ryanf062
25th April 2013, 20:56
After work on Friday I got in the car and headed for Manfeild. It rained the whole way there which made for a pretty slow trip but I still arrived at a reasonable time. I woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of rain and water dripping on me through the tent. With the weather not looking the best there weren’t that many people who attended the Saturday track day. We got about six sessions of riding which was a good amount of track time. I felt comfortable on the bike with the wet conditions and kept pushing a little bit more each time I went out. In one of the sessions I took Tyler’s bike out for a few laps to see how different it handled compared to mine. It felt firmer to ride and slightly more responsive so after that session we adjusted the rear end of my bike to raise it to the same height as Tyler’s. The track started to dry out so we also changed the tyres from wets to dry tyres. In the next session I was following Tyler for the first lap and we both pulled into the pits because we both noticed the bikes were handling completely different to before we made the changes to the suspension. We came to the conclusion that the changes were more drastic with dry tyres on. I felt this was a good improvement so went back out and did more laps.
Dad also took my bike out for a few sessions which was good to see but we couldn’t convince mum to let him race it in Clubmans class on Sunday.
It was another wet night in the tent and more rain on race day. In the morning I changed my wheels back to wet tyres. As I went out for qualifying I immediately had trouble seeing through my visor which slowed me down a little bit and I qualified 13th on the grid. The rain continued during race one and I was still having trouble with my visor. I managed to at least hold my position to finish 13th. I did better in race two with the rain holding off for most of the race. I had a good start and picked through the places to finish 8th. The rain then came back for our last race slowing me down again and putting me back in 14th place.
It has been a good “Summer Series” with my overall points placing me 4th place in the Neptune Motorcycle Mufflers Pro Twin.
Thanks to all my sponsors, Burrell Signs, Neptune Motorcycle Mufflers, Hyosung NZ, Baycad Services and Quality Auto Machinists.
Ryan Firn
Dad also took my bike out for a few sessions which was good to see but we couldn’t convince mum to let him race it in Clubmans class on Sunday.
It was another wet night in the tent and more rain on race day. In the morning I changed my wheels back to wet tyres. As I went out for qualifying I immediately had trouble seeing through my visor which slowed me down a little bit and I qualified 13th on the grid. The rain continued during race one and I was still having trouble with my visor. I managed to at least hold my position to finish 13th. I did better in race two with the rain holding off for most of the race. I had a good start and picked through the places to finish 8th. The rain then came back for our last race slowing me down again and putting me back in 14th place.
It has been a good “Summer Series” with my overall points placing me 4th place in the Neptune Motorcycle Mufflers Pro Twin.
Thanks to all my sponsors, Burrell Signs, Neptune Motorcycle Mufflers, Hyosung NZ, Baycad Services and Quality Auto Machinists.
Ryan Firn