 250 up in the revs, and it was then I remembered I have never started this bike off the line with the 15 tooth sprocket! It was a little sluggish off the line, and I had to slip the clutch to keep the revs up, but I made it into turn 1 third. In front of me was a Mini Lite ridden by Sarah Elliot, and an RG150 ridden by Tyler Lincoln. So, I was first in class! I put my head down and lead the first lap. Gold! If I keep this up, then I could be on for a good day. At some point Blair got passed me, and I discovered just how fast the GPX is! I drafted him down the straight, got the bike into the redline, and he was still pulling away! As we went past the Start/Finish a board was held out wit ha 42H on it. Thankfully the 42H is distinctly different from the 42 that I carry, as mine would be 42C. That meant Aaron Hassen had jumped the start. I felt a little gutted for the young guy, as I had done it back in round 4 of the VMCC. Not to worry, I have Blair to chase down. Unfortunately I couldn’t, and Aaron was coming up behind me. I’m not sure where Alex Hockley got to, but he had issues with handling, and Aaron passed him. Then on the final lap, Aaron came up behind be through the right hand sweeper, and lead me into the turn that brings us onto the straight. I drafted him all the way down the straight into the A1GP Chicane. He slowed a little early for the chicane and I just left the brakes alone, and put my bike where he wanted his. He had no choice to let me through there as I then had the line, and he had to take a tighter one. This corner is designed specifically to allow the A1GP cars to pass, and tends to be a hard one to defend on a bike. I lead Aaron across the line, and finished 2nd in class. Due to his jumped start Aaron was relegated to 4th behind Alex on the Hyosung. My best lap turned out to be a 2:03.555. So, still slightly off the pace. Or, was I?
Race 2:
Lined up after a serious warm up of the bike, and waited for the lights to go out again. This time I got another flyer of a start. I was the first Pro-lite into Turn 1, and 3rd on the road. All the usual suspects were around me, and this time I held Blair off for a whole lap…. Sometimes I wonder what Racing Ray Whitam (the commentator) is saying up in the commentary box…. I then left the breaking into turn 1 really late so Blair wouldn’t be able to get by. Unfortunately I found a piece of tarmac that wasn’t quite as much grip as I expected, and managed to run it a little wide on the entry. I tried to turn the bike in really quickly, but there was no getting to the apex on this occasion. Blair got passed me. I followed him through turn 2 and 3 and he had pulled away by 4. Where is he getting this speed from? So I settled down, and rode the rest of the race wary of Aaron coming from the back of the grid. He eventually got passed me at the infield hairpin. I rode a defensive line, but he used a later turn in, and got the undercut (I think I showed him that trick in the previous race). I followed him closely through the left right sweeper combination, but he made a gap on me up to the top corner. I had no chance of getting a tow down the straight this time. So I finished third for this race. Best time of a 2:02.405. Dan gave me some advice not to make the track so long, as I was tending to ride the corners fast and sweeping, rather than quick steer and cutting them off. I said I will see what happens.
Race 3:
As Aaron and Blair had managed to get into the 1:59’s in the last race, I was determined to find 2.5 seconds and join them. I line up for the race, and got another good start. This time though things were different. Rogan Chandler on a red RG150 from P5, and Alex Hockley on a red Hyosung GT250 on P4 got good starts too.
I found myself on Blairs tail, with two red bikes squeezing me in. So to prevent an Alvaro Bautista* moment, I braked a little earlier than I had in the past, to be a little conservative, as there were bikes all around me at this time. Last thing we need is to take out 4 bikes in one incident….. So, I followed Rogan for a bit, and watched Blair do his normal escaping act up the road. I rode the race hard to see if I could get a sub 2 minute lap in. I seemed to be keeping pace with Blair, as his escape up the road didn’t increase. The usual happened, and I got over taken by the flying Master Hassen. At the end of the race I discovered I managed a 2:03.034! Both Blair and I could swear we rode faster in that race. I came to the conclusion I should have put on my new rear tyre. The Dunlops had done a good season, and apparently had enough. After a close inspection of the front, I could see that was looking a little tired as well. Nothing to do with the brand at all, they have served me well. I just have to put on the new tyres for next round.
So thanks to:
Dunlop
Celtic Leathers
Race Fairings
Neil Chappell for the use of his transponder, and supportive text messages.
Dan Plaisted for the coaching and company on the day.
* Alvaro Bautista managed to drop his Suzuki in the final round of the MotoGP in 2011 and take out 3 other riders.
As the bike was scrutineered, and I had registered the night before, I didn’t really have to be awake until riders brief at 0845. I got chatting to a few people in the morning, and set up my pit beside Alex Hockley. Dan Plaisted from City Honda (and mechanic for Nick Cole) came up from Feilding to give me a hand for the day should I need one. We saw Blair Mason in the car park, and got him to set up his van between Alex and I. This gave us a bit of shade from the sun, as Blair has an awning that comes off the side of the van.
Once we were all set up, we went to rider brief. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that, so went back to our pit area until our call up for practice at 1000. Time ticked on, and at close to 1000 I finally got into my leathers. This was a nice relaxing start to the day. So relaxing I realised at this point that I forgot to have breakfast! Never mind, a sip of power aid, and some water should do it… Before much longer we were out for our Practice/Qualifying.
Qual:
I was feeling confident that I could put in a good time, as I had done 30 laps the previous day. I rode around quite relaxed, as this tends to produce the best times. I thought I had nailed qualifying, as I was passing bikes all over the place. When I got the time sheet I see I managed a 2:06.255! Where were the 2:02’s I rattled off on Saturday? This time put me on the second row in 6th position. I would have been better off with 8th. 6th is quite boxed in, as there are 4 bikes per row.
Never mind, what is done, is done, and I will have to deal with that in the race. As it turns out Blair had already went faster than my fastest lap of yesterday… Oh, and Aaron Hassen had managed to revert back to his 2:11`’s on his Ninja250R, so I figures the track condition must have a bit to do with it. As it turns out, there was a lot of rain in the afternoon of the day before during the 3 hour enduro, so this may have washed some rubber off the track. Also, the temperature of the track was colder, and this seems to affect Taupo a lot. So, more fuel for the bike, and don’t think about it. Oh, and Fuel for ME! So Chips it was (hope the dietician isn’t reading this), and I caught up with our mate Paul Buckley and we agreed it was all in my head.
Race 1:
Got the call up, and headed to the dummy grid. I was one of the first out, and wanted to get the bike nice and warm. I got a real good slide as I opened up the throttle in turn 3. Awesome! Still need more heat in the bike! Of course it wouldn’t have any heat in the tyre after 300 metres! Found the #6 on the grid and parked on it. It seemed like ages before the grid was ready, but you get that when you are first out.
The 5 lights come on one by one, and then go out. I had the 250 up in the revs, and it was then I remembered I have never started this bike off the line with the 15 tooth sprocket! It was a little sluggish off the line, and I had to slip the clutch to keep the revs up, but I made it into turn 1 third. In front of me was a Mini Lite ridden by Sarah Elliot, and an RG150 ridden by Tyler Lincoln. So, I was first in class! I put my head down and lead the first lap. Gold! If I keep this up, then I could be on for a good day. At some point Blair got passed me, and I discovered just how fast the GPX is! I drafted him down the straight, got the bike into the redline, and he was still pulling away! As we went past the Start/Finish a board was held out wit ha 42H on it. Thankfully the 42H is distinctly different from the 42 that I carry, as mine would be 42C. That meant Aaron Hassen had jumped the start. I felt a little gutted for the young guy, as I had done it back in round 4 of the VMCC. Not to worry, I have Blair to chase down. Unfortunately I couldn’t, and Aaron was coming up behind me. I’m not sure where Alex Hockley got to, but he had issues with handling, and Aaron passed him. Then on the final lap, Aaron came up behind be through the right hand sweeper, and lead me into the turn that brings us onto the straight. I drafted him all the way down the straight into the A1GP Chicane. He slowed a little early for the chicane and I just left the brakes alone, and put my bike where he wanted his. He had no choice to let me through there as I then had the line, and he had to take a tighter one. This corner is designed specifically to allow the A1GP cars to pass, and tends to be a hard one to defend on a bike. I lead Aaron across the line, and finished 2nd in class. Due to his jumped start Aaron was relegated to 4th behind Alex on the Hyosung. My best lap turned out to be a 2:03.555. So, still slightly off the pace. Or, was I?
Race 2:
Lined up after a serious warm up of the bike, and waited for the lights to go out again. This time I got another flyer of a start. I was the first Pro-lite into Turn 1, and 3rd on the road. All the usual suspects were around me, and this time I held Blair off for a whole lap…. Sometimes I wonder what Racing Ray Whitam (the commentator) is saying up in the commentary box…. I then left the breaking into turn 1 really late so Blair wouldn’t be able to get by. Unfortunately I found a piece of tarmac that wasn’t quite as much grip as I expected, and managed to run it a little wide on the entry. I tried to turn the bike in really quickly, but there was no getting to the apex on this occasion. Blair got passed me. I followed him through turn 2 and 3 and he had pulled away by 4. Where is he getting this speed from? So I settled down, and rode the rest of the race wary of Aaron coming from the back of the grid. He eventually got passed me at the infield hairpin. I rode a defensive line, but he used a later turn in, and got the undercut (I think I showed him that trick in the previous race). I followed him closely through the left right sweeper combination, but he made a gap on me up to the top corner. I had no chance of getting a tow down the straight this time. So I finished third for this race. Best time of a 2:02.405. Dan gave me some advice not to make the track so long, as I was tending to ride the corners fast and sweeping, rather than quick steer and cutting them off. I said I will see what happens.
Race 3:
As Aaron and Blair had managed to get into the 1:59’s in the last race, I was determined to find 2.5 seconds and join them. I line up for the race, and got another good start. This time though things were different. Rogan Chandler on a red RG150 from P5, and Alex Hockley on a red Hyosung GT250 on P4 got good starts too.
I found myself on Blairs tail, with two red bikes squeezing me in. So to prevent an Alvaro Bautista* moment, I braked a little earlier than I had in the past, to be a little conservative, as there were bikes all around me at this time. Last thing we need is to take out 4 bikes in one incident….. So, I followed Rogan for a bit, and watched Blair do his normal escaping act up the road. I rode the race hard to see if I could get a sub 2 minute lap in. I seemed to be keeping pace with Blair, as his escape up the road didn’t increase. The usual happened, and I got over taken by the flying Master Hassen. At the end of the race I discovered I managed a 2:03.034! Both Blair and I could swear we rode faster in that race. I came to the conclusion I should have put on my new rear tyre. The Dunlops had done a good season, and apparently had enough. After a close inspection of the front, I could see that was looking a little tired as well. Nothing to do with the brand at all, they have served me well. I just have to put on the new tyres for next round.
So thanks to:
Dunlop
Celtic Leathers
Race Fairings
Neil Chappell for the use of his transponder, and supportive text messages.
Dan Plaisted for the coaching and company on the day.
* Alvaro Bautista managed to drop his Suzuki in the final round of the MotoGP in 2011 and take out 3 other riders.