CHOPPA
29th September 2008, 18:44
and a newish ZX6R!
We have finally got the 2008 zx10r ready to race, ive had a test at taupo and puke on it and its a really great bike and easy to ride and i started feeling confident enough to have a trial meeting, we managed to get some shiny gold stuff on it thanks to Mr Taylor who said we would prob need to do some development with it as it was the first 08 10 he had done but right out of the box he had it bang on! (as far as i could tell...)
SUPERBIKE
Basically the superbike class was just a good time for me to get some more time on the bike and see how comfortable i was in a race situation on it, the bike didnt do a thing wrong all weekend i cant say enough about how good the 2008 ZX10s are....
I didnt qualify very well on either bike as i had wets on a drying track but i managed to get to 5th and with a few guys opting to race only the 600 class it left a couple of holes at the front of the grid, i got away to some great starts and tried to follow Craig as best i could but a couple of tenths in eash corner really add up! I did enough to stretch out a gap on the rest of the field then just started putting in the laps to really start to feel out the new bike and the whole superbike situation!
I finished up the weekend with 3 2nd place finishes with a best time of 1.10.475 but i was a bit slower on day 2 as i nursed it through the concrete dust....
SUPERSPORT
I qualifyed in a terrible 11th place due to running wets on a dry track
Race 1, I got a great start but struggled getting back to grips with the 600 for the first couple of laps by then i was tailing the lead group, sam and james were getting away at the front and i was having a few front end slides also we were trying a new gearing option which in theory should have worked great but it really changed the power of the bike and it would rev but wouldnt go anywhere....
Race 2, RT put some heavier fork springs in the front to stop the front slids and it worked a treat we also went back to the other sprocket which was a step in the right direction. I got a good start but couldnt really find a way through come first turn, i got into a good race long 20 lap battle with johnny b and john ross, i eventually lost out and come home again in 7th....
Race 3, We figured we might as well keep on with the gearing direction so we went another tooth on the rear and it was def the right move, i got an average start and glen williams got by me on the sv which was just enough for my rivals to gain a bit of ground on me and being a shorter race it was gonna be hard but i put my head down and managed to get by a few riders but ran out of time to catch up to anyone else, i still ended up with my best result of the 600s with a 5th place
I am a bit disappointed with my results in the 600s but the other guys were going really quick and to be honest I wasnt really concentrating that hard on the 600 class i just wanted to pick up some points but it was probably all in vein as im pretty sure ill just be riding the superbike next round.
Im currently leading the points in the superbike class and im 2nd in the 600s but this will be the last time im going to worry about points in a club series, i think i need to really be pushing myself harder to go faster rather then trying to ride for points...
Big thanks to the guys from SPEED-TECH they were there all weekend sorting the bikes out and for supplying the ZX10!!
Also RT for all the suspension work and advice
We have finally got the 2008 zx10r ready to race, ive had a test at taupo and puke on it and its a really great bike and easy to ride and i started feeling confident enough to have a trial meeting, we managed to get some shiny gold stuff on it thanks to Mr Taylor who said we would prob need to do some development with it as it was the first 08 10 he had done but right out of the box he had it bang on! (as far as i could tell...)
SUPERBIKE
Basically the superbike class was just a good time for me to get some more time on the bike and see how comfortable i was in a race situation on it, the bike didnt do a thing wrong all weekend i cant say enough about how good the 2008 ZX10s are....
I didnt qualify very well on either bike as i had wets on a drying track but i managed to get to 5th and with a few guys opting to race only the 600 class it left a couple of holes at the front of the grid, i got away to some great starts and tried to follow Craig as best i could but a couple of tenths in eash corner really add up! I did enough to stretch out a gap on the rest of the field then just started putting in the laps to really start to feel out the new bike and the whole superbike situation!
I finished up the weekend with 3 2nd place finishes with a best time of 1.10.475 but i was a bit slower on day 2 as i nursed it through the concrete dust....
SUPERSPORT
I qualifyed in a terrible 11th place due to running wets on a dry track
Race 1, I got a great start but struggled getting back to grips with the 600 for the first couple of laps by then i was tailing the lead group, sam and james were getting away at the front and i was having a few front end slides also we were trying a new gearing option which in theory should have worked great but it really changed the power of the bike and it would rev but wouldnt go anywhere....
Race 2, RT put some heavier fork springs in the front to stop the front slids and it worked a treat we also went back to the other sprocket which was a step in the right direction. I got a good start but couldnt really find a way through come first turn, i got into a good race long 20 lap battle with johnny b and john ross, i eventually lost out and come home again in 7th....
Race 3, We figured we might as well keep on with the gearing direction so we went another tooth on the rear and it was def the right move, i got an average start and glen williams got by me on the sv which was just enough for my rivals to gain a bit of ground on me and being a shorter race it was gonna be hard but i put my head down and managed to get by a few riders but ran out of time to catch up to anyone else, i still ended up with my best result of the 600s with a 5th place
I am a bit disappointed with my results in the 600s but the other guys were going really quick and to be honest I wasnt really concentrating that hard on the 600 class i just wanted to pick up some points but it was probably all in vein as im pretty sure ill just be riding the superbike next round.
Im currently leading the points in the superbike class and im 2nd in the 600s but this will be the last time im going to worry about points in a club series, i think i need to really be pushing myself harder to go faster rather then trying to ride for points...
Big thanks to the guys from SPEED-TECH they were there all weekend sorting the bikes out and for supplying the ZX10!!
Also RT for all the suspension work and advice