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Teambwr47
2nd October 2008, 21:47
Well, finally managed to get to Manfield.... a new circuit for me, the 6hour + drive was a bit of a shock!!

Myself and John Hanna set off earlier evening on Thursday and arrived at our weekend base in Wanganui at about 1am. We were staying at John's parents house and amazingly despite her being well into her 70's Johns mum was waiting up for us when we arrived.....lol

Friday dawned bright and sunny and we arrived at the track and set up in the new garages which were fantastic with piped air and plenty of power points available but a little on the expensive side at $400 for the weekend. The practice day went well and I quickly got to grips with the circuit, trying to follow fast looking riders and learn some lines, braking points etc. It quickly became obvious my brakes were not all they could have been as the standard pads I'd been running were past their best. John Ross who had travelled to the meet with James Smith came to the rescue giving me his part worn EBC race pads. I had said that I'd take the practice day relatively easily but got carried away and did all the sessions and a shed load of laps. Towards the afternoon I had a problem with the bike squatting too much and wallowing out of the turns on the throttle. A turn on the rear preload and a few adjustments to the compression and rebound settings over the course of a few sessions got the bike to feel much better and the stopwatch suggested i was doing 1.12/13 laps. Overall the day went very well and I seemed, to my surprise to be one of the fastest on track....boding well for the races. We drove back to Wanganui where i realised I'd done to many laps as i was knackered but a hot bath and a lovely meal saw me sound asleep thinking of race day.

Saturday I looked out of the bedroom and it was raining.....eeeekkkkk.
Arrived at the track early and it was going to be a morning of 'will it, won't it' guess the weather games.

Superbike qualifying
Despite a damp track, this session went quite well and the bike felt great but hell fire are the white lines slippery at Manfield or what?
I had a huge moment when I span the rear up onto the start/finish straight kicking off a huge tank slapper but overall the session felt good and turned out I grabbed 4th for a front row start having set a 1.14.6 just 4 tenths off 2nd on the grid but a way off the fantastic time set my Craig Shiriffs that was in the 1.11's. I had pulled into the pits towards the end of the session and then seeing the track getting drier set off for one last flying lap that turned out to be my fastest.

Supersport Qualifying
This session was dry but rain threatened and I thought I needed to get out and set a time. I stuck in a few quick laps early on and caught and passed Sam Smith in the session so felt as though I had a reasonable pace. Pulled in again towards the end and took a breather. When I went back out I managed to find a gap in the traffic and got a lap virtually with no traffic to pass and set a 1.11.8 lap that was 4 tenths off pole set by James Smith.
I felt that I was picking up pace every time I got on track and felt confident that we'd have good race pace.

Superbike race 1
Well i was truly fired up for this race and as the lights came on one by one i was ready to go....just a bit to ready as i jumped the start horrendously. I stopped and set off with the pack but assumed the race was over for me as i'd cop a time penalty. Turns out there was chaos behind me that resulted in Jason Hulme getting badly injured in a start line pile up. Racing was held up for quite a while as the ambulance had to leave the circuit but when we restarted i was very careful not to jump start but got a bad start.
Worked my way up to 3rd but then started to get hassle from Jamie Galway who showed me a wheel a few times but I held third to to the flag setting a best of 1.11.5. Didn't feel i rode that well and made too many small errors that allowed Jamie to close back in on me even though i'd passed him and a few others earlier in the race. Still the pace had improved and after the race i set a goal for the weekend of getting into the 1.10's.

Supersport race 1
Got a poor start and slotted into the first turn about 5th or 6th. worked my way into 4th but I'd somehow lost a load of time to the front three who were a few seconds up the road. Got my head down and caught Jonny Burkhart who was not far behind Sam Smith as they got into traffic. Got past Jonny but lost Sam who just seemed to get away in the traffic plus he then put some fast laps towards the end of the race. Got to the flag for third and a best of 1.11.1 so another improvement in pace.
Overall the day went well and every session I managed to improve the pace but there was a bit of frustration in that I wanted to run in the 600's with Sam and race winner James but failed to do so.

Sunday
Superbike race 2
The Sunday races were to be 20 laps and there was no way my already very worn rear Dunlop would last all day so i decided to give this race a miss in favour of saving the tyre for Supersport.

Supersport race 2

Got a reasonable start but still lost places.... worked my way to third but yet again lost to much ground early on to Sam and James Smith. I got pretty tired mid race and allowed Adam Chambers to catch me even though i had a reasonable gap on him early on. The rear tyre on my bike really was not to happy mid race and while great fun, sliding the tyre out onto the back straight and out of the tighter turns is not conducive to good lap times.
This race was a long time to be on the bike and i need to get race fit again but i managed to break Adam towards the end of the race to keep 3rd with a best lap of 1.11.4 surprisingly set on my last lap.

Superbike Race 3

Got a good start and slotted into 2nd which i held until the first straight when Sloan Frost blasted past on the ZX10. Closed back in on him on the brakes but he slowly pulled away to be a few seconds ahead by a few laps in when Jay Lawrence blasted past me on the back straight. I really wanted 3rd place and despite my rear tyre saying no I pushed hard to stay with Jay and took him back through the infield section after a few laps of battling which had closed us back to with a few seconds of Sloan. I managed to hold third to the flag setting a 1.11.2 so no improvement in lap time but it felt great to have battled so well on the 600 for the position.

Supersport Race 3

This race I wanted to win!!
Got a good start to hold 3rd with James Smith 2nd behind Sam. These two were just a second or so ahead of me but pulled them back fairly easily to get right with them.
James got past Sam and I tried hard to do the same for the whole race. I seemed faster than Sam through the twisty infield but lost out down the straights and on drive out of the corners where my rear Dunlop just wanted to spin. The race got a bit frustrating as i thought we could have run near James if only i could have got past Sam. I was lining up a move past Sam most laps into the first left hander but it didn't come off and i finished a close but disappointing 3rd to Sam Smith with James just a few seconds ahead. I set my best lap early in the race at a 1.11.1 therefore failing to get my goal of a weekend 1.10 but i'm sure if we'd got past Sam the 1.10 may have come in chasing James Smith.

So a good weekend of 3rd places in every race and some satisfaction in having run with some of the best 600 riders in the country in the last race.

Our Bike is working very well suspension wise thanks to the awesome Ohlins set up and the Dunlops tyres, while i ran them for too many laps, are superb.
We now move onto the first round of the AMCC this weekend and after that we'll fitting some kit parts and getting the bike dyno set up before returning to Manfield looking for 1.10 laps and race wins.

kickingzebra
2nd October 2008, 22:27
You are looking good and fast out there, bloody impressive really.
Keep it up!

Tony.OK
2nd October 2008, 22:29
Great writeup Brian, nice to find out what was happening up the front without being there:2thumbsup

flame
3rd October 2008, 15:44
Congrats on such fantastic results! Awsome stuff!

...good to meet you. See ya at round 6.

Clivoris
3rd October 2008, 18:25
Great to have you racing at Manfield Brian. Once you get more used to our circuits the cat will be truly amongst the pukekos. Liked the write-up too.

Toast
4th October 2008, 11:25
Nice write up! Wish I'd had the wisdom to sit out the Superbike 20 lapper on Sunday morning...may have saved my front slick and a couple of bins in the afternoon.

Good reults, can't wait to see the difference the fast parts make :niceone:

How do you rate Manfeild as a track?

Teambwr47
4th October 2008, 19:03
Nice write up! Wish I'd had the wisdom to sit out the Superbike 20 lapper on Sunday morning...may have saved my front slick and a couple of bins in the afternoon.

Good reults, can't wait to see the difference the fast parts make :niceone:

How do you rate Manfeild as a track?

We're going to fit the kit ECU,loom and plugs after Pukekohe and also get the bike set up on a dyno so I hope that may give us a few tenths of second at most tracks due to better power delivery and maybe a few more BHP at the top end.

Manfields layout I actually enjoyed but the track surface i thought was awful with way to many repair patches, some of which are only just of line and at the point of the corners.

The new garages were great but the paddock is tiny...

I'd heard some say that Manfield was 'so much better than Taupo' but those people must be mad surely. Why on earth is the circuit with the best facilities by miles and probably the best track surface (Taupo), not on the Nationals programme?

slowpoke
5th October 2008, 01:14
Yep, Taupo has got some good facilities, but it's a 2nd gear, one line wonder for most of it don't you think? I know exactly what you mean about Manfeild though, and it's actually improved in the last couple of years!

Love your approach though mate, so practical, so thoughtful, so fast......so completely and utterly unlike me, LOL.

k14
5th October 2008, 13:27
I'd heard some say that Manfield was 'so much better than Taupo' but those people must be mad surely. Why on earth is the circuit with the best facilities by miles and probably the best track surface (Taupo), not on the Nationals programme?
You haven't ridden on many tracks then? I believe the reason for no Taupo round is due to the fact that they couldn't get a club who was willing to run one there. But in my opinion (and many other racers share the same one) taupo has the worst surface in the country and also is just a crap layout. Too many corners fitted into too small an area. Totally agree about the pit facilities though. Ruapuna isn't too bad, but levels and teretonga are fairly rubbish as far as pit facilities go.

kickingzebra
5th October 2008, 15:51
taupos not on the spec sheet, cause they don't want me to win the nats ;)

Teambwr47
5th October 2008, 17:25
You haven't ridden on many tracks then?

Well not in New Zealand thats for sure but I Have ridden on all the UK tracks and some European ones like Jerez and Nogaro...... NZ tracks to date are most certainly in a different league in many many ways.

Living here now and loving it so have to adapt to whatever track we end up on and deal with it!!.

Not sure why you think Taupo has a poor surface??

I have heard its lethal in the wet but when I was last there it was dry and seemed fine.

k14
5th October 2008, 17:48
Well not in New Zealand thats for sure but I Have ridden on all the UK tracks and some European ones like Jerez and Nogaro...... NZ tracks to date are most certainly in a different league in many many ways.
Yeah sorry, I should have said you haven't ridden many tracks in NZ.

In my experience, Taupo surface is notorious for strange crashes with no warning at all. As I said, I am not the only racer who has had issues with the surface there, various others share my opinion. But regardless of the track surface, its a bad layout and I'm not sad for it being left out of the nationals series. Come down south and you will see some good tracks with good surfaces :eek:

Teambwr47
5th October 2008, 17:59
Yeah sorry, I should have said you haven't ridden many tracks in NZ.

In my experience, Taupo surface is notorious for strange crashes with no warning at all. As I said, I am not the only racer who has had issues with the surface there, various others share my opinion. But regardless of the track surface, its a bad layout and I'm not sad for it being left out of the nationals series. Come down south and you will see some good tracks with good surfaces :eek:

Sadly we are committed to going back to the UK for a month over the Xmas period meaning i can't do the Nationals in the South Island. My south island trip is likely to have to wait until next season which is shame as after running well at Pukekohe today and Manfield last week I think we'd have half a shout for a good placing in the championship.

scracha
5th October 2008, 19:40
Manfields layout I actually enjoyed but the track surface i thought was awful with way to many repair patches, some of which are only just of line and at the point of the corners.

Bit of a culture shock after grippy and smooth "foreign" tracks wot wot old bean? You were warned :Police:

Teambwr47
5th October 2008, 19:51
Bit of a culture shock after grippy and smooth "foreign" tracks wot wot old bean? You were warned :Police:

:laugh::laugh:

Clivoris
5th October 2008, 20:00
Bit of a culture shock after grippy and smooth "foreign" tracks wot wot old bean? You were warned :Police:

Don't get baited by a Scotsman Brian. It's a trap (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=71192)