Motoracer
3rd April 2006, 00:06
Shit, I haven't done one of these in a LONG time...
This was one of the most relaxed race meetings that I have attended as I was not under any kind of pressure and I didn't have anything to prove. I just wanted to see how my new bike performed against the compition, learn the bike itself and most importantly, have fun!
Qualifying went pretty trouble free in the morning. I think I qualified with a 1.05 which put me at about 8th on the grid out of about 13 bikes in F2. The times showed that other than the top 3 riders, everyone else was in the 1.04 - 1.06 bracket so it looked like the day was going to be a whole lot of fun!
Race 1: I was on the far right hand side of the track on the grid, 3rd row back. The race starts have always been my strong point, so it was time to see if I still had it in me to get off the line quick enough. The red flag was put away and Chris eagerly held the green flag high up in the air. As the engines started reving up furiously around me, I clicked it into first and got ready to do my thing. I find it amazing, how you can almost freeze time, and split a second into milli seconds and just nail it as you see the green flag go down in slow motion (or how it seems at the time anyway). My start this time was pretty average, I just kept right up behind the fast dudes heading into Jennian and I lined myself up behind Ricky Mckay. By the second lap, the real quick dudes had already pissed off into the distance and left me and Ricky behind for dead. For the rest of the race, I was pretty much following Ricky... I knew I could go faster than him through the esses and over the hill but not fast enough to pass him. Going on the brakes, he was a touch stronger than me and on the exit for the hairpin, he definetly seemed to have a lot better drive. So, all I could really do was hold on to my position and grab a 7th to finish race 1. My best time for race 1 was a flat 1.06 so my times weren't looking too impressive at all.
Race 2: This was pretty much a repeat of race 1, however I got a slightly better start this time and had 6th on my sights, until I was passed agian by Ricky. I finished 7th again but this time, I had a slightly better lap time which was a 1.05.
Race 3: I had a really good start this time and I already had 3rd in my sights while entering Jennian. I soon lost 3rd and held on to 4th for 4 and a half laps until I made a mistake while exiting the hairpin. Then Sneaky Ricky quickly took advantage of that shoved me behind by managing to pass me by a wheel length going into the first left after the hair pin. I was pretty gutted about that, but I came home with a 5th so I was pretty happy. This time, my lap time droped to a 1.04 so I was feeling better about myself with that effort.
So all in all a pretty wicked day out on the track for me! I got to learn the bike a bit better and I had a great time dicing with Ricky on the K4 GSXR600. The weather was awesome, so I didn't have anything to complain about for the whole day!
A huge thanks goes out to my awesome Pit Bitch, aka Bugjuice!! Another major huge thank you goes out to Death_Inc. Shit, he's a good dude... Cheers for working on my bike to get it ready in time man, you'r a legend!! Thanks to my best mate F/F and my other great mates for their support! Thanks to Twosmoker for letting me borrow your tire warmers and giving me advise about the track. Thanks heaps erik and others who took pictures as well. Also, thanks to the lovely flag marshals for doing a fantastic job out there on the track and keeping us safe (while looking pretty damn stylie in the bright orange jump suits!).
Pic1: At the pits about to refuel.
Pic2: Doing a wheelie out of the pits.
Pic3: Race 3 start, I am just hidden behind bike #11 there in the pic.
Pic4: The right hander at the bottom of the hill.
This was one of the most relaxed race meetings that I have attended as I was not under any kind of pressure and I didn't have anything to prove. I just wanted to see how my new bike performed against the compition, learn the bike itself and most importantly, have fun!
Qualifying went pretty trouble free in the morning. I think I qualified with a 1.05 which put me at about 8th on the grid out of about 13 bikes in F2. The times showed that other than the top 3 riders, everyone else was in the 1.04 - 1.06 bracket so it looked like the day was going to be a whole lot of fun!
Race 1: I was on the far right hand side of the track on the grid, 3rd row back. The race starts have always been my strong point, so it was time to see if I still had it in me to get off the line quick enough. The red flag was put away and Chris eagerly held the green flag high up in the air. As the engines started reving up furiously around me, I clicked it into first and got ready to do my thing. I find it amazing, how you can almost freeze time, and split a second into milli seconds and just nail it as you see the green flag go down in slow motion (or how it seems at the time anyway). My start this time was pretty average, I just kept right up behind the fast dudes heading into Jennian and I lined myself up behind Ricky Mckay. By the second lap, the real quick dudes had already pissed off into the distance and left me and Ricky behind for dead. For the rest of the race, I was pretty much following Ricky... I knew I could go faster than him through the esses and over the hill but not fast enough to pass him. Going on the brakes, he was a touch stronger than me and on the exit for the hairpin, he definetly seemed to have a lot better drive. So, all I could really do was hold on to my position and grab a 7th to finish race 1. My best time for race 1 was a flat 1.06 so my times weren't looking too impressive at all.
Race 2: This was pretty much a repeat of race 1, however I got a slightly better start this time and had 6th on my sights, until I was passed agian by Ricky. I finished 7th again but this time, I had a slightly better lap time which was a 1.05.
Race 3: I had a really good start this time and I already had 3rd in my sights while entering Jennian. I soon lost 3rd and held on to 4th for 4 and a half laps until I made a mistake while exiting the hairpin. Then Sneaky Ricky quickly took advantage of that shoved me behind by managing to pass me by a wheel length going into the first left after the hair pin. I was pretty gutted about that, but I came home with a 5th so I was pretty happy. This time, my lap time droped to a 1.04 so I was feeling better about myself with that effort.
So all in all a pretty wicked day out on the track for me! I got to learn the bike a bit better and I had a great time dicing with Ricky on the K4 GSXR600. The weather was awesome, so I didn't have anything to complain about for the whole day!
A huge thanks goes out to my awesome Pit Bitch, aka Bugjuice!! Another major huge thank you goes out to Death_Inc. Shit, he's a good dude... Cheers for working on my bike to get it ready in time man, you'r a legend!! Thanks to my best mate F/F and my other great mates for their support! Thanks to Twosmoker for letting me borrow your tire warmers and giving me advise about the track. Thanks heaps erik and others who took pictures as well. Also, thanks to the lovely flag marshals for doing a fantastic job out there on the track and keeping us safe (while looking pretty damn stylie in the bright orange jump suits!).
Pic1: At the pits about to refuel.
Pic2: Doing a wheelie out of the pits.
Pic3: Race 3 start, I am just hidden behind bike #11 there in the pic.
Pic4: The right hander at the bottom of the hill.