Nicksta
22nd May 2007, 22:08
VMCC Round 1
20th May 07
The first event of the Winter Series came around very fast. As my main goal for this year was to compete in Clubmans and finish the series I have eagerly awaited the first round on my home track and favourite, Track 2 of Taupo. My goals for the day were pretty simple, Qualify top half of the grid, ride a PB, be competitive with the other 400’s and hopefully earn as many points as I can as I know at Manfeild I will be disadvantaged with my lack of cc’s in clubmans class.
I was a bit gutted at the decision to call the day, but I respect and support VMCC in their choice. The track was not up to standard and 27 crashes are not normal (I don’t think?). So heres my report for what we did manage to get in:
Scrub in: Didn’t go out, figured 5 mins and no new tyres, what’s the point? And I’ve come to learn Taupo is always cold and slippery the first session, so Tweety got a polish (man I wish they had a spot prize for shiniest bike!).
Practice/Qualifying: Plan was to head out at the back, go slow for a lap, get some space and put in 2-3 good laps and come in. Got caught in some traffic so let a few by me before going past the start finish. Clocked 5 laps and qualified with a 1:28.5. This got me 18th on the grid, 3rd fastest in Clubmans B. 2nd fastest VFR so Tweety did well. Highlight: scraping my peg round T1!! (First time ever :shit: ) And a new PB: 7 seconds faster than my previous PB for Track 2. So I was stoked and ready to race! :yes:
Race 1: Lining up 5th row on the grid, one in from the inside, I had never been surrounded by bikes like that and was planning my strategy for T1. Managed to take off well and find my way to the outside to hopefully go around all the bikes heading for the inside, plan paid off and I had made up a lot of places. Due to the number of restarts, my order of events is a bit blurry. Managed to pass the faster VFR each restart, miss running over a tumbling rider on T7, miss a spinning bike on the straight after T5, miss 2 sliding bikes and riders in the chicane after the back straight and miss seeing 1 red flag (sorry Flame for taking you on the inside during that).
So to wrap it all up, I had a blast, shame the track wasn’t playing ball, got a peg down and a PB and kept Tweety upright. Heal quickly to the riders and bikes that didn’t. Thanks everyone who popped into our garage for all your support. Great seeing such a good turn out for the first round of VMCC!
Big thanks to Eddy and Jono, my Bent Spanner Racing team mates! Andy and Logan the mighty VFR guru’s and Quasi for my awesome suit!
And many thanks to Dave from www.kiwibike.co.nz for your ongoing support and encouragement, check him out for all your insurance needs, including track days! :Punk:
20th May 07
The first event of the Winter Series came around very fast. As my main goal for this year was to compete in Clubmans and finish the series I have eagerly awaited the first round on my home track and favourite, Track 2 of Taupo. My goals for the day were pretty simple, Qualify top half of the grid, ride a PB, be competitive with the other 400’s and hopefully earn as many points as I can as I know at Manfeild I will be disadvantaged with my lack of cc’s in clubmans class.
I was a bit gutted at the decision to call the day, but I respect and support VMCC in their choice. The track was not up to standard and 27 crashes are not normal (I don’t think?). So heres my report for what we did manage to get in:
Scrub in: Didn’t go out, figured 5 mins and no new tyres, what’s the point? And I’ve come to learn Taupo is always cold and slippery the first session, so Tweety got a polish (man I wish they had a spot prize for shiniest bike!).
Practice/Qualifying: Plan was to head out at the back, go slow for a lap, get some space and put in 2-3 good laps and come in. Got caught in some traffic so let a few by me before going past the start finish. Clocked 5 laps and qualified with a 1:28.5. This got me 18th on the grid, 3rd fastest in Clubmans B. 2nd fastest VFR so Tweety did well. Highlight: scraping my peg round T1!! (First time ever :shit: ) And a new PB: 7 seconds faster than my previous PB for Track 2. So I was stoked and ready to race! :yes:
Race 1: Lining up 5th row on the grid, one in from the inside, I had never been surrounded by bikes like that and was planning my strategy for T1. Managed to take off well and find my way to the outside to hopefully go around all the bikes heading for the inside, plan paid off and I had made up a lot of places. Due to the number of restarts, my order of events is a bit blurry. Managed to pass the faster VFR each restart, miss running over a tumbling rider on T7, miss a spinning bike on the straight after T5, miss 2 sliding bikes and riders in the chicane after the back straight and miss seeing 1 red flag (sorry Flame for taking you on the inside during that).
So to wrap it all up, I had a blast, shame the track wasn’t playing ball, got a peg down and a PB and kept Tweety upright. Heal quickly to the riders and bikes that didn’t. Thanks everyone who popped into our garage for all your support. Great seeing such a good turn out for the first round of VMCC!
Big thanks to Eddy and Jono, my Bent Spanner Racing team mates! Andy and Logan the mighty VFR guru’s and Quasi for my awesome suit!
And many thanks to Dave from www.kiwibike.co.nz for your ongoing support and encouragement, check him out for all your insurance needs, including track days! :Punk: