Competition Riding

A few notes about my track bike

Last Sunday here in Wellington we had the 2nd round of King of Kaitoke. I got a two seconds and a fourth (a bolt in my gear change mechanism broke leaving me stuck in fourth gear).

it was nice to do well but feel a bit bruised and battered from some of the comments people are making about lines and passing. The hard part in all of it is I really have no clue when it comes to the lines one should take. I lost a lot of confidence last year where I was totally out classed by the other ...

Paeroa was one of the reasons that I started racing. I told my wife that I wanted to do Paeroa (and maybe Wanganui) and that was the justification for doing other race meetings (rules say you have to do at least 3 track events to be eligable for the Streets).

Because of the tight time constraints with a Street Race, sign-in and scrutineering for Paeroa are on the Saturday so that Sunday morning it's straight into the riding as early as possible.

I ...

Racing can be a total bitch sometimes.

Saturday was the practice day so the wife and I headed down to Taupo so I could make certain that the bike was fine and that I was in the right frame of mind.

Pretty much as soon as I got there I caught up with Lewis who was sorting out a pit shed. I was keen go to halves so I parked up beside his vehicle. Sign in and scrutineering were a breeze so I got the bike on the tyre warmers and went for a wander.
...

Don't they say something along the lines of preparation is key, or something to that effect.

One must also include in this, "check any engine mods you have done religiously when trying out something new!"

Half way through the first race of the day my engine got very very noisy to where it sounded like one of the cam chain guides had shat itself. What is was the piston grinding against the edge of the cylinder wall as one of the brass buches and aluminum bullets had ...

Frustration. It's a very annoying word. A bloody nuisance when it applies to an entire weekend.

Metvuw said no rain so, thankfully, the wets kept collecting spiders webs in the shed.

Steve picked me up, we picked my bike up and hit the road. The drive down was uneventful and we got there in time to leave the trailer at the track so we didn't have to fight for a space the next morning. A burger and chips eaten on the bonnet of the car and we were ...

Tomorrow is the first round of the King of Kaitoke and I can't wait. For me it's like being a kid on Christmas Eve and being unable to sleep cause your too exited.

I am going back to B Grade as I am not fast enough for A Grade. This should also working in favour for winning both B grade and King of Kaitoke as I am running 5 second quicker laps and am on a much faster bike.

From the people who were in B grade last year;
Caleb would have been the toughest to race ...

What a rush Taupo Road racing Spectacular was this year. Managed to inprove from my 24th finish last year to 17th. Reduced my lap times (in the dry) from 1 min 44 sec laps to 1.33 laps on the first day. The second day was wet so it was wets for those who had them, which for a lot of us was the first time we had raced on them. My second day times went from plus 2 min to 1.49, much to my delight. And what battles were had with the field breaking into groups of 4-6 bikes fighting it out. I'm also starting ...