svs
16th February 2009, 09:18
NZSBK Round 4 - Manfeild
Friday practice was a bit of a waste. Did 3 or 4 laps in the damp in the morning (slow) before it started raining, with the promise that it would clear up we sat out in the garage. But the promised dryness never came, and with the forecast for the weekend being good there was no point in going slowly and risking crashing the bike just before the big event.
Saturday 14th. Dawned bright and Sunny, track was still a bit damp in places but things were looking good. Following Nick Cole oout in the first couple of laps showed that the track was definately slippery round Higgins when he had a bit of a slide while just warming up. Did a 1:15.4 in the first practice - which was faster than I'd been before so it was looking good for the weekend. P2 was better still with a 1:14.6 and only one close call with a near highside coming out of the hairpin. Leaning further and getting on the gas earlier means that obviously traction was going to let go at some point.
Qualifying. Was getting pretty tired by this point, but wanted to go a bit faster still. Managed a 1:14.3 which I was pretty happy with (almost 2 seconds faster than my previous pb), but in this field that was good enough for 14th place on the last row of the grid.
Saturday night we went to the museum in Palmy to see the race bike display - it's pretty good with some interesting bikes there. Go have a look. And listened to talk from Andrew Stroud which was pretty interesting, about his career in racing and stuff about the Britten. Also the fact that he does about 180 push ups a day to be able to keep braking on the superbike!
Sunday 15th. Race Day. Get out for the 3 lap warm-up session to get the brain in gear. The shortly out for the first race. Got an average start and was last into the first corner. Followed Greg and Marcus (Biggles08) for a little bit but made my way past Marcus, then Greg by about lap 3. It was good to be racing close with a couple of riders. It was fun until I started getting tired and first Greg, then Marcus came back past, but we were all still running together. Unfortunately Greg lost the front at splash on lap 8 and I got right back onto marcus as I think he slowed a little, but didn't push it and remained behind him. Once the leaders started catch I made sure they had the racing line through the hairpin to get through and lost a bit more ground to Marcus, but to be honest, fighting for 14th/15th place isn't as important as keeping out the way of the guys fighting for the championship. Came home 15th with fastest lap of 1:14.8 (in lap 3)
Second race was much the same. Thought I got a good start with the front wheel just hovering abouve the ground, but it kept coming up so had to throttle off which pretty much shot the start. This time I just couldn't keep pushing Marcus and stayed a few meters behind him until the chequered flag. Was just too tired to race properly. Either way it was still fun being out there and I've still managed to finish (and get points) in every race of the nationals so far - even if it is only 14th and 15th place.
So, fitness is still an issue. Not the caridio stuff, but upper body strength to be able to push the bike into the corners and under braking. Better get on to those push ups......
Friday practice was a bit of a waste. Did 3 or 4 laps in the damp in the morning (slow) before it started raining, with the promise that it would clear up we sat out in the garage. But the promised dryness never came, and with the forecast for the weekend being good there was no point in going slowly and risking crashing the bike just before the big event.
Saturday 14th. Dawned bright and Sunny, track was still a bit damp in places but things were looking good. Following Nick Cole oout in the first couple of laps showed that the track was definately slippery round Higgins when he had a bit of a slide while just warming up. Did a 1:15.4 in the first practice - which was faster than I'd been before so it was looking good for the weekend. P2 was better still with a 1:14.6 and only one close call with a near highside coming out of the hairpin. Leaning further and getting on the gas earlier means that obviously traction was going to let go at some point.
Qualifying. Was getting pretty tired by this point, but wanted to go a bit faster still. Managed a 1:14.3 which I was pretty happy with (almost 2 seconds faster than my previous pb), but in this field that was good enough for 14th place on the last row of the grid.
Saturday night we went to the museum in Palmy to see the race bike display - it's pretty good with some interesting bikes there. Go have a look. And listened to talk from Andrew Stroud which was pretty interesting, about his career in racing and stuff about the Britten. Also the fact that he does about 180 push ups a day to be able to keep braking on the superbike!
Sunday 15th. Race Day. Get out for the 3 lap warm-up session to get the brain in gear. The shortly out for the first race. Got an average start and was last into the first corner. Followed Greg and Marcus (Biggles08) for a little bit but made my way past Marcus, then Greg by about lap 3. It was good to be racing close with a couple of riders. It was fun until I started getting tired and first Greg, then Marcus came back past, but we were all still running together. Unfortunately Greg lost the front at splash on lap 8 and I got right back onto marcus as I think he slowed a little, but didn't push it and remained behind him. Once the leaders started catch I made sure they had the racing line through the hairpin to get through and lost a bit more ground to Marcus, but to be honest, fighting for 14th/15th place isn't as important as keeping out the way of the guys fighting for the championship. Came home 15th with fastest lap of 1:14.8 (in lap 3)
Second race was much the same. Thought I got a good start with the front wheel just hovering abouve the ground, but it kept coming up so had to throttle off which pretty much shot the start. This time I just couldn't keep pushing Marcus and stayed a few meters behind him until the chequered flag. Was just too tired to race properly. Either way it was still fun being out there and I've still managed to finish (and get points) in every race of the nationals so far - even if it is only 14th and 15th place.
So, fitness is still an issue. Not the caridio stuff, but upper body strength to be able to push the bike into the corners and under braking. Better get on to those push ups......