CHOPPA
9th December 2007, 19:54
I figure its probably a good idea to let whoever’s interested in having a read know how round 2 of the amcc champs went down for me…
I drove past the track on sat and had a watch of the training day it was a scorching hot day and the track looked great! Pity I cant say the same about Sunday ha ha.
Practice and qualifying:
I was a bit worried because everyone was chucking on there wets that I don’t have yet but with the weather being off and on I decided to give it a shot. I seemed to time it right on a slightly drying line and managed to qualify 3<SUP>rd</SUP> in formula Auckland and 2<SUP>nd</SUP> in formula 2.
Race 1
Formula Auckland
I had made a few changes to my bike, 1. being a bigger front sprocket which made the already tall 1<SUP>st</SUP> geared zx6rr a mission to get off the line but still managed about 4<SUP>th</SUP> off the line, I got a tad smoked down the straight and made a few back under brakes I tucked in behind James Mair then at ford mountain I tried to go around the outside and had a very scary off track excursion! Anyway that left the door open for a few others to get by. I cleaned out my undies and carried on this time behind Chris Sucich who was behind James Mair so it was all getting a bit tight then Jay Lawrence joined in the fun we all managed to get past James when he had a bit of a wobble down pit straight the 600s then battled till the chequered flag separated by about half a second at the end!
F2
The track had dried out quite well by this stage but it was a feely uneventful race, except from a bit of a battle for the lead between Chris and jay. Jay took the advantage and I chased Chris all the way to the flag.
Race 2
Formula Auckland
As the rain came down we all descended on to the dummy grid, 90% had there wets on except for a few of us that were stupid enough to come out on our semi slicks. I took it nice and easy in this race to come home 1<SUP>st</SUP> 600 and the first of the riders not on wets to 7<SUP>th</SUP> overall
F2
Again with the rain falling however this time 90% of the riders were on the same tyres as me so I was a bit happier, the track was so slippery and I struggled a lot on the start and dropped way back to about 6<SUP>th</SUP> on the first lap, lucky for me but unlucky for him a rider crashed on the extremely slippery ford mountain which bought out the red flag for a full race restart. I decided I wouldn’t try save my clutch this time and got a great start but the fast starting Paul brown and aggressive Chris and Jay got by as well as a black R6 that had wets on, as the race went by I managed to pick off Chris and Paul to put me in third behind the black r6 and jay until the last lap where I managed to finally get by jay up the inside off turn 1 to finish in 2<SUP>nd</SUP> behind the r6 rider
All in all I was happy with my day, its my second race meeting in f2 and my third race meeting ever so I have definitely exceeded my expectations. Its good to ride with such experienced riders they really help me to get my speed up, the wet weather was interesting and its odd with everyone racing slowly but the idea is to stay on and not do anything stupid I guess!! Also everyone has been great with all there advice on tyres setups etc etc and its greatly appreciated.
See you all at wanganui…
I drove past the track on sat and had a watch of the training day it was a scorching hot day and the track looked great! Pity I cant say the same about Sunday ha ha.
Practice and qualifying:
I was a bit worried because everyone was chucking on there wets that I don’t have yet but with the weather being off and on I decided to give it a shot. I seemed to time it right on a slightly drying line and managed to qualify 3<SUP>rd</SUP> in formula Auckland and 2<SUP>nd</SUP> in formula 2.
Race 1
Formula Auckland
I had made a few changes to my bike, 1. being a bigger front sprocket which made the already tall 1<SUP>st</SUP> geared zx6rr a mission to get off the line but still managed about 4<SUP>th</SUP> off the line, I got a tad smoked down the straight and made a few back under brakes I tucked in behind James Mair then at ford mountain I tried to go around the outside and had a very scary off track excursion! Anyway that left the door open for a few others to get by. I cleaned out my undies and carried on this time behind Chris Sucich who was behind James Mair so it was all getting a bit tight then Jay Lawrence joined in the fun we all managed to get past James when he had a bit of a wobble down pit straight the 600s then battled till the chequered flag separated by about half a second at the end!
F2
The track had dried out quite well by this stage but it was a feely uneventful race, except from a bit of a battle for the lead between Chris and jay. Jay took the advantage and I chased Chris all the way to the flag.
Race 2
Formula Auckland
As the rain came down we all descended on to the dummy grid, 90% had there wets on except for a few of us that were stupid enough to come out on our semi slicks. I took it nice and easy in this race to come home 1<SUP>st</SUP> 600 and the first of the riders not on wets to 7<SUP>th</SUP> overall
F2
Again with the rain falling however this time 90% of the riders were on the same tyres as me so I was a bit happier, the track was so slippery and I struggled a lot on the start and dropped way back to about 6<SUP>th</SUP> on the first lap, lucky for me but unlucky for him a rider crashed on the extremely slippery ford mountain which bought out the red flag for a full race restart. I decided I wouldn’t try save my clutch this time and got a great start but the fast starting Paul brown and aggressive Chris and Jay got by as well as a black R6 that had wets on, as the race went by I managed to pick off Chris and Paul to put me in third behind the black r6 and jay until the last lap where I managed to finally get by jay up the inside off turn 1 to finish in 2<SUP>nd</SUP> behind the r6 rider
All in all I was happy with my day, its my second race meeting in f2 and my third race meeting ever so I have definitely exceeded my expectations. Its good to ride with such experienced riders they really help me to get my speed up, the wet weather was interesting and its odd with everyone racing slowly but the idea is to stay on and not do anything stupid I guess!! Also everyone has been great with all there advice on tyres setups etc etc and its greatly appreciated.
See you all at wanganui…