k14
15th August 2007, 08:19
The forecasts had been saying that it was going to be a crap day all week but looking out the window at 0700 there was a little bit of broken cloud and a few puffs of wind but nothing to be worried about. It was time for second round of the Canterbury motorcycle club winter series at levels.
After a non existent round 1, due to bike problems, I was looking forward to getting back on the bike. Having not raced properly since breaking my collarbone at the trackday at Taupo in May.
First practice came around just after 10 and I gridded up to get out early in the queue. After ¾ of a lap the red flags came out so we returned back to pit lane to wait for the carnage to be cleaned up. Not quite sure what happened but we were out again in 2 or 3 minutes. The track temperature was very good and wind was very minimal, perfect conditions for racing. The jetting wasn’t spot on and I was just trying to get reacquainted with the tight and twist track. After about 10 laps (we were supposed to get 5) I was fairly exhausted and I did a plug chop and came into the pits. I pulled the head and sparkplug to check on jetting and made a few small alterations to the carburetion in readiness for the first race.
The first race was up and for some reason the club had decided to have the first 3 rows gridded on the placings from the previous meeting. Seeing as I didn’t finish any of the races I had a big fat 0 in the points but luck was on my side. Someone else had raced with 114 (my number) at the previous meet and was gridded on the second row, so I was more than happy to step in for him.
I got a semi decent start but as usual got swamped by all the four strokes. The first lap was spent picking off a few of the 650’s and 400’s until myself, Ashley and Cameron (all on 125’s) settled into a three way tussle for 3rd place. We were swapping positions many times a lap. I managed to get up to 2nd in the group with two laps remaining in the six lap race with Cameron in front and Ashley behind. We had also caught up a SV650 and were right on his tail going into the last lap. Ashley had passed me coming into the hairpin and so coming onto the back straight I was behind, I got into his slipstream and managed to pass him just by the 200m marker. Due to passing him towards the end of the straight my line was slightly compromised and I had to brake slightly earlier than on the normal. Round he came on the outside of me mid corner and I had no chance for taking him back. Going into the hairpin I had a dab at him up the inside but he was riding very defensively. The three of us were line astern coming out of the hairpin. Cameron was a little bit enthusiastic on the throttle coming out of the left hander after the hairpin and his rear let go. He was flicked up but managed to stay on, this let both Ashley and I through. I had one last chance coming into the chicane and we were side by side under braking with me on the outside. I tried to get him but it was just too risky, so I had to settle in behind him and crossed the line in fourth.
I was fairly happy with this but knew I could do better. The bike still wasn’t running perfect and down around 8000 rpm it wasn’t jetted quite right. In the pits I again fiddled with a few of the carb settings to clean up the power delivery down low. I was also told that in the previous race the group I was running with were doing 1.13’s most of the race. That’s the fastest I’ve been round there so was very happy with that. But knew that 1.12’s were definitely a possibility.
The second race came round soon enough and again I gridded up on the second row. On the warmup lap I could feel a big change in the wind. At the end of the straight coming into the left hander a big gust blew me nearly off the track, this would be interesting for the race. The flag dropped and I didn’t quite get as good a start as the first race and was boxed in coming into the first corner. I was swamped by a lot of the four strokes which wouldn’t make things easy for getting a good finishing position. Coming onto the back straight I instantly felt the wind and the bike was struggling on top speed. I tried to get a slipstream from one of the four strokes but wasn’t able to.
I caught up to many in the preceeding two left handers before the hairpin. I picked one off on the left hander after and crossed the line for the first lap in about 8th place. I was stuck behind a fairly annoying 400 of some description. I wasn’t game enough to make a lung at the end of the straight due to the wind and he was just fast enough to stop me from making an easy pass on the other normal passing spots. This continued for the next lap till he did it for me. He outbraked himself coming into the esses just before the start finish line and I didn’t make the same mistake. By now there were only 2 laps left and I had a 3 or 4 second gap to pull in to make any more headway in the field. I could see I was gaining quite drastically on the two bikes in front (SV650’s) but crossed the line about 10m behind them. So that was a 6th place, not too bad. Just shows how pivotal starts are in these races. I was at least a second a lap faster than the guys in front but still wasn’t able to beat them. I was timed at 1.14’s after I passed the guys holding me up which wasn’t too bad considering the wind.
I was happy with the bike now setup wise so didn’t change anything for the final race. I was happy with the day so far and knew that I needed to get a good start if I wanted to do well in the race. I did get a good start but again was disadvantaged by being boxed in coming into the first corner. I got a good run onto the back straight and halfway down had to roll off due to nearly smashing up the rear of a 650 when I was sucked into his slipstream. Due to the head winds the slipstream effect was accentuated quite dramatically. Ashley on his 125 passed me down the straight and we both passed two of the four strokes coming into the left hander at the end of the straight. Now we were both behind my previous race annoyance on the 400 again. We followed him for a lap and then he slowed Ashley down quite significantly coming into the hairpin. I knew I had to be aggressive and passed both around the outside. There was a bit of a gap to two more SV’s in front. I knew Ashley would be in hot pursuit so had to ensure I didn’t stuff around passing them. I picked off the first one relatively easy at the end of the back straight on the third lap and then the next coming into the first corner on the fourth lap. Now I was in third position and the other two (Gregor on his 125 and Tom on his ER6) were well gone and there was no chance of catching them. I kept my head down for the next laps and on the white flag lap had a quick glance over my shoulder coming onto the back straight. I couldn’t see anyone behind for a while so took it easy and bought it home comfortably in third.
So that was the day over. Finally one with no crashes or bike problems, yay. My results were slightly compromised by the new gridding system but that’s fine. I know that if I got off the front row I would be dicing for the top 2 or 3 positions in all the races.
Next meet isn’t till October, I’m off to Philip Island to race in the support 125GP class on the MotoGP weekend. It will be awesome, can’t wait.
P.S. Big thanks to my new sponsor www.motorbikeparts.co.nz check out my website http://k14.nzsbf.co.nz
After a non existent round 1, due to bike problems, I was looking forward to getting back on the bike. Having not raced properly since breaking my collarbone at the trackday at Taupo in May.
First practice came around just after 10 and I gridded up to get out early in the queue. After ¾ of a lap the red flags came out so we returned back to pit lane to wait for the carnage to be cleaned up. Not quite sure what happened but we were out again in 2 or 3 minutes. The track temperature was very good and wind was very minimal, perfect conditions for racing. The jetting wasn’t spot on and I was just trying to get reacquainted with the tight and twist track. After about 10 laps (we were supposed to get 5) I was fairly exhausted and I did a plug chop and came into the pits. I pulled the head and sparkplug to check on jetting and made a few small alterations to the carburetion in readiness for the first race.
The first race was up and for some reason the club had decided to have the first 3 rows gridded on the placings from the previous meeting. Seeing as I didn’t finish any of the races I had a big fat 0 in the points but luck was on my side. Someone else had raced with 114 (my number) at the previous meet and was gridded on the second row, so I was more than happy to step in for him.
I got a semi decent start but as usual got swamped by all the four strokes. The first lap was spent picking off a few of the 650’s and 400’s until myself, Ashley and Cameron (all on 125’s) settled into a three way tussle for 3rd place. We were swapping positions many times a lap. I managed to get up to 2nd in the group with two laps remaining in the six lap race with Cameron in front and Ashley behind. We had also caught up a SV650 and were right on his tail going into the last lap. Ashley had passed me coming into the hairpin and so coming onto the back straight I was behind, I got into his slipstream and managed to pass him just by the 200m marker. Due to passing him towards the end of the straight my line was slightly compromised and I had to brake slightly earlier than on the normal. Round he came on the outside of me mid corner and I had no chance for taking him back. Going into the hairpin I had a dab at him up the inside but he was riding very defensively. The three of us were line astern coming out of the hairpin. Cameron was a little bit enthusiastic on the throttle coming out of the left hander after the hairpin and his rear let go. He was flicked up but managed to stay on, this let both Ashley and I through. I had one last chance coming into the chicane and we were side by side under braking with me on the outside. I tried to get him but it was just too risky, so I had to settle in behind him and crossed the line in fourth.
I was fairly happy with this but knew I could do better. The bike still wasn’t running perfect and down around 8000 rpm it wasn’t jetted quite right. In the pits I again fiddled with a few of the carb settings to clean up the power delivery down low. I was also told that in the previous race the group I was running with were doing 1.13’s most of the race. That’s the fastest I’ve been round there so was very happy with that. But knew that 1.12’s were definitely a possibility.
The second race came round soon enough and again I gridded up on the second row. On the warmup lap I could feel a big change in the wind. At the end of the straight coming into the left hander a big gust blew me nearly off the track, this would be interesting for the race. The flag dropped and I didn’t quite get as good a start as the first race and was boxed in coming into the first corner. I was swamped by a lot of the four strokes which wouldn’t make things easy for getting a good finishing position. Coming onto the back straight I instantly felt the wind and the bike was struggling on top speed. I tried to get a slipstream from one of the four strokes but wasn’t able to.
I caught up to many in the preceeding two left handers before the hairpin. I picked one off on the left hander after and crossed the line for the first lap in about 8th place. I was stuck behind a fairly annoying 400 of some description. I wasn’t game enough to make a lung at the end of the straight due to the wind and he was just fast enough to stop me from making an easy pass on the other normal passing spots. This continued for the next lap till he did it for me. He outbraked himself coming into the esses just before the start finish line and I didn’t make the same mistake. By now there were only 2 laps left and I had a 3 or 4 second gap to pull in to make any more headway in the field. I could see I was gaining quite drastically on the two bikes in front (SV650’s) but crossed the line about 10m behind them. So that was a 6th place, not too bad. Just shows how pivotal starts are in these races. I was at least a second a lap faster than the guys in front but still wasn’t able to beat them. I was timed at 1.14’s after I passed the guys holding me up which wasn’t too bad considering the wind.
I was happy with the bike now setup wise so didn’t change anything for the final race. I was happy with the day so far and knew that I needed to get a good start if I wanted to do well in the race. I did get a good start but again was disadvantaged by being boxed in coming into the first corner. I got a good run onto the back straight and halfway down had to roll off due to nearly smashing up the rear of a 650 when I was sucked into his slipstream. Due to the head winds the slipstream effect was accentuated quite dramatically. Ashley on his 125 passed me down the straight and we both passed two of the four strokes coming into the left hander at the end of the straight. Now we were both behind my previous race annoyance on the 400 again. We followed him for a lap and then he slowed Ashley down quite significantly coming into the hairpin. I knew I had to be aggressive and passed both around the outside. There was a bit of a gap to two more SV’s in front. I knew Ashley would be in hot pursuit so had to ensure I didn’t stuff around passing them. I picked off the first one relatively easy at the end of the back straight on the third lap and then the next coming into the first corner on the fourth lap. Now I was in third position and the other two (Gregor on his 125 and Tom on his ER6) were well gone and there was no chance of catching them. I kept my head down for the next laps and on the white flag lap had a quick glance over my shoulder coming onto the back straight. I couldn’t see anyone behind for a while so took it easy and bought it home comfortably in third.
So that was the day over. Finally one with no crashes or bike problems, yay. My results were slightly compromised by the new gridding system but that’s fine. I know that if I got off the front row I would be dicing for the top 2 or 3 positions in all the races.
Next meet isn’t till October, I’m off to Philip Island to race in the support 125GP class on the MotoGP weekend. It will be awesome, can’t wait.
P.S. Big thanks to my new sponsor www.motorbikeparts.co.nz check out my website http://k14.nzsbf.co.nz