Kwaka-Kid
5th October 2004, 16:30
Well after the last race report I have decided to keep this one comparatively brief. Daylight savings unfortunately caught me by surprise and I woke up without my hour to spare getting ready… this resulted in having no food or drink for the day... (Except for the 2 chips you shared with me George, thanks dude!). First practise came and I came back in from it feeling a little odd… the nerves had gotten to me badly and I just couldn’t get into it properly, I qualified in 6<SUP>th</SUP> place with Bruno in 5<SUP>th</SUP> to my right.
First race started with me barely getting her into 1<SUP>st</SUP> gear and having the engine revving in time, but luckily I fluked it and saw 2<SUP>nd</SUP> place coming into Jennian, it was ON!. Adrenaline pumping through my veins and my short lived second place increasing my head till it nearly burst out my helmet... right up until I was saved when coming onto the backstraight of that first lap I watched Jason Hulme fly by as if I was standing still, closely followed by another bike. I was in 4<SUP>th</SUP> place thinking I was running well and hoping to hold it, when in the second lap Bruno on his NSR250 unexpectedly to me flew passed me as I grabbed my brakes @ the 200 mark coming into the hairpin… In all honesty right then I decided he was going to beat me in the race and I would have to just hold out for 5<SUP>th</SUP>. But managing to keep on his tail right to castrol gave me some inspiration to plan overtaking! It was neck and neck and his entry to castrol was better then mine resulting in him powering down the back straight faster, but only marginally and I decided it was now or never to cock him up going into the hairpin. My mind said BRAKE as I saw the 200m mark go by heading into the hairpin and I did! Watched Bruno get further ahead as he braked later but I let go of the brakes after only 50m of braking and let it roll some! Rolled right up alongside him on the inside and just stood the bike upright in the hope he would have to either barge me out of the way to get passed or attempt the long way around… and that was the last I saw of Bruno after smashing into 1<SUP>st</SUP> gear, literally doing the sharpest turn around castrol I have ever done and hammering the gas the hell out of there!.. I held that place till the end of the race and had a little dice with the Ducati SS900 that overtook me on the last lap (did the same thing to him as I did to Bruno and fortunately I JUST beat him to the finish line).
Second race I was in 5<SUP>th</SUP> place this time close behind the SS900 planning another final lap surprise overtake coming into the hairpin… only 3 laps to go and I had closed the gap so I was nearly hitting his tail coming into the hairpin… when coming up to the hill the ViFfeR Coughed and spluttered away to 3 cylinders!! NOOOOO I cried from my helmet smashing my left fist against the tank as I came passed the pit crew over that hill… To cut a long story short the soldering of my De-restriction unit had failed resulting in Hondas work around for people that disconnect the Speedo kicking in (over 5,500rpm she runs on 3cylanders). So I went from 5<SUP>th</SUP> to 12<SUP>th</SUP> place.
Third race saw a temporary repair semi-work on and off until the last lap when the connection must have settled and bridged well which made one of the most frustrating but challenging and rewarding overtakes on Hoon ever, the coughing and spluttering kicking in right when I didn’t want it and was yelling and screaming under my helmet for the poor ViFfeR to spring back onto 4 cylinders before I lost my chance. I wound up in 9<SUP>th</SUP> place and really enjoyed the race setting a personal best of 1:10.82 (guessing it had to be on that last lap).
Final race saw the bike running fine, me feeling really hungry and dehydrated after nothing to eat or drink all day and a start in 9<SUP>th</SUP> place. Can’t remember too much of that race now to be honest but found myself in 6<SUP>th</SUP> place at the end of it.
Overall another important experience with reliability issues and not being prepared enough to have food and water, or rich enough to afford to pay for the chips and drink they sell there, if only the race budget was $3 more.
Special Thanks goes to Craig, 6chris6 and Greg Sharpe for in different ways assisting to get the bike repaired after race 2. And of course thanks to Mike and Shadey for being the days slaves, also to Zara for proving bringing you to the track isn’t what jinxed me to crash last time, oh, and sorry for leaving the umbrella at home would have been a laugh to see you hold it over me-next time!. Thanks also to all the Family, Close friends and work mates that came along too!
First race started with me barely getting her into 1<SUP>st</SUP> gear and having the engine revving in time, but luckily I fluked it and saw 2<SUP>nd</SUP> place coming into Jennian, it was ON!. Adrenaline pumping through my veins and my short lived second place increasing my head till it nearly burst out my helmet... right up until I was saved when coming onto the backstraight of that first lap I watched Jason Hulme fly by as if I was standing still, closely followed by another bike. I was in 4<SUP>th</SUP> place thinking I was running well and hoping to hold it, when in the second lap Bruno on his NSR250 unexpectedly to me flew passed me as I grabbed my brakes @ the 200 mark coming into the hairpin… In all honesty right then I decided he was going to beat me in the race and I would have to just hold out for 5<SUP>th</SUP>. But managing to keep on his tail right to castrol gave me some inspiration to plan overtaking! It was neck and neck and his entry to castrol was better then mine resulting in him powering down the back straight faster, but only marginally and I decided it was now or never to cock him up going into the hairpin. My mind said BRAKE as I saw the 200m mark go by heading into the hairpin and I did! Watched Bruno get further ahead as he braked later but I let go of the brakes after only 50m of braking and let it roll some! Rolled right up alongside him on the inside and just stood the bike upright in the hope he would have to either barge me out of the way to get passed or attempt the long way around… and that was the last I saw of Bruno after smashing into 1<SUP>st</SUP> gear, literally doing the sharpest turn around castrol I have ever done and hammering the gas the hell out of there!.. I held that place till the end of the race and had a little dice with the Ducati SS900 that overtook me on the last lap (did the same thing to him as I did to Bruno and fortunately I JUST beat him to the finish line).
Second race I was in 5<SUP>th</SUP> place this time close behind the SS900 planning another final lap surprise overtake coming into the hairpin… only 3 laps to go and I had closed the gap so I was nearly hitting his tail coming into the hairpin… when coming up to the hill the ViFfeR Coughed and spluttered away to 3 cylinders!! NOOOOO I cried from my helmet smashing my left fist against the tank as I came passed the pit crew over that hill… To cut a long story short the soldering of my De-restriction unit had failed resulting in Hondas work around for people that disconnect the Speedo kicking in (over 5,500rpm she runs on 3cylanders). So I went from 5<SUP>th</SUP> to 12<SUP>th</SUP> place.
Third race saw a temporary repair semi-work on and off until the last lap when the connection must have settled and bridged well which made one of the most frustrating but challenging and rewarding overtakes on Hoon ever, the coughing and spluttering kicking in right when I didn’t want it and was yelling and screaming under my helmet for the poor ViFfeR to spring back onto 4 cylinders before I lost my chance. I wound up in 9<SUP>th</SUP> place and really enjoyed the race setting a personal best of 1:10.82 (guessing it had to be on that last lap).
Final race saw the bike running fine, me feeling really hungry and dehydrated after nothing to eat or drink all day and a start in 9<SUP>th</SUP> place. Can’t remember too much of that race now to be honest but found myself in 6<SUP>th</SUP> place at the end of it.
Overall another important experience with reliability issues and not being prepared enough to have food and water, or rich enough to afford to pay for the chips and drink they sell there, if only the race budget was $3 more.
Special Thanks goes to Craig, 6chris6 and Greg Sharpe for in different ways assisting to get the bike repaired after race 2. And of course thanks to Mike and Shadey for being the days slaves, also to Zara for proving bringing you to the track isn’t what jinxed me to crash last time, oh, and sorry for leaving the umbrella at home would have been a laugh to see you hold it over me-next time!. Thanks also to all the Family, Close friends and work mates that came along too!