svs
25th September 2005, 08:47
The last round of the VicClub winter series was held yesterday at Manfeild. Without the Karts there the pits seemed a bit empty, but at least I got a good space with a power point to try out my new tyre warmers.
The race format was 1x6lap race, and 1 30 minute race. I have usually been entering F2 as well as F3, but since I'm an unfit wuss, then I dropped out of F2 for this round. We were supposed to be running long circuit, but due to a lack of marshalls we had to run the normal short circuit.
I thought I had a good run in qualifying, but ended up 9th with a 1:23 lap, but 3rd - 12th were all really close, so a lot would depend upon the start. Didn't get such a bad start in the first race and made up a couple of places through coke - I decided to see how well the tyre warmers worked by riding round the outside of all the people jossling for the inside line. Didn't really seem to get into the swing of things and don't think I got the line right through higgins on any of the laps, but made up another place going into the esses - the SV is fast through the infeild. Had a good scrap with Gavin McKay and Craig Seargent for the last 3 laps, but managed to come out on top amd finished 6th.
There was a long race after lunch for the 30 minute race. F3 wasn't off till about 4. Gavin was out of the last race - his FZR threw a rod in the F2 race, causing it to be red flagged while they cleared up the oil. Got a resonable start and manged to pick up a couple of places through the infeild again. Was running 4th, till Andre ran wide at Coke, letting me through. I was then in 3rd place for about 6-8 laps, just taking it steady till andre can back past me. After another 6 or so laps I was getting really tired, the visor was fogging up, I was making a lot of mistakes and was caught by Craig Seargent. After a big slide in the hairpin, he got past me and then we kept swapping places for a while. Another mistake let him past again, and I thought I'd pick him off through the infeild. However that was the time they decided to show the white flag. Bugger. 1 lap to get back past. Ran too hot into coke and stuffed up my chances of catching through the infeild. By this time I was so tired it was lucky I hadn't crashed so I thought I'd settle for 5th. However coming round the sweeper I saw Craig had slowed drastically, so I nailed It and just got ahed of him to retake 4th. He'd run out of gas :)
23 laps of Manfeild is a long way and I definitely need to be fitter to keep riding fast.
Good news is that I did the entire series without crashing and finished 5th overall in the championship. Quite a few people stayed round for the free food and beer and the prizegiving. Apart from the race and series winners, we gave away a number of trophies. These were:
Presidents Award - Clive Banks
Rookie of the Year - Jane Keats
Best Presented - Team Naki Racing
Hard Luck Trophy - Bob Knight
Max Points (Vicclub member) - Mark Hay
Grant Russell Memorial - Brian Gopperth
Hopefully net year will be bigger and better. Lets hope that half the riders who have been supporting the club series can get out and make the nationals a bigger and better series this year.
The race format was 1x6lap race, and 1 30 minute race. I have usually been entering F2 as well as F3, but since I'm an unfit wuss, then I dropped out of F2 for this round. We were supposed to be running long circuit, but due to a lack of marshalls we had to run the normal short circuit.
I thought I had a good run in qualifying, but ended up 9th with a 1:23 lap, but 3rd - 12th were all really close, so a lot would depend upon the start. Didn't get such a bad start in the first race and made up a couple of places through coke - I decided to see how well the tyre warmers worked by riding round the outside of all the people jossling for the inside line. Didn't really seem to get into the swing of things and don't think I got the line right through higgins on any of the laps, but made up another place going into the esses - the SV is fast through the infeild. Had a good scrap with Gavin McKay and Craig Seargent for the last 3 laps, but managed to come out on top amd finished 6th.
There was a long race after lunch for the 30 minute race. F3 wasn't off till about 4. Gavin was out of the last race - his FZR threw a rod in the F2 race, causing it to be red flagged while they cleared up the oil. Got a resonable start and manged to pick up a couple of places through the infeild again. Was running 4th, till Andre ran wide at Coke, letting me through. I was then in 3rd place for about 6-8 laps, just taking it steady till andre can back past me. After another 6 or so laps I was getting really tired, the visor was fogging up, I was making a lot of mistakes and was caught by Craig Seargent. After a big slide in the hairpin, he got past me and then we kept swapping places for a while. Another mistake let him past again, and I thought I'd pick him off through the infeild. However that was the time they decided to show the white flag. Bugger. 1 lap to get back past. Ran too hot into coke and stuffed up my chances of catching through the infeild. By this time I was so tired it was lucky I hadn't crashed so I thought I'd settle for 5th. However coming round the sweeper I saw Craig had slowed drastically, so I nailed It and just got ahed of him to retake 4th. He'd run out of gas :)
23 laps of Manfeild is a long way and I definitely need to be fitter to keep riding fast.
Good news is that I did the entire series without crashing and finished 5th overall in the championship. Quite a few people stayed round for the free food and beer and the prizegiving. Apart from the race and series winners, we gave away a number of trophies. These were:
Presidents Award - Clive Banks
Rookie of the Year - Jane Keats
Best Presented - Team Naki Racing
Hard Luck Trophy - Bob Knight
Max Points (Vicclub member) - Mark Hay
Grant Russell Memorial - Brian Gopperth
Hopefully net year will be bigger and better. Lets hope that half the riders who have been supporting the club series can get out and make the nationals a bigger and better series this year.