Tim 39
15th January 2009, 09:03
When we arrived at Teretonga on Friday, we were met by the weather that I knew we’d see at some stage down there…. RAIN! And it wasn’t just any rain… it was absolutely pouring!
After getting drenched putting our gazebo up, we made the decision that it was time to go to the warehouse and invest in some gumboots and rain coats (I was going to call this the teretonga dress code, but that’s a bit harsh considering the pefect weather we got on Sunday). We got everything unpacked and waited for the rain to ease before going on the track.
The rain eased by about lunchtime and we got out on the track for 3 good sessions that day. I made some very slight suspension changes but overall the bike felt good and I ended Friday feeling happy with my bike and happy with how I’d done. After we packed up we were off to the meet the rider night at Southland Honda, which even included free pizza (those that know me would know how happy I was about that!). Just like last year this was a great night so thanks to Southland Honda for putting it on.
Saturdays weather looked threatening at the start, but thanks to Dave Hunter’s (Speedy Sparky) satellite broadband, we saw that it was going to be all clear for qualifying so committed to running slicks. I left my old tyres on for the first session which was effectively practice under the new system, made a few more subtle suspension changes and gained second for the session.
My original goal for qualifying was to get on the front row but not in pole, as I haven’t got good starts from pole previously. After the session I thought I’d done about enough to get 2nd or 3rd on the grid… the sheets came out and revealed that I was on Pole! Oh well, never a better time to fix my starting problem from pole!
After the warm up laps for race one I took my pole position and in no time at all we were off, I wasn’t expecting to have such short notice and got a shocking start leaving me third into turn one behind Kenneth, I managed to slide past him in the loop and the chase was on to catch up to Avalon who had got a brilliant start and was already approximately 4 seconds ahead of me. I made the plan during the first lap that I would take a set amount (about half a second) out of the gap that Avalon had created, I thought that this was a safe way to hunt her down. Sure enough I did exactly what I decided on and on the beginning of the 8th lap I slipstreamed up beside Avalon down the straight and chose to go for the outside into the loop, but she moved over to enter the corner from the outside leaving me on the grass nearing the end of the straight, I got back on the track behind her and decided that the other side would be best next lap. I did the same on the next lap but took the inside and it worked a lot better leaving me in the lead, I upped the pace slightly to earn my place and held it until the finish, first win of the season! Yay!!!
I got a much better start in race 2 after a bit of clutch adjustment, and led into the loop. Avalon passed in between the loop and Castrol but I past her back in the left after Castrol other than a cheeky wee look here and there from Avalon, I remained in the lead for the rest of the race, but it certainly wasn’t what I would call a comfortable lead so I worked fairly hard in the remaining laps to ensure I stayed in front. 2 wins from 2 starts! I was very happy!
I once again got a good start to race 3 and led into turn 1, and when I looked behind me exiting the hairpin I could see not only Avalon this time but Cam as well! I knew this would be good race with plenty of passing. I spent most of the time in the lead, and at one stage was very briefly down to third, but an amazing slipstream move took me from third back to the lead going into turn 1! There was a bit of good racing going on with plenty of passing, and every time someone passed me, it was somebody different so I knew it was an all in battle. On the last lap I kept my head down and won it, however on the warm down lap I saw that Cam and Avalon had knocked themselves off in the loop, so there was just a big gap back to Jaden.
I was absolutely stoked with my weekend! However I would have been a lot better to see this raging battle in the last race finish with everyone still in it.
I’d like to say a big thanks to my sponsors as they’ve been awesome this year so far!
Kevin Goddard - He does a great job tuning my bike and generally everything in the pits
Race Supplies – The source of all my good parts!
Brass Monkey Rally by the Otago Motorcycle Club – The most supportive club I’ve ever been in by far! I’ll see everyone at the 09 Brass Monkey!
Arai Helmets – Are the best!!!! Like their quote says… ‘There is a difference’ I’ve certainly found them fantastic!
I’d also Like to thank the Southland Club for running such a well run meeting, the road race commission for putting in so much work to make such a good series, and of course the other 125GP competitors because they all did really good lap times compared to last year and made some good fun racing!!
After getting drenched putting our gazebo up, we made the decision that it was time to go to the warehouse and invest in some gumboots and rain coats (I was going to call this the teretonga dress code, but that’s a bit harsh considering the pefect weather we got on Sunday). We got everything unpacked and waited for the rain to ease before going on the track.
The rain eased by about lunchtime and we got out on the track for 3 good sessions that day. I made some very slight suspension changes but overall the bike felt good and I ended Friday feeling happy with my bike and happy with how I’d done. After we packed up we were off to the meet the rider night at Southland Honda, which even included free pizza (those that know me would know how happy I was about that!). Just like last year this was a great night so thanks to Southland Honda for putting it on.
Saturdays weather looked threatening at the start, but thanks to Dave Hunter’s (Speedy Sparky) satellite broadband, we saw that it was going to be all clear for qualifying so committed to running slicks. I left my old tyres on for the first session which was effectively practice under the new system, made a few more subtle suspension changes and gained second for the session.
My original goal for qualifying was to get on the front row but not in pole, as I haven’t got good starts from pole previously. After the session I thought I’d done about enough to get 2nd or 3rd on the grid… the sheets came out and revealed that I was on Pole! Oh well, never a better time to fix my starting problem from pole!
After the warm up laps for race one I took my pole position and in no time at all we were off, I wasn’t expecting to have such short notice and got a shocking start leaving me third into turn one behind Kenneth, I managed to slide past him in the loop and the chase was on to catch up to Avalon who had got a brilliant start and was already approximately 4 seconds ahead of me. I made the plan during the first lap that I would take a set amount (about half a second) out of the gap that Avalon had created, I thought that this was a safe way to hunt her down. Sure enough I did exactly what I decided on and on the beginning of the 8th lap I slipstreamed up beside Avalon down the straight and chose to go for the outside into the loop, but she moved over to enter the corner from the outside leaving me on the grass nearing the end of the straight, I got back on the track behind her and decided that the other side would be best next lap. I did the same on the next lap but took the inside and it worked a lot better leaving me in the lead, I upped the pace slightly to earn my place and held it until the finish, first win of the season! Yay!!!
I got a much better start in race 2 after a bit of clutch adjustment, and led into the loop. Avalon passed in between the loop and Castrol but I past her back in the left after Castrol other than a cheeky wee look here and there from Avalon, I remained in the lead for the rest of the race, but it certainly wasn’t what I would call a comfortable lead so I worked fairly hard in the remaining laps to ensure I stayed in front. 2 wins from 2 starts! I was very happy!
I once again got a good start to race 3 and led into turn 1, and when I looked behind me exiting the hairpin I could see not only Avalon this time but Cam as well! I knew this would be good race with plenty of passing. I spent most of the time in the lead, and at one stage was very briefly down to third, but an amazing slipstream move took me from third back to the lead going into turn 1! There was a bit of good racing going on with plenty of passing, and every time someone passed me, it was somebody different so I knew it was an all in battle. On the last lap I kept my head down and won it, however on the warm down lap I saw that Cam and Avalon had knocked themselves off in the loop, so there was just a big gap back to Jaden.
I was absolutely stoked with my weekend! However I would have been a lot better to see this raging battle in the last race finish with everyone still in it.
I’d like to say a big thanks to my sponsors as they’ve been awesome this year so far!
Kevin Goddard - He does a great job tuning my bike and generally everything in the pits
Race Supplies – The source of all my good parts!
Brass Monkey Rally by the Otago Motorcycle Club – The most supportive club I’ve ever been in by far! I’ll see everyone at the 09 Brass Monkey!
Arai Helmets – Are the best!!!! Like their quote says… ‘There is a difference’ I’ve certainly found them fantastic!
I’d also Like to thank the Southland Club for running such a well run meeting, the road race commission for putting in so much work to make such a good series, and of course the other 125GP competitors because they all did really good lap times compared to last year and made some good fun racing!!