PDA

View Full Version : Paeroa: The British Italian Job



nicko
18th February 2008, 22:28
Well I'd start by saying it was an eventful day at Paeroa but it's always an eventful day at Paeroa.

Been a while since I've put up a report, largely because I haven't raced in ages but think yesterday deserves a bit of a speel. I had my trusty 675 & had also been offered a ride by a Tauranga MV enthusiast on his MV Agusta 312 after I had tested the bike at the Road Race Spectacular at Taupo on New Years. Feeling like the kid on the block at christmas with 2 bmx's in his garage it was gearing up to be another great Paeroa Battle of the Streets.

Qualifying was done on Wanganui lap-times so I was lucky I had been down there to get some times on the board which started me front row F2 on the 675 and front row in BEARS and second row F1 on the MV, with 6 practice sessions & 7 races it was going to be a busy day so excuse me for a long report.

Practice was valuable as I had only ridden the MV for about 20 laps at Taupo due to crap weather so it was a good chance to get myself familiar with the bike. All I'll say is if you get a chance to ride one - take it! This MV is as they come out of the box, road fairings, standard exhaust/suspension, literally a road bike with number-boards. It's also the same bike Paul Heard campaigned at the recent land speed-record attempts where he achieved over 295kph second only to a NOS'd up Busa.....& I was sporting the same Pirelli tyres that had been used for the record attempt.

F2 Race 1. Quite simply the highlight of my day. 5th in lap one, Jason Hulme down on 2nd lap bumped me up to 3rd, kept it pinned & got past Paul Brown on the 3rd lap. Then had a bit of work to catchup to Dave Sadowski on the Bernard R6 over the next 3 laps. Dave took a tight defensive line into turn one on the last lap but had scrubbed off too much speed so I managed to roll it round the outside & held the lead (just) till the line. First of the big street meet wins for me & great start to the day.

F-Paeroa Race 1. Average start off the 2nd row at 11th position as the MV has a bit of a touchy clutch off the line. Up to 9th in lap 3 and get a good run down the hill towards post-office corner about to make a move on the next rider when he suddenly veers left & dead ahead of me is a rapidly slowing Neil Martin on a GSXR 1000 with an electrical fault in the middle of the track! One of those impact-immenent let's try to miss but not looking good - wish the glass was half-full moments that lastest all of .00002 of a second and WHAM!!!!!!!!! Clean smacked the Gixxer up the rear at a speed differential of what must have been over 100kph. Massive shunt, bits of fairing everywhere, hold on for dear life & realise I've actually kept it upright (probably more fluke than skill) and stop the bike & rest against the bales half shocked half bloody stoked to have kept the thing upright. Race eventually got red-flagged & I gathered the broken fairing & what suprised me even more was I was able to ride the bike back to the pits & even better glad to see Neil also kept it upright & was unhurt as well.

Next race BEARS race 1, I was lucky I had the Triumph as back-up and although pretty rattled & a bit bruised after the incident I got out on the Trumpy for another hoon. Got stuck behind the KTM of Steve Briggs for the first few laps and Pete Tanner riding bloody well on his Aprilia had cleared off ahead so I settled into 2nd place.

King of the Streets, probably should have saved my energy for F2 but went out on the 675 again. Finished up about 9th or 10th in that race.

F2 - second race. Good start into second but unfortunately my arms let me down in this race, was getting some pretty wicked arm pump and just couldn't turn it under brakes as well as I had in race 1 and ended up finishing 5th. Bit dissapointing after the first race result but that is racing & overall points put me 3rd for the day so not all bad.

F-Paeroa race 2. My crew, thanks so much guys, got the MV back 'together' again, naked bike styles and minus a front fairing & plus a new front tyre (impact from crash had blown the last one) I started off down the back of the grid due to the DNF. I actually had quite a bit of fun scrubbing in the tyre & working my way up the field on the now naked MV & made my way up from last to 11th, I can empathise somewhat with the motard guys now I realise you get a fair bit of wind pushing your helmet when you're doing 240+kph minus a front fairing!

BEARS - race 2. Final race of the day for me & feeling the pinch of the days events. Again on the naked MV had a shocker of a start and ended up about 10th into turn one but got through the field to 2nd on lap 3, Pete Tanner a fair way off but thinking I might just be able to catch him, 4th lap & didn't need to as Pete had gone down at the hair-pin. Not pleased to have won the race without a fight & gutted for Pete to have come off but great to finish the day 1st overall in BEARS .

So all in all a huge day & we finished 3rd in F2 and 1st in BEARS, looking forward to heading south to the Sound of Thunder this weekend down at Ruapuna in Christchurch.

I'd like to say a huge THANKS to all those who helped me leading up to & on the day...

My long standing sponsor FREDCO MOTORS in Union St CBD & Archers Rd Wairau, Auckland for all your continued support, thanks Craig & the boys.

On the MV - MV AGUSTA MOTORSPORT NZ & BAYRIDE MOTORCYCLES
On the Triumph - AMPS, TRIUMPH, WAIKATO SANDBLASTING, OHLINS, CORSA DISMANTLERS, PROTECTA INSURANCE
And on both counts thanks to PIRELLI, BP, CASTROL, AGV Helmets & Leathers, EBC pads, Sidi Boots & Steve & co & family for their awesome help in the pits.


Thanks to www.bikestore.co.nz for these photos - mint shots - just reattaching your photos here guys.

Shaun P
18th February 2008, 22:38
Why dont you just enter every class next time eh good racin out there m8 - Shaun

jrandom
18th February 2008, 22:50
4th lap & didn't need to as Pete had gone down at the hair-pin...

Aye, ah well, at least he managed to walk away in style from what looked like an annoying highside on that oil spill by hopping up on the haybales and taking a few bows for the crowd.

:2thumbsup


So all in all a huge day & we finished 3rd in F2 and 1st in BEARS...

Awesome effort Nicko, you were very recognisable out there on the gold Trumpy with those new leathers and helmet and it was great seeing (and hearing) an MV being punted around the course like that. Was quite impressive (and set off a few giggles) to see you back out on it sans fairings later in the day, too.

:woohoo:

slowpoke
19th February 2008, 00:40
HUGE effort fella, and great to see you get some good results for it. It would have been awesome to see the MV out there although I guess the moral of the story is: if you are gonna crash an MV make sure it's some elses!

White trash
19th February 2008, 04:20
Fucken 'ell bro, I was SCREAMIN at ya from the top of the stop bank when you came through the Esses in the lead on the final lap of that F2 race. I reckon the only person happier than me would have been you, I know you've waited a bloody long time for that win and you bloody deserve it.

I almost shat myself comin down the chute in the F Paeroa to see a track covered in MV bits though. S'alright still, street fightered MV doesn't look too bad :D

Riff Raff
19th February 2008, 06:44
Bloody good racing Nicko. I was almost as excited as Jimmy with your F2 win!!!








PS: Nice undies

Cajun
19th February 2008, 07:11
Awsome work nicko, was cheering hardcore when you came pass first in f2, awsome work to catch up and pass that yank

MadDuck
19th February 2008, 07:43
Fucken 'ell bro, I was SCREAMIN at ya from the top of the stop bank when you came through the Esses in the lead on the final lap of that F2 race.

I think EVERY single spectator including me was doing the same.....awesome effort Nicko

Drew
19th February 2008, 10:09
Mate, you rock. Congratulations on all accounts, see ya at Sound of Thunder bro, hope to learn a bit from you down there.:rockon: Provided I can keep you in sight.

Toast
19th February 2008, 10:29
Good thing that MV has those beefy 50mm forks, else it might have been more than a popped tyre.

You got more cheers than anyone throughout the day...and more laughs when you duffed that wheelie on the MV after the last BEARS race.

Congrats, awesome effort all day.

FROSTY
19th February 2008, 17:12
Good onya nicko you worked bloody hard to get to that win

sAsLEX
19th February 2008, 17:31
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/thenakinavy/Paeroa/photo#5167801265219820594"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/thenakinavy/R7e33ts93DI/AAAAAAAAA9s/Jxj8rhDXzCc/s288/IMG_2836.JPG" /></a>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/thenakinavy/Paeroa/photo#5167803343983992114"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/thenakinavy/R7e5wts93TI/AAAAAAAAA_w/J8S90iATa04/s288/IMG_2943.JPG" /></a>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/thenakinavy/Paeroa/photo#5167803472833011010"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/thenakinavy/R7e54Ns93UI/AAAAAAAAA_4/CMCNOkqJdCY/s288/IMG_2957.JPG" /></a>

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/thenakinavy/Paeroa/photo#5167803885149871506"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/thenakinavy/R7e6QNs93ZI/AAAAAAAABAk/zpRTsUz6aGM/s288/IMG_2972.JPG" /></a>



<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/thenakinavy/Paeroa/photo#5167801875105176706"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/thenakinavy/R7e4bNs93II/AAAAAAAAA-U/9i-psXF2N7U/s288/IMG_2855.JPG" /></a>
Hardly recognised you in the new leathers and helmet!


A few of you in there.

flame
19th February 2008, 18:39
Congrats Nicko, what a dam top effort! and deservingly rewarded. Your impressive to watch. See you at SOT if your not at the Nats.

Cleve
19th February 2008, 20:45
Up to 9th in lap 3 and get a good run down the hill towards post-office corner about to make a move on the next rider when he suddenly veers left & dead ahead of me is a rapidly slowing Neil Martin on a GSXR 1000 with an electrical fault in the middle of the track! One of those impact-immenent let's try to miss but not looking good - wish the glass was half-full moments that lastest all of .00002 of a second and WHAM!!!!!!!!! Clean smacked the Gixxer up the rear at a speed differential of what must have been over 100kph. Massive shunt, bits of fairing everywhere, hold on for dear life & realise I've actually kept it upright (probably more fluke than skill)

Oh wow yes. That little incident happened in front of me and my 2 kids. I watched it as if it was in slow motion and thought "oh fuck me and my kids are about to get wiped out by Nicko on an MV".
Somehow you held it together and straight and we didn't all die and my 6 year old kid got a little bit of an MV as a souvenir to take home...
Cheers Nick!

saul
19th February 2008, 21:10
Followed you at P as I have a 675 :niceone: and also knew you were gonna be on the Augusta:devil2:

My heart sank when you didn't come back around on it<_<

Was awesome to see you get back to the pits then the big fella getting to work:niceone:

Drew
19th February 2008, 21:24
Followed you at P as I have a 675 :niceone: and also knew you were gonna be on the Augusta:devil2:

My heart sank when you didn't come back around on it<_<

Was awesome to see you get back to the pits then the big fella getting to work:niceone:


Oh oh oh, that's me in the third pic about to get schooled, what the hell was I thinking, NO YOU CANT FIND A QUICKER WAY AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF THE CONCRETE DUST YOU COCK!!!

Gremlin
20th February 2008, 01:35
good job on the racing... I directed you straight ahead when you got to the back straight, when you had the flat on the front of the mv. All I could think was, poor MV :bye:

kawa10
20th February 2008, 11:42
awesome write up there nicko and awesome riding. :clap:
best of luck for the sound of thunder this weekend. :yes:
did anyone get a pic of the mv in street fighter styles?
ps. thanks for all the crowd support and positive comments