sugilite
19th August 2006, 23:26
I had the bikes all ready to go for the Friday practice, but unfortunately our 17 year old staffie family pet suddenly deteriated to he point of needing to be put to sleep, so I stayed home and took the kids with me to the vets. It was a really sad day as she was a fantastic dog. She did well to make it to 17 as that breed usually peters out about 10 to 12 years. Rest in peace Mitzi.:bye:
RACEDAY
I got up at the horrid hour of 4:45am after only 2 hours sleep (VERY windy here and too much thinking about bikes!) Unfortunately I'd got a thigh cramp and it felt like someone was giving me a horse bite all day. I kept it quiet as if you give motorcycle racers any hint you are suffering an injury, they start acting like hungry vultures and start looking at you as prime carrion!
I grabbed my eldest son (I grow my own pit crew lol) and off we went.
It was to be the last race day for me on the 9, so I was trying to work out the best balance of trying to get points for the championship and not rolling it up into a ball and blowing the chance of getting the new bike, that was a large part of what kept me awake!
The good news was, the weather was pretty bloody good!
POST CLASSIC - 1989 Kawasaki ZXR750 H1
It was a confusing start to the day, I looked at the tyres and they were soooooo shiny, then it dawned on me they were actually brand new! Yep for the first time in about 3 years I had a new set of racing slicks on, who cares they were manufactured in 2001, they were still new and shiny dammit!
I also treated it to a new set of brake pads and chain!!!
It's still very much a road bike and I could not even be bothered taking the side stand off lol
I went in the scrub session and it felt pretty damed good :yes:
Qualifying time: 1:17.913
I qualified on pole, so pretty much business as usual there. Nothing exciting to report.
Race 1. 6 laps - Fastest lap 1:16.860
I got dicked by the big bore blasters of Sean Donnelly and Paul Brigham off the line and into the 1st corner, I managed to slip past Sean going into the left hander of the esses and set out after Pauls GSX1280 methonal fire breathing monster!
Entering lap 3 I stuffed it under him into the hairpin and....RED FLAG! Damn!!! It was a 4 lap restart and I only got dicked by Paul on the start this time, I hunted him down and managed to put in a pass going into the left hander of the esses and put my head down to try and gap him, unfortunately I took a less than inspiring line through the sweeper and came up on a back marker (yes after only 4 laps!) I figured Paul would be steaming through on the inside and thought to myself "hey it's only a race and not worth a collision" and took the outside option on the back marker and duly got stiffed by a couple of bike lengths at the line by Paul charging up the inside! During our little chat on the slip road waiting for the bikes to form up to cross back into the pits, Paul did mention he was freaking I may have taken the inside line, so yeah, I reckon I did the right thing.
Afterwards people were coming up to me and were saying he only beat me because he was riding a missile. To my way of thinking, he still rode it brilliantly, as fast as his bike is, my bike handles much better, so swings and round abouts n that. I've had people say similar things to me about the 9, and I sometimes feel like saying, "yeah my bikes so fast, I just sit in the stands and watch it ride itself around the track!" <_<
Even though I only finished 2nd, the good news was I retook the Post Classic Senior championship lead. :done:
I said right from the start when I bought the 750, I felt I could do a 1:16 and if push come to shove a 1:15, and thats the way it is working out. The bike is nearing it's potential in stock trim, I think I need to go from 135 main jets to 132 main jets to finally get the motor singing as it should.
Kawasaki say it is 205 KG's, I say it is considerably heavier!
Race 2. 12 laps - Fastest lap 1:17.619
I speculated that Paul would not be able to keep the pace for 12 laps and this was born out.
I passed him on lap 2 by stuffing it under him in the hairpin and just absolutely went for it, I was two wheel drifting coming into Higgins and the sweeper and as he had not gone past going into coke, I knew I could escape. Paul later told me he looked behind him in the hairpin to see where Sean was and when he looked back around I'd gone lol.
I kept my head down and pushed on just minus the 2 wheel drifting antics and was 7 seconds ahead at the finish line, my lap times never deviated by more than 1/2 a second for the 12 laps, nice.
I came into round four 5 points behind the leader, and left 6 points in front, so all good for the championship. I'm quite confident I can do the biz in round 5 on the Manfield long circuit and even more so at the sublime twisty Taupo, more corners eh!
A semi retired racer came up to me and said, "hey Anthony, I have a fully worked H1 motor with all the bits in the shed putting out 130 hp" (mine makes 90 at the most, won't even wheelie in 1st!) So maybe next year, I'll relieve him of it and take the easy road lol.
FORMULA ONE: Kawasaki 1998 ZX9R C1
As this was to be my last race day using this bike, it was a little emotional for me :crybaby:
I threw some new brake pads in and scrubbed them in the 600 supersport practice session they let us out in.
Qualifying time: 1:12.592
I felt this went really crappy, there was a lot of traffic and the one clear lap I did get, I tried going around the outside of another Kawasaki rider out of coke I ran onto the dirty part of the track and the back end snapped right around and I found myself on full opposite lock, then it went swinging back onto the other opposite lock and then threw a tankslapper party, I was quite relaxed about it and took my usual crashing is not an option stance and wheelied out of it and carried on, I was relieved the soon to be new owner had not arrived yet to witness that little escapade though lol
As mentioned it was traffic, traffic, traffic so I came in convinced I would not even make the top 10, so imagine my suprise at 4th on the grid and the last spot on the front row!!!
Race 1. 6 laps - Fastest lap 1:12.092
I decided going into this race, I'd take it easy and bring her home, funny how plans change when one gets the holeshot :lol:
Robert Jackson got by quite quickly I fought back and led lap 2 then Robert and Craig Shirriffs went past. Jay Lawrence passed me a lap later. As I still had a tyre on that I bought 2nd hand, did a practice day on, all of round 3 Actrix and the Taupo MotoTT day I decided to take it easy, looking behind me to see if this was an option, I saw there was no one in sight, so I went into powerstand mode and just cruised to the finish line in 4th place hehehe
Race 2. 15 laps - Fastest lap 1:11.624
I Holeshotted again and this time held Craig off for 2 laps, then held Robert off for a further 2 laps. I pulled a reasonable gap on Jay, then it started to spit, bearing in mind I was to hand the bike over to it's new owner in about 15 minutes time, I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and backed off. Anyhow, I felt I'd proven the point as to what the 9 is capable off. Jay duly caught and passed me on lap 9
I looked around and seeing there was no one insight reverted back into wheelstand mode and celebrated the 9's last race with at least 5 wheelies per lap hehehe
The rain disappeared and I noticed I was starting to catch "Jay and Craig at one stage. I entertained the thought of putting my head down and going for it, but nahhhh, I was having waaaaaay to much fun so carried on the wheelstand fest. The 9's front was even coming up at the seal change on the back straight in 5th gear, YEEEEHAAAAAA!!!!
I bought her home in 4th place again.
I'm still 2nd in the Superbike championship, so all good.
With 125 points still up for grabs in the championship, I'm nowhere ready to throw in the towel and are really looking forward to rounds 5 and 6!
The new owner of the 9 is now Trevor Strange of MotoTT track day fame, I think he was well impressed with what the bike is capable of :yes:
I've raced the 9 for five years now.
When Richard and I bought the bike, quite frankly it was a piece of shit.
Over the 1st 4 years Richard with some help from others turned this bike into a WEAPON. This is the 1st year it was bug free and I feel our championship position reflects this.
In those 5 years, I only dropped it once, and that was in the POURING rain coming out of the Manfield in field hairpin on mud the $#*#ing drifters left!!!
As Winja and I were discussing the other night, ZX9R's have a shit load of soul and I will miss it.
Richard has now Authorized me to let you all in on what the replacement will be....A 2006 model Kawasaki (if course) ZX10R :woohoo:
Yes, I will now be racing a bike built this century! :killingme
I can hardly bloody wait:Punk:
Sugilite out!
RACEDAY
I got up at the horrid hour of 4:45am after only 2 hours sleep (VERY windy here and too much thinking about bikes!) Unfortunately I'd got a thigh cramp and it felt like someone was giving me a horse bite all day. I kept it quiet as if you give motorcycle racers any hint you are suffering an injury, they start acting like hungry vultures and start looking at you as prime carrion!
I grabbed my eldest son (I grow my own pit crew lol) and off we went.
It was to be the last race day for me on the 9, so I was trying to work out the best balance of trying to get points for the championship and not rolling it up into a ball and blowing the chance of getting the new bike, that was a large part of what kept me awake!
The good news was, the weather was pretty bloody good!
POST CLASSIC - 1989 Kawasaki ZXR750 H1
It was a confusing start to the day, I looked at the tyres and they were soooooo shiny, then it dawned on me they were actually brand new! Yep for the first time in about 3 years I had a new set of racing slicks on, who cares they were manufactured in 2001, they were still new and shiny dammit!
I also treated it to a new set of brake pads and chain!!!
It's still very much a road bike and I could not even be bothered taking the side stand off lol
I went in the scrub session and it felt pretty damed good :yes:
Qualifying time: 1:17.913
I qualified on pole, so pretty much business as usual there. Nothing exciting to report.
Race 1. 6 laps - Fastest lap 1:16.860
I got dicked by the big bore blasters of Sean Donnelly and Paul Brigham off the line and into the 1st corner, I managed to slip past Sean going into the left hander of the esses and set out after Pauls GSX1280 methonal fire breathing monster!
Entering lap 3 I stuffed it under him into the hairpin and....RED FLAG! Damn!!! It was a 4 lap restart and I only got dicked by Paul on the start this time, I hunted him down and managed to put in a pass going into the left hander of the esses and put my head down to try and gap him, unfortunately I took a less than inspiring line through the sweeper and came up on a back marker (yes after only 4 laps!) I figured Paul would be steaming through on the inside and thought to myself "hey it's only a race and not worth a collision" and took the outside option on the back marker and duly got stiffed by a couple of bike lengths at the line by Paul charging up the inside! During our little chat on the slip road waiting for the bikes to form up to cross back into the pits, Paul did mention he was freaking I may have taken the inside line, so yeah, I reckon I did the right thing.
Afterwards people were coming up to me and were saying he only beat me because he was riding a missile. To my way of thinking, he still rode it brilliantly, as fast as his bike is, my bike handles much better, so swings and round abouts n that. I've had people say similar things to me about the 9, and I sometimes feel like saying, "yeah my bikes so fast, I just sit in the stands and watch it ride itself around the track!" <_<
Even though I only finished 2nd, the good news was I retook the Post Classic Senior championship lead. :done:
I said right from the start when I bought the 750, I felt I could do a 1:16 and if push come to shove a 1:15, and thats the way it is working out. The bike is nearing it's potential in stock trim, I think I need to go from 135 main jets to 132 main jets to finally get the motor singing as it should.
Kawasaki say it is 205 KG's, I say it is considerably heavier!
Race 2. 12 laps - Fastest lap 1:17.619
I speculated that Paul would not be able to keep the pace for 12 laps and this was born out.
I passed him on lap 2 by stuffing it under him in the hairpin and just absolutely went for it, I was two wheel drifting coming into Higgins and the sweeper and as he had not gone past going into coke, I knew I could escape. Paul later told me he looked behind him in the hairpin to see where Sean was and when he looked back around I'd gone lol.
I kept my head down and pushed on just minus the 2 wheel drifting antics and was 7 seconds ahead at the finish line, my lap times never deviated by more than 1/2 a second for the 12 laps, nice.
I came into round four 5 points behind the leader, and left 6 points in front, so all good for the championship. I'm quite confident I can do the biz in round 5 on the Manfield long circuit and even more so at the sublime twisty Taupo, more corners eh!
A semi retired racer came up to me and said, "hey Anthony, I have a fully worked H1 motor with all the bits in the shed putting out 130 hp" (mine makes 90 at the most, won't even wheelie in 1st!) So maybe next year, I'll relieve him of it and take the easy road lol.
FORMULA ONE: Kawasaki 1998 ZX9R C1
As this was to be my last race day using this bike, it was a little emotional for me :crybaby:
I threw some new brake pads in and scrubbed them in the 600 supersport practice session they let us out in.
Qualifying time: 1:12.592
I felt this went really crappy, there was a lot of traffic and the one clear lap I did get, I tried going around the outside of another Kawasaki rider out of coke I ran onto the dirty part of the track and the back end snapped right around and I found myself on full opposite lock, then it went swinging back onto the other opposite lock and then threw a tankslapper party, I was quite relaxed about it and took my usual crashing is not an option stance and wheelied out of it and carried on, I was relieved the soon to be new owner had not arrived yet to witness that little escapade though lol
As mentioned it was traffic, traffic, traffic so I came in convinced I would not even make the top 10, so imagine my suprise at 4th on the grid and the last spot on the front row!!!
Race 1. 6 laps - Fastest lap 1:12.092
I decided going into this race, I'd take it easy and bring her home, funny how plans change when one gets the holeshot :lol:
Robert Jackson got by quite quickly I fought back and led lap 2 then Robert and Craig Shirriffs went past. Jay Lawrence passed me a lap later. As I still had a tyre on that I bought 2nd hand, did a practice day on, all of round 3 Actrix and the Taupo MotoTT day I decided to take it easy, looking behind me to see if this was an option, I saw there was no one in sight, so I went into powerstand mode and just cruised to the finish line in 4th place hehehe
Race 2. 15 laps - Fastest lap 1:11.624
I Holeshotted again and this time held Craig off for 2 laps, then held Robert off for a further 2 laps. I pulled a reasonable gap on Jay, then it started to spit, bearing in mind I was to hand the bike over to it's new owner in about 15 minutes time, I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and backed off. Anyhow, I felt I'd proven the point as to what the 9 is capable off. Jay duly caught and passed me on lap 9
I looked around and seeing there was no one insight reverted back into wheelstand mode and celebrated the 9's last race with at least 5 wheelies per lap hehehe
The rain disappeared and I noticed I was starting to catch "Jay and Craig at one stage. I entertained the thought of putting my head down and going for it, but nahhhh, I was having waaaaaay to much fun so carried on the wheelstand fest. The 9's front was even coming up at the seal change on the back straight in 5th gear, YEEEEHAAAAAA!!!!
I bought her home in 4th place again.
I'm still 2nd in the Superbike championship, so all good.
With 125 points still up for grabs in the championship, I'm nowhere ready to throw in the towel and are really looking forward to rounds 5 and 6!
The new owner of the 9 is now Trevor Strange of MotoTT track day fame, I think he was well impressed with what the bike is capable of :yes:
I've raced the 9 for five years now.
When Richard and I bought the bike, quite frankly it was a piece of shit.
Over the 1st 4 years Richard with some help from others turned this bike into a WEAPON. This is the 1st year it was bug free and I feel our championship position reflects this.
In those 5 years, I only dropped it once, and that was in the POURING rain coming out of the Manfield in field hairpin on mud the $#*#ing drifters left!!!
As Winja and I were discussing the other night, ZX9R's have a shit load of soul and I will miss it.
Richard has now Authorized me to let you all in on what the replacement will be....A 2006 model Kawasaki (if course) ZX10R :woohoo:
Yes, I will now be racing a bike built this century! :killingme
I can hardly bloody wait:Punk:
Sugilite out!