Clivoris
16th March 2009, 15:06
I truly do love this event and can't thank the organisers and volunteers enough for the work that they put in:clap:. I will be competing here until I can't ride. It is totally unique and a HUGE buzz.
Day 1
My trusty 10 year old side-kick and I manage to get on the road just after 6 a.m. with lunches packed and sidearms loaded with high speed intentions. I was really excited/nervous as I hoped that I would be able to build on the learning from my first crack last year. Three goals today. Get through turn 1 with the throttle pinned. Beat Koba. Crack 2:45.
We made good time and set up a pit area with Wharfy cause he makes me look young and handsome. Him being deaf is handy too as I can talk as much shit as I like, and it slides off like an egg on teflon. In the waiting time before kick-off I managed to commiserate with Scracha a bit about his wee run of bad-luck and tried to psych-out Koba. He whipped my arse by about 4 seconds last year and I wanted a different result this year, but was worried about his obvious development over the past year.
The mule was looking real sexy in a fresh paintjob (thanks again Crazefox) and the look-see runs confirmed that the road was in better condition than last year. I even remembered some of the corners.
Run 1 gave me a time of 2:50 which was better than my 2:54 last year despite feeling like I had got it all wrong. Koba was a little slower and I got a little excited (something I probably have in common with str8jacket now:whistle:). The readers digest version is that my times came down all day through steady application of visualisation, less brake use and looking ahead. My best for the day was 2:44, mere hundredths of a second of ahead of Koba. 2 goals on track so far, but this was just the warm-up.
The party was pretty cool fun with a great band. My little heart was warmed to see Koba enjoying a few drinks, and I even heard that he wasn't feeling very well. It's embarrassing to see how evil the possibility of a podium finish made me. So it was an early night for me, nagged by the probability of the proper fast F3 fullahs arriving tomorrow.
Day 2
Business time and the weather couldn't be better. Deano arrived so I knew for sure F3 1st place was gone, but then he played me a bit by pretending he might not run. Regardless, psyched and ready to go I managed a 2:41 on run 1:woohoo:. The last time I had a hard-on like this was probably in high-school and it felt good, to me anyway. Unfortunately, rather than crushing Koba's spirit it pushed him to a 2:39 a couple of runs later. He swore that there wasn't much left after that, but I didn't believe him. One of the great things about this event is that a good time demands stringing all the corners and all the sections together, with as few mistakes as possible. However, unlike a race track you might have only 5 timed runs to achieve this. Quick learning (or experience) and consistency is rewarded.
So I knew I could reduce my time but I couldn't afford to try too hard and screw a corner up. My reward came in the second to last run of the day when I pulled out a 2:39. This was such a blast. Hitting the first corner tapped out, screwwing up one or two corners but making it up by accellerating hard-out into the bridge corners and some of the others. Having the bike bucking and weaving but never getting out of shape. I really felt like I was exploring new personal territory and finding some new limits. I do remember thinking that despite the speed and aggression, I never felt like it was going to go pear shaped. All my focus was on getting it done and doing what was necessary.
Once I got this time, the bastard was that neither of us new whether it was a quicker one than Koba's for ages due to a delay with the results. Eventually it was confirmed that I was ahead by a tenth of a second. Paradoxically, this actually increased my anxiety. Now I really had something to lose. Deano hadn't had a proper run on his 650 and Koba is always capable of being quicker. Realistically we only had one more run to go... There was a crash.... then timing problems and the available time was trickling away. On my shoulder was a very large evil-bastard , whispering "Maate. If we don't get out again you win F3. Wouldn't that be niiiiice?":devil2: The guy who has the job of "It's just a race mate and it's all about you and the road, improving your times" had fucked off with his tail between his legs. I wanted to win and get my hands on a trophy.
We did get a final run. Koba had a huge moment and I screwed the start so neither of us improved times, and Deano romped home 10 secs speedier (deservedly so too because he is fucking awesome). Fortunately I was still totally buzzed for all the right reasons. Look out next year Deano. My plan for F3 domination is coming together.
Koba is a legend and once he gets on a race-bike with race tyres instead of tourers, the 400 classes are in big trouble. It was also great to see everyone out there having ball regardless of experience level or what they were riding. Most will be back I imagine.
Thanks for reading this and thanks to my sponsors, Q8Oils and Crazefox.
Day 1
My trusty 10 year old side-kick and I manage to get on the road just after 6 a.m. with lunches packed and sidearms loaded with high speed intentions. I was really excited/nervous as I hoped that I would be able to build on the learning from my first crack last year. Three goals today. Get through turn 1 with the throttle pinned. Beat Koba. Crack 2:45.
We made good time and set up a pit area with Wharfy cause he makes me look young and handsome. Him being deaf is handy too as I can talk as much shit as I like, and it slides off like an egg on teflon. In the waiting time before kick-off I managed to commiserate with Scracha a bit about his wee run of bad-luck and tried to psych-out Koba. He whipped my arse by about 4 seconds last year and I wanted a different result this year, but was worried about his obvious development over the past year.
The mule was looking real sexy in a fresh paintjob (thanks again Crazefox) and the look-see runs confirmed that the road was in better condition than last year. I even remembered some of the corners.
Run 1 gave me a time of 2:50 which was better than my 2:54 last year despite feeling like I had got it all wrong. Koba was a little slower and I got a little excited (something I probably have in common with str8jacket now:whistle:). The readers digest version is that my times came down all day through steady application of visualisation, less brake use and looking ahead. My best for the day was 2:44, mere hundredths of a second of ahead of Koba. 2 goals on track so far, but this was just the warm-up.
The party was pretty cool fun with a great band. My little heart was warmed to see Koba enjoying a few drinks, and I even heard that he wasn't feeling very well. It's embarrassing to see how evil the possibility of a podium finish made me. So it was an early night for me, nagged by the probability of the proper fast F3 fullahs arriving tomorrow.
Day 2
Business time and the weather couldn't be better. Deano arrived so I knew for sure F3 1st place was gone, but then he played me a bit by pretending he might not run. Regardless, psyched and ready to go I managed a 2:41 on run 1:woohoo:. The last time I had a hard-on like this was probably in high-school and it felt good, to me anyway. Unfortunately, rather than crushing Koba's spirit it pushed him to a 2:39 a couple of runs later. He swore that there wasn't much left after that, but I didn't believe him. One of the great things about this event is that a good time demands stringing all the corners and all the sections together, with as few mistakes as possible. However, unlike a race track you might have only 5 timed runs to achieve this. Quick learning (or experience) and consistency is rewarded.
So I knew I could reduce my time but I couldn't afford to try too hard and screw a corner up. My reward came in the second to last run of the day when I pulled out a 2:39. This was such a blast. Hitting the first corner tapped out, screwwing up one or two corners but making it up by accellerating hard-out into the bridge corners and some of the others. Having the bike bucking and weaving but never getting out of shape. I really felt like I was exploring new personal territory and finding some new limits. I do remember thinking that despite the speed and aggression, I never felt like it was going to go pear shaped. All my focus was on getting it done and doing what was necessary.
Once I got this time, the bastard was that neither of us new whether it was a quicker one than Koba's for ages due to a delay with the results. Eventually it was confirmed that I was ahead by a tenth of a second. Paradoxically, this actually increased my anxiety. Now I really had something to lose. Deano hadn't had a proper run on his 650 and Koba is always capable of being quicker. Realistically we only had one more run to go... There was a crash.... then timing problems and the available time was trickling away. On my shoulder was a very large evil-bastard , whispering "Maate. If we don't get out again you win F3. Wouldn't that be niiiiice?":devil2: The guy who has the job of "It's just a race mate and it's all about you and the road, improving your times" had fucked off with his tail between his legs. I wanted to win and get my hands on a trophy.
We did get a final run. Koba had a huge moment and I screwed the start so neither of us improved times, and Deano romped home 10 secs speedier (deservedly so too because he is fucking awesome). Fortunately I was still totally buzzed for all the right reasons. Look out next year Deano. My plan for F3 domination is coming together.
Koba is a legend and once he gets on a race-bike with race tyres instead of tourers, the 400 classes are in big trouble. It was also great to see everyone out there having ball regardless of experience level or what they were riding. Most will be back I imagine.
Thanks for reading this and thanks to my sponsors, Q8Oils and Crazefox.