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The AMCC Round 4 was the first time back on the bike and I had a good, fun day so at Round 5 I was looking to get back into the groove and start shaving time off. Unfortunately it wasn't going to be.

I had a bunch of things to sort out on the bike after Round 4, most of which were very minor. I looked at moving the footpegs a bit further rearward but it was only possible to move the back and up. I could barely get my feet on the pegs ...

 


I'd been looking at the weather reports and it looked like the Friday & Saturday track days at Taupo were going to be wet. That and the fact I'd been horribly ill so I hadn't even been near my bike for nearly 2 months and had lost any sort of fitness I ever had meant that riding 3 days in a row would probably be a bad thing. For those reasons I took a day of annual leave and headed to Taupo on the Wednesday for the open test day ...

 


What a great day for riding!!

On the Wednesday I'd done the test day at Taupo after having swapped out the left side brake disk because the bike had picked up a nasty chattering under brakes. I'd taken the front mud guard off and ridden down the street in second gear and could look down through the fairings and see the left disk wasn't straight so the Wednesday test day was useful to firstly see if the braking was ...

Racing in winter is usually an exercise in patience punctuated by sudden bursts of frantic tyre changing, but the first round of the Hamilton Motorcycle Club Winter Series was much more relaxed than most.

The weather during the week had been absolute crap with weather warnings and road closures all over the place and, unfortunately, a funeral. Due to the unexpected nature of the funeral I was going to have to get the bike ready on Saturday ...

 


One side affect of the demise of the Triumph is there's a total lack of drama when I head to the track.

Friday was a Honda day with Aaron Slight. It was also stinking hot and the last time I was at Hampton Downs was for AMCC Round 3, which had also been stinking hot. However, on that particular day not only had I learnt a lesson about how track temperature affects the tyres but the track had started falling apart. This ...

Originally the first round of the PMCC was meant to be on the long track. However, safety concerns have eventually meant that it is no longer possible to use the long track at all.

Stevie picked me up from work at midday. It was a gorgeous, sunny Friday but I'd just had a message asking if I knew anything about the accident at Hampton Downs. I was originally going to Marshal at the ride day that was on. However, when I managed to get a ride down to Manfeild ...

Well almost.

The Redline Test day at Taupo was cancelled because everyone (including the organisers) was at Manfeild doing the Vic Club round so I had to go to Hampton Downs. While Hampton Downs is a better track the format for the day isn't as good for sorting out a bike. Doing fixed length sessions isn't anywhere near as good for sorting Gremlins.

However, at Hampton Downs I'm able to work for track time so it's definitely cheaper.

I was paired up with Gareth_d ...

So I decided to get my arse back onto the race track and try and get back the skills, knowledge and feel I'd lost from not riding regularly.

First problem was getting a bike. After a bit of thinking and a couple of phone calls I asked Paul if I could hire/rent/whatever his 05 CBR600RR race bike for the day. He refused any payment for me using the bike for the day with the only condition being the standard you break it you fix/bought it. No problem with that at all as I wouldn't dream ...