Motoracer
7th March 2005, 14:47
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Got up at 6 AM on Friday, packed everything together and headed out to Colemans Suzuki to get a new chain fitted cause I managed to ruin my chain when I was shortening it (took too many links off). Colemans didn’t have the rivet link to fit on the chain but they did have a clip link. I thought, with a lock wire, even the chain with a clip link should be OK just for the weekend. I got the chain fitted and went to the track at about 1:00 PM. Thinking that I had missed half day of practice, I was very surprised to find that I made it just in time for riders breifing! Turns out the Pukie guys still had to get their shit sorted as well so first practice wasn't till half past 1.
After going around the track for just one lap, I saw a big cloud of dust on turn 1 with the rider going off to the left to the grass and the bike going end over end to the right. Turns out Gary Cunningham had a freak accident as he just tapped on the front brake.
Friday's practice was pretty uneventful after that and I think RiffRaff clocked me at 1.06. Compared to the other guys through the esses I seemed to be doing good but I had completely lost my touch for the hairpin. I was braking at the 200m mark then getting it unstable and then having to go on the throttle again and go slowly around the hairpin. In other words, I was crap at the hairpin. After the hairpin I was too cautious through the left as well, since they have now added a new bump in there.
On Friday night, Firefight and his family took me out to dinner and I had an enjoyable sleep at their lovely mansion.
On Saturday, we started practice and I wasn’t having much luck overcoming the fear of running out of track at the hairpin and I was braking way too early. Still I think I was only pulling 1.06s then.
After lunch, I was surprised to find out that Race 1 was actually on Saturday! We all did 2 warm up laps and then lined up at the grid. Once we got the OK, they pulled the green flag down and I got a great start. Everyone was squeezing tight into the right hand sweeper of turn one, which opened up the doors for me around the outside. So I went around a couple of bike including Gary Cunningham, so things looked good for a moment, then after Castrol, I could literally see the slightly higher powered national bikes pulling a little gap on me. When it came to braking for the hairpin, then the gap increased because I still hadn't sorted out my braking. I completed 1 lap and still I was keeping the mid field guys in sight. After coming around for the second time though, going into turn one, I heard a big cracking sound and suddenly, I had no power. I knew something was really wrong so I pulled up on to the grass where it was safe and got off the bike. A quick look at the back of the bike and yep, the chain was on the ground and water was pissing out off the bottom of the bike. I instantly realised the results of my bad decision earlier on to go with the clip link chain. I walked back to the pits feeling slightly disappointed for not being able to race when I had a good start but I was feeling VERY lucky to have not come off at the high speeds of turn one. I checked my position and it said a DNF but just in those 2 laps I got a 1.05.
At the end of the day, we took the bits off the bike and found out that the sprocket cover was smashed along with the water pump. Nicko or Nick Odermatt, then came to the rescue. He basically did most of the work with getting things off the bike then later on I went to Nick’s place and still we worked on the bike. He let me borrow parts off his road going bike so that I could race the next day. I left nick’s place at 9 PM and then went home with the bike bits and my slightly injured bike. I got home and no one was there, which was good cause I could get on with the job at hand. So for my 21<SUP>st</SUP>, I cranked up the music had a feed after a long day and worked on the bike with no distractions. Finally at 2:30 AM I had the bike sorted apart from the chain and got to sleep.
I got up again at 6:30 AM and packed everything up and fueled up before heading back to Puke. Once we got to the track, nicko let me borrow a sprocket because I damaged my one the day before and he hooked me up with Bernie, who then fitted nicko’s rivet link chain on to my bike. I missed the practice on Sunday but amazingly after all the effort, my bike was all ready for Race2, with only minutes to spare!!! Sparky did a great job helping me put the final bits together, so cheers for that man!
Before the chain came off on Saturday, I was feeling good and slowly getting the feel for things again. But now for race 2, things were back to square 1. After we got a race start, I lost ground with the mid field guys rather quickly and was fighting hard to keep infront of a black R6 which I have quite happly beaten in the past. I just managed to stay infront of the R6 and made it past the chequred flag.
After lunch, race 3 began. The big 15 laper! As soon as we got the green flag, all of us were away with out any worries. Then all of us went into turn one as quick as we could. It was bloody scarry to see at least 3 riders going elbow to elbow with the bikes hitting each other then one bike almost ran off wide onto the grass and the other one went real tight almost into the wall. This triggered my biggest fear, which is to crash because of someone else’s mistake. So I backed off a bit. Then everyone got into their form and went through Castrol real clean and I tried my best to follow them. I was still going pretty slow through it all because I was still braking into the hairpin way to early. Halfway through the race, even the guy on the black R6 passed me and managed to pull a gap. Closer to the end, I got lapped by Craig Sherrif, Andrew stroud and someone else and just then, for some reason, the guy on the R6 slowed down a lot at the hairpin, almost to a stop so I was able not finish the race last. I managed a 1.05 in this race as well, which was 0.1 sec faster than Race 1.
Evaluation time. There are some big question marks in mind right now. I have explanations for most of them and I will be trying to correct what has gone wrong with races at Puke and Paeroa. Just to put things into perspective, The first time I ever jumped on the 600 on my first time out on the track with it, I managed a 1.07. Then I progressed on to 1.05 then a couple of 1.04s with crap tires. Even when I had a real bad case of the flue, I was doing 1.05s. A year later now, with a few races under my belt, with the teachings of Freddie Merkal, and about few Ks worth of go fast bits and shit hot tires, I am now going at least a second slower than last year. I have things to work out and a lot of work to do before I can do well in the future. Don’t worry, I am not giving up, I can only learn from these experiences and hopefully do better next time round.
Thank you very much to all my mates and family for all the help and support. A BIG HUGE THANKS TO NICKO!! Then thank you again to Bernie and Sparky. :)
Got up at 6 AM on Friday, packed everything together and headed out to Colemans Suzuki to get a new chain fitted cause I managed to ruin my chain when I was shortening it (took too many links off). Colemans didn’t have the rivet link to fit on the chain but they did have a clip link. I thought, with a lock wire, even the chain with a clip link should be OK just for the weekend. I got the chain fitted and went to the track at about 1:00 PM. Thinking that I had missed half day of practice, I was very surprised to find that I made it just in time for riders breifing! Turns out the Pukie guys still had to get their shit sorted as well so first practice wasn't till half past 1.
After going around the track for just one lap, I saw a big cloud of dust on turn 1 with the rider going off to the left to the grass and the bike going end over end to the right. Turns out Gary Cunningham had a freak accident as he just tapped on the front brake.
Friday's practice was pretty uneventful after that and I think RiffRaff clocked me at 1.06. Compared to the other guys through the esses I seemed to be doing good but I had completely lost my touch for the hairpin. I was braking at the 200m mark then getting it unstable and then having to go on the throttle again and go slowly around the hairpin. In other words, I was crap at the hairpin. After the hairpin I was too cautious through the left as well, since they have now added a new bump in there.
On Friday night, Firefight and his family took me out to dinner and I had an enjoyable sleep at their lovely mansion.
On Saturday, we started practice and I wasn’t having much luck overcoming the fear of running out of track at the hairpin and I was braking way too early. Still I think I was only pulling 1.06s then.
After lunch, I was surprised to find out that Race 1 was actually on Saturday! We all did 2 warm up laps and then lined up at the grid. Once we got the OK, they pulled the green flag down and I got a great start. Everyone was squeezing tight into the right hand sweeper of turn one, which opened up the doors for me around the outside. So I went around a couple of bike including Gary Cunningham, so things looked good for a moment, then after Castrol, I could literally see the slightly higher powered national bikes pulling a little gap on me. When it came to braking for the hairpin, then the gap increased because I still hadn't sorted out my braking. I completed 1 lap and still I was keeping the mid field guys in sight. After coming around for the second time though, going into turn one, I heard a big cracking sound and suddenly, I had no power. I knew something was really wrong so I pulled up on to the grass where it was safe and got off the bike. A quick look at the back of the bike and yep, the chain was on the ground and water was pissing out off the bottom of the bike. I instantly realised the results of my bad decision earlier on to go with the clip link chain. I walked back to the pits feeling slightly disappointed for not being able to race when I had a good start but I was feeling VERY lucky to have not come off at the high speeds of turn one. I checked my position and it said a DNF but just in those 2 laps I got a 1.05.
At the end of the day, we took the bits off the bike and found out that the sprocket cover was smashed along with the water pump. Nicko or Nick Odermatt, then came to the rescue. He basically did most of the work with getting things off the bike then later on I went to Nick’s place and still we worked on the bike. He let me borrow parts off his road going bike so that I could race the next day. I left nick’s place at 9 PM and then went home with the bike bits and my slightly injured bike. I got home and no one was there, which was good cause I could get on with the job at hand. So for my 21<SUP>st</SUP>, I cranked up the music had a feed after a long day and worked on the bike with no distractions. Finally at 2:30 AM I had the bike sorted apart from the chain and got to sleep.
I got up again at 6:30 AM and packed everything up and fueled up before heading back to Puke. Once we got to the track, nicko let me borrow a sprocket because I damaged my one the day before and he hooked me up with Bernie, who then fitted nicko’s rivet link chain on to my bike. I missed the practice on Sunday but amazingly after all the effort, my bike was all ready for Race2, with only minutes to spare!!! Sparky did a great job helping me put the final bits together, so cheers for that man!
Before the chain came off on Saturday, I was feeling good and slowly getting the feel for things again. But now for race 2, things were back to square 1. After we got a race start, I lost ground with the mid field guys rather quickly and was fighting hard to keep infront of a black R6 which I have quite happly beaten in the past. I just managed to stay infront of the R6 and made it past the chequred flag.
After lunch, race 3 began. The big 15 laper! As soon as we got the green flag, all of us were away with out any worries. Then all of us went into turn one as quick as we could. It was bloody scarry to see at least 3 riders going elbow to elbow with the bikes hitting each other then one bike almost ran off wide onto the grass and the other one went real tight almost into the wall. This triggered my biggest fear, which is to crash because of someone else’s mistake. So I backed off a bit. Then everyone got into their form and went through Castrol real clean and I tried my best to follow them. I was still going pretty slow through it all because I was still braking into the hairpin way to early. Halfway through the race, even the guy on the black R6 passed me and managed to pull a gap. Closer to the end, I got lapped by Craig Sherrif, Andrew stroud and someone else and just then, for some reason, the guy on the R6 slowed down a lot at the hairpin, almost to a stop so I was able not finish the race last. I managed a 1.05 in this race as well, which was 0.1 sec faster than Race 1.
Evaluation time. There are some big question marks in mind right now. I have explanations for most of them and I will be trying to correct what has gone wrong with races at Puke and Paeroa. Just to put things into perspective, The first time I ever jumped on the 600 on my first time out on the track with it, I managed a 1.07. Then I progressed on to 1.05 then a couple of 1.04s with crap tires. Even when I had a real bad case of the flue, I was doing 1.05s. A year later now, with a few races under my belt, with the teachings of Freddie Merkal, and about few Ks worth of go fast bits and shit hot tires, I am now going at least a second slower than last year. I have things to work out and a lot of work to do before I can do well in the future. Don’t worry, I am not giving up, I can only learn from these experiences and hopefully do better next time round.
Thank you very much to all my mates and family for all the help and support. A BIG HUGE THANKS TO NICKO!! Then thank you again to Bernie and Sparky. :)