Kiwi Biker forums - Blogs - Shane - Superlite (#43) by Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/blog.php/3535-Shane-Superlite-(-43) Kiwi Biker - New Zealand motorcycle community en Sun, 17 May 2026 11:49:28 GMT vBulletin 20 https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/images/BP-Brown/misc/rss.jpg Kiwi Biker forums - Blogs - Shane - Superlite (#43) by Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/blog.php/3535-Shane-Superlite-(-43) Paeroa Battle of the Streets 2017 https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6761-Paeroa-Battle-of-the-Streets-2017 Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:28:53 GMT






The lead up to the 2017 Paeroa Battle of the Streets was frantic, with lots of work being done on the bike.

On the 10th February I did a track day with MotoTT to test out a couple of things. I finally had a steering damper mounted on the bike and I’d also gotten hold of a gyroscopic mount for the camera, a couple of things I’d been wanting to get sorted for quite a while.

The steering damper had been quite a challenge. The mounting brackets are made to fit the 2005 CBR600 RR, which is exactly what I have. However, that year the bike came with 2 different top triple clamps and my bike had the wrong one. Not only did I have the wrong one but the right one was proving impossible to find. Due to the design of the triple clamp I have and the area around the forks there’s no way to easily mount a steering damper. I’d talked to a couple of people about it and finally Clayton at Paice Engineering came up with a collar that fitted around the mounting bracket and stopped it rotating at all. I’d need to drill the top triple clamp but I was ok with that as it’s over engineered many times over and besides, I had a spare.

Clayton made up the collar from just the mounting bracket so when I test fitted it a little bit of modifying was needed to ensure there was adequate clearance and nothing would jam the steering. Once modified it looked to be perfect for the job.

The gyro-mount for the camera is a great little unit from Feiyu Tech, the WG Mini. It’s roll axis only mount for GoPro style/size cameras. I figured I didn’t need a 2 axis mount because the pitching back and forth of the bike shouldn’t really be noticeable so the 2 axis would be a waste of money and after seeing some of the video I got I was pleased to see I was right.

However, one problem I found because of where it’s mounted, on the end of a short extension above the steering damper, the slight shaking was very noticeable making the video almost unwatchable and that was at the relatively smooth Taupo track. At Paeroa it was going to be a complete waste of time unless I stabilized the mount.

One big problem I’d found at the MotoTT day was the front end was not good. There was a whole heap of stiction in the forks. I already knew that and had it all booked in at KSS, but that was on the following Monday. After talking to Dave Moss about it he told me to pop the dust seals on the bottom of the fork outer and put a little bit of grease in there to stop the oil seals from sticking to the fork tubes. I couldn’t get the dust seals to move and I wasn’t willing to start leaning on them too much otherwise I’d inevitably damage things so flicked Dillon Telford a few dollars to do it for me.

Once Dillon had that sorted we noticed that the front wheel wouldn’t free wheel at all and there was plenty of resistance so it looked like the brakes needed to be overhauled as well.

After a couple of sessions the front wheel was getting worse so I called it a day and went home early.

Unfortunately I now had a week to get the forks and shock out, serviced and back in as well as somehow getting the brakes to Dillon so he could overhaul them. Then there was the shaky camera mount to sort out as well as the regular work to get the bike ready to be ridden.

Thankfully, the old $7.00 fold up chairs that only last a couple of weeks came in handy, donating a leg to the stabilizing the camera mount. Using that I made up a couple of bracing struts that held the camera dead still. Hopefully there wouldn’t be too much vibration from the bike to upset things.

Monday I was in the car early, heading for New Plymouth to get the suspension overhauled. I was driving down, getting the suspension done, then driving back in time to hand over the braking system to Dillon.

While at KSS we changed out the springs as I was maxing out the preload. Changing the springs means changing the damping so the front end was going to be completely different. Unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to squeeze in some testing so the first time I’d ride the new suspension would be at Paeroa, so it was going to be an interesting event.

After getting the brakes back from Dillon I took a lot of care reassembling the front end as I wasn’t going to get to test ride the bike. A quick blast up and down the street doesn’t count because everything feels wrong on the road.

Saturday morning I headed over to Paeroa early to get setup in a decent spot. Lucky I did as the car park I set up in filled up quickly. Any later and I would’ve ended up right next to the Portaloo’s. Given how hot it was predicted to be I wanted to be well away from them.

The bike easily passed through Scrutineering so I locked things up and headed home as I’d end up drinking too much beer.

Later on we headed back over to Paeroa, had some dinner and a couple of beers before turning in for the night.

During the night I woke a few times and each time it was raining steadily. By 6:45am the rain had eased up but hadn’t stopped. I was sure there wouldn’t be any racing but I went through the motions anyway, after all, until it’s officially cancelled there’s always a chance.

At riders briefing they announced a delay of an hour before making a decision. An hour later we’re told the track is almost completely dry but there are patches that are still slippery so we’d be waiting for another half an hour.

While we’re waiting the Medical car, ambulances and a couple of other vehicles are charging around the track trying to dry it out. At the next briefing we’re told that Tony Rees and Toby Summers would head out and check out the track conditions before a decision would be made.

Toby gets out there on a 2 stroke Motard and immediately nails it. Tony takes things quite a bit more cautiously, however, after 2 laps he’s almost running at Qualifying pace but Toby has disappeared.

End of the quick session Tony gives it the thumbs up and eventually, once he pushes his unreliable 2 stroke into the pits, Toby does too.

So we’re going to be racing.

First session is the newbies sighting laps and I want to get a look at the track as well as do a little testing of the suspension. Looks like nearly half the paddock have the same idea so what should be the smallest session of the day ends up being the biggest.

We’re out on track and it’s immediately obvious that it’s dry enough to ride without doubts, but also the suspension is definitely different. The third thing that’s obvious is the gearing is totally wrong. It’s so tall I’m only getting to about 12,500rpm in 4th gear on the main straight and 2nd is too tall for all of the corners.

I’m trying to find lines that’ll let me keep my speed up when the front end tries to kill me in the esses where I flick from left to right. I’m not even starting to push but I know the front wheel had left the ground during the transition from one side to the other, meaning the rebound damping was way too aggressive.

Back in the pits I back off the rebound damping a turn. I also back off the steering damper a little as I’m used to feeling the bars twitch when things are close to the limit and the steering damper completely kills that. The steering still feels exactly as it used to, except there’s none of the twitches right on the limit.

The first practice session was cancelled because of the rain but things were rapidly warming up and I’m going to be doing our only practice/qualifying with doubts about how the front end is handling.

Out for Qualifying and the front end feels much better, although there’s still a slight feeling of disconnection during the left to right flick. More worrying is hitting the bumps at turn 1 on the brakes while turning. The rebound damping is still wrong and the tyre leaves the ground over the bumps. The steering damper stops the bars from slapping but the tyre leaving the ground means I’m ploughing straight ahead instead of turning.

I still wasn’t anywhere near a decent pace so I’m not surprised to find out I qualified 12th out of 15 with a 57.299. I am surprised that I’ve gotten a 57 considering the problems with the gearing and rebound. I thought I’d be struggling to break the minute with those problems.

Back in the pits I back off the rebound damping another 1.5 turns and climb out of my leathers. It’s getting warm and the humidity is ridiculous.

Race 1 I head out on the warm up lap. Out of the hairpin onto the main straight it looks like Jordan Burley had a touch of brain fade and clipped the bails on the outside. However, he shakes his head and continues on the warm up lap. I’m meant to be lining up between Jase Augustine and Aaron Carmichael, but it looks like they’re in the wrong spots and it’s difficult to figure out exactly where the rows are. I end up beside Finn Harman even though he’s meant to be on the row in front of me but it’s his mistake not mine.

We’re off!! I don’t get a great start and neither does Aaron, but everyone else pulls a bit of a gap on us. Dan Nicholson, who chose to start at the back instead of on the crowded row in front of me, is on Scotty Moir’s little hybrid beast and eases past me into turn 1. I’m pleased to see the gearing isn’t so wrong for the blast from turn 2 to the esses, but once in the esses the bike drops well out of the power. Out of the esses Jase Augustine uses the SVs torque and easily drives past me on the run to the fast turn 5.

I’m having to use first gear out of turn 6, which means virtually stopping, getting the bike straight and upright before opening the throttle. The SV shows it’s bottom end again and Jase pulls an easy 20m on me. I make most of it back on the brakes but that’s not really the place you want to be making ground.

I spend the rest of the race chasing Jase. He gains ground out of the esses and turn 6 and I pull back a little bit here and there but he gains more than I can get back.

Lap 4 we’re heading down to the esses when the yellow flag comes out. Phil Munt has stuck it in the bails and is looking a little sore. The red flag comes out so that’s it for the first race.

The bike was handling better but it’s still not right over the bumps near the turn 1 apex. I was having to take a straight line through that part of the corner so that it didn’t matter if the front wheel wasn’t quite touching the ground, which meant I was slow. Through the esses there was still a vague sense that it wasn’t quite right.

Now that you’ve read about the race here’s a video of it using the gyrocam.

NOTE small browser windows may end up with half of the video cut off so view it YouTube instead https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A59VZQmXD68


By now it’s sunny and stinking hot. But the sun has brought the crowds and there’s a very steady stream of people through the car park.

Race 2 and everyone has figured out where they’re meant to be this time, although that doesn’t mean I get a better start. I’m starting from the far left side, the inside for the kink and I’m not quite able to get my nose in front of the rest of my row so I back off and let the others have it. I’m still trying to get some confidence in the suspension set up and I’m not interested in pushing anything so 3 bikes go past me.

Into turn 1 and again Dan Nicholson eases past. Out of the esses and once again Jase Augustine’s SV hauls arse past me. I’m left chasing Jase but I’m still holding back so he eases away from me lap after lap. Nobody crashes this time so we get the full 6 laps in, although Richard Markham-Barrett disappears on lap 4 but maybe that’s a mechanical issue with the NSR300.

We get things packed up fairly quickly and make tracks. I know trying to get across the bridge is always a mistake so we take the long way, which always ends up being faster as it’s only 10 minutes longer.

NZSBK is the following weekend but I won’t be riding. I decided I’d help out instead of riding as the Hamilton club is running the weekend and I want it to be a success. Besides, it already has the largest number of entries so volunteers will be needed.

I’d like to thank

  • My pit crew for helping hand
  • Clayton @ Paice Engineering
  • Robert and Denis @ Kiwi Suspension Services
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Dillon and Jo
  • My wife
  • The Paeroa Trust and the AMCC for putting on a good event







]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6761-Paeroa-Battle-of-the-Streets-2017 2016 Suzuki Series Round 1 @ Taupo https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6666-2016-Suzuki-Series-Round-1-Taupo Wed, 07 Dec 2016 08:41:38 GMT






Last race day I was having problems with handling after changing the bike’s geometry while, ironically, chasing improved handling. I’d been getting the opposite of what I was expecting; dropping the front made the steering heavier instead of lighter, the back end was coming up under brakes as if the front was sitting up higher, a neutral throttle through corners was pushing me wide instead of bringing the front in.

Figuring out how to fix these problems meant talking to Robert Taylor from KSS a few times and then changing multiple settings, something that isn’t recommended. However, with the Taupo Suzuki Series round fast approaching I didn’t have the track time to be able to test each change separately so I was going to have to take a gamble and hope the changes were enough.

One of the long list of things I had to do with the bike before heading to Taupo was to clean the brake pistons. While doing so I discovered the pads had worn much quicker than expected and there was no way they’d last another race meeting. Heading into Honda Hamilton late on the Friday afternoon I found out there weren’t any on the shelf so they’d have to order them in for next day pick-up. Saturday was looking busier and busier by the second.

Saturday I had a million things to do before getting to the track by 3:30pm to sign-in, get set up, do scrutineering etc so it meant I wasn’t able to go and support my regular pit crew, Cherie, who was doing the Half Iron Maori in Napier. She and Kari were taking on something they never thought they’d do and it was great seeing their dedication and progress over the last few months.

On Sunday my wife and I had the most relaxed race day morning ever. We weren’t leaving at 5:00am for once, the early morning view out of the motel window was the stuff of romance novels (so I’m told) and it all felt positively luxurious.

At the track it was relatively tight with four of us in a pit shed. Frenchy was a life saver, testing and labelling my electrical gear as required by the Health and Safety rules, something that had been on my list for Friday/Saturday but hadn’t happened.

At Riders Briefing we were told the Qualifying sessions would be 20 minutes instead of the shorter sessions listed in the programme. This pleased me as I needed time to properly bed in the brake pads. However, it meant that we had a long wait until we got on track so there was going to be lots of time for the nerves to get me.

Heading to the dummy grid for Qualifying I’m nervous, aware that the brake pads haven’t been run in yet, feeling like the bike is crooked and it’s obvious that virtually everybody is waiting in the sheds to try and avoid traffic.

I’m out on track cautiously testing the brakes and getting heat into the tyres. After a lap and half I up the pace and start working on a lap time but things aren’t feeling fast. I’m starting to push on but there’s fast guys coming past me on a regular basis. They’re giving me plenty of room but usually I time things so that I don’t see any of them until the end of the session, giving me plenty of time to work on a decent time without any hassle.

A number of times a lap I’m wondering what the hell I’m doing out there but I keep plugging away, pushing harder and harder until I start making mistakes. Once that happens I head into the pits as I’m more likely to go slower or crash than go faster.

Once the times are up I’m disappointed to see that I’ve only gone as fast as my last club meeting, a time which puts me in 21st place, much slower than I should’ve been going and behind guys I’m usually right with. To make things worse I’m right on the inside, somewhere I don’t like to be in such a big field as everybody is usually braking in all sorts of random places for turn 1. Usually it’s far better to be on the outside and brake as late as possible, carry more speed and not get caught up in the pack. Of course it’s only possible if nobody crashes and takes you out but I’ve never been taken out yet.

The thing I hate about the large meetings is the amount of sitting around waiting. Lots of people get straight out of their riding gear into something much more comfortable but I don’t normally bother because getting in and out of my boots is more hassle than I’m willing to put up with, so I just sit around in my leathers feeling nervous and complaining a lot.

It takes ages to get to our first race, F3 being the last solo class before the sidecars.

Rolling down pit lane to the dummy grid there’s a lot more riders waiting than there were for Qualifying.

The lights come and … crap they went out quickly!! We’re off!!

I got a decent start but right beside me Rob Edwards on an SV got an excellent start. Thankfully I had a clear path to move to the outside, catching Rob and everybody else at the end of the straight.

I aim for the outside of the group, braking much later than all of the others. Unfortunately, there’s a huge jam of bikes at turn 1 forcing Rob and a couple of others wide and blocking me from going around the outside of everyone.

Out of turn 1 all of the other bikes gain a few metres so I’m stuck at the back of the pack. We’re going 2 and 3 wide into most of the turns, everyone trying to pull an advantage on everybody else.

End of the first lap I’m part of a group of 5. We’re all dicing, trying to get past Rob who is the least experienced racer in the group. He almost gets cleaned up by one of the others trying to take the outside line on him into turn 5. Once past Rob he waves an apology and gets on with it.

End of the straight I use the top end speed to get past Jase Augustine but it makes me slow through the last chicane so Jase gets good drive and takes the inside line into turn 1. I retake him around the outside of turn 3 but he goes around the outside of me at turn 5.

I make a couple of little mistakes, letting both Rob and Jase gap me a little bit. Settling down I work on getting back in touch with them. Again I pass Jase at the end of the straight. This time I hold him off for longer but he still gets me back.

End of the main straight I pull ground back on both of them but I can’t get them. Onto the start/finish straight Jase is lining up an inside pass on Rob so I move further left and take both of them under brakes. I’m really late braking and run wide, fully expecting to see one of the other two taking advantage of the gap I left but they don’t appear.

I really start to push hard, fully expecting to see one of the SVs poking a wheel up the inside somewhere but it doesn’t happen.

Things are feeling really good. I’m on the limit of the tyres through turns 4, 8 and 9, the rear end pumping on the exits. Out of 4 the pumping turns into a tail wag when I hit the brakes into 5. Into turn 7 the brakes are getting snatchy because my timing isn’t quite right, the weight not transferring quite fast enough.

Ahead I can see Steven Gregg. The last time he was in front of me I ended up with a broken Clavicle, he got a front wheel to the chest and Drew got a bike to fix so I decided to prevent that from happening by catching and passing him.

I’m pushing hard but the day has gotten really warm and I’m cooking inside my leathers. I’m reeling Stevie in but he passes Mike Cross and they both up the pace a little. They’re both quick enough that I can’t close the gap before the end of the race so I end up finishing 18th, three places ahead of where I started.

Cruising back to the pits I’m roasting and super pumped up on adrenaline. I’m also sure something has gone wrong as my handle bars are both hitting the fairings when they shouldn’t be. It turns out I was riding so hard that both bars rotated backwards about 10 degrees and dropped down the forks about 3mm.

I’m so hot I go through the bother of getting my boots off and out of my leathers while talking to Frenchy. He tells me he was impressed with how I rode that race and I’m really pleased to hear that as he goes hard and respects those that don’t give up. That’s the icing on the cake and that race was the best I’ve ridden for ages.

Looking at the results I’ve gone against my usual pattern of barely improving on my qualifying time by knocking 3.8 seconds off it for a new PB!

Tightening up my handlebars it turns out one of the bolts has stripped the head so it wouldn’t do up properly. Asking around I eventually have to replace it with a cap screw instead of the usual socket cap, but at least it’s the same pitch.

By the time we get to our second race things are running very late so we have to hustle.

Out on the grid I’m sure this will go the same way as usual. That is, everyone getting faster in the final race except for me, but I’m not going to back off.

This time I’m ready for the lights, although it doesn’t help as the result is almost exactly the same as the first race. I’ve moved over for the outside line and again the mass of bikes in turn 1 makes Rob push wide and he blocks me again.

As in the first race all the bikes with bottom end pull a couple of metres on me out of turn 1 but this time Stevie has gotten caught up and is now immediately in front of me. I latch onto the back of him as everybody goes 2 or 3 wide into corners again.

I can’t quite make a pass at the end of the main straight so I look for the inside into turn 1 when everybody sits up and watches Richard Ban’s bike doing cart wheels off the end of the straight and into the pit lane exit.

We know it’s going to be red flagged but you race to the flag so we charge through the infield until the red comes out at turn 5.

After a slow procession back to the pits we’re all sitting at the dummy grid waiting when they send us back to our pit sheds and announce that the Sidecar race has been moved forward and ours has been postponed by 15 minutes.

After the sidecar race we all roll down to the dummy grid but we’re held up. There are two ambulances there but they’re both dealing with Richard and aren’t ready to cover our race. It’s going to take at least another 15 minutes before they’re ready but we’ve already overrun the deadline for shutting down so our second race is cancelled.

Over the PA we hear that F3 will get an extra race at Manfeild to ensure we get the same number of races as everyone else but that’s no use to me as I won’t be going to Manfeild.

Packing up we have to wait to get the car near the shed and once we do we get blocked in so packing up is slow, leaving time for a much needed beer. We wander around the pits for a while and eventually hit the road, extremely pleased with how things have gone.

I’m looking forward to next year’s Suzuki Series.

Thanks to:
  • my wife who laughs when I tell her we’re spending a romantic weekend in Taupo …… at the race track!
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Frenchy for the electrical testing
  • all of the volunteers and Cemetery Circuit for making it all possible




Photo: Hamilton Motorcycle Club






]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6666-2016-Suzuki-Series-Round-1-Taupo HMCC Putoline Winter Series Round 3 @ Taupo https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6599-HMCC-Putoline-Winter-Series-Round-3-Taupo Sat, 15 Oct 2016 01:25:42 GMT Racing motorbikes you get to learn a lot about yourself. Things you didn't think you could do you find are possible. Fears you thought were you couldn't beat are overcome. Often we overcome physical, emotional and financial problems to do things we never thought we could do. Equally as important is recognising when you shouldn't be riding.

The weather forecast for the day wasn't looking good. It was going to be wet all day with little chance of drying out. However, the forecast for Hamilton was similar and there hadn't been any rain over rain overnight so I was hoping the met service was wrong about Taupo as well. The drive down was looking promising with mostly dry roads all the way.

Unfortunately, 10 minutes from the track we hit the rain and it wasn't looking like it was going to ease up. Pulling into the pits carpark my wife told me I didn't have to ride today. Never mind that we'd gotten out of bed at 5:00am and driven 2 hours. Never mind the work I'd put in to get the bike ready and set up and never mind the expense to get there. If I didn't want to ride we could leave.

I decided that seeing as we were already there I might as well sign in and see what happened.

Matt had found a pit shed and told me to get in with them. Kendal said they were going to get the wets on the bikes but I told her to it was more important to get signed in and the bikes through scrutineering; wheels could be done later.

At signin I found out that I'd forgotten to transfer the entry fee through so I was going to have to go find a money machine as there wasn't any EFTPOS at the track. Back in the pit shed Matt and Kendal were going to change to wets. They only had one set of spare rims so changing tyres on one bike would have to be done. Matt was getting stuck into it but things weren't going as well as hoped so I jumped in and started helping him out with both bikes.

We got the spare wheels onto Kendal's bike as she was in the first Qualifying session. The wheels were off Matt's bike but Riders Briefing was being called. I told the other two to go to Riders Briefing and I'd finish changing the tyres over and get the wheels back on the bike.

Working as quickly as I could, progress was good until I couldn't find the valve tool. I shot off to the briefing and asked Matt if he had it but he didn't. I couldn't inflate the tyre so I started fitting the wheel to the bike and we could inflate it later. The others got back from the briefing and we finished getting the wheels back on while I lock-wired the caliper bolts.

The rear wheel on Kendal's bike wasn't turning properly; it looked like the stupid rear brake caliper had jumped out of its slot and was jamming. Her qualifying session was out in 2 minutes so we whipped the wheel off again but even with the caliper properly located the wheel still wouldn't turn properly. The piston seemed to be jamming. Matt pulled the pads out but the piston wouldn't move so I gave it a quick blast with brake clean and undid the bleed nipple so we could push the piston back.

The pads went back in, everything was done up, the caliper back on, the wheel back on, it spun freely so we got everything done up and the bike off the stands. I tell Kendal she's missed most of Qualifying so just go out and get a feel for being on wets and also take a look at the dodgy little chicane onto the back straight.

She heads out for her first ever Qualifying, which also happens to be her first time on wets. She only does a couple of laps when she sees the guys in front of her heading into the pits. As she missed most of the session she assumes that it's the end of Qualifying but for some reason the chequered flag doesn't go out and the guys still out there end up with an 18 minute session. It's at this stage we point out the importance of riding to the flags.

Once Kendal's session is done I'd already resigned myself to withdrawing from the meeting and helping out in the pits. I'd missed riders briefing, I hadn't gotten the money to pay the entry fee and my bike was still on the trailer and hadn't been through scrutineering. I guess my wife could see I wasn't in the right space to race as she'd suggested a number of times that I shouldn't.

Things have calmed done in the pits and Kendal's 2 laps qualified her in a very good 5th place. Matt's Qualifying is out and he does well to qualify 10th in his first time on wets.

First race, the rain has stopped and the track is still wet but there’s very little standing water. Kendal gets an ok start, latching onto the back of the pack into turn 1. She rides a solid race and finishes just 1 spot behind where she started, not getting lapped like the 2 guys behind her, so she hit all of her targets for her first ever race.

Race 4 and Matt gets a good start but gets held up for the first couple of laps. He manages to to push on and eventually get through the pack of 3 bikes to finish a very creditable 3rd place.

Race 7 and Kendal gets a better start, but so does everyone else. She spends the entire race trying to find a way past David Hamilton but gets frustrated by his straight line speed and she’s not able to get past on the corners. Everyone is faster in this race; she finishes back in 8th place after getting lapped by a pirate who lapped everyone up to the 4th place finisher.

Leading up to Race 10 Matt is worried that it’s too dry and that he’ll have to change to dry tyres, in which case he’d just pack up for the day. But I tell him the track is cold enough and there’s still plenty of wet patches out there - that he’ll be fine on wets. Others are looking to change to slicks but I’m encouraging them to either stay with wets or put a slick on just the rear. Nobody is out on full slicks but there’s a couple in the Senior race with a rear slick and they use the extra grip to do well.

Race 10 and the rain is back, justifying Matt staying on full wets. Unfortunately, Nathan Jane has put a slick on the back but there was way too much water out there and Nathan slips back through the field, eventually finishing a very distant 5th. Meantime Matt is not having a good time, finding it difficult to get in a rhythm and he struggles to an unhappy 8th place.

Race 13 we send Kendal out and hear the sounds of panic behind us. Rob Edwards was leaving to get out on the grid when his pit crew spotted a spacer lying on the floor. They’re quickly trying to get the rear wheel out and the spacer in but it’s a bloody stupid SV650 rear so the caliper keeps getting in the way. Matt holds the caliper while Colin Box is getting the axle in. I’m jiggling the wheel, and Rob is getting the chain on and then making sure the spacer doesn’t fall out again. We get the wheel back on and send Rob out to start the race from pit exit.

Kendal gets a better start but she’s not able to get in front of David Hamilton before turn 1. The nod of her helmet tells me it’s good we can’t hear what she just said. For the rest of the race Kendal and David have a great battle, with Kendal getting David on the infield but he’s able to get back past her when he can get the power down. The races have been shortened due to a full track liquid spill that had held things up earlier. It turned out it wasn’t oil but it still had to be cleaned up. Even though it was shortened both Kendal and David were buzzing from having such a great race and they’re talking about it out the back of the pit shed.

Race 16 and Matt gets a decent start and has a much more settled race. He finishes in 8th place again but it wasn’t frustrating like his second race, so he’s happy with the result.

Packing up I carry things out to their van but as it’s like a game of Tetris getting everything into the van; I pile it all up outside and then grab some beers.

I didn’t race but it turned out to be an excellent day anyway. Had I raced it would’ve just been another average, cold, wet race day for me. But I was able to help turn a disaster into an excellent day for Matt and Kendal and I’m really pleased about that because stressing out and missing races isn’t the way to start a racing career. And my wife had a good day too - she didn’t end up having to be my pit crew and finally met Kendal. ]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6599-HMCC-Putoline-Winter-Series-Round-3-Taupo HMCC Putoline Winter Series Round 2 @ Taupo https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6570-HMCC-Putoline-Winter-Series-Round-2-Taupo Fri, 16 Sep 2016 10:01:19 GMT






Usually over winter I’ve tended to ride the odd track day and do the occasional race day. However, after the operation to remove the plate on my clavicle I’d missed everything at the start of winter. Also, with all the changes at Hampton Downs, the Winter Series has moved to Taupo and Play Day are no longer able to run there. The MotoHD days aren’t too badly priced but with the amount of rain we had over winter I had little motivation to get out of my nice warm bed. So by the time the HMCC Round 2 rolled around I’d had precisely one race day in 12 months.

The Test Day started off a complete and utter shambles. The PA broke so there was no way for the track staff to let everyone know which session was out and when. That and a couple of red flags saw Sloane Frost on track with Street Stocks/Juniors, both still circulating while the recovery vehicle was out there. It didn’t take long before a Riders Meeting was called and a few things were sorted out, including which flags meant what.

Once that was all sorted out and the track staff started using red and orange flags to show us which session was up things settled right down and the only problem we had to deal with was the wind. Out the back of the pit sheds it was gloriously warm and sunny, a beautiful spring day; on the other side of the sheds it was a bitterly cold, very windy winter day in Taupo.

Out on the track the wind made life difficult. Not only was it cooling tyres a lot, it made the bikes move around all over the place. Turn 1 entry was fine, but mid-corner the wind would hit and the bike would push and dip unpredictably. Into turn 2 the wind would catch the front wheel and make the bike dip suddenly. Turn 8 the wind would catch us square in the chest so we were acting like a parachute.

Later in the afternoon Matt Dunlop wanted someone to follow him for a while so I volunteered. Out on track Matt is nice and smooth, setting a good, quick track day pace. He’d pass a couple of slower riders and I’d have to wait a little before getting past them, then pour on the pace to catch him back up. It was the most fun session because I had a target that I could chase.

With a large number of entries the HMCC crew wanted to get as many people signed in and bikes through scrutineering as possible on the Saturday, which was fine by me otherwise I’d have to show up early.

Sunday morning, for the qualifying session I wait until everyone else has left the pits before heading out. I follow Steve De Groot on the Ducati 600 for a lap, warming up the tyres and loosening up. After passing Steve I start to push things more and more. It feels fast but I’m getting ragged, so it’s probably not fast at all. I decide to head in before the flag comes out when Leigh Tidman and Nathan Jane come past me, both of whom head into the pits as well.

Back in the pits I thought I’d done reasonably well but the timing sheets show I was slow. I shouldn’t really be surprised after almost a year of not riding.

Lining up on the grid the marshalls are sorting people out. Chris Cain is coming back towards me so I signal him to go forward into the spot in front thinking he’d lost track of the rows and the empty spot was meant to be his. The marshalls move through off the back of the grid, the flag goes up, it drops and we’re off!

I get an ok start, only losing a metre or 2 to the 650s on the same row as me while blowing past Chris Cain. Jon-Michael Tauri is on my outside into turn 1 and I’m slotted in behind Grant Erskine; Chris Cain goes around the outside of us but can’t make any progress until turn 2 where he darts up the inside of both bikes in front of me. Through turns 3, 4 and 5 everyone is still trying to sort themselves out but I’m staying out of it, not wanting to get into any incidents in the first lap of the first race.

Things start to settle down a little and I for the moment I’m happy to watch Grant Erskine dicing with the other 2 in front for the spot. Eventually he loses out when he doesn’t make it up the inside of Jace Augustine and Jace cuts across his nose into the final chicane.

Onto lap 3 and I’m all over the back of Grant. Driving hard out of the turn 7 hairpin I blow past him around the outside of turn 8, using my normal, much faster wide line into the dodgy little chicane onto the back straight.

I’m quickly up behind Mike Cross but can’t find a way past him through the infield. His SV gets good drive out of turn 7 and I can only draw level with him before having to concede into the dodgy chicane. However, on the exit I run it wider, turn it faster and get on the throttle hard, crossing over behind Mike to draw up beside him before braking for the final chicane where I comfortably take the spot.

Jase Augustine is next and I quickly get up behind him, driving hard through turn 3 to take the inside line into turn 4. Steve De Groot has pulled a gap so I get my head down to see if I can pull it back. Into the dodgy chicane I brake hard, and the forks bottom out hard and the bars start slapping, all while heading for the tyre wall. I get it under control and get back into it but I’m wondering why it hit the bottom of the forks so hard as it hasn’t done so since I got the fluid level sorted out.

End of the race and I had pulled back some time on Steve but he was just too far ahead. A fun but fairly slow race where things were starting to feel good in the second half even though I was more than 2 seconds a lap off my usual pace around the short track.

Back in the pits, after having a look at the bike I found the right fork has fluid on it so it looks like I’ve got a blown fork seal.

For race 2 I’m not sure if the fork seal had been leaking for a while or just for minutes so I decide to try it out and see how it feels.

Out onto the grid and I’m sitting there with my visor up and the bike in neutral, waiting for the Marshalls to clear the grid. I’m watching them walk down the edge of the track expecting them to disappear off the back of the grid before signalling to the starter, same as they did in the first race. However, when they’re halfway along they turn and signal and the flag comes out!

The flag drops and I’m scrambling to get moving but I get a bad start and pretty much everyone rides straight past me off the line. Into turn 1 and I’m heading around the outside of the pack, but there’s bikes changing lines and jumping around all over the place so I only manage to pass Chris Cain. Into turn 2 and Chris comes back up the inside. I let him have it as the 125s are so nimble and fast through the infield so I’ll have little chance of keeping him behind me, especially while everyone is going 2 or 3 wide.

Things start to settle down a little and I’m tucked in behind Mike Cross. The bike is ok under brakes provided I don’t go too deep and late. However, the 3rd gear right handers are bad news, the front end pushing wide no matter what I do. I’m getting frustrated because I can only hold onto the back of Mike rather than quickly picking him off and going after the next target.

After a couple of laps I’m resigned to simply finishing the race rather than crashing. Once it’s finished and I’m back in the pits I ride straight out the back of the shed instead of getting it back on the stands and putting the warmers on.

An early end to the day but two days on the bike after not riding for almost a year mean I’m totally worn out.

Packing up and heading home we get 10 minutes up the road before someone comes flying past flashing lights and beeping their horn. We pull over to find the gas can had come loose and was dragging along the ground spilling fuel everywhere. After sorting that out we pull back onto the road and I see a ute pulling into the gateway we just left. Hopefully we don’t get chased by a farmer angry about all the fuel spilt in his driveway.

Thanks to:
  • Cherie for taking time out from training to help out at the track
  • My wife for putting up with all the bike stuff
  • Craig, Haylee and Vanessa @ Grey Street Motors
  • HMCC for a great event
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting







]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6570-HMCC-Putoline-Winter-Series-Round-2-Taupo MOTUL 6 Hour Endurance Race @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6181-MOTUL-6-Hour-Endurance-Race-Hampton-Downs Sat, 14 Nov 2015 06:55:23 GMT













I’d never done an endurance race before but I decided I’d enter the first ever Motul 6 Hour at Hampton Downs with Steve Jones and Matt Reichenbach and see what it was all about. What I hadn’t realized when we’d decided to enter was the date; they finally settled on the same day as my wedding anniversary, November 8th!!

Seeing as I was going to be racing that day both my wife and I decided we’d take the week following our anniversary off work and head to the beach. So instead of just the one day she gets to put up with me for a whole week.

I’d never raced my bike as a 600 but I certainly wasn’t going to be doing the endurance race on a 450, not with loads of litre bikes and 600s. So the weekend before I’d entered the AMCC Round 2 in the Clubmans class so I could figure out how to ride it as a 600. After a Qualifying and 3 races I’d gotten down to a time that would’ve kept me in touch with the back of the F2 field and that was all I was after for the first time out.

The Saturday before the 6 Hour was a Play Day. Matt was going to see if he could figure out how to ride the 600 and get some confidence in it rather than riding the SV. Steve had to work the morning but was going to get out in the afternoon and do some laps to figure some things out. I was there just to make sure the feel for the 600 from the previous weekend wasn’t a fluke.

Steve’s first session ended with him saying he’s out; he’s not doing that - it’s awful and dangerous. The back end was trying to overtake the front everywhere and it wouldn’t stay in a straight line. We changed some settings and got him back out and he came in saying it was much better but still not right. Nicki Smith started coaching him on how to get around this particular track and got her riding gear back on so he could follow her to see where to go. I measured the suspension up and nearly fell over when I saw the numbers, so immediately looked to up preload at both ends by a lot. His third session he actually looked like he started to enjoy. He was using my lap timer which showed he dipped under the time so we thought there was a good chance he’d qualify.

The thing that made the Saturday totally worthwhile for me was talking to Graeme Cole and the advice he gave me about tyres. What he told me meant I’d been going about things the wrong way and I’d been wearing tyres out while not getting the maximum grip out of them.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t organised a new rear tyre so at the end of the day I pulled the back wheel off the bike and borrowed Neil Neville’s tyre changing gear so I could flip the tyre over and put the worn side on the left. I was going to have to do the entire endurance race on second hand rubber and there was a big risk of spending a lot of the race sliding around trying not to lose the back end. Normally I’d use a tyre longer than the endurance race would last but usually it’s broken up into short bursts across multiple days so if I get things wrong and the tyre wears out prematurely I can replace it. For the endurance race I’d have to use it the entire day no matter what.

Sunday morning I get 10 minutes from home and suddenly wonder where my race licence is. We pull over by the side of the road and start digging through everything to find it. A few minutes later we’re heading home again, but I don’t find it there either. We get back on the road half an hour late, firing off texts to try and get someone to check and see if I left it with my bike and tools. Eventually Cherie got back to me and said it was with the bike so I didn’t need to get a day licence.

Sign-in was quick and easy but the rest of the morning just seemed to be hectic. Normally I’d be cruising around talking to people but this time we seemed to be doing stuff non-stop with no time to relax.

Riders briefing felt very much like an NZSBK one. If anything wasn’t perfectly clear and precise it got questioned and debated to the point of pissing people off. Eventually we make it through the briefing and everyone heads off to prepare for Qualifying.

Qualifying went according to the colour of the number on the bike. Red were first up, yellow next with blue last. So the order would be Matt, me then Steve. Both Matt and I were happy that we’d qualify easily enough but Steve hadn’t done a track day, other than the 3 sessions the day before, let alone raced anything, in 18 years. It was his road bike with road tyres and saying the suspension is soft with damping best suited to a broad range of conditions is being generous. Needless to say qualifying was going to be a mission for Steve.

Matt was nervous, but he always is before getting on the bike. He got out there and settled down to put in a couple of solid laps before coming in a lap early so we could get the transponder swapped over. On the bike and down to pit exit I was the first there and nervous as hell. I kept telling myself it’s just another Qualifying but things hadn’t gone like any other race day so far so it felt very different and that gave me the jitters. We sat there while they held us for a short while, waiting for the track to clear. I think it may have been one of the Augustine brothers falling victim to a cold left side of the tyre at turn 3 that was holding things up. Thankfully for him it was just a minor lie down and after he got back to the pits they pulled the grass out and he was ready to go again.

We’re released and Chris DeFiori has managed to push his way to the front and takes off like he’s on a mission, followed by the bloke beside me. I head out and build up my pace over the first lap until I hit turn 1 at full noise. Usually I’d do an out lap and one more to warm things up before pushing on but this time it’s already fairly warm and I’m going to head in before the end of the session so we can swap the transponder over to Steve.

Third Qualifying session and Steve’s out on track giving it a go. Jacob Stroud goes out but comes back in with a problem. They fiddle with the bike and send him back out but shortly after he’s back in again so Andrew gets on it to see if he can pin down the problem, which immediately earns them a 2 minute penalty and last position on the grid.

Unfortunately, the changes in tyre pressures we’d made that morning on Steve’s MV greatly improved the grip of the rear tyre, but it was too much for the suspension and now the bike was tying itself in knots. He gave it a good go but with the bike bucking and weaving all over the place Steve just missed out on the 1:19 required.

So, we were stuck. I was walking around trying to find out what the story is for us because we didn’t want to go home. I talked to Des Berghan and he said he was in the same situation as they weren’t sure the other two had qualified so we thought about combining the teams. However, as Gary Stirling is going shed to shed letting the teams know where they qualified, aggregate times putting us 22nd of 26, he reassured us that we were fine and we could start the race with two riders. I didn’t find that very reassuring at all as it meant doing 50% more work with drastically less recovery time between sessions. I already knew I was going to be a worn out, broken mess by the end of the day but now I had to soak up even more punishment.

Matt and I sat down and talked it out and we both knew we were going to start the race no matter what. We’d just have to suck it up and do what needed to be done, even it meant circulating at 1:25 or slower.

One thing that certainly wasn’t going to happen was me doing the LeMans start. I flat out refused to do it and said I’d start from pit lane if I was first up. Not only do I dislocate everything (shoulders, hips, fingers etc multiple times a year) making even a 10 meter run in motorbike gear risky but my bike requires the kill switch tether that’s attached to my glove to start. So either I pop a hip/knee/ankle and we’re done for the day or I take an extra few seconds of fumbling around to hook up the tether or I start from pit lane. Matt doesn’t want us to start from pit lane so he gets to do the run and first laps.

With that sorted I get to hold the bike for the start. If something happens and we drop the bike before he’s moving at least I can pick it up by myself.

Out on the grid we’re told none of those holding the bikes can leave the grass at all to prevent people pushing a bike halfway down the straight and getting run over.

I’m holding the bike up from behind and to the right, making sure that if Matt catches a boot or something while getting on he doesn’t knock the bike over. The entire time Andrew Stroud is telling his team the transponder is still on the other bike so they’re running around like headless chooks sending four people where only one is needed. Lucky for him there was about 90 seconds until the start otherwise he would’ve been sitting there waiting while everyone else was gone.

The lights go off and they’re all charging across the track. Matt’s on the bike, it fires up and he’s the 4th bike moving. Great start, but I should’ve left the bike in gear for him - we’ll know for next time.

Getting clear of the track we can see the bikes piling through turn 5 with Daniel Mettam in the lead. Out of turn 5 and there’s a bike down on the exit; Jamie Ward has had his usual first lap crash and the Team Forza Italia crew chief, Belinda Garrett, is charging down pit lane swearing.

Over the start/finish line and Stroudy has gone from the back of the grid to fourth. It’s difficult to find Matt but he’s made it through the craziness of the start and first lap fine. Next lap Stroudy has hit the front and is proceeding to gap everyone.

Nicki has the Race Monitor app installed on her phone so we’re watching Matt’s progress. He’s doing some steady times, making sure he lasts the day and doesn’t wear himself out in the first laps.

After 20 minutes a full course yellow is out and the ambulance flag is shown. Matt decides it’s a convenient time to do a rider change so I’m up. I get out there well before the pace vehicle passes the pits and head around to find the back of the queue, accelerating and braking a lot to get some heat into the tyres. I can’t see who crashed but I can see the marshals walking back to the marshal station from turn 4’s exit. Next thing I know Chris DeFiori is beside me. I keep accelerating and braking, leaving a bit of a gap to the next guy. Out of turn 6 and everyone is accelerating away but I’ve left a gap so we’re over 100m behind and trying to make it up. I leave room for Chris to come past cos I know he’s going to be quicker. Through turn 2 there’s a big cloud of dust on the outside of turn 3; looks like someone got bitten by Hampton Downs’ resident cold-tyre Taniwha.

I settle into some slow 1:18s, partly because I want to last the day but mostly because braking with so much fuel is horrible. The momentum of all that fuel means the bike doesn’t want to stop but I can’t brake harder because that additional mass is sitting up high and makes the back end lift very quickly so I’m taking things easy while it burns down.

Gradually my pace picks up and I reel off a string of 1:15s before dipping down into a 1:14. At this stage I come across a slower rider who looks like he’s carrying lots of fuel so I head up the inside of him into turn 4, hitting the brakes and my left hip immediately cramps up causing me to run straight ahead onto the grass.

I keep it upright, stretch out the cramp a little and ease back onto the track. It’s pretty obvious that’s the end of this session for me so I flick the light on to let the pit crew know and then do another 2 laps before heading in. The change over is good, the only problem is getting the transponder off my bike because it’s in an awkward place. Thinking about it we really should’ve moved the bracket while Matt was on track but sometimes the most obvious things are overlooked.

Matt’s second session is a bit quicker and a bit longer than his first one. He’s just reeling off the laps, doing times that will get him home and staying out of trouble. His next time into the pits I’m away without drama.

Out on track the bike is feeling very front heavy and slow, it looks like we’ve put too much fuel in it so burning it down is going to take longer, during which time I’m lapping slower. At one stage 3 bikes come past me all together and a couple of corners later there’s a yellow flag waving at turn 2 where two of those bikes have collided and gone down. There’s bits everywhere but the riders are walking away so they’re not hurt. I don’t think the bikes were able to carry on because the next lap I saw the drone picking up their transponders.

The entire session I’m conscious of the cramp I got in my hip so I’m moving around less and finding places to relax. It’s a slow, frustrating session and by the time I start dragging my toes around turn 1 I figure that’s a good time to head in because I’ll end up catching a footpeg and crashing if I stay out any longer.

Turns out I’m earlier than expected but we get things done and Matt is back out on track.

About 25 minutes later I’m out on track again and we’ve been a bit more careful with the fuel load so it’s feeling much better, although it’s still carrying enough to do lots of laps. After 4 or 5 laps I start getting a horrible feeling in my bladder, it’s filling up and wants relieving. The feeling only gets worse. However, Nick Southerwood comes past me and taps the back of his fairing for me to tuck in behind. I can’t stay too close to his SV because I’d ram him on the straights so I let him get a little bit ahead. He’s setting a good pace and I just keep him in front of me, trying very hard to ignore my bladder. I follow him around for quite a while until eventually he goes really wide and slow at turn 5. Looks like he’s got a problem changing gears. Passing him I’m starting to get seriously uncomfortable. I’m sitting way back on the seat and don’t slide forward at all. I can’t tuck in behind the screen on the straights because bending down is painful. I’m starting to shake trying to hold back the tide when Nick passes me again and pulls away. Either he’s sped up or I’ve slowed down a lot or both. It doesn’t matter because that’s the end of me for this session so I flick the light on, hope they see it in the pits and pull in the next time around.

I frantically pull my helmet and gloves off, abandoning everything on the floor of the shed and disappear out the back and into the toilet block. It’s such a relief it brings tears to my eyes.

At the track the mantra stay hydrated is heard all the time but it appears I’d overdone it. I didn’t know it was possible to over do that as I always assumed I’d sweat enough that any excess water wouldn’t make it to my bladder but I was most definitely wrong. Anyone who has ridden with a full bladder will know the pain. Trying to race with a full bladder is so much worse. You need to concentrate all the time but the only thing you can think about is relieving your bladder. You need to move to make the bike stop and change direction but you really just want to sit there with your legs clamped together. You need to relax so that you last the distance but there’s no way in hell you’re relaxing anything from the waist down.

During the next 30 minute wait I make three trips to the loos; the last time I was waiting with helmet and gloves on but I really needed to go again. I get my gear off and nip out the back but when I’m heading back to the pits I find Matt is already in with his helmet and gloves off so I hurriedly get mine back on and get to it.

This time out I’m so much more at ease, my bladder is totally empty so I’m comfortable moving around and also relaxing in lots of places. We’d had a spillage when refuelling and had to syphon some fuel back out but the gauge was saying I had plenty so I settled down and was really starting to enjoy myself again.

I wasn’t going as fast as my first session but I was getting quicker and quicker and finding more and more places to relax so I can last the enduro-distance. Usually I wouldn’t have my weight on the seat through a corner, instead I’d have my weight on the footpegs so the bike can move around a little if it needs to and I can control how much grip I’ve got. Having to spend so much time relaxing, I’m slowing the bike in a straight line, turning then just chilling out well before I get to the apex of each corner, staying really relaxed and stationary all the way through the middle of the corner and the exit. Each lap I’m surprised at how chilled out going fast can be and I’m developing new habits on the bike that can only be good later on.

Feeling a stutter on part throttle I look down and see the fuel tank is almost empty. That can’t be right because the gauge said I had plenty when I left the pits and fuel consumption has been insanely good. It’s been looking like the bike can carry enough for about 1.5 hours riding at 1:18 sliding down to 1:14s below half tank and it was over half full when I got on so I don’t know where all the fuel went.

I turn the light on, do a couple more laps and head in earlier than I’d expected. Matt isn’t ready yet so the change over takes almost as long as our previous one where I was in the toilet block. The lack of rest between sessions is getting to both of us and the changeovers are getting longer, the urgency has gone and now it’s just a relentless grind.

As we roll into the last hour we decide to put enough gas in it so that I can go to the end and once Matt is in I’m rolling again, fully prepared to do the last haul to the flag.

I’m finding even more places to relax on the bike. It must look wierd following me as I roll through turn 1 nice and fast then don’t move at all, staying in exactly the same position down to and through turn 2, finally moving to the other side of the bike for turn 3.

Something I am finding a problem is the stutter at about 80% throttle in the previous session is still there even though I’ve got plenty of fuel in the tank. I decide not to use that part of the throttle, rolling it on to about ? throttle then simply snapping it open past the spot where it stutters.

Times are starting to drop with the fuel load and doing so much relaxing during laps is making for a really enjoyable session. I catch up to Paul Garrett and marvel at how he’s made it through the day. Usually short races tire him out really badly but he’s been doing his share of the riding during this race and it’s great to see. The previous weekend it’d been quite difficult to get past Paul but the more conservative riding necessary for an endurance race means I can push hard around the outside of him at turn 6 and clear him before the straight where he’s fast again.

Soon after the bike starts to cough a little when I wind on full throttle. Within minutes it’s bogging down badly when hauling out of turn 5, barely even flashing the gear change light before braking for turn 6 when it’s usually flashing for half the straight. I do another couple of laps to see if it clears but it doesn’t and a bike coming past me very closely convinces me to head into the pits rather than risk losing power and getting rammed.

Thankfully the crew and Matt were prepared just in case something happened so he got out there and rode the last 20 minutes to the finish, taking the chequered flag 6:01:12.789 after the start in 22nd place.

Everybody is clapping when the bikes enter the pits. Not just for the winners, but for everyone that finished.

The atmosphere in the pits is different to other race days. Nobody is packing up and leaving yet. There’s plenty of beers appearing, lots of cameras around, lots of talking and congratulating each other and lots of relieved, smiling faces.

I wanted to do the 6 hour as I knew it’d help me with riding quickly again, because I’d felt that I’d lost the touch during the break from racing after breaking my collarbone. It definitely helped me find the feel for it again and also got me relaxing a lot each lap instead of being tense for 15 minutes straight. It’s no wonder I was feeling knackered after a single club race when I spent the whole thing stressing my muscles. Unfortunately, not moving much meant I was taking straighter lines into corners while braking and I was using lots of lean angle but not achieving faster speeds. Correcting problems with my riding on corner entry was something I’d hoped to do during the endurance race but I ended up going in the opposite direction, keeping the bike upright as long as possible, getting the part where I’m leaning done quickly then getting the bike upright again.

One thing I’m very glad I did was to lift the seat height and lower the footpegs. The bike is a lot more comfortable after that and if I hadn’t done it I probably wouldn’t have finished the day and only been able to do a few short sessions.

A bit of investigation later on and I think I’m the victim of the well known and common fuel pump failure the second generation CBR600RR suffered from. A racing pump is on order so we’ll see if that fixes the problem.

As for the fuel consumption in the fourth stint the fuel gauge is part of the fuel pump so the pump failing probably caused inaccurate fuel gauge readings.

We learnt lots and proved we could not just finish the race, but do it the hard-man style. Next time around we’ll be a lot more prepared ahead of time, having a communication system worked out for the changeovers, locating the transponder for faster transfers, being a lot more precise with the fuel and using our own lap timers to keep track of things.

It was a big effort and wouldn’t have been possible without these people. On behalf of Matt and myself, thanks to:
  • My darling wife who agreed I could go racing on our wedding anniversary and it only costs me a week’s leave!!
  • Cherie and Nicki for being our pit crew, especially Nicki who turned up to watch, saw we could use some help, got stuck in and helped Cherie the whole day
  • Matt's wife and The Little Pioneers
  • Gary Stirling and the Play Day crew for the best event of the year
  • AMCC, the ambulance crews and all the marshals and helpers
  • Neil Neville for the tyre changing gear on the Saturday
  • Graeme Cole from Red Devil Racing for the tyre advice
  • Steve and Nigel for the gas
  • Steve for putting up with the merciless wind up’s from me and Matt
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • MOTUL
  • Race Supplies














]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6181-MOTUL-6-Hour-Endurance-Race-Hampton-Downs 2015 AMCC Round 2 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6157-2015-AMCC-Round-2-Hampton-Downs Wed, 04 Nov 2015 09:29:56 GMT






Last time out didn’t go well so this time I was looking to have a much better day. I’d identified the problems and had come up with a solution, namely lowering the footpegs and putting a seat on the bike to give me a lot more room for my legs.

Making the bike more comfortable means less effort to move around so I’d use less energy and wouldn’t get worn out, both of which will be very important for the upcoming 6 hour endurance race. Round 2 of the AMCC series was going to be a test day for me, both for the improved ergonomics and also for my first time racing my bike as a 600.

During the week I’d converted it back to 4 cylinders, put new brake pads in and cleaned the brake pistons. However, while I was doing the brake pistons the piece of wood I had between the pistons to stop them from popping out too far fell out while I wasn’t looking and one of the brake pistons came out. Instant puddle of fluid on the ground and lots of swearing. It took an hour to sort it out. On the bright side I’m sure it was well overdue for a change of brake fluid anyway.

At the track I was feeling pretty nervous. I had no idea how different it would be racing, as opposed to just riding, a 600. Because I’d never ridden a 600 at Hampton Downs I decided I’d enter Clubmans, figure out how to ride the bike and then move up to F2 if I made enough progress.

Climbing onto the bike it immediately felt weird because of the new seat but also because I could only touch the ground with one foot. I guess that’s what it’s like to be short. However, I don’t need both feet on the ground so I ignored the problem.

Out for Qualifying I head down pit lane exit, give it some gas and immediately find out just how much difference a single cylinder makes, the bike is a lunatic now. Turn 2 I brake early but it seems like it’s too late and the bike feels out of control. I remember not to gas it when I normally do, waiting until I’m upright and pointed roughly in the right direction before opening the throttle again.

I manage 4 laps before the flag comes out, none of which are remotely fast as I’m still figuring out where to brake, I’m very cautious with the throttle and the bike feels like it’s out of control anytime the throttle’s closed.

Before this meeting I knew that it’d be braking that I’d have the most trouble with. I didn’t realise quite how much of a problem braking would be as the bike was lifting the back and bouncing on the brakes in the slower corners and shuddering a hell of a lot into the fast corners.

Sitting down and thinking about things I added a full turn of preload to the forks. The damping was fine and the air gap at the top of the forks is perfect but I needed to get some weight off the front so it wouldn’t dive so quickly. I wasn’t going to move the forks just yet so a bit more preload should help.

Lining up on the grid I’ve got Nick Olsen to the right and Tony Hoghedge to my left who is lining up on the car grid instead of the staggered bike grid.

The lights come up and we’re off …. nice and cautiously. I’ve never done a race start on the 600 and don’t want to loop it. It felt fine until the front came up very suddenly and I slammed the throttle shut, instantly losing some vital ground to the others. Into turn 1 I’ve got Paul Garrett taking the inside line and I end up ninth.

Taking it easy I fall in behind the pack but Varun Kohli passes me on the inside into Turn 2. I get him back on the exit of Turn 6 and set off after Nick Olsen and Simon Ramsdale as well.

Turn 1 is surprisingly easy to figure out as it’s exactly the same as on the 450, just braking about 80m earlier, so I bang it down 2 gears, let the brakes off and sail around the outside of somebody. The only problem is the bike is not behaving itself on the brakes, shuddering at Turn 1 and at other places it’s constantly lifting the back end off the ground.

Into Turn 5 I’m on the brakes late and the back comes up way more than it has been so I ease off then get on the the brakes again, only to have the back end come up once again. I ease off once more and have a third go at slowing down. By this time I’m almost off the end of Turn 5 so let the brakes go and turn it, getting around the corner but losing plenty of ground, although nobody behind me is able to take advantage.

I quickly find myself behind Anas Matar who pulls a gap up the hill but I’m braking way later than him and use lots of corner speed to get around him at Turn 1 for sixth place. Now I’ve got Douglas Oxenham and Paul Garrett off in the distance.

I try to settle down but braking is still a big problem and making any ground on the other two is very difficult. I pull some ground back but in the end I’m across the line in sixth place.

Despite the problems with braking my lap timer shows I was getting faster and faster each lap, knocking over 3.5 seconds off my Qualifying time. Fix the braking and things should improve quite a bit.

To do that I need to lift the front a little to stop so much weight going forward. Seeing as dropping the forks down through the yokes is a bit of a mission I opted for adding some more preload again. If that didn’t work I’d have to suck it up and lower the forks. I also added a bit more air to the front tyre so that it’s a bit more rigid.

Race 2 and Tony has decided to line up in the correct place this time.

Off the line and I get a better start than earlier. However, so does everyone else and I head into Turn 1 with Paul Garrett charging up the inside of me. Into Turn 2 I follow Paul up the inside of Nick Olsen and start looking for a way past Paul, but there aren’t any opportunities up the inside as he takes a tight line into every corner, braking all the way, turning quickly and using the low end and mid range acceleration of the Triumph. So I’m going to have to find a way around the outside of him but before we get to my strong parts of the track he overtakes Douglas Oxenham on the inside of Turn 5. Paul almost loses out to him in Turn 6 as Douglas tries to go around the outside but doesn’t quite make it.

Into Turn 1 I go for the outside of Douglas but don’t make it. I’m looking up the inside and outside to try and find a way past but it isn’t until we’re back around to Turn 1 where I again go around the outside and this time I make it easily. I should be behind Paul again but he’s snuck past Anas Matar (Nas) so I pull back the gap to Nas and I’m all over him out of Turn 6 but the power of the litre bike has me losing plenty of ground. However, into Turn 1 I go even later and faster than usual and exit the corner ahead of Nas. Funnily enough I don’t even notice that the braking is now significantly improved and almost all of the problems have gone away.

This time I’m definitely behind Paul so I have to figure out the tricky problem of where to get around him. I can’t at the slow corners because the 675 has too much low and mid range for me to do it. I could at Turn 6 but I’d have to make sure I was well past him in the first third of the corner as he’s always accelerating more than everyone else from there on so if I haven’t made it in the first third I won’t make it at all.

In the end I can’t do anything until Turn 1 again. The biggest problem for Paul is since he doesn’t have the use of anything below his rib cage turning the bike at high speeds is really difficult so he has to slow it a lot before turning. This leaves an opportunity on the outside of him.

After getting past Paul I go hard to close the gap to Damian France. For someone wearing a newbies vest he’s fast and it’s not all bike.

By Turn 1 I’m close enough to Damian but he’s dragging everything on the ground to stay in front of me so I don’t make it around him. I close back up into Turn 2 and ride around the outside of him at Turn 3 to set up a block pass on the inside of Turn 4.

Out of Turn 5 I’m slow because of the defensive line I take but he’s fast, able to drive past me on the run to Turn 6. Out of 6 and up the hill I’m not able to pull it back so Damian takes a very good third place with me in fourth.

This time the bike was much more settled and only lifted the back a couple of times so I added another turn of preload on the forks so it sits a little higher. The magic change that sorted it all was adding another psi to the front tyre. Because I’d changed to using an actual seat instead of a thin piece of rubber on top of the fairing I was sitting up a lot higher. Under braking this threw more weight to the front, making the tyre collapse and the front end would do crazy things. Adding a bit more air made the tyre stronger so it didn’t collapse.

Lining up for the third and final race I’m keen to have a good one as the bike felt great.

I get the best start yet, making it to Turn 1 ahead of most of the row in front of me, exiting Turn 1 in fifth place. The front four are setting a good pace but I’m slowly clawing back the gap to Douglas Oxenham until Turn 1 where I make up a heap of ground on him and go right around the outside into fourth place behind Nas. He’s using the power of the litre bike so he gaps me out of corners and I can’t make up the gap on the brakes and also pass him, so we get the concertina effect every corner. Out of Turn 6 I’m all over the back of Nas and the power difference is less pronounced at higher speeds so he doesn’t pull away as much as you’d think. I go for the outside of Turn 1 again but don’t make it past him and have to tuck in behind.

I line up on the outside of Nas around Turn 3, driving hard to get the inside line for Turn 4. Braking nice and late I stuff it into Turn 4 for a block pass, accelerating hard up the hill. Now I’m in third and Paul has been riding my coat tails the whole way, taking advantage of the gaps I’m creating to get past others and he’s up to fourth. Meantime I’m all over Damian France. I try to push around the outside of him at Turn 1 again but, like previous efforts with Damian, I can’t get past him there. Tucking in behind him I’m looking for gaps but it isn’t until Turn 6 that I stuff it up the inside on the brakes. I’m too deep though and run a little wide, leaving an opportunity for Damian to take the place back.

Into Turn 1 and I run the wide line again, carrying a lot of speed that I use out of Turn 1 on the inside line so that we’re side by side heading for Turn 2. I’ve got the line so Damian has to accept third place for now.

The gap to Derrick Zhu is around 8 seconds and it’s now the last lap but I’ve got some clear track; I’m flying.

Into Turn 2 I make a slight mistake, getting into the corner too early and having to stand it up which runs me wide for 3. I’m offline and running wide out of Turn 3 so try to make it up into 4, but make an even bigger mess of it all, running very wide and gifting Des Berghan second. Getting it all back together I aim for the inside line into Turn 5 but I’m too far back so I have to get out of the throttle and Des gets some free meters on the exit. Turn 6 I’m trying to make up the ground but Des has too much of a lead and I’m not able to get close enough to him before the finish line. However, even though I made mistakes over half of the lap it was still my fastest lap of the day, dipping under the 1:15 cut off for Clubmans.

A great day’s riding and most of it was because I’d fitted a seat and lowered the footpegs. Now the bike feels positively luxurious and moving around is no longer an effort. Even changing gears is much easier now I don’t have to twist my leg around to find the gear lever.

Most people find it hard to step up to a 600 but because I’ve already done tons of laps on it and had the chassis and suspension well sorted adding the extra power didn’t cause me any problems. Every lap was faster than the previous and I dropped almost 6 seconds off my Qualifying time so I’m confident I would’ve gotten down to a time that would’ve had me kicked out of Clubmans.

Next up is the practice day and 6 Hour Endurance race, after which I put the bike back to a 450 for the Suzuki Series race at Hampton Downs.

  • my wife
  • Cherie for all the help in the pits
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Dusty @ Leda Leathers for the awesome custom race suit
  • Steve @ SPJ Art and Design for painting my helmets







]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6157-2015-AMCC-Round-2-Hampton-Downs 2015 AMCC Round 1 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6070-2015-AMCC-Round-1-Hampton-Downs Thu, 22 Oct 2015 08:31:50 GMT






The AMCC Round 1 at Hampton Downs is the proper start of the summer racing season. I’d been hanging out for it as I’d had almost 15 months of recovering from the broken collarbone and very little racing.

Packing the car was a new adventure as we’d replaced the Golf with an Audi A3 this was it’s first time as a race wagon. It’s about 60mm longer but it’s not as tall as the Golf. It does, however, seem to have considerably more room inside it than the VW. Most of that is from the engine and firewall being pushed forward and a lower floor so everything fits in with room to spare.

I stopped having McDonalds for breakfast on race days quite a while back but a few months ago they started doing the Chicken McMuffin and I love it. One of those with a Hash Brown in the middle and a decent coffee from home is the perfect way to start the day.

Getting to the track I was wondering what the story with the sheds is now as Gary Stirling was no longer the Track Manager. I was assured by quite a few people that the new guy was carrying on the practice Gary started and was charging $25.00 for a spot in a shed so I started moving my gear into shed 4. I’d taken the generator and Eze Up just in case but I was relieved that I didn’t have to use them. Generators banging away all day just pisses me off. It’s not loud bike/car engines and all the racing and tyre squealing that gets to me, it’s the incessant drone of the generators that wears me down.

Pro Twin Junior has been folded in with us as has the 125’s so I’m expecting quite a few bikes but as I roll out of the shed for Qualifying I’m surprised there aren’t many bikes. I’m out on the track with nobody else around me. Things are cold and there’s a few drops of moisture on my visor. I’d changed the rear sprocket but I knew half way to turn 2 that two teeth smaller was wrong as the engine felt too lazy and I was going to be losing a heap of metres out of turn 5 again. I also realized I’d left all of my rear sprockets at home even though I’d brought a grinder and chain breaker/riverter with me.

The engine felt slow and the chassis felt vaguely like a chopper, front end high/back end low. I figured it was the cold rear tyre so eased up to speed but the feeling never quite went away. A couple of laps from the end Nathan Jane came past me into turn 2. Watching guys who learnt to race 2 strokes is great. The 2 stroke corner speed with the 4 stroke drive off the corner is fast. Soon after Qualifying is over and it feels like it was shorter than usual, but it isn’t.

Sometime later I wander over to see where I am on the grid but the times aren’t up yet. Quite a while later the final Qualifying session is about to finish and there still aren’t any times up. The Posties Qualifying ends and there’s a delay announced due to technical difficulties with the timing system.

Eventually the grid for the first race is up but the rest of us have to wait. Finally our grid positions are put up and it’s worse than I thought it was, head of the fourth row of four.

Out for race 1 and I’m not too concerned about somebody stealing my spot this time so I take my time getting around to the grid.

The lights come up and we’re off!!

I get a crap start, probably because the different sprocket needs a lot more clutch slipping to get moving. I have to clutch it a bit but that pops the front up so I’m already behind. I pull back what I lost but lose it all again in turn 3 when I almost ram Matt Raichenbach as he closes the throttle to avoid someone else. Now the gap is even bigger than it was off the line. I gain a little bit back through turn 5 but on the exit I lose 25 meters, this is going to be a crap day.

The rest of the race I spend pulling back a few meters through most of the track, only to lose a lot more out of turn 5. I could gain more but it won’t hold a line through the fast turns 6 and 1. Changing the sprocket altered the rear axle position which lowered the back end and raked out the front and that’s why it feels like it up in the air.

By the end of the race I’m 4 seconds behind and annoyed.

After the race I need to fix the handling so I pull the forks up through the triple clamps by 2mm. It doesn’t seem like much but it’s enough to put a little more weight on the front, which lowers the front more and reduces the trail so the bike turns.

It seems that lately I’ve spent far too much time sitting around waiting between races. This time there’s a few delays for accidents, including a 6 bike pile up that probably earnt the entire 250 class a loud telling off for ignoring flags. Also I’m very aware that I let myself get dehydrated in Taupo and it completely ruined the rest of the day for me so this time I’ve walking around sipping on my water bottle.

Eventually we get to our second race so I head out to the grid.

This time I get a better start and I’m with the group all the way through to turn 5 where, predictably, I lose a whole bunch of ground. The bike is feeling much better and I gain ground back everywhere, especially through the fast turns but it’s nowhere near enough to make up for what I lose out of that one turn.

By lap 5 the group in front have pulled a large gap on me and I keep hearing another engine but when I glance back I can’t see the bike. Out of turn 5 I look to my left but Rod Gibson appears on my right, leading through 6 before I blow past him on the start/finish straight.

Last lap and this time Rod squeezes around the outside of me in turn 5 before pulling it back to the apex, forcing me to back out of the throttle. I get level with him into turn 6, taking the inside and pushing him out wide. The 125’s can carry enormous corner speed so he manages to get all the way around and across the front of me. It’s close but I’ve got the horsepower to get past him on the drag to the line, finishing just 2 hundredths of a second ahead of him.

The bike felt a lot better and I felt good but it turns out I was fractionally slower than in the first race. I put it down to getting on the throttle later in corners as it felt like it wanted to run wide when I gassed but it should’ve done exactly the opposite. Maybe I needed to lift the forks a bit more but I decide to leave it as it’s probably me rather than the bike.

Third race I get my best start of the day, sticking to the back of the group before repeating the same pattern as the earlier races, gain a little everywhere but lose a lot more out of turn 5. However, this time I’m able to put a decent gap between me and Rod Gibson so it’s just a lonely, rather boring and very frustrating ride to the finish line.

This was one of the most disappointing race days I’ve had. Certainly not the worst as I had some absolute shockers with the Triumph, but I left the track feeling like I had lost a lot of feel and speed since breaking my collarbone. On the plus side dropping the footpegs has made things a lot more comfortable and I’m in considerably better shape at the end of the day. The new seat has turned up so once I fit that it should feel positively luxurious.

Next up, Round 2 and my first race on a 600!!

  • my wife for not yelling at me too much for racing with titanium bits in me
  • Cherie for all the help in the pits and putting up with me when I got too much caffeine in my system
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Dusty @ Leda Leathers for the awesome custom race suit
  • Steve @ SPJ Art and Design for painting my helmets








]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6070-2015-AMCC-Round-1-Hampton-Downs Garth Spooner Memorial R1 @ Taupo https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6064-Garth-Spooner-Memorial-R1-Taupo Mon, 12 Oct 2015 01:50:18 GMT






It's been so long since I raced at Taupo I was really looking forward to it. Chances are it was going to be cold (cos it's Taupo) and wet (cos it's not Summer yet) and I felt like I was totally unprepared but I was still looking forward to it. I really like riding at Taupo because it's so different to Hampton Downs. At HD it's all straights connected by corners except for turn 2 into 3. Even turns 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 they're far enough apart that they're treated like separate corners. At Taupo, turns 1-5 are a single series, 6-9 are another and 11-13 are yet another series and with each if you get the first turn wrong you're screwed for the rest so getting it right every time is a must.

Saturday was a track day and I wanted to get some practice in as it’s been over 18 months since I last rode at Taupo so we got away to an early start to make sure we got there in plenty of time.

I skipped the first session as I was only wanting to do 4 out of the 6 for the day and Taupo can tear the crap out of Metzelers when it’s cold. So I went out in the second session and things felt awful. I was cramped and couldn’t move around and it felt extremely slow.

The second session was marginally better now that I had stretched out a little and the track was getting a bit warmer. However, I was definitely having trouble with braking so I measured the suspension sag and reset it to something a fair bit firmer.

The third and fourth sessions were much more enjoyable and I was feeling a lot more comfortable on the bike with my last session being my fastest of the day.

There was still one more session left but I wasn’t going to do it so once signing in and scrutineering for Sunday started I got that sorted out and all I had to do in the morning was turn the tyre warmers on.

Sunday was looking like a much better day, clear skies and the promise of lots of sun although in the shadows it was still icy cold.

I was cross entered into ABJ and F3 with the ABJ Qualifying first session of the day.

Both Qualifyings went well although I was still feeling slow and it showed with times toward the back of the grid. We hadn’t put any fuel in before F3 Qualifying so I cut that short to make sure I didn’t run out of gas and be the first person to get slapped with $400.00 fine. The Metzelers really don’t seem to like Taupo when it’s cold, a fact backed by stacks of shredded K1s and K0s in various sheds though out the middle of the North Island.

I was up for the first and third races out of six so there wasn’t much time to sit around.

Heading out to the grid for ABJ race 1 I was feeling good and was happy to have a grid position on the rights side so I could aim for the outside of turn 1.

The lights come up and .... Matt Reichenbach directly in front of me jumps the start by a mile and out of the corner of my eye at least 2 others have as well. The lights go out and I get a reasonably good start but things are a mess because of the guys that jumped. Somehow everyone gets away without any crashes so I aim for the outside of turn 1. I'm around the outside Lee Cummings and Blair Robson but the mess on the start grid has moved to turn 1 and there's bikes everywhere on all sorts of lines and I have to back off to avoid hitting anyone, losing the places I just gained. Turn 2 and things are only marginally better, Blair Robson getting squeezed and almost taking out the backend of the bike in front of him.

Turn 3 I'm trying to go around the outside of Lee while he's trying to go around the outside of Blair, neither of us making it far enough past. Turn 4 things are marginally better again but turn 5 the group in front is going 3 wide and that doesn't work. Everyone makes it through though and things start to spread out a little on the short blast to 6 and 7.

I’m all over the back of Lee Cummings but as we pass the start/finish line I can see the starter holding out a sign. I can’t read it clearly but I see a “3” is the last digit and wonder if it’s a warning for cutting the dodgy chicane a little bit (about 0.5m as I was unsighted by the bikes in front and didn’t quite get onto the correct line). This makes me back off a little, enough that those in front of me start to pull a little gap. After a couple of laps there’s no other warnings and I’m not caring anymore so wind it back up, making the biggest gains by taking the correct line into the chicane. By the last lap I’m almost close enough to put a move on Lee but I’m too late as the chequered flag comes out.

Into the pits I wander over to the start box and talk to Paddy who tells me the sign was for “33”, not “43” so I should’ve kept going hard and gained some places.

About 4 laps into the next race the red flags come out and the Superbikes and 600’s are into the pits. After a couple of minutes they’re all sent back to their sheds while everyone chills out. However, the delay gets longer and longer and it’s obvious the Paramedics aren’t moving the rider, rather they’re waiting with him until an Ambulance arrives. Due to the number of sporting events on in Taupo it’s over an hour before an Ambulance turns up. However, even then they’re not moving the rider. While standing next to a Marshal we hear an Air Ambulance has been called for and they’re going to land it on the track right next to the rider. Once the helicopter turns up and lands they power down straight away and now the guy has 8 EMTs and even more marshals getting him comfortable and ready for transporting. Eventually he’s in the helicopter and away to Rotorua, but by now it’s after 2:00pm.

After lots of hurried discussion amongst the officials a riders briefing is called and we’re informed that the accident wasn’t fatal and the rider will survive, it’s just that his injuries were so painful he couldn’t be moved. In the end he’s released from the hospital 3 days later so his injuries can’t be too major.

At the riders briefing we’re informed that all of the AB’s and BEARS races have been dropped in favour of squeezing in 2 very rapid rounds of races. We’re back into it with just 4 classes but it means everyone gets 2 races for the day while those of us lucky enough to be in the first race will get 3.

We’re up second in F3 with a reshuffled grid and I’m not feeling the greatest. It’s difficult to concentrate, I’m tired and listless and having lots of problems getting my head back into it. However, I line up on the grid hoping I’ll come right soon as the lights go out.

I’m all the way over on the left, which is the worst place to be at Taupo as turn 1 gets jammed up fast and you get locked in while everyone rides around the outside.

The lights go out and I launch but suffer the Drag Racers nightmare - tyre shake. Tyre shake happens because tyres need to slip a little when you’re launching. If they don’t then the tyre deforms, the tread staying still and the inner tyre is moving making it distort around the wheel. Shortly after the tyre releases and snaps back to shape causing the vehicle to bounce. It feels a lot like bunny hopping except it’s not the engine that’s causing the bounce, it’s the tyres.

Tyre shake makes for a bad launch so I’m behind the pack going into turn 1. Settling down I try to set a good pace but I’m really not into it and the bike is starting to slide around a lot, 6 days on a set of tyres is just too much. I’m gradually reeling in Peter Woodford when, on the second to last lap, Leigh Tidman comes flying around the outside of me into the dodgy chicane. He quickly passes Peter and Matt Reichenbach as well before taking the chequered flag. I’m right beside Peter’s wheel across the line.

That bike of Leigh’s, a WR450 engine in an RS125 GP bike frame, is virtually unbeatable on Taupo’s track 2 and Leigh was laying down times that would’ve put him 2nd in most of the F1 races ahead of everyone except Andrew Stroud and Connor London.

After that race I decide to pack up and head home, not realizing that I was suffering from fairly bad dehydration. Had I figured it out earlier I could’ve done something about it and done the third race, but when you’re suffering from it you don’t realize you are.

After much analysis of things I’ve concluded that I need more room on the bike for my legs so padding the seat and lowering the footpegs are the two options I’ll be looking into. I also need to less trail on the front end without messing with the weight distribution as it’s super stable, but that makes it difficult get around tight turns, such as turn 1 and turn 7. Unfortunately changing the trail without changing the weight distribution means getting different triple clamps and because of the relatively short production life span of my bike that’s proving to be very difficult.

The next month is going to be exciting as I’ve got the 6 Hour Endurance race at Hampton Downs where I’ll be running the bike at it’s full 4 cylinder 600cc.

Thanks to
  • my wife for not yelling at me too much for racing with titanium bits in me
  • Cherie for all the help in the pits
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Dusty @ Leda Leathers for the awesome custom race suit
  • Steve @ SPJ Art and Design for painting my helmets







]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6064-Garth-Spooner-Memorial-R1-Taupo HMCC R3 Shoei Winter Series @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6056-HMCC-R3-Shoei-Winter-Series-Hampton-Downs Tue, 01 Sep 2015 08:57:40 GMT





It seemed like forever since I was last racing and thinking about it this would be only the second full race day (provided nothing stopped me from finishing the day) in a year.

I had a list of things to do to the bike but due to real life stuff the priority of that list dropped until I forgot what I'd done with it. I'd definitely changed the oil and filter and lock wired everything back up so the only thing I really needed to do was clean the brake pistons. It's a job I hate but it's necessary.

Instead of the usual soapy water and tooth brush I'd decided to try out something I'd heard about, using a small steam cleaner. The brake system gets hot enough that the heat from the steam won't hurt anything and the steam cleaners pressure isn't high enough to blow past any seals so it seems like an ideal way to clean them. Steam to heat and loosen stuff up followed by soapy water and tooth brush worked brilliantly. Only brake cleaner does it quicker but that dries out the seals and can damage them.

I forget to set the sag and can't be bothered as I'm just looking to ease into things and finish the day.

For Qualifying our timing is out a little and I'm rolling out of the pits last with nobody else in sight. Everything feels comfortable and familiar as I'm rolling around the track checking it out. I gradually up the pace, waiting for the rest of the pack to come past me. Eventually Nathan Jane, Gerard Pijfers and Kerry Chapman ease past me and slowly gap me, little by little. I let them go, content just to keep riding my own ride and gradually upping the speed until I was doing a comfortable pace. By the time the chequered flag comes out I'm surprised only those three came past me and I didn't expect too much but after the second part of the Intermediate practice is done I'm sitting 15th on the grid out of 26, which is a bit further forward than I thought I'd be.

Rolling out of the pits for the first race I'm one of the last away, accelerating and braking all the way around to the start/finish straight. Rolling up to the grid most are in place already. I'm rolling along a line that takes me over every spot second in from the outside, stopping at the first empty one. Checking where I am I see I'm two rows back from my spot but there appears to be a Triumph Thruxton in my spot (a Triumph Thruxton complete with number plate and tail lights because it's a road bike). The grid marshall is already walking off the side of the track so I'm sitting there thinking "wtf??" but I've already got my head in race mode and I'm not looking to argue so I kick it into gear and wait for the flag to drop.

The flag drops and we're off!! .... except I'm not cos the bike popped out of gear when I released the clutch!! Into gear and taking off I'm dead last into turn 1 and now suitably pissed off at everything. Into turn 2 everybody is weaving around in front of me looking for a gap so I go around the outside of Phil Duthie and John Hegearty. Into turn 5 and John rides right around the outside which gets me out of the throttle, leaving an opening for Phil to power past on the exit. End of the short straight I'm back past Phil under brakes and go the long way around John past the pit entrance.

Charging through turn 1 I've got Malcolm Pearce, Jase Augustine, Aaron Carmichael and Kerry Chapman in front of me. Jase and Kerry get past Malcolm and I'm right behind him in turn 1, riding through a suspicious cloud of smoke coming from his left side pipe. I take a shot at passing Malcolm at turn 2, having to hurriedly back out of the pass as Malcolm is giving that big heavy Thruxton everything, throwing it at corners hard and fast. I blow past Malcolm on the short straight and work on pulling the gap back to Jase.

Quickly catching Jase I take him under brakes into turn 4. Aaron is past Kerry and backs into turn 5 looking alsorts of out of control, but he holds it together and keeps the spot. I power past Kerry and take off after Aaron. Driving hard out of turn 1 I surprise Aaron with a move up the inside at turn 2 which pushed me a little off line but Aaron isn't able to take advantage. Into turn 4 and Kerry Chapman charges up the inside of me. Because of the slight mistake Kerry gets a run on both of us.

Things start to settle down a bit and I just concentrate on gapping those behind me, not even focussing on those in front of me.

Last lap and I see Nathan Jane is down on the exit of turn 4. Crossing the line I've clawed my way back up to 15th from dead last and I had some good little tussles so I'm feeling pleased.

Talking to Malcolm Pearce afterwards he said that someone had stolen his spot so he took the next empty one, which was mine. The grid marshal also said he had the wrong piece of paper so he didn't know who was in the wrong places and had to signal we were all ready.

For race 2 I made sure I got out near the front of the pack and was cruising up to the grid nice and earlier. For some reason I had trouble getting it into neutral and started to panic a little as I didn't want any gearbox problems with rows of bikes behind me. However, the bike went into gear easily and when the flag dropped I got a good, clean start.

Tagging onto the back of the front group I could see Sean Bateman a couple ahead and picked him as my target. Into turn 3 and both John Hegearty and Kerry Chapman went around the outside of me while I got stuck behind another bike. Through turn 4 behind Kerry and here's Gerard Pijfers in the middle of the track trying to get his bike clear. Jacob Stroud was off on the grass after dodging Gerard and was heading back onto the track. Just as he was about to disappear from my vision the back wheel on Jacob's bike stepped sideways. Turns out he high sided on the grass and broke his collar bone. Low speed crashes suck.

Out onto the short straight I blew past Kerry and went after John on the exit of turn 6. I was quickly up behind Jase Augustine and got past him under brakes. Aaron Carmichael was pushing hard, getting it all sideways in a couple of places but managing to hold it together. I went the long way around Aaron up the hill and off in the distance I could see the next rider.

Getting my head down I got close enough to see I was closing in on Sean Bateman. He kept looking back to see where I was and every time he did I was getting closer and closer until I blew past him on the last lap to cross the line in 11th.

Last race I'm around to the grid early again. While we're waiting Gerard Pijfers hand goes up and he starts pushing his bike off the side of the track and isn't able to start. I guess something happened to the bike during the crash in the previous race and it wouldn't run.

The flag goes down and I get the best start of the day, charging through turn 1 without any competition. I'm pushing on much earlier in the race this time and quickly pick up Kerry Chapman, Jase Augustine and Aaron Carmichael and reel in Sean Bateman. By the end of lap two I'm past Sean and working on putting space between us. Every now and then I catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of Aaron but he's not getting any closer. Onto the last lap and I'm surprised to see Chris Cain is not far behind me. Seems Aaron overshot turn 5 and Chris snuck past him to claim 11th.

A good, fun day riding. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Summer racing.

Thanks to
  • my wife for not yelling at me too much for racing with titanium bits in me
  • Cherie for all the help in the pits
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Dusty @ Leda Leathers for the awesome custom race suit
  • Steve @ SPJ Art and Design for painting my helmets
  • Phil Smith for the excellent pics


Click image

Thanks to Phil Smith for the excellent pic






]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/6056-HMCC-R3-Shoei-Winter-Series-Hampton-Downs 2015 HMCC Round 1 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/5902-2015-HMCC-Round-1-Hampton-Downs Mon, 08 Jun 2015 03:44:05 GMT





The last time on my bike hadn't worked out the way I'd hoped it would, having done only 4 full laps before finding out the rear suspension was leaking and therefore dangerous.

After sending the rear shock off the Robert at KSS and getting the bike back together I was keen to bring the lap times down but the weather wasn't looking good.

Because the Intermediate class was so large Qualifying was split into two sessions, odd numbers and even numbers. The odds were out immediately after Clubmans.

I was keen to wear my nice new gear but I didn't want to get it all soaking wet and looking secondhand. For Qualifying the track was definitely a wet but there wasn't any rain in sight so I climbed into my new gear. Once Steve Jones showed me the paint job on my helmet I wasn't going back to my old gear cos I wanted to wear it all.

Needless to say everything felt different. I just cruised around for a couple of laps and got used to the different gear and foot pegs position. Not only was the track wet but because of the visor I had on and my glasses I could see oil in all of the corners except turns 2 and 3. But I knew I had to get on with things and I was already feeling comfortable so I decided to pretty much stick to the middle of the track and see what I could do.

With nobody around me I settled down and just got faster and faster until the bike started slipping and sliding, not helped by the fiddling I'd done with the fuel map to try and get better response at part throttle but instead it was rough and jumpy. Once it started sliding around and jumping too much mid-corner I couldn't really go any faster so I headed in, missing nothing as the chequered flag was already out.

Qualifying felt good and I was happy with the outside of the second row. Thankfully I'd remembered to take the lap top so I changed back to the map I normally use and I'll have to rethink the part throttle fuelling.

First race and I remembered that we hadn't turned the tail light on so I'd have to turn it on when I got to the grid. On the out lap I cruised through turns 2 and 3 and heard something going on behind me. I find out later that Sean Bateman crashed through turn 3. Into turn 4 I hear something loud and fast heading around the outside of me and out of the corner of my eye I see Nick Kampenhout going sideways, the back wheel catches and flicks Nick up and over the top. He's a lanky bugger and it's only slow so his feet are touching the ground almost the entire time but he's still crashed and won't make the start.

The flag came up and we're off!!

I got a pretty crappy start, going backwards all the way to turn 1. Into turn 1 and there's a bike up the inside of me and Jacob Stroud is going around the outside of everyone. Turn 2 I lose another place. Turn 3 and Gerard Pijfers goes around the outside of me and another, slipping and sliding and almost running off the side of the track. He backs off a little, gets it straight again then charges off to turn 4.

Getting involved in someone elses crash and breaking my clavicle has made me really wary around others, especially riders I don't know. Because of the different class rules for the Intermediate class there's only half a dozen that I've ridden with before and just about everyone is on wets so the bikes are moving around alot. Qualifying I was happy cos I was by myself but now with lots of bikes squirming and sliding all around me I'm getting spooked a lot so I'm backing off when I wouldn't normally.

After a couple of laps things settle down and I'm feeling comfortable. Jacob Stroud and Hamish Boyd are ahead of me and I'm staying with them. After following them for a while I'm looking for places to pass but coming around the very slippery turn 1 Dillon Telford is sliding on his arse while his bike is spinning around in the middle of the track. The 3 of us back right off and pass between Dillon and his bike, he's looking like he's going to do something stupid but resists the urge when he sees us. We hold station until we're around past the flag near turn 2 then get back on the gas but we end up holding the same places all the way to the finish line.

The weather looked to be holding so we decided to get the slicks back on the bike for race 2. The warmers had only gotten up to 45C by the time pit lane opened for the second race so I knew the carcasses were stone cold. The track wasn't any warmer so I decided to take it easy on the first lap and get some heat into the tyres.

I got a better start this time, although it still wasn't anything spectacular and still lost places into turn 1. I lost another before the end of the lap when I started to pick up the pace and take advantage of the slicks, easily taking Jase Augustine under brakes into 2 as he wasn't on slicks. Aaron Carmichael came past me in turn 5 but I blew past him out of 6 and took off after those in front.

Next lap I'm firing it out of turn 6 to see Ian Reed's bike upside down and he's not looking too flash. A lap later and I'm starting to see water droplets on my visor so I start to back off, knowing it's psychological rain but that's ok by me and lose a place to Aaron Carmichael. Into turn 1 and there's yellow flags out because Jacob Stroud has thrown Shane Lawery's ER650 down the road. Out of turn 1 and suddenly it's absolutely pissing down. It's so heavy even the guys on wets have given up and the red flags are out.

Back in the pits and one of my brand new gloves is full of water so I decide I'll go back to my old but dry ones. We take the belly pan off and there appears to be about 1.5 litres of water in it, that's from 3/4 of a lap. The rain was really heavy.

By the time the third race comes around I'm getting really grumpy at how things have gone and decide that I'll do the warm up lap and see what things are like. If it's too wet I'll just bail and go drink beer instead. But after talking to John Dyson at the end of his last race I'm a lot more positive as there's a definite dry line all around the track.

I know turns 3, 4, 5 and the straight before 6 will be dry, as will up the hill to the start/finish straight and the straight itself but the final turn is always the slipperiest and turn 1 has had worms on the exit all day. Even during the bone dry part of race 2 at the turn 1 exit you could see worms all over the place and feel the bike slipping on them so those two turns still worried me.

On the out lap there was a definite dry line everywhere, although turn 6 it was very narrow with wet (not damp) patches offline.

Off the line I got another very average start. Into turn 1, again, I lost a couple of places as I was well off the dry line. Settling down I was faster through the corners than the two in front of me but I couldn't go off line to pass them. Others, however, could.

Sean Norquay on a KTM 690 had a lot of grunt out of corners and was difficult to set up for a pass. However, as we went past the white flag he went way, way wide and lost all of his speed so on the exit Colin Terry shot up the inside while I went around the outside as Sean was in the wrong gear.

I looked at getting Colin in the remaining corners but the SVs are quick through the infield so the only chance was going to be out of the last corner. I got on the throttle early, using the grip of the slick while Colin slithered around on the wet. As he was slithering around he kept a tighter line on the exit so I had to go around the outside, but I had a whole heap of grip so comfortably rode around the outside of him to the finish line.

A very mixed days racing due to the weather and some major trust issues so I was glad to pack up and go home. However, I'm really pleased with my new gear and the set up on the bike feels much more natural so I'm looking forward to the next round.

Thanks to
  • my wife for not yelling at me too much for racing with titanium bits in me
  • Cherie for all the help in the pits
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Dusty @ Leda Leathers for the awesome custom race suit
  • Steve @ SPJ Art and Design for painting my helmets
  • Anari and John @ JDAS for the excellent pics



click image


click image















]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/5902-2015-HMCC-Round-1-Hampton-Downs AMCC Round 5 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/5797-AMCC-Round-5-Hampton-Downs Thu, 30 Apr 2015 08:34:26 GMT





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 while wearing shorts let alone in a full one piece race suit so leaving the pegs where they were is the only option. Also, stopping the front brake lever from drooping wasn't as easy as I thought because the part of the lever that stops it from drooping had been slightly damaged in the crash so it would never sit flat. The only way to make it sit flat was to tighten the nut so it doesn't move easily.

Saturday night I'd put the trailer and bike in the mother inlaws shed as it's on the way out of town so Sunday I rocked up, hooked up and two minutes later I'm heading to the servo up the road. For once I decided I'd try the coffee at the servo instead of making a nice one on my way out the door but it didn't take long for me to regret that decision. It was far too sweet and sickly and I never actually finished it.

At the track I caught up with Chris Eeles who had brought some tyres along for me from Jaden Hassan. Jaden is taking a break from racing and he's keen to get rid of the large pile of tyres so he sent a pile of 9 tyres along for me.

Before wiring the stand up and going through scrutineering I checked the sag with my new toy (http://www.motool.co/product-p/slacker.htm) and strangely enough the rear sag was way out. I even checked a couple of times with a tape measure to make sure it wasn't a problem with the electronic (which I had never used before). However, the sag was still a long way out so I adjusted the preload and got the bike checked.

Qualifying I was keen to make sure we erred on the side of caution with the timing for leaving the shed so I was rolling just as the pit lane opened. I followed Michael Cross out and decided to follow him for a while before winding it up. However, the bike just didn't feel right and when I tried to go faster it just felt awful. On the third lap I'm braking over the brow of the hill for turn 5 when Greg Percival's Yamaha R45 triple flies past my left elbow, cuts across in front of me before diving into turn 5. I'm thinking Greg's bloody keen but it turns out he had put Jacob Stroud on his bike and Jacob was having a ball.

At the end of Qualifying I swear I'm getting slower each lap so I check the rear sag again and it's even further out than earlier. Having a quick look there's hydraulic fluid all over the rear hugger. I'm guessing the shock is leaking but after a quick call to Robert Taylor it looks like the remote hydraulic preload adjuster has burst a seal. This bike is a prick of a thing to adjust preload on so somebody (it wasn't the previous owner, Paul Garrett, though) had the remote adjuster put on the shock to make life easier but it hadn't been serviced at all even though the shock had been rebuilt a number of times.

Removing the shock takes 2 hours on this bike and I don't have the tools to remove the preload adjuster anyway so that was the end of the day.

Thanks to

  • Robert Taylor for answering his phone on a Sunday morning and talking work
  • Cherie for helping out at the track
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike
  • The marshalls, AMCC and then ambulance crew for making it all possible







]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/5797-AMCC-Round-5-Hampton-Downs AMCC Round 4 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/5750-AMCC-Round-4-Hampton-Downs Sat, 18 Apr 2015 03:33:43 GMT






24th August 2014 at 12:01pm was the last time I had been on my race bike. That day ended with a trip to the A&E Department with a broken right clavicle. It's been a long wait to get back to normal but recently I'd been cleared by the surgeon to get back to everything I usually do, including getting back on my bike. The first possible race day was going to be Round 4 of the AMCC, 7 months and 19 days since I'd last ridden.

There were a couple of track days leading up to 11th April, including the Big Bike Day Out, but I wasn't going to be able to get to them. So my first time back on the bike was going to be an actual race day.

I was confident it wasn't going to be a mistake, but it was going to be extremely hard physically. Also, I'd changed lots of stuff on the bike, primarily the ride height adjuster, rear sets, handle bars and a whole lot of other stuff. The rear tyre was still a 190; originally I was going to change the ride height to suit after racing on it for one race but, because of the crash, that hadn't happened so I'd had to estimate how much to adjust it. Changing the ride height changes the front/rear weight distribution so I'd had to change the preload, etc. Those plus all of the other little changes I'd made meant there was plenty of doubt that things were right.

I'd put Friday afternoon aside to finish sorting out whatever I needed to with the bike but other than figuring out where everything had ended up there wasn't much to do. I wasn't even going to give the bike a wash as it was raining and as soon as the bike is on the trailer it gets covered in crap. So I had a leisurely time trying to figure out how I'd always packed the car and, despite not doing that for months, I didn't forget anything.

Getting to the track, all of the space around the back of the sheds is taken so I move the car around to pit lane and start unpacking. Once all of the gear is where it's meant to be we go over things. Turns out I had forgotten something, the sheets for recording the suspension settings and tyre pressures.

Warming the bike up, the gear shift lights are flashing full time so I try to remember the sequence for resetting them but make a mess of it and give up. We decide to just tape over them and I'll go without for the day.

I want to make sure other things are ok and start it up. When I check that the gear indicator is working the back wheel starts to spin while the tyre warmer is still on it and rips the wiring out of the tyre warmer!! It's knackered and there's no hope of fixing it there so I'm going to have to find another one. Scott Findley, right next to me in the shed, has a spare but it's for the ZXR400 rear and is too short for the 190 on my bike. Within a couple of minutes I've located a spare tyre warmer, kindly leant to me by our MNZ Road Race Commissioner Greg Percival.

For Qualifying I'm out in the middle of the pack and for the first lap others are coming past me at regular intervals as I get used to being on the bike and try to relax. The bike feels alright. The lightness of the steering worries me a bit because if it's too light it means the back end is too far up in the air and weight won't transfer rearwards when accelerating, leading to the back end letting go. Seeing as I'm just there to get used to things again I'm not going to be getting on the throttle early enough for it to be dangerous, but it still worries me.

I'm feeling a bit lost and out of place, trying to figure out what's different with the bike and what's just me being out of touch. The tyres are feeling soft, under inflated and bouncy. The foot pegs feel different because they're new rearsets so moving my feet around is different. The height seems alright but I'm not sure if they're too far forward, rearward or alright. Surprisingly, the gear lever seems to be better than I remember it was with the other rear sets. As for the rear brake, I don't care.

After a couple of laps with slicks on a very patchy wet/dry and cold track I start to pick up the pace a bit but there's yellow flags heading up the hill from turn 4 and I come over the brow of the hill to see Nigel Lennox and Gavin Veltmeyer both down. Out onto the straight and the red flags are out so I head straight into the pits. We're meant to go straight to the dummy grid when a session is red flagged so that's where I head. A short while after shutting it down the chick on the pit exit waves for us to head back to the sheds so I head around the back and we get it back on the stands.

A few minutes later we're called up again and sent out for the last few minutes of the session so I need to get my arse into gear and get a half decent time.

I'm picking up the pace a bit but the front brake lever seems to be drooping, the end is lower than the master cylinder. Every time I reach for it I get all 3 fingers that I use onto it, but the middle and ring fingers are both right on the tips of the fingers. It just doesn't feel right. At the same time I'm trying to figure out where my brake marker for turn 2 is, but it looks like it's not there anymore, although it takes me the entire session to confirm that. Now I need to find a new braking marker.

The session ends after only a couple of full laps but that suits me fine. Having it split is easier for me because of the lack of time on a bike but it messes up the others a little. Both Neil Slater and Scott Findley get a talking to because they missed seeing the chequered flag and went around for an extra lap at full noise.

A little later I wander over to see what sort of times I did and Colleen grabs me saying that none of my Club licences are valid. I know the VMCC and Auckland ones aren't but I'd paid the Hamilton MCC one a few weeks earlier so I talked to the Steve Parker. He told me to find Shayne Lawery who had the book of membership cards with him. After tracking him down and getting it sorted out I later found my Club membership card in my wallet, I'd never taken it out of there and put it in my log book so now I have two.

Sitting on the start grid, the lights start to come up so I lift the revs a bit, lift them a bit more, start to feel for the grab point on the clutch but, of course, the clutch is one of the many things I adjusted on the bike so there's a different amount of lever travel and it feels different. The lights go out and I ease the clutch lever out further and further, it eventually starts to grab and I'm off!!

Despite the problem with the different clutch feel I got an alright start. I ease into turn 1 behind the pack and start to settle into things. Michael Cross comes past me but that's fine, I'm not too concerned.

Through the first lap Michael doesn't pull away from me and I'm starting to feel more comfortable so I think about getting past him. Second lap he still hasn't pulled away so I decide to catch him. Third lap I'm making little gains but into turn 2 I miscount my gears and end up a gear too high. I get a bit flustered by that and into turn 5 I over-compensate, going down to first so the bike suddenly slows and the back end waves around. By the time I wobble around turn 5 Michael has put quite a gap on me and I decide chasing is a step too far right now so I try to get it together and get back into the rhythm of things.

End of the race and I'm glad I stayed upright and wasn't last. Turns out my pace wasn't too bad, my times getting progressively faster with my fastest being just 2.5 seconds behind my PB. That's pleasantly surprising.

I take a look at the position of the front brake lever because I was actually grabbing the fairing when I reached for it. Looking at it I find that not only is the lever drooping but I'm obviously holding the throttle in the wrong place, I should have my hand further out toward the end of the bar for more leverage. That plus adjusting the lever will stop me touching the fairing at all.

The 5 minute hooter for race 2 goes and I realize I've had plenty to drink but haven't been to the loo yet so hurriedly head to the men's. I get back in time for the 2 minute hooter but it means I'm behind in my usual race prep routine so we quickly get things sorted and I exit pit lane just in time at the back of the pack.

On the grid I'm still not used to the feel of the clutch but I get a better start, although Michael Cross beside me gets an even better start, so I'm right there with the pack into turn 1. The pack go wide to avoid the pole sitter who is fast off the line but slow through the first turn. I change line a couple of times to avoid possible collisions and line up to drive up the inside of Michael. He manages to stay just in front of me and I'm not game enough to try taking him under brakes into turn 2 with the pack taking up all the empty space so I fall in behind. He moves to go around the outside of Vaughan Simmonds through turn 2 so I follow him but Vaughan stays in front. Those two get into quite a tussle for the next lap and a half with me trailing along behind them. Eventually they settle down and both of them ease away from me as I'm still being very conservative everywhere, so conservative I don't even need 6th gear on the start/finish straight.

I'm still not happy with the front brake lever so I adjust it some more. We also up the tyre pressures as the front seems to be 1.5psi down on what it should be while the rear always needs to be lifted as the track heats up during the day.

Having remembered to go to take a leak early I'm in my usual routine when the 2 minute hooter goes. However, the pit lane is opened early and everyone is gone by the time I'm out of the shed so I hurry around the warm up lap when I notice my gear indicator has stopped working. Not only don't I have any shift lights I don't know what gear I'm in either. Getting to the grid last I find my spot has been stolen. The guy who swiped it sees me behind him and goes to move back but Angela, the grid marshal, is already walking off the track so I wave him away and just get ready to start from dead last.

Once again I'm not used to the feel of the clutch and this time I get a very average start, trailing behind everyone into turn 1. As I'm not taking chances I don't try to force a pass on Nick Brown and have to wait until the straight to pass him but by this time everyone else has cleared off. I push a little bit to try and catch up but the gap is too big and I'm too out of practice to make it up. Any other day I could've pulled it back in a lap or two but I'm still using very conservative braking markers and corner speed and the rear tyre pressure is still too low for the track temperature so it's getting really torn up. The 190 doesn't like running the same pressure as the 200 so it was getting some pretty nasty hot tearing and moving around a lot. So I spend the entire race looking at the guys in front edging away just a little bit each lap. At the finish I'm grumpy cos that race was messed up before I left the shed.

Parking up I grab the tyre warmer and a cold Export Citrus Grapefruit (the Waeco cooler is the absolute best thing I've bought to take to the track) and head around to return Greg's tyre warmer to him and say thanks. On my way back I stop in at the control box and have a moan about people gridding up in the wrong place.

Like everything else, packing up is something we're out of practice with and it all takes twice as long as normal.

All in all a very eventful day. But I'm just glad to be back on the bike again and glad that the changes I made to the suspension were pretty much on the money.

Thanks to
  • Cherie for helping out at the track
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike
  • The marshalls, AMCC and then ambulance crew for making it all possible







]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/5750-AMCC-Round-4-Hampton-Downs Hamilton MCC Round 3 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/4261-Hamilton-MCC-Round-3-Hampton-Downs Thu, 28 Aug 2014 03:13:30 GMT






The first two rounds of the Hamilton MCC Arai Winter Series had been great. I'd gotten my first pole position and had some really good results, but I'd also had a DNF in the rain when I withdrew and the points were getting really close. Nathan Jane and I were going to be battling it out for second place in the championship, with first all but wrapped up by Greg Smith if he turned up.

For the last round I'd run out of tyres and I wasn't able to get my usual ones so I was going to have to run on a totally unknown brand of tyre. Not only was the make of tyre different but they were a smaller size as well. On top of that I'd decided that as I wasn't getting the gear change light in sixth at the end of the start/finish the gearing wasn't quite right so I'd gone a tooth larger on the rear sprocket. Plus, I'd been fiddling with the fuelling and ignition maps to try and negate the engine braking that upsets the bike into corners.

I knew the smaller tyre and larger rear sprocket were going to give me better acceleration, but I wasn't sure how much of a difference it was all going to make to the handling of the bike. The smaller tyre meant the rear end is lower making for slower steering, but the smaller tyre made for significantly less rotating mass meaning quicker turn in. How the two would balance out was unknown and I wouldn't find out until I rode it. The first ride on that combination would be in practice/qualifying on the day.

These days breakfast on the way to the track is a Bacon and Egg Pie from the BP that I gas up at. They're pretty good, but I'm sure I'll end up getting sick of it. What doesn't change is a huge coffee in a travel mug.

At the track it was looking like a beautiful day. It was bloody cold but it was dry and the sky was clear. As I'd elected myself to the position of grid marker we went and grabbed some road cones (sorry Gary I forgot to return them again) to mark the rows and for the first time we were able to mark out the grid numbers in chalk. A slow reconnasaince lap showed the track was in mint condition. The only thing we'd have to look out for was the track temperature and the usual debris out wide on turn 6.

The programme was slightly different as the Clubmans guys had missed out on their last race in the previous round so they were going to be the first and last race of the day so that they'd get the same number of races as everyone else over the three rounds. This meant the Intermediate class would be third up rather than second. That was fine as the track would get a little more time to warm up, we'd still get away early and I wouldn't have to rush for qualifying.

For the last round the Intermediate class had a large number of entries so I decided to head out last like I normally do to get some clear track.

Cruising out of pit lane the bike immediately felt angry. It accelerated much harder and felt like it wasn't pointed into the corner as much, both of which I expected. It felt lighter turning in but still felt more stable. At first there didn't seem to be any down side but as I started to pick up the pace I was missing apexes or missing corners entirely but I didn't have enough laps to figure out why.

Considering the guys that had turned up and the mistakes I'd been making during Qualifying I fully expected to be back in seventh or lower but checking the timing sheets I'd actually qualified in 3rd, just ahead of Nathan Jane who had exactly the same time.

Lining up for race 1 I was pretty nervous because Nathan was right beside me while Greg Smith, who was leading the championship, was starting directly behind us. I knew the bike wasn't quite feeling right but I had to get on with things and go as hard as I could.

The lights came up and we were off!!

I got a great start and we headed into turn 1 in start grid formation - Glen Orwin, Ben Rosendaal then me. Into turn 2 and I immediately figured out what was wrong with the bike, the back was sitting down too low so that when I got on the brakes the front was too raked out to turn. Now I knew what I had to do to fix it after the raced but in the meantime I also knew there'd be guys having a go under brakes.

Greg Smith came past out of turn 5, my worst corner. I was pleased to see he was barely able to get past me before turn 6 and didn't have such a huge advantage on acceleration now. Nathan came past me on the next lap shortly followed by Stevie having a go on the wide line into turn 4. I got him back but he had another go a lap later on the inside line and made it stick. Lap 4 and we see Nathan bouncing around on the ground at turn 6 and I get a excellent drive out of there to power straight past Stevie up the hill. Once again he gets me back in the slow parts. He tries to pull away but I chase hard looking for an opportunity. I go deep into turn 5 to try and get a straight line out of the corner and onto the gas early but Nigel spots it and takes the opportunity for a pass, getting between me and Stevie.

I'm trying hard to find a way past Nigel and onto the last lap we blow past Chalky between turn 1 and 2. Into turn 2 I line up for the outside pass on Nigel but Stevie, dragging just a little too much brake into 2, goes down. He slides out of Nigel's way but directly into mine. I stand it up and hit the brakes aiming for the sand pit but Stevie is tumbling right into my path. Harder on the brakes and the back comes up. I'm looking over the nose of the bike straight down at Stevie as the front wheel hits him in the middle of the back. I get thrown off the right side of the bike landing awkwardly and I immediately know something is wrong.

Dragging myself up onto my feet Stevie is crawling out from underneath my bike, on his hands and knees halfway across the sand trap. I stop to see how he is as the Marshals arrive to help us out. He's winded but appears to be ok but it's pretty obvious I'm not going to be racing for the rest of the day. I'm cradling my right arm and need help to get my gloves and helmet off.

The Marshals ask me if I need the Ambulance but now I've got my gear off things are much clearer and I opt for a ride back in the recovery vehicle. They drop both of us at the Ambulance to get checked over while the bikes are delivered to our respective pits. Pam and the other Ambulance Officer get my shirt off to have a look at what's injured and it's plainly obvious that something in my shoulder is busted as there's a big lump and the rest of the shoulder has dropped significantly.

I'm not feeling too bad so they put me in a sling and I head back to the pits to see how things are going. Cherie and Colin have both got things sorted and once they know I'm done for the day and need to get to the Hospital they get things packed away quickly and without hassle. Seeing as I'm slightly useless at that point I decided I'd lighten the load to take home by drinking the beers I brought along, no point in them getting warm. It's decided that Colin will leave his bike at the track and will follow us in Cherie's car and she'll drive mine.

We track down Gary so he knows that Colin's bike will be staying and he's not sure when he'll be back to pick it up.

A couple of phone calls, one to my wife so she knows I'm ok and one to make sure the dogs are locked up when we arrive so they don't jump up at me, and we're headed back to Hamilton.

After getting the bike, gear and trailer sorted out we're back at my place where I order some pizza and my wife makes some coffee. Have to make sure the others are fed etc but also I'm not going near the Hospital Emeregency room without something to eat as I'm well aware I'll be there for hours without food.

After 5 hours at Emergency it turns out I've broken my collar bone and 2 ribs and the break is too complex for them to deal with so I'm booked into the Fracture Clinic a few days later then sent home.

This is the first time I haven't made it home under my own steam from a race day and clearly illustrates why I insist on having someone at the track with me, even if they sit in the corner and knit the entire day. Guys that don't have anyone with them are being irresponsible and are asking for trouble.

Stevie felt really bad afterwards as I'd come off second best from his accident but it was a racing incident and nobodies fault. He went on to have a shocker when his engine blew up later in the afternoon.

I really have to thank

  • Cherie and Colin for taking care of things and getting me home safely
  • my wife for taking me to the Emergency room and not yelling at me too much during the whole thing
  • HMCC for a great little series
  • all the volunteers, the marshals, the ambulance crews, recovery guys, the photographers and everyone else for making it all possible
  • all the racers in the Intermediate class for some of the best fun I've had in a long time
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike




Click to enlarge



Click to see the CCTV footage from the track






]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/4261-Hamilton-MCC-Round-3-Hampton-Downs Hamilton MCC Round 2 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/4035-Hamilton-MCC-Round-2-Hampton-Downs Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:51:13 GMT






At the first round of the Hamilton MCC Series I'd had my first ever Pole position and came away with some great results. Turns out I'd also ended up making a couple of decent bloopers as well. First, I forgot to pick up my race licence before leaving the track. Worse, I'd put the excess petrol in the fuel jug into the bikes petrol tank while it was sitting on the trailer and I'd forgotten to put the fuel cap back on. So I drove all the way home, put the bike in the shed and it'd sat there without a fuel cap for over a month.

After much head scratching and hunting around I eventually found the original gas cap. Luckily I still use the key, although not to turn the bike on (that's done by plugging in the lanyard for the kill switch) but because I haven't put in the other ECU (need to run a wire and then dyno the bike as the fuel and ignition mapping will be considerably different) and the transponder is needed because of the HISS. Liberal use of CRC was needed to get the gas cap unlocking properly but it was all easily sorted.

I had intended on getting in some practice on Saturday at the Play Day, but when I woke up that morning and looked outside it was pretty obvious that staying in bed was by far the best option. I could've headed to the Play Day to get some wet practice but I'd finally replaced my dodgy old set of wets with a nice new set so I wasn't going to waste on a track day.

Once I eventually climbed out of bed I dropped the trailer and bike off at my mother inlaw's place. As it's on the way out of town I can pick it up when I head to the track rather than having to drag it around all day.

Sunday morning, after picking up the trailer I stopped at the BP to gas up and get some breakfast. I think I'm going to have to start taking note of the bike's fuel consumption as 98 octane is up to $2.39 a litre.

Rolling up to the track I realize that I'm almost 20 minutes earlier than I'd planned to be. Not sure why as I hadn't been in a hurry at all, had stopped off to pick up the trailer, gas and breakfast and had stayed at a steady 95kph all the way to the track. However, seeing as I was early I wandered around and took my time getting things sorted.

Sign-in took no time at all, scrutineering is for Clubmans only and helmet check is quick and easy. Seems I missed all of the dumb arses that still hadn't renewed their MNZ licence and were causing lots of paperwork and delays.

Qualifying was definitely wet, with lots of worms all over the place to make things interesting. Looking around on the dummy grid I could see almost everyone had wets on the bikes this time so I wasn't going to be able to pull a sneaky pole again, especially as Ben Rosendaal had turned up to blow a few cobwebs out.

Out of pit lane and I'm first away again. I ease into things and gradually build a bit of speed but I'm having trouble turning the bike. I'd added a little bit more fork fluid as it's still bottoming out, but otherwise the bike was still running dry settings so there'd be too much preload in the front end for the wets. Maybe I should've done the wet Play Day after all and come up with some decent wet settings.

After a couple of laps Ben came past me and he was clearly quicker, lapping a couple of seconds faster than me. By the fourth lap I'd had enough and knew I wasn't getting anything more out of it without taking some big risks so I headed into the pits.

Even though I wasn't that confident in how things went I still managed to qualify 4th, just pipped for 3rd by Gerard Pijfers. However, something seized at turn 1 sending Gerard into the grass on his back so that was his day finished after just 5 very slippery laps. That left Hugo Trenholme in second with Ben Rosendaal on Pole.

After much umming and ahhing I watch the first couple of laps of the Senior class and saw that the guys on slicks were pretty much going backwards so I was going to stick with the wets for race 1, even though there were spots around the track that were bone dry. I did, however, take 1.5 turns of preload out of the front end so that the bike would steer correctly again. We also reset the tyre pressures as they were 3psi higher than they should've been due to the difference in ambient temperature (it was much colder before Qualifying and I don't have enough experience with the wets to have pressures for different temperatures).

On the out lap it was pretty obvious that the track was more dry than wet, but it still looked too cold and damp for slicks so we were going to have to suck it up and destroy a set of wets. Not something I was looking forward to as mine were brand new and I'd really like to some use out of them.

Lining up on the grid I see Greg Smith on the Ducati 750 is directly behind me and seeing as Gerard's spot is empty I know exactly where he'd be aiming for.

The lights come up, the revs rise, we're waiting ... waiting ... still waiting, and we're off!!

I get a pretty good start but Nathan Jane gets a better one, just getting in front of me for turn 1. However, he's tentative on the cold front tyre so I ride straight around the outside of him into second place behind Ben. A short while later Greg Smith comes past me. I start to settle into figuring out what I can do with wets on a dry track and rapidly find out that I need more weight on the front end. The wets keep making the handle bars weave from side to side on corner exits and on straights. Not tank slappers, but still big, lazy weaving, almost lock to lock. Out of turn 4 the bars don't stop weaving until I throttle off and brake over the brow of the hill. Out of turn 1 the bars are weaving almost all the way to turn 2. Into most corners it's also happening on entry, but it's nowhere near as pronounced as corner exit.

The bike is handling it all well though, not getting offline or doing anything stupid so I decide to let it wave the bars around and up the pace. That is until I give it a really big handful on the exit of turn 1 and almost lose the front end, convincing me that maybe I should be a little bit cautious. However, this gave Nathan the chance to get past me and he headed off after the other two while I eased back just a little bit so the weaving didn't get that bad again. Nathan did well, chasing down Greg Smith and passing him for second place.

Back in the pits I added a little bit of preload back in as it had felt a touch too nose down. But I also added 1.5 turns of preload to the rear as I must've taken some out last time to try and clean up the nasty tyre wear I was getting on the rear tyre. The wets looked barely used though so the track surface must be cold enough to stop the tyres over heating cos they were definitely squirming and moving a lot.

For race 2 the track was bone dry so the wets came off and the slicks went back on.

Lining up for the start of the second race I'm looking forward to some dry laps and predictable handling. This time the lights come up and aren't held for ages so we're off without any problems. I get another good start but this time as we're heading into turn 1 I can see tyre lines out the back of Ben and Nathan's bikes so I back off a bit to see how wet it is. Soon Greg Smith eases past and Hugo Trenholm charges hard past me in the slippery conditions. Out of turn 6 it's bone dry so I give it heaps, hoping it was a very brief shower that only affected the first half of the track. Charging up to the start/finish line I've suddenly got lots of water streaming across my visor. Backing right off again Chris Bridge slithers past. Ben keeps waving to indicate he's slowing and I'm thinking this isn't fun and neither is fixing the bike.

Over the start/finish line again and I'm pretty much fed up and heading for the pits when Guy Webster goes right around the outside of me at turn 2.

Into the pits I park up and a short while later Ben follows me in, then the red flag comes out. In the end almost half of the field DNF'ed due to withdrawing or crashing, including all of Team Aspire.

Withdrawing meant that I pretty much handed second place in the Club Championship to Nathan. I'm doing the Hamilton series mainly so I get some laps over winter. I never expected to be fighting for the championship or anything so being 2nd after round 1 was a complete surprise.

For race 3 I'd had enough of changing wheels so if it rained I was going home. Thankfully it didn't rain again and the track was bone dry.

Off the line I get another good start, with Nathan just edging in front again, so once again I ride right around the outside of him. A short while later Greg Smith came past both of us, then him and Ben started to ease away in front. By lap 3 Nathan had closed up behind me and pulled a pass into turn 5, I went around the outside of him out of turn 6. He went the long way around me at turn 4 but I managed to get him back again, although this time it was just before the start/finish line. Into turn 4 Nathan heads up the inside of me, I hear him make a bad gear change and the bike suddenly dips and I have visions of getting collected in a crash so I stand up and back off. However, he manages to hold it together, find the correct gear and charges off, pulling a bit of a gap while I get it back together.

I'm chasing Nathan hard but I'm fighting a losing battle as I just can't keep up in the slow part of the track. Out of turns 3, 4 and 5 the 2 stroke pulls too much of a lead. I'm certainly trying, sliding the back then standing it up out of turn 4 to turn the bike quicker, charging in fast and hard to turn 6 and turn 1, but he's riding really well and is getting faster and faster.

Down the short straight we see Greg Smith rapidly coming back towards us and he suddenly wobbles toward the middle of the track. I back off again and therefore lose a bit more time to Nathan. Next time around the marshalls are waving the yellow and red Lack of Adhesion flag and I can see something long rolling around on the track so once again I back off. Greg Smiths bike is being pushed over to the wall at the exit of 6 so I'm guessing he had a big mechanical problem.

Over the line and I could swear we hadn't done the full 8 laps, but according to the timing sheet we did.

Results for the day were mixed, a 4th, DNF and a 3rd. However, I was pleased that we'd made it through the day with minimal problems.

Another good, well run, relaxed event.

Big thanks to:
  • Cherie for helping out in the pits
  • Vince at Burrell Signs
  • the Hamilton MCC, marshalls, ambulance crew and all the volunteers that made for such a good day
  • Robert and Dennis at KSS for the suspension work
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike







]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/4035-Hamilton-MCC-Round-2-Hampton-Downs Hamilton MCC Winter Series Round 1 @ Hampton Downs https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/3852-Hamilton-MCC-Winter-Series-Round-1-Hampton-Downs Tue, 27 May 2014 21:38:23 GMT





 


Seems like it's been ages since I was last racing but it's actually only been 5 weeks. The summer was quite hectic as I was either racing, working on the bike to go racing or organsing the rest of life around race meetings, so the end of summer was a quite a relief. The sudden halt of everything to do with racing made the break feel like I'd been away from my bike for months and this made getting the bike ready a chore instead of a habit.

Last years Hamilton Motorcycle Club Winter Series was a lot of fun. It was laid back and relaxed and I was looking forward to more of the same this year. So instead of approaching it as a serious race series it's more sociable and feels a lot like a track day but with a grid start and finish line.

For the NZSBK round at Taupo I'd had Denis and Robert at KSS rework the suspension as I'd run out of adjustment. Since then I've been working on getting it right and now it's close. At the NZSBK meeting I was having trouble getting any heat into the front tyre, meaning a change in geometry was required to get more weight on the front. Now I've settled on pulling the forks through the triple clamps by 11mm the back end comes up way too early and way too quickly under braking so some fine tuning of fork fluid levels and also tweaking the preload is still needed. It's getting very close now but I really need to go to Taupo (or Manfeild) to sort it properly as Hampton Downs doesn't have any heavy braking areas. However, I can't be stuffed going to Manfeild in the middle of winter and I won't be back at Taupo until October so it's going to take a little while.

During the night I'd woken up to the sound of very heavy rain. I knew it was meant to clear up by morning but it was still very worrying. However, when I got out to the car everything was looking very promising.

Getting on my way I finally found a bakery that's open at 6:00am on a Sunday morning!! Unfortunately, the pies had only been in the warmer for a short time so they were piping hot on the outside but barely warm on the inside. Didn't stop me from wolfing it down, although in the back of my mind was the possibility of having an upset stomach or a case of the runs in the middle of a race. I drowned those thoughts in coffee because coffee fixes everything.

At the track I was earlier than I'd been aiming for so I got set up in the shed while Colleen and the crew got sign on all set up. By the time Cherie turned up there was nothing to do so after talking to Shayne Lawrey about the starting positions I took it upon myself to make sure everyone was able to find their spot on the grid. Gary Stirling told me where to find some cones so we went and grabbed some and did a couple of reconnaissance laps (the track was proper wet and the worms were out in force) before putting a cone at the edge of the track to mark each row on the start grid. I also had to change my race number as there were two #43's and the other guys was difficult to change. The downside of having numbers that conform to the rules!!

After Riders Briefing it was pretty obvious that the track wasn't going to be dry enough for slicks when the Intermediate class Practice/Qualifying session started so we quickly got the wets on the bike and I got into my gear. The whole time there was an constant stream of guys coming into the pits after only doing a couple of laps saying it was way too slippery for slicks so I was happy we'd decided to put the wets on.

For once I was the first one out of pit lane and had a nice clear track ahead of me. I was sure others would come past me at some stage but no one did so after the first lap I started to pick up the pace a little. The track was cold, wet and slippery and I wasn't going very fast at all. Each lap I upped the pace a little, and each lap I had a quick look out of turn 4 to see who was about to pass me. Each time I was startled to see an empty track. No matter where I had a look I couldn't see anyone else on track at all and I was wondering if I was out there alone, but there weren't any flags to call me in so I pressed on.

On my fourth timed lap I made a few errors, I was just pushing too hard for the conditions, so I decided to cut it short and head into the pits before I threw it into the weeds. Even though there was still plenty of time left I just wanted a grid position and I didn't want to risk a crash.

When I grabbed the sheet with our times on it I started at the bottom knowing I was well off my PB and fully expecting to start from the back of the field. But as I got further up the list I started thinking I hadn't registered a time at all until I got to the top - I qualified on Pole by 1.75 seconds!!

My first ever Pole and I wasn't even trying. It was a total shock. But now I knew the work on the suspension was paying off. Getting it right is a moving target because as the rider gets faster the suspension has to improve as well. What was excellent 6 months and 2-seconds-a-lap ago can be all wrong now so improving it is a constant and never ending process. The last rebuild and subsequent tweaks had been a huge step forward, especially in the cold and Qualifying was certainly cold and slippery.

For Race 1 I lined up on the grid to the unaccustomed view of an empty track in front of me. Starting from Pole means everybody on the grid is out to beat you so I was very conscious that I had to get a good start and not stall.

The lights come up and we were ... waiting, still waiting, lots of engines bouncing off the limiters, still waiting, Gerard Pfijfers from the fourth row came past me having jumped the start big time, and finally we were off!!

I got an ok start but nothing spectacular whereas Phil Munt in P2 got a good start so out of turn 1 I was third. Greg Smith on a Ducati 750 got me before turn 2. Into turn 4 and Nathan Jane is up the inside while Hugo Trenholm is going around the outside!! Four turns and I'm back to fifth place!! Then Damon Rees flies past me!! Stuff waiting to see if the tracks still slippery, everyone else seems to think it's fine!!

Getting my head together I quickly pass Phil and then Damon who runs really wide at turn 6, losing him a bunch of places. I go after Hugo, passing him before the start grid. I start lining up Nathan but Hugo gets me back again. We repeat this a few times on the next 4 laps, me passing him but he comes back past me somewhere else. It's exciting but really annoying cos I want to catch the others!! At one point I decide to go up the right side of him over the brow of the hill into turn 5 but we bump into each other, right in front of the entire Team Aspire crew who are pitted over looking turn 5!! It doesn't cause either us any problems though so I quickly get back past Hugo and go after Nathan. Heading up towards pit entrance I'm on the right side of Nathan, managing to squeeze through the tiniest of gaps between him and the yellow line-we-must-never-cross that marks the pit entrance.

Onto the last lap and I've clawed back the gap to Gerard, knowing I need really good drive out of the last turn. I get on the throttle early and drive hard up the right side of him, holding it until the line where I'm less than 0.2 seconds ahead in second place!! That was an epic race!!

I could've sat behind Gerard because he was guaranteed a penalty for the huge jump start but being in front on the track is more important to me. Settling for the spot you're in does nothing for you and you don't push yourself to improve so if there's someone in front of me and catching them is possible I always try. There's always the possibility of crashing but we're not playing Tiddly Winks.

Not only way the race exciting but I was finally, after hundreds of hours on bikes, starting to figure out what I could do on Pirelli slicks. I finally started to feel that I was using the tyres properly. They're so different to the Metzeler and Dunlop road tyres I'd liked in the past and I wasn't able to figure out the feedback I was getting from them. But now the suspension is allowing me to tell what's happening with the Pirelli's and I'm able to push far harder at the start of corners than I ever have been able to. Corner exit has always been a strong point for me, but corner entry and the effect that has on mid-corner speed has always been a big problem.

While I was calming down after the race Paul Garrett rolled into the shed. He's the guy I bought the CBR from and a former racer himself. It was great to sit around talking bikes with him and finding out a bit of the history of my bike. He was eying up Nick Kampenhout's Husqvarna 900 Nuda and I reckon one of those would be a good fit for Paul.

Race 2 we lined up again but this time I wasn't going to check out the track conditions on the first lap.

The lights went out and I got a much better start, heading toward turn 1 side by side with Phil Munt. As I had the inside line I was able to take the turn in front of Phil and started pushing to stay ahead of the field. However, Greg Smith's Ducati is a beast off the start line and again he got past me into turn 2. A short while later Gerard Pfijfers also got past me so he must have pulled another huge jump start.

I chased Gerard hard until the third lap when I got him out of turn 6 and put my head down and went after Greg.

On lap 5 I was close enough to get up the inside of Greg into turn 2 but he came back strong into turn 4 and took me on the inside line.

Last lap and I knew I had to stay close into the last corner if I had a chance but unfortunately I got a bit of wiggle into turn 5 which put me off line and I was slower than usual coming out, leaving Greg with a comfortable win.

Another second place and another good race, although nowhere near as exciting as the first. I did, however, knock 1.3 seconds off my PB so I was really pleased.

Before the third race we upped the tyre pressures a bit as the track was warming up and I was tearing the hell out of the right side of the rear tyre.

Onto the grid and I got an alright start, but Phil Munt got a better one and Greg Smith was better again, coming through from the second row to lead into turn 1. Phil looked like he didn't have any heat in the front tyre as it pushed very wide leaving me to drive up the inside into second place. Into turn 2 and Matt Ferguson stuffs it up the inside fairly late but pulls it off and I have just enough room that I don't have to change line or anything.

Hugo Trenholm goes around the outside at turn 4 again and I start to think the air in the front was a mistake as it's clouded over and the tracks cooled off again. I chase the 3 in front of me but I keep losing ground to them cos I'm making little mistakes.

Fifth lap and I see a shadow out of the corner of my eye as Nathan Jane lines up a pass and makes it. Onto the last lap and we're down to the last corner. I know I'm going to be hard pressed to pass Nathan on the run to the line but I give it a big handful out of turn 6. Nathan drifts right so I have to go the long way around him and we're side by side charging for the finish line but Nathan pips me by less than half a wheel!! I was trying so hard I almost don't slow down enough to get around turn 1, running really wide and almost making it to the dirt.

Even though the last race placing was disappointing I still had a great day racing with my first ever pole position, some really good results and more excellent, close, hard racing. I'm really happy with the suspension and the feel I'm getting from the tyres and there's only a little more tweaking to do so that I can brake at 100% without any misbehaving.

  • Cherie for helping out in the pits
  • Vince at Burrell Signs
  • the Hamilton MCC, marshalls, ambulance crew and all the volunteers that made for such a good day
  • Robert and Dennis at KSS for the suspension work
  • Craig @ Grey Street Motors
  • Stefan @ DL Consulting
  • Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike


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]]> Mental Trousers https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/3852-Hamilton-MCC-Winter-Series-Round-1-Hampton-Downs