Race report

[FROSTY]

I went to Taupo raceway with very low expectations of both myself and mello yello my zxr400 .4 all nighters in a row getting her set up had left me drained and reliability was still a big question.
I'd entered F3 and pre89 racing but I'd pretty well decided that if my lap times were in the mobile chicane range I'd relegate myself to clubmans and stay out of everybodys way.
Race day started out wet and windy so my heart sank. The track was damp with patches of standing water .The new tyres still had their shiney sheen on em so I was a touch worried.
First practice second corner and although riding like a nanna in a zimmer frame I still had a huge back end slide.-That gravitronic efect of new paint sure was working there.I'm pretty sure I was if not the slowest novice rider out there I wasn't far off.Practice was called short when MR had what turned out to be a minor crash.
At this point I was wondering if I could still race at all let alone in F3.
Second practice and the tyres were starting to get sticky.My confidence started to come up a bit and I upped the pace. With an ever drying track the lack of suspension /tyre setup shone through ,with huge amounts of chattering from the back end. Something to work on as soon as I get in the pits. Im thinking now well maybee in clubmans class (novice racers) I might only come last by about half a lap.
Tyre pressures dropped to track pressures and thanks to a magic tool of KK's I got the back end preload dropped right down.
Doug Mcleoud my minder for the day and an ex racer told me I was getting the sweeper totally wrong and to focus on that. Next time out I focussed on it so well I decided that the fastest way down the back straight must be on the grass alongside it.
I stayed upright and noone saw my little oops.
The good news in this session was that it was clubmans practice and I was catching and passing the clubbie riders.
Low point was a little um "comeing together" with HO Hoon on turn one. Sorry dude I was sure I was well past ya .j
At this point I'd decided that stuff the ego I was too slow for the big boys this time and went to change class to clubmans racing.
I was told by clerk of course in no uncertain terms I wasn't changing class -Unless my ego was so tiny it needed that kinda boost.
First race and I hadn't even come to a full stop on the grid and the flag dropped.
I quickly found the feild disapearing into the distance. Bum up and head down I had a battle with a guy on an 1100 katana for most of the race.
I finally got him on turn one by outbraking him and tucking underneath.
I could hear a very angry gsx1100 fair howling up my rear for the rest of the race but he couldn't get past.
Pulling out on the track in f3 and right away a rider went down. -gee the race hadn't even started.
I got a much better start in this one launching my way into midfeild before turn one. I did my best to hang on to the pack but I just wasn't fast enough or good enough. On a positive note I was getting drive much sooner on the sweeper.
I spent half the race riding alone watching the pack dissapear into the distance. I diddn't end up last and I knew I could improve heaps with more confidence and track time.
Aparently I diddn't seem to have my "race face" on -not even tucking down on the straight -which was news to me because I thought I was giving it death.
Second race in pre 89 and again I got a good start -I realised I need to get more agressive in passing when an oppertunity to take 4 guys evaporated in front of me. - That said I quickly reeled in mr katana and gave chase to the pack.Another lonely race with the feild out in front of me.but still not last
By the last race of the day I was totally knackered . I still got a good start and again lost it into turn one. Brain fade saw me 4 laps into the race end up in the sand trap on lap 4 - not so deep that i diddnt rejoin the race but in last place.--BUGGER
At the end of the day I had a really great time and know where I need to improve myself and the bike.As soon as i got home I checked my old race logs and sure enough Im 5 seconds slower than I was 8 years ago when I last raced at Taupo so lots of work to do
The zxr did a great job all day and covered over a lot of my deficiencies.
Will I be back out there --bloody oats mate.
Immediate plans are to work on my fitness and sort out the rear shock on the bike.
Im real happy with how I went given that Ive never ridden a zxr400 before let alone raced one and on checking my old log books its been 7 years since I last raced.
Hey guys I diddnt win anything but I bet I had the most fun out there and after all thats what its all about.
I wouldn't have made it there without 3 very special people.
First Baby B -Karen that was a HUGE risk you took letting me ride your bikes at pukie on 23 of april Thank you :2thumbsup
Doug-my best mate -2 nights in a row working tiill 3 am for me --and then
organising and advising me all day I'll never forget it mate
Alex (the mechanic from spanner night) you dropped everything when I needed my motor sorted.You are a legend :rockon:
I've got to say thanks a million to Hoon,Madduck,KK and his dad and all the others who made the pits fun and wound down my tension levels.Thanks too to Motoracer dude you took a risk letting me speak up for ya
Sorry to those KB members who I diddn't have time to talk to Im sure all the KB racers apreciate the support you guys gave us during the day as much as i did.
oh and god only knows how but in pre89 I ended up getting a third place -I have no clue how that happened.

[Ghost Lemur]

Ah that's right... Taupo.

I've been wondering all day why it's been so quiet in here. Forgot all about it. Good to hear it went well.

Looking foward to the writeups and pics. :)

[Antallica]

I'm still waiting for pics from teh Spanner Evening :p

[Ms Piggy]

Sounds like you're doin' ok Tony. Keep it up & we look forward to hearing more :Punk:

p.s What is 'chattering'?

[FROSTY]

sorry the report is like my riding--a work in progress
chattering celtic is where the rear tyre is tapping the ground

[Cajun]

Was still a good day, great to met alot of new kber's, you started looking alot better later in the day xj, you will get there

[FROSTY]

Thanks cajun--hey sorry i diddnt really stop amnd talk--I was kinda in blue funk mode trying to figure out what I was doing wrong

[Cajun]

don't sweat it xj, i know you were there trying to get ya stuff sorted,

[Kwaka-Kid]

wicked write-up Tony! and good on you for getting back out there after 7 year!
Well i too had loads of fun! only i was dissapointed with ruining my boots even more from dragging them on the ground and on my back tyre (dont ask!) but ive finally ocme to the conclusion i NEED NEW LEATHERS! so thats my lesson for the race - because i feel with new leathers i should be able to move more free on the bike and not waste energy fighting and stretching them.
fun day all in all and had some great moments and some scarey ones (they were the great ones i guess!) but must say i have had better - i only wish mitch had of been feeling herself and on her usual warp pace - then maybe i could have learnt more about taupo if i could have held onto her for long enough.

[FROSTY]

yea KK I must say A high point for the day was glueing myself to mitches rear for a whole half lap --before her and motoracer dissapeared into the distance

[SPman]

Rode down Friday night in the shit weather
A really wet track to start practice with, but, it dried out through practice. Motoracer started the day with a high side at the start of the back straight in the first practice! - not an auspicious start and it certainly slowed him down a bit for the rest of practice!. Johan Bruns nearly did the same thing in the same spot, 10 mins later! Practice ended without many further events - from my perspective at the sweeper, anyway. Racing was good - Motoracer won his Clubmans race by about 3/4 of a lap and, after some discussion was allowed to start in the 2nd F2 race. This featured a tussle between Johan Bruns, on what must be the loudest GSXR600 in the world and ?, on the ZX6RR, which all ended in tears at the end of the main straight! On the restart, Nick O. scored a win. Mitch was full of flu, so couldnt give KK the hurry up he needed! Frosty burgled a 3rd place somehow! The weather was fine and cold, but by 3.30, the clouds that were looming over the lake moved close...a light shower played havoc among the 125's and when the rain became a bit more persistant, the meet was flagged.
Rode home at night in the shit weather and got pinged at 117 on the M/way! Oh well.....could have been worse!

[FROSTY]

thanks SP--I was trying to downplay the third thingee--
MR did bloody well after a scare in the morning I thought.

[SPman]

Never mind Frosty, you'll get the hang of the sweeper eventually.:niceone:

[SPman]

Oops, missed these.

[Ghost Lemur]

Looking sweet in those photo's Frosty. But me thinks you need some new matching leathers and helmet. :D

Hey everyone know's you go faster when you're looking good. :lol:

[Two Smoker]

Seeing those photo's almost makes me cry :( .......... Im glad you guys had a great time :niceone:

Yeah KK nice fitting leathers is way better, ive worn jeans under my leathers once and it was so restrictive that i couldnt go as slow as i usually did, so i was even slower :(

Bugger about the off MR....

Nicko, awesome mate that you won one of the races :niceone:

[Ms Piggy]

Great pics SPman but can you possibly point out who is who for those of us who sadly :disapint: couldn't be there.

Cheers Cathy

[What?]

Good to see you had a (mostly) great day.
I was keen to go, but on Sat I slept late, then it was raining, it was typical long weekend traffic and my tyres are brand new and un-scrubbed. So I piked, or rather re-prioritised and spent the day re-aligning the trirhythmic balancers in my pneumaticon. It seems the positron has smoked, so I rebuilt it with Lucas parts, so it is now functioning as a negatron, or if raining, does not function at all. Should I persevere, or bite the bullet and get a brand new hydrocillator?
Or maybe I should make a bigger effort next race day.. :disapint:

[FROSTY]

thanks guys I gotta say though Im an old has been --Now MR and KK
watch those guys --they are the stars of tomorrow.

[Posh Tourer :P]

Yellow bikes: KK is no. 35, Frosty is no 20.
Motoracer is a blue gixxerwith yellow no 15

Rest I'm not sure, but there are names on some of the photos if you hold a cursor over them

[FROSTY]

reminds me --Hey MR get with the program mate--when ya gonna paint ya bike KB colors like me and KK :Pokey:
Ok and baby b is 55

[MadDuck]

What an awesome day at the track. For those of you who didnt make it you missed a good one.

I had intended to plod along later in the morning after the practice laps but what do ya know I found a stray back pack at the motel and was sure MR might be needing it - the officials can be a bit anal if you forget your racing licence ah???

So ended up there early and was glad I did. Seeing the KBers in practice and then the improvement as the racing got going was great (didnt like seeing MR sliding along the track on his head though, sparks flying everywhere - damn that must have hurt!). Great team work to get MR back and on the circuit again. From Hamish rolling the bike down the pits to the guys with those spanners and getting stuck in. :2thumbsup

Hard to know who to cheer for though with KK, HoHoon, BB, Frosty, MR and Mitch. Good to meet a few more KBers...and look forward to seeing some more racing from you guys and gals. Oh and hot damned those guys who did tandem wheelies through start-finish line rocked....KKs dad had the biggest grin I seen all day after that one :eek:

[Ms Piggy]

Great pics SPman but can you possibly point out who is who for those of us who sadly :disapint: couldn't be there.

Cheers Cathy
Actually I just noticed that if I hold my cursor over the pic it says who it is. Cheers! :2thumbsup

Ooopss and then I went back and read the rest of the thread and what PT had said...which is what I've just repeated. Too much study, not enough riding & never enough coffee! :o

[erik]

Cool photos. Reading all these write ups and stuff makes me want to have a go on a track myself one day :).

[Motoracer]

Cool write up Frosty! You did very well mate. You just came back into it after such a long time on a bike that you have never ridden. On top of that you had new tires in the wet and a disadvantage of that new paint's gravitational pull towards the earth. At the end of the day, you came away with out comming off and you even swiped a 3rd! Well done indeed.

My bike in yellow? Nah... I just love blue on my bike (luckly I only managed to scrape an unnoticable amount of it off the bike). I did have the back ground in yellow for the race numbers though. Does that count?

Guess wat guys, I actually have a minor fracture on my left thumb from the off. :eek:

[Cajun]

gets rid of another 1st dc:< motoracer, might as well get most of them in the first weekend
hahhaa

[Firefight]

Yep another great write up, like being there thanks mate, once again great pics from SP, totally :mad: gutted I could not be there to watch the up and coming KB stars !! Had a wet prick of a day working at woodhill bike park, will be there for next one, nice work guys :niceone: :spudwave: :sunny:

Firefight :wacko:

[FROSTY]

looking forward to actually meeting you FF
and as for next time--well it looks like a manfeild meeting to me

[Motoracer]

looking forward to actually meeting you FF
and as for next time--well it looks like a manfeild meeting to me

Ooooh ooh, Can I come? Theres no way in hell that I'll be taking my van to Manfield but if you have any spare room, I'll enter that as well.

[sAsLEX]

is your old van still hibernating in Waiuru??

[Motoracer]

is your old van still hibernating in Waiuru??

Na, its been taken care of. I am not sure what exactly happened but I ended up with some cash in hand for it from a keen buyer :wacko:

[LB]

Hi everyone - Frosty, hope you don't mind if I hijack your thread a bit.

We took the car to Taupo, went up Friday night, it was pissing down most of the way.

Saturday the weather turned out much better than I'd hoped for, everyone got two races in (more or less) dry, before it bucketed down. The third round of races were called off.

It was neat to meet so many KBers - some for the first time, some again. Too many for me to remember all but here goes - Cajun, SPMan, Kwakakid, Motoracer, HoHoon, XJ/Frosty, Slim, MadDuck, Nicko, Andrew, BabyB. Apologies to those I've missed out.

Thanks for the photos SP Man. Really good photography.

MR - your spill in the esses was spectactular, you did so well to get out there again like it had never happened!

We spent Sunday in Morrinsville and Rotorua then back to Taupo for the night. Came back from Taupo today via National Park and the Paraparas. HEAPS of snow on the mountains - it would have been cold at the Brass - they showed it briefly on Sunday night's news.

Hope to see some of you again at Manfeild on the 26th June.

[FROSTY]

hijack away lynda--but wheres the pics??--I saw ya snappin away

[babyB]

well what can i say...les & i got to taupo 1.30am curled up in the truck & went to sleep. Les woke me up 'its time to get up' by time i worked out it was 3.30am he was fast asleep again, bloody bugger. 6am we hung round macdonalds till (6.3o) they opened then headed for the track. was still dark i gess Trisail racing camped there the night as we were the only silly ones to be there at that hour.
well was an up & down day for me i made too many silly mistakes & dwelled on them which lead to lack of constration on what i should have been doing. but shit happens still enjoyed my day . It was so cool to catch up with mitch and others, to meet new faces & more KBs. cool to see XJ, MR, KK, Mitch, HoHoon all racing (lol a brif flash as u flew past me)all good.Good on ya guys.
I would like to say a big thanks to those who helped me along the way, to Les my main support & mentor (even though he dose not ride bikes its amazing what an ex jetboat/car racer can teach ya). tony thanks for being there & putting up with me

Les got a few good pix so ill try to put them up 4 yas

[Hoon]

Yeah I had a great day, big thanks to KK and his dad for getting me there while my van is being fixed...like everyone else I was very relieved that it fined up. Made some good progress too (my 2nd time to Taupo) and a lot more confident on the sweeper.
Had a little crash at the end of the straight when I ran into the back of Frosty after he passed me and slowed mid turn. Judging by the marks I think I lost the front trying to slow down and hit his back tyre. The only thing I could think of as I tumbled down the track was "Ohh no I've taken out Frosty!!" but luckily he stayed up.
Only minor damage to my bike (broken clutch lever and cracked fairing) and after a few cable ties and half a roll of tape I was back out on the track.
Frosty you were looking pretty good out there and you to MR! Was good to meet so many KBers, sorry I've forgotten most the names but heres a few pics I took!

[babyB]

some of the faces

[wari]

Good to see you had a (mostly) great day.
I was keen to go, but on Sat I slept late, then it was raining, it was typical long weekend traffic and my tyres are brand new and un-scrubbed. So I piked, or rather re-prioritised and spent the day re-aligning the trirhythmic balancers in my pneumaticon. It seems the positron has smoked, so I rebuilt it with Lucas parts, so it is now functioning as a negatron, or if raining, does not function at all. Should I persevere, or bite the bullet and get a brand new hydrocillator?
Or maybe I should make a bigger effort next race day.. :disapint:

Doesn't sound like a hydrocillator problem to me mate ... :mellow:

Hookit up to a metronomictheodolystrascope meachine ... a bitof expence I know ... but well worthit ...

trust me on this one ... :spudwave:

[wari]

Sorry about that last post guys ...

Butt ... I gotta deal with these things as they cumup ...:yeah:

ANyway ... thanks to all who've posted pics and that ... :not:

bloody good to see ...

Manfield 26th June next timeout? ... whose going tobe there ?

[LB]

This featured a tussle between Johan Bruns, on what must be the loudest GSXR600 in the world and ?, on the ZX6RR, which all ended in tears at the end of the main straight!
It was Carey Brier on the Kawasaki who went down with Johan

[LB]

For those wanting to race at Manfeild on the 26th of June, don't forget that you must pre-enter at least 7 days prior to the race - ie they won't accept your entry unless it's postmarked no later than 19th June.

Also remember that there is a test day on Friday 25th June - see http://www.manfeild.co.nz/events.asp

BUT be aware that the race meeting is being run on the reverse circuit, so if you go to the test day you will be racing on a "different" track (I would be very surprised if the test day would be run on the reverse circuit but you could check with Manfeild)

[Motoracer]

Thanx for the pics babyB!

[What?]

Doesn't sound like a hydrocillator problem to me mate ... :mellow:

Hookit up to a metronomictheodolystrascope meachine ... a bitof expence I know ... but well worthit ...

trust me on this one ... :spudwave:
Cheers Wari. :niceone:

[babyB]

i have more photoes
i just cant yet figure out how to get them into the gallary as a group

[RiderInBlack]

Awesome Dudes and Dudettes:niceone: Wish I could have been there. Too Much work at the moment.

Good to hear that they let you do F2 MR. Keep at it Dude.
Did you race Cajun?
Frosty, :third: and that is racing for the first time in years on a new bike & tires and with a wet track. I'm impressed:not: They better watch out for you when your are on a dry Puke track and tuned in to the Kawa:msn-wink:

[Motoracer]

i have more photoes
i just cant yet figure out how to get them into the gallary as a group

Hmmm I couldn't figure it out before as well. Maybe you can give Spankme a PM?

[Slim]

An awesome day watching everyone, although it was bloody cold most of the day, except if you found a spot out of the southerly breeze & in the sun. :niceone: :cold:

The guys doing wheelstands down the back straight were Lance Lowe on the black #99 and Nick on the blue #80 (I think someone got a piccie of him in this thread) in the F1 races (or Formula Auckland I think they were calling it). Some awesome standup wheelies! :niceone: There were numerous stoppies in the pits too, including one from MR (shit I hate seeing those - give me the heebie-jeebies!)

I believe there's one extremely second hand K4 GSXR600 up for grabs in Wellington ;) (just kidding) but luckily Johann managed to walk away from that crash, although he was very slow in getting upright which was very worrying to watch.

Good to see everyone there & meet some more new faces, and catch up again with others.

[Mitch]

yea KK I must say A high point for the day was glueing myself to mitches rear for a whole half lap

:rolleyes: Didn't feel a thing teehee

Was fantastic to meet a fewmore KBers although I am afraid I just wasn't myself at all!!!!!!!!!!!
And it only got worse after I left Taupo, happy to say I am now back on my feet and hope to catch up with all you guys at the BBQ when I can perhaps manage to string a conversation together!!!!

[FROSTY]

holey cow mitch --if that was you off form :gob:
How In hell am I gonna keep up when ya feeling good :spudwhat:

[Kwaka-Kid]

Erm - Let Me say from my previous experience of mitch at taupo... I dont even get to see her tail for more then a lap!.. I was came in at 11th and i think should mitch have been on her usual fast pace it wouldnt have surprised me to see her get 5th or lower.

Believe me dude, taupo really is her track and she definatly was not herself on saturday -you boring slow nanna mitch!

[FROSTY]

holey shit KK now i really am depressed. till ya gotta start somewheres ain't ya?
Practice practice practice and i might just keep mitch in sight for a lap or two. :gob:

[Mitch]

Believe me dude, taupo really is her track and she definatly was not herself on saturday -you boring slow nanna mitch!

Ha you just wait little boy hehehe I will get you :2guns: :bash:
LMFAO