Two Smoker
15th October 2006, 19:37
Hey everyone...
Bugger all sleep, still recovering from being sick... But had a new shock to try out and new tyres to scrub in...
Qualifying 600 Supersport: Having done two sessions at a track day on this circuit, i pretty much knew which way the track went. Rear shock was awesome, better for getting on the power. Qualified 4th place with a 1:45.6 behind Craig Sherriffs, Jay Lawrence and Dave Manuall, but had Shaun Harris, Jason Hulme and Darren Wheeler hot on my heels...
Qualifying Superbike: Upped the pace a little bit more, but still not confident of the front end under brakes (vibrates alot, i think the discs are warped) and qualified 9th just behind Shaun and my mate old dss3...
Race 1 600: My starts are very weak, and thats no good when you are on the front row of the grid. Well true to form (a form that is going to change quickly) I got a crap start and got swamped back into 8th place behind Geoff Booth. Quickly passed him then got stuck behind Darren Wheeler, Darren rides well and is bloody hard to pass. Finally got past him at the end of lap 4 but by then the group i wanted to be with (Shaun, Jason and Dave) were about 200 metres infront of me and i couldnt make that gap in 2 laps. Crossed the line in 6th place with a best time of 1:42 flat.
Race 1 Superbikes: Missed this race due to Milky and I not getting my rear tyre changed in time (i fried my pirelli in the previous race)...
Race 2 600s: Got an even worse start this time. And got stuck behind Geoff Booth, Derek Hill and Glen Williams. Got past them but by then Darren was too far infront to catch. I ended up doing a slow lap times because on not knowing how far i could lean it over with mis matched tyres and a bad gear choice (as well as poor riding)
Race 2 Superbikes: Finally got an ok start, and held my position. Was right behind Darren Wheeler and dss3. Made a couple attempts on Darren and they didnt stick but i knew i could do it. Then Dss3 did the decent thing and crashed infront of us (missed the highside, but saw the huge amount of rolling you did) causing the race to be red flagged (Cheers mate :niceone: But glad you were all sweet...). Got a shocking start on the restart and got stuck behind Derek Hill and some guy on a CBR1000. Eventually got past them both with in a lap, but due to that i had an impossible big gap to catch up.
I desperately need to work on my starts and will be finding a deserted place to practice them. I still need to up the pace alot. Im not very good on the brakes (it shudders when lent over Im pretty sure its the discs now) but i think im mainly the problem, and i wasnt getting on the power early enough at all. One thing i was happy with was braking into turn 6, where i had the rear floating, and half clutching it. I couldnt brake any later than that with out running wide.
Thank you to Chloe, Milky, Shaun, Aaron and family and Trev.
Was good to catch up with Hayden Fitzgerald and meet some new KBers.
Bruce you were flying and it was wicked to see you get a second place :niceone:
Bugger all sleep, still recovering from being sick... But had a new shock to try out and new tyres to scrub in...
Qualifying 600 Supersport: Having done two sessions at a track day on this circuit, i pretty much knew which way the track went. Rear shock was awesome, better for getting on the power. Qualified 4th place with a 1:45.6 behind Craig Sherriffs, Jay Lawrence and Dave Manuall, but had Shaun Harris, Jason Hulme and Darren Wheeler hot on my heels...
Qualifying Superbike: Upped the pace a little bit more, but still not confident of the front end under brakes (vibrates alot, i think the discs are warped) and qualified 9th just behind Shaun and my mate old dss3...
Race 1 600: My starts are very weak, and thats no good when you are on the front row of the grid. Well true to form (a form that is going to change quickly) I got a crap start and got swamped back into 8th place behind Geoff Booth. Quickly passed him then got stuck behind Darren Wheeler, Darren rides well and is bloody hard to pass. Finally got past him at the end of lap 4 but by then the group i wanted to be with (Shaun, Jason and Dave) were about 200 metres infront of me and i couldnt make that gap in 2 laps. Crossed the line in 6th place with a best time of 1:42 flat.
Race 1 Superbikes: Missed this race due to Milky and I not getting my rear tyre changed in time (i fried my pirelli in the previous race)...
Race 2 600s: Got an even worse start this time. And got stuck behind Geoff Booth, Derek Hill and Glen Williams. Got past them but by then Darren was too far infront to catch. I ended up doing a slow lap times because on not knowing how far i could lean it over with mis matched tyres and a bad gear choice (as well as poor riding)
Race 2 Superbikes: Finally got an ok start, and held my position. Was right behind Darren Wheeler and dss3. Made a couple attempts on Darren and they didnt stick but i knew i could do it. Then Dss3 did the decent thing and crashed infront of us (missed the highside, but saw the huge amount of rolling you did) causing the race to be red flagged (Cheers mate :niceone: But glad you were all sweet...). Got a shocking start on the restart and got stuck behind Derek Hill and some guy on a CBR1000. Eventually got past them both with in a lap, but due to that i had an impossible big gap to catch up.
I desperately need to work on my starts and will be finding a deserted place to practice them. I still need to up the pace alot. Im not very good on the brakes (it shudders when lent over Im pretty sure its the discs now) but i think im mainly the problem, and i wasnt getting on the power early enough at all. One thing i was happy with was braking into turn 6, where i had the rear floating, and half clutching it. I couldnt brake any later than that with out running wide.
Thank you to Chloe, Milky, Shaun, Aaron and family and Trev.
Was good to catch up with Hayden Fitzgerald and meet some new KBers.
Bruce you were flying and it was wicked to see you get a second place :niceone: