nicko
19th June 2007, 23:31
Nicko Race Report - VMCC Round 2
You can call me a slow learner but you can't call me a quiter....
Vic Club Round 2 turned out to be an eventful day, bl**dy cold conditions, raced in a thermal top all day & a distinct lack of grip in a few corners, one in particular ;)
I had put a new front tyre on for the day and went out to give qualifying a go in F2, had an ok session and used it as a chance to see what the grip levels were like around the track. Qualified in 3rd spot behind Jay & Nick Cole. F1 qualifying and got straight into it, had my laptimer on board (built into Triumph dash and activated by start button - very cool) and saw 1.14.5, 1.14.0, 1.13.5, 1.13.2 then 4.56.3 - bugger, went down at Spash tipping into the left hander, went completely without warning & was a bit miffed but turns out my 4th lap was good enough to secure pole position.
Race one in F2 & scored the holeshot, led for the first lap or two but Jay got by me & led for a while. Exiting the hairpin & Jay highsided, did all he could to save it but this one got away & luckily didn't slide in front of me too much so managed to avoid rider & bike. Held the lead till the end of the race for a win.
Race one in F1, Peter Tanner went mental off the line & we swapped the lead a couple of times, Dan Ornsby from Christchurch on the R1 got past on the 2nd lap & powered away. Had a good tussle with Tanner & as I was coming out alongside him out of Higgins on the last lap his bike spluttered & believe he had an issue with his gas level causing him to slow & gifting me 2nd place.
Race two in F2 Jay got the better of me and starting leading the race, Craig Gollop on an ex-Bernard K4 Suzuki also got past & Jay had gapped us so decided to sit behind Craig & make a move on him into the last sweeper, did this on the last lap & held position for a 2nd place.
Race two in F1 I tried some different gearing as wasn't completly happy with what I had, went shorter but this just made the bike too peaky & it was spinning up everywhere, add to this the fact Ornsby stole my spot on pole on the grid and had a skidder and ended up 5th. WT got a pretty good start & had to work a bit to get past him, riding awesome dude - keep it up.
Race three in F2....yep this is the one I crashed in twice & still won the race! Pretty crazy race or series of races really. Part 1 - Jay down in warmup, Nicko down in lap 2. Red flag, restart. Part 2 - Nicko down in lap 1, another rider down in lap 2. Red flag, time for a track inspection - yep she's slippery alright, display oil flag for rest of day on this corner. Race delayed till end of day. Part 3 - get holeshot, nurse round Spash every lap - sorry WT & 2Smoker!! Hold off said 6hundy riders & manage a win.
Race three in F1 - again Ornsby steals my grid spot, good start but was riding real gingerly round Splash & 2Smoker, WT & Rhys Holmes got past. Ornsby was way out in front but came off in...you guessed it....Splash. Finished up 4th.
So for the day overall I finished 1st in F2 & 2nd in F1, good results considering.
And the reason for crashing 3 times in the one corner....well probably a combination of things really, new tyre in the morning, left side of it still looks shiny even now, only 2 left handers at manfield meaning that side of tyre doesn't get warmth, delay between restarts cooling tyres down even more, track temperature under 10 degrees, crap on the track - I found grip in every other corner but this one & it claimed me & a lot of other riders on the day. Touch wood don't go down there again, 3 times isn't really enough to rename the corner after me is it???! :2thumbsup
By the way, if you're wondering the Triumph came away almost completely unscathed each time, sure a little paint missing and ground down the footpeg & bar each time but was amazing how the bike took it in it's stride, still rode perfectly for the last couple of races so thanks to Triumph for such an awesome bike! Bring on round 3!
Thanks to VMCC organisers & marshalls and as always thanks to the guys who make it all possible...
FREDCO MOTORS
TRIUMPH, AMPS, METZELER, CASTROL, FFM, WAIKATO SANDBLASTING, CORSA DISMANTLERS, WOODCRAFT, SDV, PROTECTA INSURANCE
You can call me a slow learner but you can't call me a quiter....
Vic Club Round 2 turned out to be an eventful day, bl**dy cold conditions, raced in a thermal top all day & a distinct lack of grip in a few corners, one in particular ;)
I had put a new front tyre on for the day and went out to give qualifying a go in F2, had an ok session and used it as a chance to see what the grip levels were like around the track. Qualified in 3rd spot behind Jay & Nick Cole. F1 qualifying and got straight into it, had my laptimer on board (built into Triumph dash and activated by start button - very cool) and saw 1.14.5, 1.14.0, 1.13.5, 1.13.2 then 4.56.3 - bugger, went down at Spash tipping into the left hander, went completely without warning & was a bit miffed but turns out my 4th lap was good enough to secure pole position.
Race one in F2 & scored the holeshot, led for the first lap or two but Jay got by me & led for a while. Exiting the hairpin & Jay highsided, did all he could to save it but this one got away & luckily didn't slide in front of me too much so managed to avoid rider & bike. Held the lead till the end of the race for a win.
Race one in F1, Peter Tanner went mental off the line & we swapped the lead a couple of times, Dan Ornsby from Christchurch on the R1 got past on the 2nd lap & powered away. Had a good tussle with Tanner & as I was coming out alongside him out of Higgins on the last lap his bike spluttered & believe he had an issue with his gas level causing him to slow & gifting me 2nd place.
Race two in F2 Jay got the better of me and starting leading the race, Craig Gollop on an ex-Bernard K4 Suzuki also got past & Jay had gapped us so decided to sit behind Craig & make a move on him into the last sweeper, did this on the last lap & held position for a 2nd place.
Race two in F1 I tried some different gearing as wasn't completly happy with what I had, went shorter but this just made the bike too peaky & it was spinning up everywhere, add to this the fact Ornsby stole my spot on pole on the grid and had a skidder and ended up 5th. WT got a pretty good start & had to work a bit to get past him, riding awesome dude - keep it up.
Race three in F2....yep this is the one I crashed in twice & still won the race! Pretty crazy race or series of races really. Part 1 - Jay down in warmup, Nicko down in lap 2. Red flag, restart. Part 2 - Nicko down in lap 1, another rider down in lap 2. Red flag, time for a track inspection - yep she's slippery alright, display oil flag for rest of day on this corner. Race delayed till end of day. Part 3 - get holeshot, nurse round Spash every lap - sorry WT & 2Smoker!! Hold off said 6hundy riders & manage a win.
Race three in F1 - again Ornsby steals my grid spot, good start but was riding real gingerly round Splash & 2Smoker, WT & Rhys Holmes got past. Ornsby was way out in front but came off in...you guessed it....Splash. Finished up 4th.
So for the day overall I finished 1st in F2 & 2nd in F1, good results considering.
And the reason for crashing 3 times in the one corner....well probably a combination of things really, new tyre in the morning, left side of it still looks shiny even now, only 2 left handers at manfield meaning that side of tyre doesn't get warmth, delay between restarts cooling tyres down even more, track temperature under 10 degrees, crap on the track - I found grip in every other corner but this one & it claimed me & a lot of other riders on the day. Touch wood don't go down there again, 3 times isn't really enough to rename the corner after me is it???! :2thumbsup
By the way, if you're wondering the Triumph came away almost completely unscathed each time, sure a little paint missing and ground down the footpeg & bar each time but was amazing how the bike took it in it's stride, still rode perfectly for the last couple of races so thanks to Triumph for such an awesome bike! Bring on round 3!
Thanks to VMCC organisers & marshalls and as always thanks to the guys who make it all possible...
FREDCO MOTORS
TRIUMPH, AMPS, METZELER, CASTROL, FFM, WAIKATO SANDBLASTING, CORSA DISMANTLERS, WOODCRAFT, SDV, PROTECTA INSURANCE