k14
10th October 2008, 08:36
Bit late and bit long, :doh:
The mammoth drive from Alexandra to Feilding commenced Thursday morning and after various ferry delays and moderate traffic, finished around 9pm Friday night. We arrived at the track bright and early to get setup and ready for the day ahead. The weather forecast was a bit mixed and with the previous meetings of this year’s series I knew rain was always on the cards, the day however started off overcast but dry.
We had riders briefing and were informed that due to the large number of streetstock racers, we would be combined with the Motards. I was quite happy with this, seeing as we had separate flag drops it wouldn’t cause too many problems, much safer than racing with the streetstock racers in my opinion. Just as riders briefing finished a few light showers came over, wetting the track quite thoroughly.
We were the first group up for qualifying and seeing as the rain was not enough to make it a clear decision to run wets I made the decision to go out on slicks. My confidence in the wet on wets is very low so on slicks I was even more tentative. I gradually got into the groove of things and slowly worked my way faster (well relatively speaking). After 9 laps I eventually managed to get down to a 1.34.0. I knew this would be well off the pace but the main thing was that I didn’t crash! When the time sheets came out I was pretty embarrassed to be over 10 seconds off pole, down in 8th on the grid. Although not a huge worry as by now the weather had started to fine up and our race would hopefully be on a dry track.
Seeing as I had come so far I decided to enter in supersport for a bit of extra track time. There was a massive field going out and I was fairly sure the 35 bike cutoff would come into effect. By now the track had dried out so I was able to push a bit harder and get more comfortable. In my first flying lap I did a 1.23.2 but then I got a bit too ambitious and ended up loosing the front at splash. Doh! So that bought my qualifying session to a rather abrupt halt. Knowing that I would be close to missing the qualifying cutoff my concerns were confirmed knowing that I finished up 37th fastest, just under 2 seconds off 35th place. Oh well, that’s how things go sometimes. Now I just had to focus on the 15 lap 125 race that afternoon.
By the time out race was up I had repaired the minor damage to the RS but my confidence was even lower than qualifying. But none the less, I had to suck it in and get on with proceedings. The track was about 90% dry but a fairly brisk wind was blowing and that was keeping the temperature not much above 10.
We gridded up behind the motards and waited for them to head off. About 10 seconds later we were let go and the race was on. Seeing as there were still a couple of damp patches I was very tentative for the first few laps, not worrying about my position, just concentrating on not crashing. I slowly got into the groove, starting out with 1.24 and working my way down to 1.21 by the end of the race. It was a fairly lonely race as far as 125 competition but was kept busy passing motards on most laps. After 15 laps had passed the race was over and I had finished 6th out of the 11 125s that started the race. Not the best result but after the crash in the morning I was just happy to finish the race ok. That was the last act of the first day of racing for me so I watched a few of the other races and hoped for some sun and nicer weather on Sunday.
Sunday dawned a much more pleasant day, there had been some overnight rain but that had stopped before sunrise. We had two races today, a 20 lapper in the morning and a 10 lap in the afternoon. Again we were up straight after riders briefing. The officials had also decided to let the 125’s go off the front of the grid due to the majority of 125 riders being faster than the motards, a great decision on their part if I might add. On the warm up lap it was apparent that the track was not completely dry, so some cautions first laps would be in order till everything was up to operating temperature.
I got an ok start and got away with a bunch of 3 other guys. It was good close racing. Due to the track having some wet patches the usual places to pass weren’t all clear. There were a few passing moves going on between Kyle, Nick, Luke and myself, mainly down the straights and into Higgins. Five laps into the race and it was settling into a good race, still 15 laps to go however. Also the damp places were starting to dry out a fraction and I was getting a little braver under brakes. We came around the hairpin just to see a motard dropping it. Next I see the red flags and that means one thing, back to the pits.
After a 5 minute wait on the dummy grid we get the signal that there will be a full restart of 15 laps. Subsequently the motard had ground through his cases and left a nice trail of oil all around the hairpin, this made the corner interesting and there was no way a racing line could be taken. Again I got a good start but was a bit tentative into turn 1 due to the damp patches and was relegated to around 4th or 5th out of there. Again I was in a battle with Kyle and this time we had caught up to the speed of Alastair. But before we had even got back into the rhythm the red flags were out again and it was back to the pits for the second time, this time after only 4 laps.
After another 5 minute or so wait we were informed that there would be a 10 lap full restart and we went out and gridded up again. The third start in 20 minutes didn’t do any favours on my clutch and the start showed. Not a great one but again Kyle, Alastair and I were in a great tussle for third place. I think I had pushed my current clutch through a few too many starts and it was starting to slip a little on up changes. This allowed, on most occasions, Kyle and Al to pass me down the straights. However I made up for it under braking into either Higgins or turn 1. As the laps wore on, the pace got hotter. All of us dipped into the 1.18’s and for most of the race we weren’t separated by more than a second. In the last 2 or 3 laps we started to come up against a few motard back markers and as we all know this can cause some issues. We were all advantaged and disadvantaged at various stages of the race.
Going into the last lap Kyle was in 3rd with me in 4th and Al in 5th, right in my slipstream. We caught up to a 125 coming into splash, Kyle got through easily but I was forced to take the long was around and lost some vital tenths of a second. I was unable to get into his slipstream down the Higgins straight. I saw Al out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn’t about to let him pass me. I waited for the last moment and broke just that fraction later than him to ensure I was ahead going into the back straight. Kyle had now pulled a 5 bike length gap and I knew it was going to be hard to pull that gap back with only one corner left. However lady luck was on my side. We were fast approaching 2 motards in a battle of their own and, unfortunately for Kyle, he came across them right in the middle of the final corner. I however got the normal run through the corner and got on the gas at the same time as every lap pulling out to pass the motards and Kyle right before the line. In the end the gap was 7 hundredths of a second! I was pretty happy with that, a fastest lap of 1.18.7 and third place in the race. I did feel a little sorry for Kyle, but in racing things like this happen.
In the afternoon we had one race left, this was supposed to be a ten lap race but due to the hold-ups with crashes etc it was reduced to a 6 lap sprint. Again we lined up ahead of the motards and the lights went out. I had my head screwed on properly this time and got a good start. I tucked in behind James, the winner of the weekends previous races and was holding 2nd place for the first lap. However Jaden was right on my tail piece and he wanted that place off me. The clutch was still slipping just a fraction on gear changes but I was still able to keep pace down the straights with Jaden’s Yamaha.
On the fourth lap I was hard on the brakes into turn 1 and stuffed my gear changes up. Getting on the gas coming out of the corner the bike just bogged, 4th gear isn’t usually the best idea out of there (usually in 2nd). Jaden came roaring past and by the time I managed to get back to 3rd gear and slip the clutch to get moving again he had gained quite an advantage. I put my head down and tried as I could to make up the gap that he had pulled. As the white flag was show for one lap left he was approx three seconds ahead of me and I knew that he would have to make a big mistake for me to catch him. He didn’t and I crossed the line in 3rd position, 2.9 seconds behind Jaden and 3.6 ahead of Kyle in 4th place. I had also improved my best lap time down to 1.18.1, still nearly three seconds off my best laps around Manfeild at nationals but a very good improvement over the weekend. I also finished up 3rd overall in the 125 class for the meet, not a bad outcome from the 13 starters in the class (although only 10 were left after this race).
The mammoth drive from Alexandra to Feilding commenced Thursday morning and after various ferry delays and moderate traffic, finished around 9pm Friday night. We arrived at the track bright and early to get setup and ready for the day ahead. The weather forecast was a bit mixed and with the previous meetings of this year’s series I knew rain was always on the cards, the day however started off overcast but dry.
We had riders briefing and were informed that due to the large number of streetstock racers, we would be combined with the Motards. I was quite happy with this, seeing as we had separate flag drops it wouldn’t cause too many problems, much safer than racing with the streetstock racers in my opinion. Just as riders briefing finished a few light showers came over, wetting the track quite thoroughly.
We were the first group up for qualifying and seeing as the rain was not enough to make it a clear decision to run wets I made the decision to go out on slicks. My confidence in the wet on wets is very low so on slicks I was even more tentative. I gradually got into the groove of things and slowly worked my way faster (well relatively speaking). After 9 laps I eventually managed to get down to a 1.34.0. I knew this would be well off the pace but the main thing was that I didn’t crash! When the time sheets came out I was pretty embarrassed to be over 10 seconds off pole, down in 8th on the grid. Although not a huge worry as by now the weather had started to fine up and our race would hopefully be on a dry track.
Seeing as I had come so far I decided to enter in supersport for a bit of extra track time. There was a massive field going out and I was fairly sure the 35 bike cutoff would come into effect. By now the track had dried out so I was able to push a bit harder and get more comfortable. In my first flying lap I did a 1.23.2 but then I got a bit too ambitious and ended up loosing the front at splash. Doh! So that bought my qualifying session to a rather abrupt halt. Knowing that I would be close to missing the qualifying cutoff my concerns were confirmed knowing that I finished up 37th fastest, just under 2 seconds off 35th place. Oh well, that’s how things go sometimes. Now I just had to focus on the 15 lap 125 race that afternoon.
By the time out race was up I had repaired the minor damage to the RS but my confidence was even lower than qualifying. But none the less, I had to suck it in and get on with proceedings. The track was about 90% dry but a fairly brisk wind was blowing and that was keeping the temperature not much above 10.
We gridded up behind the motards and waited for them to head off. About 10 seconds later we were let go and the race was on. Seeing as there were still a couple of damp patches I was very tentative for the first few laps, not worrying about my position, just concentrating on not crashing. I slowly got into the groove, starting out with 1.24 and working my way down to 1.21 by the end of the race. It was a fairly lonely race as far as 125 competition but was kept busy passing motards on most laps. After 15 laps had passed the race was over and I had finished 6th out of the 11 125s that started the race. Not the best result but after the crash in the morning I was just happy to finish the race ok. That was the last act of the first day of racing for me so I watched a few of the other races and hoped for some sun and nicer weather on Sunday.
Sunday dawned a much more pleasant day, there had been some overnight rain but that had stopped before sunrise. We had two races today, a 20 lapper in the morning and a 10 lap in the afternoon. Again we were up straight after riders briefing. The officials had also decided to let the 125’s go off the front of the grid due to the majority of 125 riders being faster than the motards, a great decision on their part if I might add. On the warm up lap it was apparent that the track was not completely dry, so some cautions first laps would be in order till everything was up to operating temperature.
I got an ok start and got away with a bunch of 3 other guys. It was good close racing. Due to the track having some wet patches the usual places to pass weren’t all clear. There were a few passing moves going on between Kyle, Nick, Luke and myself, mainly down the straights and into Higgins. Five laps into the race and it was settling into a good race, still 15 laps to go however. Also the damp places were starting to dry out a fraction and I was getting a little braver under brakes. We came around the hairpin just to see a motard dropping it. Next I see the red flags and that means one thing, back to the pits.
After a 5 minute wait on the dummy grid we get the signal that there will be a full restart of 15 laps. Subsequently the motard had ground through his cases and left a nice trail of oil all around the hairpin, this made the corner interesting and there was no way a racing line could be taken. Again I got a good start but was a bit tentative into turn 1 due to the damp patches and was relegated to around 4th or 5th out of there. Again I was in a battle with Kyle and this time we had caught up to the speed of Alastair. But before we had even got back into the rhythm the red flags were out again and it was back to the pits for the second time, this time after only 4 laps.
After another 5 minute or so wait we were informed that there would be a 10 lap full restart and we went out and gridded up again. The third start in 20 minutes didn’t do any favours on my clutch and the start showed. Not a great one but again Kyle, Alastair and I were in a great tussle for third place. I think I had pushed my current clutch through a few too many starts and it was starting to slip a little on up changes. This allowed, on most occasions, Kyle and Al to pass me down the straights. However I made up for it under braking into either Higgins or turn 1. As the laps wore on, the pace got hotter. All of us dipped into the 1.18’s and for most of the race we weren’t separated by more than a second. In the last 2 or 3 laps we started to come up against a few motard back markers and as we all know this can cause some issues. We were all advantaged and disadvantaged at various stages of the race.
Going into the last lap Kyle was in 3rd with me in 4th and Al in 5th, right in my slipstream. We caught up to a 125 coming into splash, Kyle got through easily but I was forced to take the long was around and lost some vital tenths of a second. I was unable to get into his slipstream down the Higgins straight. I saw Al out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn’t about to let him pass me. I waited for the last moment and broke just that fraction later than him to ensure I was ahead going into the back straight. Kyle had now pulled a 5 bike length gap and I knew it was going to be hard to pull that gap back with only one corner left. However lady luck was on my side. We were fast approaching 2 motards in a battle of their own and, unfortunately for Kyle, he came across them right in the middle of the final corner. I however got the normal run through the corner and got on the gas at the same time as every lap pulling out to pass the motards and Kyle right before the line. In the end the gap was 7 hundredths of a second! I was pretty happy with that, a fastest lap of 1.18.7 and third place in the race. I did feel a little sorry for Kyle, but in racing things like this happen.
In the afternoon we had one race left, this was supposed to be a ten lap race but due to the hold-ups with crashes etc it was reduced to a 6 lap sprint. Again we lined up ahead of the motards and the lights went out. I had my head screwed on properly this time and got a good start. I tucked in behind James, the winner of the weekends previous races and was holding 2nd place for the first lap. However Jaden was right on my tail piece and he wanted that place off me. The clutch was still slipping just a fraction on gear changes but I was still able to keep pace down the straights with Jaden’s Yamaha.
On the fourth lap I was hard on the brakes into turn 1 and stuffed my gear changes up. Getting on the gas coming out of the corner the bike just bogged, 4th gear isn’t usually the best idea out of there (usually in 2nd). Jaden came roaring past and by the time I managed to get back to 3rd gear and slip the clutch to get moving again he had gained quite an advantage. I put my head down and tried as I could to make up the gap that he had pulled. As the white flag was show for one lap left he was approx three seconds ahead of me and I knew that he would have to make a big mistake for me to catch him. He didn’t and I crossed the line in 3rd position, 2.9 seconds behind Jaden and 3.6 ahead of Kyle in 4th place. I had also improved my best lap time down to 1.18.1, still nearly three seconds off my best laps around Manfeild at nationals but a very good improvement over the weekend. I also finished up 3rd overall in the 125 class for the meet, not a bad outcome from the 13 starters in the class (although only 10 were left after this race).