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Sketchy_Racer
31st December 2006, 22:36
*Photos at bottom of page 2*

Post 1 is the practice day, Post 2 is race day

Glens Road Race Spectacular Report



Hey guys,

Here’s a report on this weekends ummm, what’s the word…. Umm ‘Fun’ yeah, we’ll call it that

As most of you know, this was the first race meeting on the new Honda RS125.

Saturday:
This was just a practice day, so no pressure, I just needed a little bit of time on the bike before Sunday.

Practice 1:

It started raining just as I was warming the bike up (which seems to take forever!!)
I still had the slicks on, but decided to go out still, as I didn’t have time to change them over. Never mind.
Wow, these little bikes really do have some Grunt, well for 125s they bloody do!!
I had to come back in half way through, as I didn’t have enough tape on the radiator and had dropped down to 45 degrees. Not too bad, but not desirable
Nothing really spectacular to report here, just improved each lap and took it easy.

Practice 2:

Seeing as it was still raining, I decided to swap to the wets. Good choice. I love working on these bikes as I can get from slicks to wets In less than 5 min, which is pretty darn good.
After a couple of laps to let the tires warm up I started to slowly lean more and more just finding the point where the bike would start to slide. I was amazed that I was spinning the rear wheel up quite a bit exiting the turns!! And it made a bit of a mess of the wets, even though the track was puddle wet!!

Here comes the ‘fun’ part.

On the 125 I was trail braking quite hard into the turns, so I was still changing down gears as I was tipping into the turn. On the final lap of the practice, down the front straight, I started braking and tipping into the turn, then I felt the rear start sliding out, ohm shit.. I though I had left my foot resting on the brakes, but unfortunately, not. It had seized solid, as it locked up I counter steered into the slide, but when it re-gripped, it spat me over the high side D’oh! So there go me and my new bike tumbling down the track.
Its funny when you crash, even though it happens so fast, you have so much time to think.
Like first I was thing: Shit my new bikes Seized, I wonder how much that’s going to cost.
Then I was thinking: D’oh, my nice fairings will be smashed!!!
And then as I was flipping down the track, I heard the damn thing I was trying to avoid. The harsh sound of helmet sliding along the deck as I was completely upside down. Darn. (insert bad filthy words here)

When I picked the bike up I was shocked to see levers still on the bars, and bars still on the triple clamps.
Well that’s a start. I pushed my bike off the track and into the pits. I looked at my tail faring, which was caved in really bad. A couple of whacks and she popped out. The front fairings were quite well guarded by the handle bars, so they did all right with some scratches and a few cracks. I can live with that.

Now to the engine. It wasn’t a heat seize or a cold seize as I had the bike at optimum (55 degrees) Which I had checked about 100 metres prior to the crash.
So was it me stuffing up my jetting and going to lean. First off I pulled the head. Hmm a light-brown tan.. that’s about right. Ok lets pull the barrel. Sweet. Its not a piston seize. So was it a big end? Nope
After that I figured it was either the mains or the crank had seized against the cases. But before I stripped the motor down, I thought I would get some expert advice…. Dave Trustrim (F5 Dave) came and had a poke around for me and suggested that I pulled the right hand engine case…
Man I’m glad I did.
What had happened is the bolt that screws into the end of the crank, that holds the primary gear onto the crank had rattled loose and hooked up on the cases.
Luckily the case damage was minimal, and they were still useable, but it had made a mess of the thread in the crank and bolt.
Down to super cheap auto to get me some materials. So I got a Tap set to clean up the thread, a new bolt and some Kero to flush the gearbox (full of ally filings)
It took an age to get the thread on the crank cleaned up as the cheap Tap that I got from super cheap was about the same strength as the crank (don’t buy cheap tools) So it made quite a mess of the threads, but luckily, good enough to get the bolt in, with a shit load of lock tight and a spring washer.

Bike back together, barrel on. Slicks back on as it had dried out, and off we go.

Damn missed the qualifying race for Sunday. Shit. That was the final race for 125s. So I sneakily tucked into buckets, as I wanted track time to make sure the bike wasn’t going to shit itself. Which it did.
I run total loss on the bike, and in the time I was trying to get it going again, I left the battery plugged in, so it drained the batt.
It wasn’t to bad, but I lost a whole heap of topend and half way through a turn, it would bog, the turn on and scare the crap outta me. But hey, the bike was going so hurray!!

Went back to the cabin that night and had a seriously long hot shower to try loosen the muscles up, as I was fairly sore from tumbling down the track.

Sketchy_Racer
31st December 2006, 22:38
Sunday- Race day

The bike was good to go with new oil and a charged batt!!

We had:
1 practice
3 races

Practice

After clearing my head of the previous problems, I just wanted to make sure the bike kept running the whole day .
I took it fairly easy, still trying to learn the bike. Had my Tape on the Rad wrong again, so only got two laps. That was ok

Race 1

Warm up lap, I nailed it as I don’t have tire warmers so wanted to get some heat into them before the race.
In this race we were started on the same flag as the rest of the F3 field, but because I didn’t qualify, I was dead last.
Not to bother, my first race start on the 125, and I got it perfect and passed all the 125s, Bar 1 which was Adam Chambers (who is 4th Nationally)
I rode hard and passed lots of the F3 tractors, until I came upon a RGV 250, which as I went to pass him around the outside, he ran wider than anticipated, never mind, lets do some moto-X !! By the time I got back onto the track, all the 125s Bar 1 had passed me. Shit. Nailed it. I caught up to my mate Sam Flynn on the 2000, and picked him off pretty easily (it was his first day on his new RS too) then there was my buddy Ivan, (who was riding Bloody well, deserves a beer!!) Got past him under brakes at turn one, then there was a guy called Richard, who was a bit harder to get past. I did it under brakes coming off the back straight (back straight = 200m sprint) .

So got third in 125s Pretty good for coming off the track and having to start from stand still, and loosing half a track of time!

Race 2

Got another mint start and was in second the whole race. They started the 125s 10 seconds before the F3 tractors, but it wasn’t enough, and by turn two, we had caught people and were passing them.
I had fun this race and work on improving each corner (1 at a time) And finished Half a lap behind Adam. Pretty darn happy!!

Race 3

This was SO much fun.

I was talking to the guy Richard in between races and told him if I got second in the next race, I would get second overall!!
He said that he wasn’t going to give it away to me… haha, and he wasn’t either!!

Richard and I got awesome starts and left the field for dead, except a 250, which buggered off after a few short straights. I followed him for a lap, right on his tail. All he had to do was make a mistake, and I would get him. Adam chambers came through in the middle of lap 2 and started gapping me and Richard. Luckily, Richard made a mistake into to the hair pin, that let me go up the inside of him. Yuss!!

I wanted to keep up with Adam, and I started gaining on him, but he made sure there was a nice gap between us. So finished second in the race about two turns away from adam, so improving, which is the important thing for me.

So I got second overall on my first time out on 125s. Pretty damn happy as one would expect!!

Huge thanks to:

Mumsy and Dadsy, for bringing me up to taupo and paying for the unit that we stayed in
All the awesome 125 riders that made all the fun!!
To Richard for all the hints and help over the day
And to the Organizers that put on a wicked event. Will be back next year.


Special Mention:

Ivan Juggins, For completely blowing me away with the amount he has improved his riding. Outstanding stuff Ivan, keep at it!



Thanks for reading if you got to the end, and see you at the track!!

Later, Glen

sugilite
1st January 2007, 03:39
Awesome effort, well done!!! :yes:

Racey Rider
1st January 2007, 07:04
Well done Glen. The highs and lows aye.
Wish I could've been there.

Looking forward to see this New and Improved Ivan falla!

Cleve
1st January 2007, 07:56
Good report mate. Sorry I never got a chance to see ya there. It was busy as... plus Kicking Zebra had "scored" a pits spot miles from bloody everything...

TonyB
1st January 2007, 07:59
Brilliant write up! Well done, second in your first meeting on a new bike is awesome, especially when you had so many problems along the way.

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 08:43
Thanks guys,

Yeah the saturday was a bit grim, but sunday made up for thankfully!!

Cant wait to race it again, but wont be doing that until after the 150 Support race at the ruapuna Nationals.

That should also be a bit of Fun!!!

Kickaha
1st January 2007, 08:51
Well done, what is the battery for? I've never heard of a RS125 running one

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 08:55
My bike has no taper on the end of the crank for the rotor, in fact, there is nothing, just a plug where it should come out of the cases.

So, it has either been split off on a lathe, or it has a VHM heavy crank in it.

So untill i get a new crank (1500kms away) I just have to learn to disconect the battery in between races.

k14
1st January 2007, 09:07
Well done, what is the battery for? I've never heard of a RS125 running one
Yeah its for running total loss. Means you don't need to run a rotor on the end of the crank. You just have to cart around a battery and make sure it doesn't run flat. There are some small advantages to doing it but in my opinion the disadvantages (dead battery) far outweigh the advantages.

Anyways, good stuff RG100. Will see ya at ruapuna in 3 weeks. :Punk:

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 10:09
Cheers mate, Yeah looking foward to doing the 150 support race... It'll feel funny after the 125 haha.

Oh, can anyone point out how to get hold of the Photographers ??

Cheers

Goblin
1st January 2007, 10:18
Congratulations! Sorry I never got to meet you over the weekend. Fantastic results after the practice day woes. All the very best for the Nats!:rockon:

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 10:41
Cheers Goblin,

I saw ya out there and was going to come say hi, But as above, i was somewhat busy, To say the least.

:2thumbsup

scracha
1st January 2007, 11:12
Here comes the ‘fun’ part.

Now to the engine. It wasn’t a heat seize or a cold seize as I had the bike at optimum (55 degrees) Which I had checked about 100 metres prior to the crash.
So was it me stuffing up my jetting and going to lean. First off I pulled the head. Hmm a light-brown tan.. that’s about right. Ok lets pull the barrel. Sweet. Its not a piston seize. So was it a big end? Nope
After that I figured it was either the mains or the crank had seized against the cases. But before I stripped the motor down, I thought I would get some expert advice…. Dave Trustrim (F5 Dave) came and had a poke around for me and suggested that I pulled the right hand engine case…
Man I’m glad I did.
What had happened is the bolt that screws into the end of the crank, that holds the primary gear onto the crank had rattled loose and hooked up on the cases.
Luckily the case damage was minimal, and they were still useable, but it had made a mess of the thread in the crank and bolt.
Down to super cheap auto to get me some materials. So I got a Tap set to clean up the thread, a new bolt and some Kero to flush the gearbox (full of ally filings)
It took an age to get the thread on the crank cleaned up as the cheap Tap that I got from super cheap was about the same strength as the crank (don’t buy cheap tools) So it made quite a mess of the threads, but luckily, good enough to get the bolt in, with a shit load of lock tight and a spring washer.

Bike back together, barrel on. Slicks back on as it had dried out, and off we go.


Sounds like you had your hands full. Is the helmet $ucked BTW?

Thanks to HDTBoy, Goblin, Frosty, the guys who checked out the "tractor" I'm buying and anyone else who chit chatted and made the day bloody enjoyable despite the $hit weather.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showpost.php?p=878604&postcount=22

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 11:28
Yeah helmat is buggered technically, but luckily, they still let me race on it, as i didnt have a spare one with me.

Nothing wrong with tractors, Just when the 125s end up out there, we dont have the straight line speed as you, but corner much faster, so get held up in the corners, then they gap us down the straights.

Good stuff mate, see you at the track :niceone:

Goblin
1st January 2007, 11:35
Nothing wrong with tractors, Just when the 125s end up out there, we dont have the straight line speed as you, but corner much faster, so get held up in the corners, then they gap us down the straights.

The 125s are incredibly FAST! I was blown away by how fast they overtook me round the outside! Full credit to all those racing the 125s.

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 11:39
haha, cheers.

Yeah it even blew me away as to how hard they corner.

If i tried going through corners half as fast as i was yesterday on the KRR150, It would have been over before i could have blinked

k14
1st January 2007, 12:26
Nothing wrong with tractors, Just when the 125s end up out there, we dont have the straight line speed as you, but corner much faster, so get held up in the corners, then they gap us down the straights.
Thats when you need to learn to do a thing called "Passing". Racing in F3 against all and sundry is very very different to racing against 125's. Totally different tactics required. 9 times out of 10 you can get past a tractor by just diving up the inside under brakes. Doesn't matter if you run a bit wide on the exit. The hairpin is the best place at ruapuna to get past them. Cause you have about 60 seconds before the straight to make a gap.

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 12:28
haha, yeah that would probably help.

I was trying not to cut anyone up, so was doing most passing around the outside, but as per the race report, it dont always work D'oh!

When i was passing the 125s in my class, i had no issues going up the inside, cause i am trying to race them, but not the F3 guys.

GSVR
1st January 2007, 16:20
WTF F3 Tractors huh. Think I only got passed by one 125 sandfly #4.

Good to catch up I'm hopeless at remembering names and faces and everyone on here having 2 names makes it even worse.

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 16:30
yeah #4 is fast.

I thought because i was introducing myself as Glen mostly over the weekend, i would use that as the title, and anyone i introduced myself as RG100 can see that im infact Glen :D

Anyways, it was good fun watching you from the distance, see ya next time :niceone:

vtec
1st January 2007, 22:53
Glenn buddy I have no idea how you do engine rebuilds so damn fast. Respect. Oh yeah, respect for the racing aswell man.

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 23:03
Determination mate haha

and also, i paid $90 to race sunday, and i wanted to bloody race.

It would have pissed me off more if i couldnt race, than if it cost me a whole shitload to get motor going!!

cheers man

babyB
1st January 2007, 23:14
way cool write up. well done
ya be a happy chappy with that:yes: congeats

not the best of pix but ya still looked good out there

Sketchy_Racer
1st January 2007, 23:36
haha, awesome thanks BabyB!!!

Cant wait till next time! :rockon:

Matt Bleck
2nd January 2007, 10:14
Thanks for a great write up!

Buddha#81
2nd January 2007, 19:53
Well done dude, sounds like you had a ball.

You will be pleased to know that the old FXR went well in the Port Nelson Street Race, did Buckets and F3 on the old girl, will post a report when I get home.

Sketchy_Racer
2nd January 2007, 19:55
awesome stuff mate!!

Looking foward to the report :niceone:

Sketchy_Racer
2nd January 2007, 22:33
here are a couple of shots untill i get my ordered ones

ajturbo
3rd January 2007, 07:36
hey matey.. i was feeling a bit sorry for you on the saturday... and as the bike was soooo small and there were already 4 people working in it, i didn't think i could help much more...

but i was pleased to finaly see you out there, and giving it heaps!
so what does Ivan have to do now to keep up with you?

Sketchy_Racer
3rd January 2007, 08:06
Hey Man!!

Haha, thanks. To be honest, there wasnt much any one could do. But hey, its the thought that counts :2thumbsup

For Ivan to keep up, he just needs to work mostly on his braking, then he's gonna be out in force :niceone:

BTW, i have your sunnys, haha, you left them in my tool box !!

Ivan
7th January 2007, 11:45
Cheers,
I got most of my braking sorted tho because Iwas keeping up with Richard and the other 125's and the gap wasnt increasing lap after lap if anything I was actually getting closer at one point I was on the rearwheel of Graheme Cole