svs
10th March 2009, 09:08
NZSBK #5 - Pukekohe
Bike and gear were already up north after manfeild, so all I had to do is get myself there. Flew up on thursday evening as I have no more leave to take - and flying is probably just as cheap as taking the van. Lovely wet weather in Auckland.
Friday wasn't looking particularly good, so I had some work to do on the bike. Went to the track and RT fitter the repaired preload adjuster to my rear shock. Still raining so we went home again - no point risking a crash in dodgy conditions - and spent the rest of the day getting Greg's bike back together after his off at manfeild.
Saturday was looking a bit better, although there was showers forecast. I haven't been out on Pukekohe much on a 600. Only one AMCC club round on the old bike so I had no idea what times I had done (I think about 1:06 - 1:07). So with P1 and P2 getting into the low 1:05's wasn't too bad. It would be enough to qualify and that was all that counted. However the track was dry and it was pretty warm for qualifying. After a few laps I did a 1:04.3, but then the session was red flagged after Sam Smiths crash. I was happy enough with that time so didn't go out for the rest of the session. That time was good enough for 15th.
Sunday. Race day. Scrub session was wet. Again sat it out - only 3 riders went out and they were running stuff in. Don't like the first time on the bike being the first race as it takes a while to get my head into gear, but 2 warm up laps should help. Track was drying for race 1, but the warmup lap showed that turns 1-4 (jennian through to castrol) were pretty damp and the rest of the track was dry. A slide coming out of castrol showed it wasn't all that grippy. We lined up on the grid - only for the red flag to stay out and the ambo to head out on track. Jamie had highsided at castrol on the warmup. I wasn't the only one finding it slippery. We were sent back into the pits for a few more minutes. Out the second time, the track had dried considerably with just needing a bit of care through the first few corners. We were lined up on the grid, the lights going and there was still a TV camera filming over the front row. The muppet just wasn't getting off the track and I'm surprised he didn't get taken out. Race itself was fairly uneventful. It took me quite a while to get comfortable with the conditions so was a few seconds back on Greg and not catching. With a few laps to go I started reeling him in and when the white plag came out I pushed through the first few corners to get a good drive onto the back straight, then really late on the brakes into the hairpin to get in front. Didn't have a good run over the hill, but managed to stay ahead and over the line in 15th.
Race 2. The TT. 20 laps. Knew I needed to get a better start this time, and passed Greg on the first lap into the hairpin and sat on the back of Marcus (Biggles08) and Phil (Toast). Circulated pretty constant at that point until the faster guys came through when Marcus managed to get a bit of a break. The second group coming past though me as I was shown the blue flag through turn 1 - I was a bit surprised by that and messed up the next turn, so stayed wide to let then through at castrol. No bikes. They were still quite a way behind. Bugger. Anyway I let them through at the hairpin before getting my head down again. After about 13/14 laps I was really starting to look for the white flag, I was finding it increasing difficult to get the bike to turn in over the mountain and the bumps down the start/finish straight means i was not really going into turn 1 as fast as I should. Finished 15th again with lap time in the 1:04s
So overall finished every race in the nationals series this year in the points so was happy with that. Not particularly happy with my riding on sunday as I hadn't really been on the ball and hadn't bettered the lap time from saturday, but we finished and walked away with just another large dent in the wallet.
After the superbike race we wandered over to the back of the circuit and had a minutes silence for Derek Hill. Just finishing the event today was important for me and I was glad I did it. Rhys (Dereks dad) was in the pits with us all day and it was good to see him out there. So that one was for you mate.
Unfortunately didn't get to stay for all the prizegiving - had a flight to catch to get home. So congratulations to all the winners from this year - esp. Glen Skachill winning the F3 TT - that was an awesome effort.
So that's Nationals over for another year. I rode better than I have done in the past, but I know there should be more to come - but it's a slow process for me. Thanks to MNZ, The Clubs (AMCC, VMCC, Cantenbury and Southland), The stewards, marshalls and volunteers. All the meeting were awesome and well run from a riders point of view.
Bike and gear were already up north after manfeild, so all I had to do is get myself there. Flew up on thursday evening as I have no more leave to take - and flying is probably just as cheap as taking the van. Lovely wet weather in Auckland.
Friday wasn't looking particularly good, so I had some work to do on the bike. Went to the track and RT fitter the repaired preload adjuster to my rear shock. Still raining so we went home again - no point risking a crash in dodgy conditions - and spent the rest of the day getting Greg's bike back together after his off at manfeild.
Saturday was looking a bit better, although there was showers forecast. I haven't been out on Pukekohe much on a 600. Only one AMCC club round on the old bike so I had no idea what times I had done (I think about 1:06 - 1:07). So with P1 and P2 getting into the low 1:05's wasn't too bad. It would be enough to qualify and that was all that counted. However the track was dry and it was pretty warm for qualifying. After a few laps I did a 1:04.3, but then the session was red flagged after Sam Smiths crash. I was happy enough with that time so didn't go out for the rest of the session. That time was good enough for 15th.
Sunday. Race day. Scrub session was wet. Again sat it out - only 3 riders went out and they were running stuff in. Don't like the first time on the bike being the first race as it takes a while to get my head into gear, but 2 warm up laps should help. Track was drying for race 1, but the warmup lap showed that turns 1-4 (jennian through to castrol) were pretty damp and the rest of the track was dry. A slide coming out of castrol showed it wasn't all that grippy. We lined up on the grid - only for the red flag to stay out and the ambo to head out on track. Jamie had highsided at castrol on the warmup. I wasn't the only one finding it slippery. We were sent back into the pits for a few more minutes. Out the second time, the track had dried considerably with just needing a bit of care through the first few corners. We were lined up on the grid, the lights going and there was still a TV camera filming over the front row. The muppet just wasn't getting off the track and I'm surprised he didn't get taken out. Race itself was fairly uneventful. It took me quite a while to get comfortable with the conditions so was a few seconds back on Greg and not catching. With a few laps to go I started reeling him in and when the white plag came out I pushed through the first few corners to get a good drive onto the back straight, then really late on the brakes into the hairpin to get in front. Didn't have a good run over the hill, but managed to stay ahead and over the line in 15th.
Race 2. The TT. 20 laps. Knew I needed to get a better start this time, and passed Greg on the first lap into the hairpin and sat on the back of Marcus (Biggles08) and Phil (Toast). Circulated pretty constant at that point until the faster guys came through when Marcus managed to get a bit of a break. The second group coming past though me as I was shown the blue flag through turn 1 - I was a bit surprised by that and messed up the next turn, so stayed wide to let then through at castrol. No bikes. They were still quite a way behind. Bugger. Anyway I let them through at the hairpin before getting my head down again. After about 13/14 laps I was really starting to look for the white flag, I was finding it increasing difficult to get the bike to turn in over the mountain and the bumps down the start/finish straight means i was not really going into turn 1 as fast as I should. Finished 15th again with lap time in the 1:04s
So overall finished every race in the nationals series this year in the points so was happy with that. Not particularly happy with my riding on sunday as I hadn't really been on the ball and hadn't bettered the lap time from saturday, but we finished and walked away with just another large dent in the wallet.
After the superbike race we wandered over to the back of the circuit and had a minutes silence for Derek Hill. Just finishing the event today was important for me and I was glad I did it. Rhys (Dereks dad) was in the pits with us all day and it was good to see him out there. So that one was for you mate.
Unfortunately didn't get to stay for all the prizegiving - had a flight to catch to get home. So congratulations to all the winners from this year - esp. Glen Skachill winning the F3 TT - that was an awesome effort.
So that's Nationals over for another year. I rode better than I have done in the past, but I know there should be more to come - but it's a slow process for me. Thanks to MNZ, The Clubs (AMCC, VMCC, Cantenbury and Southland), The stewards, marshalls and volunteers. All the meeting were awesome and well run from a riders point of view.