k14
21st February 2006, 10:32
I left for Paeroa around midday Saturday after packing everything into my van. I arrived in Paeroa around 4:30 to get sign in done and scrutineering out of the way. After that I headed to Thames for the night, staying at a mates place.
I headed back to Paeroa around 6 the next morning. Needed to get there bright and early to secure a pit spot. After a bit of stuffing around me and KK managed to get a good pit spot under a car port, so that was all sorted. I also found out that due to my times at Wanganui, I had been given 10th on the grid (out of 35, 2nd row). I was pretty stoked with that. The starts on the 125 are by far the worst aspect of racing against all the 4-strokes. Any little advantage counts.
I had my familiarisation laps for virgin riders at Paeroa at about 8:30. I went out to just get a feel for the track and see where it goes. I found a magnificent track, very fast front straight with some nice twisty bits in between. The multiple bumps on the back straight were a bit unnerving but not too bad on the 125, it didn’t seem to get any air over them. The 4 laps were soon over and I headed back into the pits. After realising I had geared it too short saslex (pit bitch) and I changed the rear sprocket up 1 tooth to a 38T. Would see how that was in the first practice. My speedo showed that my top speed in that session was 149kph, pretty massive considering it’s the main street of a town, but well down on most other bikes in the class.
The first practice session came around and I just decided to try and follow KK for a few laps, knowing that he had prior knowledge of the track. I made a pass on him coming into the esses and he came back past me on the back straight. I just tried to keep in touch with him and get my braking points off the straights sorted. The gearing change had helped a lot but it was still too short. I was topping out in 6th gear well before I needed to brake for the first corner. I was pretty worried about this, being so hot I didn’t like revving the bike like that for so long; the last thing I wanted was a seizure. After the session I thought about dropping another tooth on the rear sprocket but decided that it was too risky to loose drive out of the corners, especially out of the hairpin onto the front straight, so I left it as it was. My top speed had now increased to 160kph, an improvement on the previous session.
The second practice session came around soon and we were out again. I waited a little bit to let everyone else go ahead so I might be able to get some free track. On the first flying lap just as I went over the 2nd bump and into the kink on the back straight I see the yellow flag start to be waved by the marshal. I come round the corner to see bales flying everywhere and a guy sliding along the ground. I manage to just avoid the 50m board flying out to the track and re-gather myself to continue practice. I catch up to a few other guys and just have a bit of a play, testing different lines and further refining my braking markers. I had another nervous moment when coming into the hairpin a few laps later. Trying to find a way round a motard coming into the hairpin. Going down the outside of him and just about to tip in when I see he decides to “back” it in, I see the rear of his bike coming towards me and delay my turn in for a bit longer to avoid touching. Saslex had timed me in this session and said my fastest was a 56 with a few 57’s. I didn’t have a clue what that meant, not having any previous/other times to compare to, but knew that there was still 1 or 2 seconds left to go faster in the race.
About an hour later the first race was under way. After our 1.5 lap warm up laps I found my grid position and was ready for the flag to drop. I got a pretty good start by 125 standards but was still passed by what seemed 15 or so riders (including KK), I wasn’t too worried as I had the outside line for the first corner. I braked really late and went past a lot of the guys that got me off the line. I saw KK on the inside of the first corner but couldn’t quite take him. I settled in behind him over the hill and for the first run through the esses. I was passed by a bike or 2 down the back straight and came across the line 13th after the first lap. I continued to push and try hold off the motards behind me. On the 2nd lap I was passed by 1 down the back straight, dropping me to 14th then again on the 3rd lap was passed by another dropping me one more spot to 15th. I managed to keep that guy in check and was able to make up a lot of ground over the hill and through the esses, he was actually holding me up through the second part of the esses but as soon as he hit the gas he was gone. I tried a few times to make a pass on him coming into the hairpin but there was no way around him, they can make themselves very wide and on a narrow track like that there isn’t anywhere else to go.
I saw the white flag come out to signal the last lap. I was closer than the last few laps to the motard in front and thought I might have a shot at passing him into the esses if I was close enough. I broke really late this time coming into the first corner, was about to tip it in and bang, down I went. I came to a stop just before the hay bales, that was the end of the first race for me.
After the race finished I attempted to ride my bike back to the pits but a sore left thumb stopped me from being able to use the clutch. After watching the classic sidecar race from the marshals post at the first corner I hitched a ride back to the pits on the recovery trailor. By now my thumb was fairly swollen and I couldn’t really move it much, just a sprain I thought, but that was the end of my racing for the day. The bike was hardly damaged at all, bent footpeg and broken screen about the extent of the crash. Nothing major. My times were pretty good I though. Fastest of 53.6, was about the 15th fastest so was holding my place well, but oh well that’s racing.
I spent the rest of the day walking around and checking out some of the racing. Watching the Robert Holden memorial from the first corner I soon saw another rider join the same club I had just joined. Craig Sherrifs came a cropper in fairly similar circumstances about halfway through the race trying to catch up with Stroud. Seems as though it was a corner for only the “best” of riders :msn-wink:
All in all not the best day but still a great experience. Still in the learning stage as far as racing goes and any crash you can walk away from is a good one. Three crashes in the last four races probably indicates I’m not learning much from them but I hope I have, wonder if I’m good enough at it to join an Auck kb ride yet :lol:
Thumb was giving a bit of grief at work yesterday so decided to get a pro to check it out. Turns out it was broken, 6 weeks in a cast for me. Oh well, out of 7 crashes this is the first injury I’ve had, always someone out there that is worse off.
Finally I’d just like to thank all the kber’s that have helped me in recent times and the past, specially jim2 for organising the sponsorship. Quasi (Quasimoto Leathers), TonyB (Motoequip and Minotau Leathers) and Sawyers Motorcycles for donating the items for the auctions. I really appreciate it guys. Also saslex for helping in the pits and all the other kber’s that I saw on Sunday.
Cheers guys
I headed back to Paeroa around 6 the next morning. Needed to get there bright and early to secure a pit spot. After a bit of stuffing around me and KK managed to get a good pit spot under a car port, so that was all sorted. I also found out that due to my times at Wanganui, I had been given 10th on the grid (out of 35, 2nd row). I was pretty stoked with that. The starts on the 125 are by far the worst aspect of racing against all the 4-strokes. Any little advantage counts.
I had my familiarisation laps for virgin riders at Paeroa at about 8:30. I went out to just get a feel for the track and see where it goes. I found a magnificent track, very fast front straight with some nice twisty bits in between. The multiple bumps on the back straight were a bit unnerving but not too bad on the 125, it didn’t seem to get any air over them. The 4 laps were soon over and I headed back into the pits. After realising I had geared it too short saslex (pit bitch) and I changed the rear sprocket up 1 tooth to a 38T. Would see how that was in the first practice. My speedo showed that my top speed in that session was 149kph, pretty massive considering it’s the main street of a town, but well down on most other bikes in the class.
The first practice session came around and I just decided to try and follow KK for a few laps, knowing that he had prior knowledge of the track. I made a pass on him coming into the esses and he came back past me on the back straight. I just tried to keep in touch with him and get my braking points off the straights sorted. The gearing change had helped a lot but it was still too short. I was topping out in 6th gear well before I needed to brake for the first corner. I was pretty worried about this, being so hot I didn’t like revving the bike like that for so long; the last thing I wanted was a seizure. After the session I thought about dropping another tooth on the rear sprocket but decided that it was too risky to loose drive out of the corners, especially out of the hairpin onto the front straight, so I left it as it was. My top speed had now increased to 160kph, an improvement on the previous session.
The second practice session came around soon and we were out again. I waited a little bit to let everyone else go ahead so I might be able to get some free track. On the first flying lap just as I went over the 2nd bump and into the kink on the back straight I see the yellow flag start to be waved by the marshal. I come round the corner to see bales flying everywhere and a guy sliding along the ground. I manage to just avoid the 50m board flying out to the track and re-gather myself to continue practice. I catch up to a few other guys and just have a bit of a play, testing different lines and further refining my braking markers. I had another nervous moment when coming into the hairpin a few laps later. Trying to find a way round a motard coming into the hairpin. Going down the outside of him and just about to tip in when I see he decides to “back” it in, I see the rear of his bike coming towards me and delay my turn in for a bit longer to avoid touching. Saslex had timed me in this session and said my fastest was a 56 with a few 57’s. I didn’t have a clue what that meant, not having any previous/other times to compare to, but knew that there was still 1 or 2 seconds left to go faster in the race.
About an hour later the first race was under way. After our 1.5 lap warm up laps I found my grid position and was ready for the flag to drop. I got a pretty good start by 125 standards but was still passed by what seemed 15 or so riders (including KK), I wasn’t too worried as I had the outside line for the first corner. I braked really late and went past a lot of the guys that got me off the line. I saw KK on the inside of the first corner but couldn’t quite take him. I settled in behind him over the hill and for the first run through the esses. I was passed by a bike or 2 down the back straight and came across the line 13th after the first lap. I continued to push and try hold off the motards behind me. On the 2nd lap I was passed by 1 down the back straight, dropping me to 14th then again on the 3rd lap was passed by another dropping me one more spot to 15th. I managed to keep that guy in check and was able to make up a lot of ground over the hill and through the esses, he was actually holding me up through the second part of the esses but as soon as he hit the gas he was gone. I tried a few times to make a pass on him coming into the hairpin but there was no way around him, they can make themselves very wide and on a narrow track like that there isn’t anywhere else to go.
I saw the white flag come out to signal the last lap. I was closer than the last few laps to the motard in front and thought I might have a shot at passing him into the esses if I was close enough. I broke really late this time coming into the first corner, was about to tip it in and bang, down I went. I came to a stop just before the hay bales, that was the end of the first race for me.
After the race finished I attempted to ride my bike back to the pits but a sore left thumb stopped me from being able to use the clutch. After watching the classic sidecar race from the marshals post at the first corner I hitched a ride back to the pits on the recovery trailor. By now my thumb was fairly swollen and I couldn’t really move it much, just a sprain I thought, but that was the end of my racing for the day. The bike was hardly damaged at all, bent footpeg and broken screen about the extent of the crash. Nothing major. My times were pretty good I though. Fastest of 53.6, was about the 15th fastest so was holding my place well, but oh well that’s racing.
I spent the rest of the day walking around and checking out some of the racing. Watching the Robert Holden memorial from the first corner I soon saw another rider join the same club I had just joined. Craig Sherrifs came a cropper in fairly similar circumstances about halfway through the race trying to catch up with Stroud. Seems as though it was a corner for only the “best” of riders :msn-wink:
All in all not the best day but still a great experience. Still in the learning stage as far as racing goes and any crash you can walk away from is a good one. Three crashes in the last four races probably indicates I’m not learning much from them but I hope I have, wonder if I’m good enough at it to join an Auck kb ride yet :lol:
Thumb was giving a bit of grief at work yesterday so decided to get a pro to check it out. Turns out it was broken, 6 weeks in a cast for me. Oh well, out of 7 crashes this is the first injury I’ve had, always someone out there that is worse off.
Finally I’d just like to thank all the kber’s that have helped me in recent times and the past, specially jim2 for organising the sponsorship. Quasi (Quasimoto Leathers), TonyB (Motoequip and Minotau Leathers) and Sawyers Motorcycles for donating the items for the auctions. I really appreciate it guys. Also saslex for helping in the pits and all the other kber’s that I saw on Sunday.
Cheers guys