Kickaha
8th June 2008, 10:19
Battle of the Buckets, The return of the GN
A few weeks before the BOB it was looking doubtful I’d taken the GN to the helpful guys at Ashburton Honda (http://www.hondacountry.co.nz/cms/dynoworx.html) to set up the jetting, instead they diagnosed a major timing issue and expressed surprise it even ran at all, heading off the MNZ AGM the following weekend I was running out of time to get it sorted
I got another timing wheel waterjet cut and the ever helpful Stanko (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=3312) came to the rescues with some workshop time, lathe and welder which meant I now had a running bike, how well it would run I had yet to find out
As a NZ50cc GP title was also on the line I had been lucky enough to be lent a bike to compete in this as well, the bike I’d ride was raced in the NZ50cc GP glass back in the eighties and was powered by a 1979 RM50 and really looked the part with it’s full fairing and painted in RG500 Mk1 race colours :niceone:
I roped Divvo (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=1836/) into being my pit bitch for the day (and a fine job he did to) with him promising to bring both the mighty Transit and an EZup for shelter as the weather report wasn’t looking to good
50cc practice is first up and we head out, the bikes quite cramped and I can’t get down behind the fairing, it surprises me by handling quite well, the brakes are “adequate” and it feels like it has reasonable power, I’m not pushing to hard though as the tyres it came with were manufactured about the same time as the bike:confused:
50cc practice over and it’s straight back out again as Buckets are next up, the GN is running badly with a constant miss from 8000rpm, back to the pits and ace pit bitch Divvo rips off the carb to make some jetting changes and goes down on the main jet and leans out the needle
Race 1 50cc
Off the line and <a href="http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=984/">F5 dave</a> disappears into the distance, with a horde of TZR50, RG50 and yours truly struggling to keep him in sight, I get on the back wheel of a TZR50 and go around him in the s bends he comes back on the straight, this carries on for a few laps swapping positions every lap as he has more straight line speed and I carry more corner speed with 1 lap to go I’m behind him and make the pass with a couple of corner to go and finish a bike length in front to come home 5th
Race 1 Buckets
I go off close to the back, the plan is to use the earlier races to jet the bike so it’s ready by the main race, straight away I realise we’ve gone the wrong way with jetting and the miss comes in even lower but I circulate around taking note of what revs it’s missing and where and when it starts and stops so I can feed Divvo the information
NZ50ccGP
With the weather looking like closing in the put forward the NZ50GP which will be 15 minutes long, I’m not sure my knees will cope with that long on the bike
The flag drops and we’re off, the RM50 doesn’t get off the line as well as the later bikes or it could be a few more years and a great many more pies that are the problem, I tag onto the same TZR50 I was up against in race one and we swap place a few times, then mudboy joins in and it becomes a three way battle we swap places a few times and then trying to pull a inside pass over the hump the rear steps out, it’s a nice controllable slide but it’s let me know where the limits of a 20 year old bike and tyres are, they slowly drop me off and I end up having a lonely race with moments of sheer terror when F5dave laps me at warp factor 9, the knees are aching and I’m trying to stretch but theses bikes are made for anorexic dwarfs and there’s not a lot of room on them, the white flags out and a lap later it’s back to the pits with F5dave having won the title, well done Dave:first:
A short break and another rejet for the mighty GN and the main race (55minutes + 1 lap) is called up
On the warm-up lap and <a href="http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=2925/">Str8 Jacket</a> goes down at the kink and busts herself up:doctor:, we’re held on the grid for ages the they indicate we’ll do another warm-up lap, coming around the hairpin and the ginganite Buddha (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=4622) has cable tied to his bike is obviously working as there’s a “Dangerous” looking Ginga lying on his side, having a quick snigger in my helmet I proceed around the corner to see F5dave having got a bit tired from the 50 race having a lie down as well and to add to the drama he got run over by his host for the weekend
We get sent back to the pits while the ambos deal with Str8 Jacket and as we’re trying to make up a rear guard to stop water getting into the carb we get called up again
This time no one falls off on the warm-up and with 40 odd bikes launching it gets a bit crowded, the changes Divvo have made have made the bike a lot better but it still has a miss and hesitation at small throttle openings
<a href="http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=2222/">TygerTung</a> falls off right in front of me when he lowsides within the first few minutes on the right hander after the hairpin:stupid:
It’s wet, cold and fucking miserable and I’m glad I put a clear visor on and the race had a restart as it gave me a chance to put a jacket on over the leathers , I see a Slow Ginga (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=801) Wobbling around looking marginally in control and blow past him like he’s tied to a post and set off after my next victim
Bren_chch (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=2774) laps me for the first of three times and a while later K14 (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=550)gives me a tap on the arm and a wave as he goes through in his quest to be first old school bike home, I catch and pass Rashika (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=3380) Im finding that while my corner speed is as good as anyone else the carb problems while better are costing me in straight line speed:pinch:
I’m at the point that I’m having a problem with braking into the hairpin as I’m rapidly loosing feeling in my fingers and then I see the 10 minute signal and think I can last that long
I’ve never been so glad to see that chequered flag and I get back to the pits and have to ask The lovely Joni (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=975) To take off my gloves and helmet as my fingers don’t work, I hop in the back of the mighty transit and undress and dry off, luckily I considered bad weather and bought some spare clothes and slowly warm-up and the lovely Joni stuffs some food down my gob:hug:
Packing up in the pissing rain and cold isn’t much fun but we’re soon on the way home to warm up
Despite the carb problems I had, I really enjoyed the day and we’re well on the way to sorting it, unfortunately with the day being shortened up we ran out of time but with the weather the way it was I think the right decision was made to shut up shop after the main race
All credit to the organisers, despite some people having a whinge about some little niggles in the morning they did a top job in running the event and a big thanks to the flag marshals, starters and Divo and Joni etc for standing out there in absolutely shit conditions just so we could go racing, and the Welly crew for making the trip down
Roll on next year!
A few weeks before the BOB it was looking doubtful I’d taken the GN to the helpful guys at Ashburton Honda (http://www.hondacountry.co.nz/cms/dynoworx.html) to set up the jetting, instead they diagnosed a major timing issue and expressed surprise it even ran at all, heading off the MNZ AGM the following weekend I was running out of time to get it sorted
I got another timing wheel waterjet cut and the ever helpful Stanko (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=3312) came to the rescues with some workshop time, lathe and welder which meant I now had a running bike, how well it would run I had yet to find out
As a NZ50cc GP title was also on the line I had been lucky enough to be lent a bike to compete in this as well, the bike I’d ride was raced in the NZ50cc GP glass back in the eighties and was powered by a 1979 RM50 and really looked the part with it’s full fairing and painted in RG500 Mk1 race colours :niceone:
I roped Divvo (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=1836/) into being my pit bitch for the day (and a fine job he did to) with him promising to bring both the mighty Transit and an EZup for shelter as the weather report wasn’t looking to good
50cc practice is first up and we head out, the bikes quite cramped and I can’t get down behind the fairing, it surprises me by handling quite well, the brakes are “adequate” and it feels like it has reasonable power, I’m not pushing to hard though as the tyres it came with were manufactured about the same time as the bike:confused:
50cc practice over and it’s straight back out again as Buckets are next up, the GN is running badly with a constant miss from 8000rpm, back to the pits and ace pit bitch Divvo rips off the carb to make some jetting changes and goes down on the main jet and leans out the needle
Race 1 50cc
Off the line and <a href="http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=984/">F5 dave</a> disappears into the distance, with a horde of TZR50, RG50 and yours truly struggling to keep him in sight, I get on the back wheel of a TZR50 and go around him in the s bends he comes back on the straight, this carries on for a few laps swapping positions every lap as he has more straight line speed and I carry more corner speed with 1 lap to go I’m behind him and make the pass with a couple of corner to go and finish a bike length in front to come home 5th
Race 1 Buckets
I go off close to the back, the plan is to use the earlier races to jet the bike so it’s ready by the main race, straight away I realise we’ve gone the wrong way with jetting and the miss comes in even lower but I circulate around taking note of what revs it’s missing and where and when it starts and stops so I can feed Divvo the information
NZ50ccGP
With the weather looking like closing in the put forward the NZ50GP which will be 15 minutes long, I’m not sure my knees will cope with that long on the bike
The flag drops and we’re off, the RM50 doesn’t get off the line as well as the later bikes or it could be a few more years and a great many more pies that are the problem, I tag onto the same TZR50 I was up against in race one and we swap place a few times, then mudboy joins in and it becomes a three way battle we swap places a few times and then trying to pull a inside pass over the hump the rear steps out, it’s a nice controllable slide but it’s let me know where the limits of a 20 year old bike and tyres are, they slowly drop me off and I end up having a lonely race with moments of sheer terror when F5dave laps me at warp factor 9, the knees are aching and I’m trying to stretch but theses bikes are made for anorexic dwarfs and there’s not a lot of room on them, the white flags out and a lap later it’s back to the pits with F5dave having won the title, well done Dave:first:
A short break and another rejet for the mighty GN and the main race (55minutes + 1 lap) is called up
On the warm-up lap and <a href="http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=2925/">Str8 Jacket</a> goes down at the kink and busts herself up:doctor:, we’re held on the grid for ages the they indicate we’ll do another warm-up lap, coming around the hairpin and the ginganite Buddha (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=4622) has cable tied to his bike is obviously working as there’s a “Dangerous” looking Ginga lying on his side, having a quick snigger in my helmet I proceed around the corner to see F5dave having got a bit tired from the 50 race having a lie down as well and to add to the drama he got run over by his host for the weekend
We get sent back to the pits while the ambos deal with Str8 Jacket and as we’re trying to make up a rear guard to stop water getting into the carb we get called up again
This time no one falls off on the warm-up and with 40 odd bikes launching it gets a bit crowded, the changes Divvo have made have made the bike a lot better but it still has a miss and hesitation at small throttle openings
<a href="http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=2222/">TygerTung</a> falls off right in front of me when he lowsides within the first few minutes on the right hander after the hairpin:stupid:
It’s wet, cold and fucking miserable and I’m glad I put a clear visor on and the race had a restart as it gave me a chance to put a jacket on over the leathers , I see a Slow Ginga (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=801) Wobbling around looking marginally in control and blow past him like he’s tied to a post and set off after my next victim
Bren_chch (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=2774) laps me for the first of three times and a while later K14 (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=550)gives me a tap on the arm and a wave as he goes through in his quest to be first old school bike home, I catch and pass Rashika (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=3380) Im finding that while my corner speed is as good as anyone else the carb problems while better are costing me in straight line speed:pinch:
I’m at the point that I’m having a problem with braking into the hairpin as I’m rapidly loosing feeling in my fingers and then I see the 10 minute signal and think I can last that long
I’ve never been so glad to see that chequered flag and I get back to the pits and have to ask The lovely Joni (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=975) To take off my gloves and helmet as my fingers don’t work, I hop in the back of the mighty transit and undress and dry off, luckily I considered bad weather and bought some spare clothes and slowly warm-up and the lovely Joni stuffs some food down my gob:hug:
Packing up in the pissing rain and cold isn’t much fun but we’re soon on the way home to warm up
Despite the carb problems I had, I really enjoyed the day and we’re well on the way to sorting it, unfortunately with the day being shortened up we ran out of time but with the weather the way it was I think the right decision was made to shut up shop after the main race
All credit to the organisers, despite some people having a whinge about some little niggles in the morning they did a top job in running the event and a big thanks to the flag marshals, starters and Divo and Joni etc for standing out there in absolutely shit conditions just so we could go racing, and the Welly crew for making the trip down
Roll on next year!