Tim 39
31st January 2008, 19:19
Round 1 nationals 2008
After the Friday practice day going well I was quite confident going into qualifying. I went out for the first of the 20 minute sessions and got back into the “groove” and then set to, to set my times. My bike was jetted pretty rich but I did a 1.43.20, this was enough to put me in fifth place on the grid after this first session of two.
The next session we had put the new Dunlop tyres on, and jetted the bike a bit leaner to try and get a bit more power out of it. The only problem was that the wind had picked up quite a lot so the times were slower than the first session, I was the fastest in this session but because of the wind my times weren’t fast enough to move me up on the grid. I was happy enough with fifth position as it was the very front of the second row.
Sitting on the dummy grid waiting for our first race of the national series, I thought I’d be more nervous than I was. I was more determined than nervous.
We gridded up and the lights went out, I got quite a good start and was third going into the first corner. I passed Adam and was already up to second place. Before the end of the third lap, I was in the lead, I tried to set a fast pace at the front and I was using my pit board to see how the people behind me were going. By the seventh lap I was finding it a bit harder to concentrate out at the front and I could see from my pit board that my lead was slowly being eaten up. I had a sneaky peak behind me to see Cam Jones only a wee way behind me, this gave me the extra boost of determination that I needed to up the pace a bit. I could hear Cam’s bike behind me in some of the corners and knew he was close, so I took defensive lines where I could without compromising speed. On the last lap I rode well and stayed in front to cross the finish first!!! My fastest time was in the last lap, a 1.42.52.
I left the track very happy but also a little nervous as to how the next day would go.
We had a five minute tyre scrub session before our next two races. After the tyre scrub I realised that I had forgotten my shirt to wear under my leathers for the race, so went back to Steve’s where we were staying, to get it. On the way back there in the 100 k zone I was driving along with the window down, and there was a chicken walking across the road towards my lane. I slowed and swerved to avoid hitting it, next thing there was a loud bang and I looked down to find a dead chicken on my lap. It had flown up as I had swerved and it’d hit the window frame and then ended up on my lap with blood coming out of it. I reversed the process that had just happened (threw it back out the window) as I was rather stunned and didn’t know what else to do with it.
I arrived back at the track (with chicken blood on my pants and feathers all through my van!) with about 45 minutes until our race, enough time to get a bit of rest and hydrated.
I got another good start and was up to third place into the first corner, I stayed third until the beginning of the third lap where I passed Adam down the straight and he came back up the inside under brakes. He came in a bit fast and hit me towards the grass, in an effort not to go on the grass I stood my ground, and then let off the brakes and peeled in, in front of him. At some stage in all this Adam ended up in a tank slapper beside and slightly behind me (me knee was rubbing on his front wheel) and crashed taking my exhaust some of the way with him.
While all this was happening the two front runners were Cam and then Kirk, I noticed that since the incident at the top corner my bike sounded different and knew he’d broken my exhaust. I passed Kirk and the chase was on, to catch back up to Cam. I caught back up but was having trouble keeping up with him down the straights (broken exhausts reduce power). I was right behind Cam by lap 7 and was beginning to have a go at passing, as we exited the corner onto the front straight I got amazing drive and was coming up behind him so tried passing down the straight but as I pulled out of the slipstream he pulled away. I knew if I was going to pass it’d need to be near the end of the race because of my lack of power. I tried everywhere on the last two laps, I got right past him in the top corner but then he powered past me again approaching pothole. I couldn’t get past so finished behind him in 2nd place.
After fitting Kevin’s exhaust we were on the grid for the last time. Lights went out and I got an amazing start, and was first into the first corner. I decided it was the best time to just put my head down and go as fast as I could. I pulled a 3 second lead at the front, but while braking for the end of the straight on the 6th lap, as I blipped the throttle as I was changing down… it wasn’t responding! I turned in like normal and when I went to drive out there was nothing. After what felt like an hour it started going again, with my heart pounding and my mind thinking the worst, I knew the others wouldn’t be far behind now. I rode hard to try and open up the gap again but it was giving intermittent misses exiting corners, which was making it hard to get drive. I was still first going down the straight at the end of the 7th lap but I knew the others were right there behind me. As I braked at the end of the straight, the motor died again and Cam and Eric went honing past. Just after the apex it was away again so I chased them down again. On the second last lap I was trying to drive out of the dipper and it was dead as I slowly brought on the throttle, all of a sudden it was away again, this started spinning the back round. I saved that and kept going to finish 3rd.
As we came in, we were pulled aside to go on the podium and be interviewed for TV.
After being on the podium we pulled the bike down to find that the high tension lead had been falling out of the spark plug cap… relief that it was only that!! It’d been the most eventful race day I’ve ever had by far!! I was standing in second place in the championship.
I’d like to thank all my sponsor’s as they are all so good to me…
The Brass Monkey Rally by The Otago Motorcycle Club
Mainland Air
Dunlop tyres
Arai helmets
Elf Oils
Steve Ward
Race Supplies
After the Friday practice day going well I was quite confident going into qualifying. I went out for the first of the 20 minute sessions and got back into the “groove” and then set to, to set my times. My bike was jetted pretty rich but I did a 1.43.20, this was enough to put me in fifth place on the grid after this first session of two.
The next session we had put the new Dunlop tyres on, and jetted the bike a bit leaner to try and get a bit more power out of it. The only problem was that the wind had picked up quite a lot so the times were slower than the first session, I was the fastest in this session but because of the wind my times weren’t fast enough to move me up on the grid. I was happy enough with fifth position as it was the very front of the second row.
Sitting on the dummy grid waiting for our first race of the national series, I thought I’d be more nervous than I was. I was more determined than nervous.
We gridded up and the lights went out, I got quite a good start and was third going into the first corner. I passed Adam and was already up to second place. Before the end of the third lap, I was in the lead, I tried to set a fast pace at the front and I was using my pit board to see how the people behind me were going. By the seventh lap I was finding it a bit harder to concentrate out at the front and I could see from my pit board that my lead was slowly being eaten up. I had a sneaky peak behind me to see Cam Jones only a wee way behind me, this gave me the extra boost of determination that I needed to up the pace a bit. I could hear Cam’s bike behind me in some of the corners and knew he was close, so I took defensive lines where I could without compromising speed. On the last lap I rode well and stayed in front to cross the finish first!!! My fastest time was in the last lap, a 1.42.52.
I left the track very happy but also a little nervous as to how the next day would go.
We had a five minute tyre scrub session before our next two races. After the tyre scrub I realised that I had forgotten my shirt to wear under my leathers for the race, so went back to Steve’s where we were staying, to get it. On the way back there in the 100 k zone I was driving along with the window down, and there was a chicken walking across the road towards my lane. I slowed and swerved to avoid hitting it, next thing there was a loud bang and I looked down to find a dead chicken on my lap. It had flown up as I had swerved and it’d hit the window frame and then ended up on my lap with blood coming out of it. I reversed the process that had just happened (threw it back out the window) as I was rather stunned and didn’t know what else to do with it.
I arrived back at the track (with chicken blood on my pants and feathers all through my van!) with about 45 minutes until our race, enough time to get a bit of rest and hydrated.
I got another good start and was up to third place into the first corner, I stayed third until the beginning of the third lap where I passed Adam down the straight and he came back up the inside under brakes. He came in a bit fast and hit me towards the grass, in an effort not to go on the grass I stood my ground, and then let off the brakes and peeled in, in front of him. At some stage in all this Adam ended up in a tank slapper beside and slightly behind me (me knee was rubbing on his front wheel) and crashed taking my exhaust some of the way with him.
While all this was happening the two front runners were Cam and then Kirk, I noticed that since the incident at the top corner my bike sounded different and knew he’d broken my exhaust. I passed Kirk and the chase was on, to catch back up to Cam. I caught back up but was having trouble keeping up with him down the straights (broken exhausts reduce power). I was right behind Cam by lap 7 and was beginning to have a go at passing, as we exited the corner onto the front straight I got amazing drive and was coming up behind him so tried passing down the straight but as I pulled out of the slipstream he pulled away. I knew if I was going to pass it’d need to be near the end of the race because of my lack of power. I tried everywhere on the last two laps, I got right past him in the top corner but then he powered past me again approaching pothole. I couldn’t get past so finished behind him in 2nd place.
After fitting Kevin’s exhaust we were on the grid for the last time. Lights went out and I got an amazing start, and was first into the first corner. I decided it was the best time to just put my head down and go as fast as I could. I pulled a 3 second lead at the front, but while braking for the end of the straight on the 6th lap, as I blipped the throttle as I was changing down… it wasn’t responding! I turned in like normal and when I went to drive out there was nothing. After what felt like an hour it started going again, with my heart pounding and my mind thinking the worst, I knew the others wouldn’t be far behind now. I rode hard to try and open up the gap again but it was giving intermittent misses exiting corners, which was making it hard to get drive. I was still first going down the straight at the end of the 7th lap but I knew the others were right there behind me. As I braked at the end of the straight, the motor died again and Cam and Eric went honing past. Just after the apex it was away again so I chased them down again. On the second last lap I was trying to drive out of the dipper and it was dead as I slowly brought on the throttle, all of a sudden it was away again, this started spinning the back round. I saved that and kept going to finish 3rd.
As we came in, we were pulled aside to go on the podium and be interviewed for TV.
After being on the podium we pulled the bike down to find that the high tension lead had been falling out of the spark plug cap… relief that it was only that!! It’d been the most eventful race day I’ve ever had by far!! I was standing in second place in the championship.
I’d like to thank all my sponsor’s as they are all so good to me…
The Brass Monkey Rally by The Otago Motorcycle Club
Mainland Air
Dunlop tyres
Arai helmets
Elf Oils
Steve Ward
Race Supplies