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View Full Version : Sully60's Battle of forever more, I mean Buckets.



Sully60
9th June 2008, 14:09
Part 1.

Right this is going to be a long story so get yourself a cuppa or a shot glass and make yourselves comfortable.

A few of you know the story of how my getting to this meeting came about but for those who don’t is was down to the generosity of many people on this site who all put in to help me get there. I’ll go into details later but I’ll just say that I’ve been humbled by the whole experience and will remember the kind spirit shown and carry it with me for a long time.

So anyway after the obligatory running late interisland ferry sailing which was quite smooth we grabbed a feed at Picton and hit the road. F5Dave wanted to get to Christchurch in time to visit one the bikeshops but regular stops due to road works meant we couldn’t quite make it in time. So after finding our lodgings at Tony Maclaughlan’s place we sampled the local Shark n Tattie, told our various war stories and lamented the politics of modern motorcycle racing over a couple of ales.

After a reasonably good night sleep for a pre race night I woke to a warm (for June), sunny, norwester Canturbury day, great!
I knew it wouldn’t last based on all the talk about the weather but I was just keen to have a good crack at this place in the dry. So after F5Dave refreshed his memory of Christchurch’s geography we arrived at the much vaunted Powerbuilt raceway at Ruapuna Park.

We quickly find the rest of the Welly crew who’ve obviously gotten to the track fairly early and secured a good spot with a strip of concrete to park the bikes on and the Ezy Ups in place, all very professional looking might I add :niceone:
So we go and get in the queue for sign in and stand there for ten minutes only to be told that I couldn’t until the day licences arrived. So I wait and they finally turn up and after a few little issues to take care of after scrutineering I’m all ready to go.

I take the time to go up to the pit exit gate and watch some of the training sessions being held for the youngsters. I knew the track was big by Wellington standards but I wasn’t quite prepared for the length of the straight and the distance you actually get away from the pits,:gob: Fi5hy and I had a few laughs about taking something to set up a bivvy just in case. We also scoped some of the faster kid’s lines and figured out pretty early on that the throttle stop would not see the light of day much at this track.

Tony had told me who the riders to watch were in the buckets and we had an idea that some of the FXR’s and all of the CBR’s were fast machines and set up well for this track so we were under no illusions about how competitive we would be with our “car park racers” but only getting out there would tell the true story.

So first practice is up and after negotiating the slippery dragstrip staging area the rubber finally meets the track. Bayden, Fi5hy and I set off together and manage to stay pretty close for the whole session which only seemed like four laps.
With the back straight being as long as it is doesn’t take long to see that there are some very fast bikes and it’s all a matter of survival on our heavy, slow revving :whistle:machines. Though F5Daves borrowed KV100 is clearly the fastest bike out there (but more on that later)
So we all lacked some top speed but the infield section is a different story for us as we can make up some time through the more technical sections of the track, despite being pretty much flat out though most of those too.

After what seems like five minutes after practice finishes it’s time for the first six lap race. Now in true bucket fashion there’s no provision for grid positions to be sorted pre race so it’s first up, best dressed, I pull up to the third row as I want to learn some of the overtaking spots and being overtaken spots. I make a reasonable start and head down to pothole in the middle of the pack, everybody slows up slightly to bottleneck through the turn and we’re full throttle again down to the hairpin. I make a few spots first time through and look ahead to see Buddha#81 and Andy Maclaughlan not too far ahead of me on the track. I must have had a couple of good clean laps because I manage to catch up and put a drafting pass on Buddha. I get another good run through the infield until I get to the left hander off the connection road where I catch a slower rider and sit up briefly. I pass the rider and get around the final turn only to be repassed by Buddha and Andy early on down the straight. Damn, it’s all about track knowledge at this stage and I’m still on chapter one!
I get held up again through the infield and fall into the clutches of Bayden who is going well, despite being a team mate I didn’t want him to be in front because is bike becomes very wide and if it’s working well he’s very hard to beat. I manage to get back past Bayden and put in some good laps to try and catch Buddha again. He’s some way off in the distance and getting closer so on the last lap I decide to try really hard to catch him, unfortunately a little too hard as I over rev the engine just before the first infield right hander bending an inlet valve:doh:

I manage to get to the finish line running one cylinder only just behind Fi5hy and Bayden but the motor might as well be toasted for the weekend. I push my bike across the infield and true to his word Bayden comes and picks me up for a tow.

This is about the time that Saturday changed for everyone, I was doing some exploratory surgery on the ‘sled in some vain hope it was foreign object ingestion or something other than a terminal problem when the weather finally turned. After a quick disposal of the now kite like Ezy Ups we decided we would try to transplant the engine from Skunks bike into mine, which was quite an undertaking in the impending conditions.

At this stage I must pay homage to all my Norf Welly Massif team mates who despite having their own bikes to ride in the main event and the adverse conditions pitched in with gusto and made a huge effort to swap the engines. You guys have already done so much to help me get there and you all helped with such enthusiasm to get me running I’m truly honoured to know such a great bunch of people!

Our plan was coming together but we were running out of time, Mike Stein (sp)approaches me and asks who’s riding the bike we’re working on and say’s something about it not being ready in time, to which being a typical stubborn Sullivan I take a defensive stance, he counters that he has an FXR I can ride all it needs is gas and I’ve come a long way to miss out and not ride. His kind offer crushes my stubborn pride and I gladly accept.


Here’s a few little photo’s from the weekend just to prove we weren’t lying about racing in snow.

Sully60
9th June 2008, 14:10
Part 2.

So I fuel up the little blue FXR, use a strip of tape to change the number to 157 (did you get that Skunk Control and Rashika?) and check the tyres, hmm Vee Rubber road tyre rear, which looks like it will be fun, not! But the TZR front end looks good so this will be an interesting ride.

So I pull out onto the damp looking track towards the back of the pack on the warm up lap for the main event and give it some berries around the final turn onto the straight and the rear tyre is already moving about and I’m only in third gear, oh dear this will be fun.

I come up on Str8Jacket after the kink just in time to see her fall, it was a hard crash as the front folded under from almost upright and she rolled a few times across the top of the rumble strip. I pull up to see that she’s basically ok but obviously in quite a bit of pain, Mrs Kendog pulls up and takes hold my bike while I move Str8’s bike and try to get the Marshall’s attention unsuccessfully. Fortunately Fi5hy has seen this from the start line and alerts them to what’s going on.

We circulate back to the pits and get told off as it would appear that we might have been involved in the crash and need to be checked out. It was our mate on the ground in the middle of the first turn so I wasn’t really taking much notice at this stage.
Str8Jackets little tiki tour in the ambulance held things up briefly enough to change the tyre pressures a bit and check the bike over one more time.

By this time it was raining properly and the temperature had really dropped, and after another eventful warm up lap the race got underway in very trying conditions. I got a good start from the third row and made some places and lost some as the pack sorted itself out on the first lap.

This was going to be a long race and due to all the messing around in the pits before the race I neglected to use my winter gloves and put some warm gear under my leathers so I was dressed more for club med than deep freeze but I couldn’t let it get to me. I was wriggling my fingers and toes around all the time along the straights to keep circulation going and despite being totally soaked fairly early on in the piece actually felt okay during the race until the later stages.

I was seriously considering coming in to swap gloves and put a jacket on or something but I had seen some of the faster guys (including Fi5hy:doh: but he did get going again)and many others stop or crash so and had only been lapped twice by the leaders and thought I could be in for an okay result. So I soldiered on stayed out there until I saw the marshall at the start line holding up ten fingers, cool only ten minutes to go, or shit, still ten minutes to go! I get into putting another lap in and contemplate the rest of the race (you have time to do that on the Ruapuna B track but it’s not a distraction we suffer at the Slipway) when I round the final bend to see a white flag!
One more lap that’s all, just about two minutes of time left out on the track, I gesture thanks to the flaggies and decide to enjoy the last lap as much as possible. I catch up Mrs Kendog just before the hairpin and give her a pat of congratulations :whistle: for doing so well completing such a hard race as I go past. As it happens I caught Kendog just after the hairpin and congratulated him in a similar way.



I didn’t muck around getting back to the pits, no one did and as soon as I had stopped racing I felt the nerves coming back on line in my finger tips and the shivering set in, I sidled up towards Pamela and warmed myself on her hot bits so I could then use my hands to get some dry clothes on and pack up the bombsite where my bike used to be in the pits.
Usually at the end of the days racing everyone hangs around and tells lies and compares tyre wear and jetting but not this time. Mrs Kendog kindly informed me of the location of Joni’s yummy rolls, which were actually buns and far from plain. So after indulging myself in the hospitality of Kickaha and Divvo’s? van’s servery dept it was time to get out of Dodge before we were frozen stuck.

So overall not the greatest days racing in the scheme of things though I thoroughly enjoyed myself and really loved riding the track even in the wet. All the people I met were great and the hospitality shown by the locals really blew us away. I can’t thank Mike Stein (sp) enough for letting me ride your new bike and not calling me in after your one stopped in the main race :niceone: You really saved my weekend and I am eternally grateful for that.

Tony and Andy Mac, great hosts and even greater competitors, I really enjoyed racing with you both out there and thanks for letting us stay at your lovely house with a cool bike collection in the garage.

Dangerous, thanks for the help in getting me down there and to you and Rashika for letting me hangout despite being a Bourbon drinking heathen :dodge: I’m looking forward to being a little more organised next year so I can show you lot how to drink properly! Buddha#81 Respect! Any big boy who gets a bucket moving that fast is a brother of mine!
SpeedyGirl the aptly named taxi service, thanks a heaps for the lift home, it was good to hang out with my Welly peeps and the crew at Rashika’s so you did me a great service there, also a stoic flaggie in those bitter conditions, what can one say?
To all the other Christchurch bucket racers I met, I’ll be back next year with some more horses and taller gearing, it’s going to be on!

To all the organisers and flaggies and people behind the whole event, to put all that effort into the day and have the weather do that I really feel for you, to your credit the meeting ran well and being savvy to the weather and changing the race order made the most of a challenging day.

F5Dave who really kicked the whole show off for me by needing a seat filled, but also being another pivotal in making the whole weekend really enjoyable. Riding the KV on Sunday was most enjoyable and enlightening to what’s achievable horsepower wise, whoah, why do the other bikes look like they’re going backwards?

To all the people who sponsored me to get down there, I can’t thank you enough. You gave me more than just the financial ability to do this, you’ve given me the belief that I can make this happen and that goes way beyond the value of money. I’ve gone all funny and started feeling very special about the support that’s been shown so I will make it my mission to get into a position to help someone else get there next year so they have a chance to feel this good too!

deanohit
9th June 2008, 14:30
Awesome effort bro, but you left out something very important.
Which place did you come in?!?!?!?!

MIXONE
9th June 2008, 14:41
Good write up Sully of a good weekend.Lessons learned for next year.
1Get the tallest gearing possible.
2Wear the warmest clothes possible
3Learn how to drink whiskey!

nudemetalz
9th June 2008, 15:14
Great write-up alright, Craig.

Pity about the Lead but you will have it running for the 29th, won't you ;)

Yes, where do you come?
And also, those pics you mentioned???

Trudes
9th June 2008, 18:00
Good stuff Sully Monster!!:2thumbsup
It was good kinda riding with you again, not that I could keep up with you if I tried (bloody FXR! lol, like my excuse? Like I can ever keep up unless you're riding one handed and letting me follow!)
The Southerners were running out of yellow shirted targets out there, so it was good you remembered to represent... and finish!:banana:
Actually, where did you finish, can't have been too far down the order? You still looked to be going pretty quick to me!
Glad you had fun!:wari:

stanko
9th June 2008, 21:09
he finished well into the top 17, cos thats all there was left

Buddha#81
9th June 2008, 23:03
Good shit Sully, your sled can boogie for a heavy old tub, it kept me on my toes in the first race. Pity it decided enuf was enuf because if you had that sort of pace without knowing the track, I think we may have seen you being well up the field in the enduro.

Good on you lot for coming down. Now put another km on the slipway and well make the trip up there.:2thumbsup

Nasty
10th June 2008, 07:39
Good report and a great read ... well done on finishing ... it sounds like it was defintely worthwhile going down there :)

F5 Dave
10th June 2008, 09:41
Was a good effort on the KV on sunday, you were pedalling it faster than I did, you certainly looked more comfortable on it. Hope the Leadsled gets up & going for next round.

Good travelling with you.

Rashika
10th June 2008, 09:57
Actually, where did you finish, can't have been too far down the order? You still looked to be going pretty quick to me!
Glad you had fun!:wari:

working on it, down to the last couple of laps to get done, then its sorting out if any numbers are not quite right... *bitching about people with hard to read & doubled-up numbers*...

But its all good cos now I can put a name on the previously unknown 157, ta Sully!

You are looking good from what I remember, just a wee bit behind me somewhere ;) one of the few who persisted without crashing/stopping the whole race, one of the stayers! ya done good, oh and the writeup is great too!

F5 Dave
10th June 2008, 10:03
Cool, how did I do? I was no 99.

Deano
10th June 2008, 10:06
Norf Welly Massive Represent bro !!

007XX
10th June 2008, 10:19
:2thumbsup Wicked stuff sir!!! what a great read...

And also, there is snow :banana: (sorry, completely unrelated, but I can't wait to go snowboarding :D)

So...what place did you come in? Or did I miss that? :confused:

Str8 Jacket
10th June 2008, 18:14
You did good mister! Thanks for stopping and sorting me out while I had a wee lie down to! ;)

Rashika
10th June 2008, 18:33
Cool, how did I do? I was no 99.

you really wanna be me? :innocent:

Sully60
10th June 2008, 20:28
You did good mister! Thanks for stopping and sorting me out while I had a wee lie down to! ;)

Cheers Ears:2thumbsup

And I'd take ten times the telling off we got to help you out again!

Wicked stuff sir!!! what a great read...

And also, there is snow (sorry, completely unrelated, but I can't wait to go snowboarding


Thanks V and yeaah there is some serious snow, Mt Hutt would have been the only other place I wanted to be on Sunday!



So...what place did you come in? Or did I miss that?


Awesome effort bro, but you left out something very important.
Which place did you come in?!?!?!?!

Cheers Deanohit:niceone:

Good question, at this stage I don't know, and to be honest it's almost immaterial after the weekend I had, almost:cool:
Rashika is the lady to ask and she seems to be having fun keeping me on tenderhooks at the moment!:sweatdrop

Oh and here's one for you 007XX

Sully60
10th June 2008, 22:01
I just pulled my engine apart after my brutality of Saturday.:stupid:

chanceyy
10th June 2008, 22:59
wicked write up Craig ... massive effort & congrats .. really it dunna matter wot the result ends up being .. you went, you conquered the odds & it will be an experience you will not forget in a hurry


bling to you for that :hug:

nudemetalz
10th June 2008, 23:01
errr....:eek:....

They ain't supposed to look like that !!!!

Now you told me at Skunk's BBQ that you were going to look after that engine :nono: :spanking:

Buddha#81
10th June 2008, 23:05
I just pulled my engine apart after my brutality of Saturday.:stupid:

Honda Twin nil, MotoFXR 1...........:Punk:

bungbung
11th June 2008, 08:48
I see Lifan make cb125t copies, maybe they are stronger...

F5 Dave
11th June 2008, 09:43
"Hey! Hey! - Do the Funky Valve"

F5 Dave
11th June 2008, 09:44
you really wanna be me? :innocent:

Trying every day hon. We all are.

nudemetalz
11th June 2008, 10:19
Sully found out "da twin don't rev ta 18000rpm...."

Skunk
11th June 2008, 10:24
I just pulled my engine apart after my brutality of Saturday.:stupid:
I've got some bits you could weld to that to fix it...

F5 Dave
11th June 2008, 10:33
Sully found out "da twin don't rev ta 18000rpm...."

There's a Clash song in there somewhere I just can't put my finger on it.:wacko:

Nah my brain can't access, I get stuck between Charlie don't surf & Message from Hiro (Vapours)

k14
11th June 2008, 10:39
Ouch, that is a bent one. Is the piston and barrel ok? Lucky it didn't completly fall off! What squish do you run?

F5 Dave
11th June 2008, 10:41
Squish? I think he uses the valve :whistle:

Sully60
11th June 2008, 21:36
Honda Twin nil, MotoFXR 1...........:Punk:

You do like pushing the boundaries of karma don't you:shifty:


Ouch, that is a bent one. Is the piston and barrel ok? Lucky it didn't completly fall off! What squish do you run?

This motor was actually running relatively low compression, though still higher than stock (due to big bore kit). Valve to piston clearance is what you need to get right otherwise as F5Dave says, the valves become your squish:doh:

This one actually let go at the retaining collet groove, which is lucky because we all know what happens when the other end comes apart. The piston is marked but looks okay on first inspection and the bore is unmarked, phew! I have another cylinder head to assemble but will be checking all the valves out first.

Yes, the sled will be operational for the next round at the Slipway, otherwise Number One will keeeelllll me till I'm dead!

nudemetalz
12th June 2008, 08:46
We gotta see how Lady P shapes up against the Lead Sled so glad to hear it's gonna be going.