Shane - Superlite (#43)

A weekend riding bikes is a good weekend, especially when the bike looks so good!!

Friday I got an early start as I had lots to do on the bike. I ended up spending the entire day tidying up and finishing off a whole bunch of things on the bike. Little things like a seat pad (painted fibreglass is really slippery), bolting the brake disk onto the spare rear wheel, final cut and polish so the new paintwork doesn't get damaged, go to the supermarket and get supplies for the weekend, get gas, pack the car and trailer and a whole bunch of other small things.

Saturday morning I'm pulling into Hampton Downs to find the gates still locked so I chat to Neil. Uly pulls up and joins us and Edy turns up too. There's half a dozen vehicles there, all with bikes except for one. There are to be 2x groups of cars and 2x groups of bikes through the day and I thought it was a bit weird that all the early arrivers are bike riders and there's only a single car driver there.

Once Gary finally got out of bed and lets us in the first thing I do is head straight to sign in and get it out of the way before there's a rush. Edy says we're in shed 12 so I unload and get things set up. I have to shoot back to sign in as there's a wee problem but that's quickly sorted out so I wander around and catch up with people.

The 2 bike groups for the day are split into 250s and everyone else, so I'm lumped in with the litre bikes. Less than ideal but no problem as long as I didn't dawdle.

First session and the bike feels weird for the first few turns due to the tyre pressures. I run my front tyre slightly higher than most on Pirellis do as I need the extra stiffness the higher pressure gives for stability when braking. But the rear is a bit lower than most people have it so the bike feels a bit like a chopper until I've run it up the rev range and grabbed the brakes a couple of times.

After having a good look at the track in the first session I start to figure out what gear to use on different parts of the track. The gearing is quite different from the Triumph, as is the power curve, throttle response, grip levels etc - so pretty much everything.

By the last session I'm going faster but making fewer gear changes. That seems wrong until I realise I'm going quicker through corners so I'm not changing down as many gears.

I bail half way through the last session though as I made a mistake when accelerating hard and lifted the gear lever (road shift pattern) instead of pressing it (race shift) and almost go over the front of the bike. After the massive overrev that killed the Triumph I'm suddenly hearing lots of imaginary noises coming from the engine, so that's me for the day. By the time I'm in the pits the chequered flag is out anyway so I didn't miss much at all.

It was interesting to see quite a few of the guys riding in the Nationals and Tri Series were there to get a few laps in before the next weekend. Ray Clee had blown past me at a million miles an hour, Nick Cole got brought back in on the trailer covered in dust, Andrew Stroud was turning up fashionably late for the Twilight session, Jaden Hassan had been testing his new engine and was grinning like an idiot and there were others around as well.

Hampton Downs isn't too far from home so I headed back for a shower, beer and some dinner. You can't beat sleeping in your own bed.

Sunday morning I really didn't want to get out of bed but staying there wasn't an option. So I dragged my arse out, brewed a coffee, climbed in the car and headed for the track via McDonalds.

Michael was going to meet me at the track so I started signing in. Unfortunately my club membership card wasn't in my logbook and I didn't know where it was so I had to cough up $55.00 to join the AMCC dammit.

Thankfully scrutineering and the helmet check went without a hitch and I was all sorted nice and early. Which meant I had nothing to do but walk around talking to people for an hour and a half.

After what seemed like forever F1/F2 headed out for Qualifying. We were up straight after them so I climbed into my slightly stinky gear from the day before.

I did my usual and went out at the back of the group for Qualifying, letting the rest of the group take off and get in each others way, leaving me with clear track for almost the entire session. I'd been feeling a bit stiff and was having trouble getting my head together so I took things a bit cautiously and just decided to put in a time while warming and stretching and getting my head focused. Second lap I come over turn 3 to see a big cloud of dust surrounding Bryan Krzanich's bike. Another lap and I finally get a lap without any yellow flags.

Race One I obviously still wasn't focused as I lined up on the wrong grid spot, lining up on the left side instead of the right.

The lights came up, then went out and we were off!!

I got a great start, aiming to pass the guy immediately in front of me on the left side. Unfortunately, the guy in front of him had stalled so the guy I was going to pass moved left, almost colliding with me as I had nowhere to go so I got out of the throttle and hit the brakes, seeing multiple bikes flying past in the middle of the track. Except for the guy who stalled I must've been dead last at turn 1.

Putting that setback aside I started grabbing a few places back. Turn 4 there were yellows out so I couldn't get past anymore. Through turn 5 and I miss a gear out on the straight so two guys immediately get past me. By now I'm getting a little pissed off so I start pushing a bit, dicing with Peter Woodford while both of us were trying to figure out how to get past Andrew Shields. At one point into turn 1 I was on the brakes with the back end waving in the air looking at Peter and thinking I was about to have a big problem but, luckily, he turned and I had space again. A couple of laps later Peter got past both me and Andrew and I got hung out to dry, leaving me to make up ground while Andrew chased Peter.

I ended up spending a lap and a half trying to get past Andrew but not able to. He had speed on the straights and got out of corners but I'd catch him up through the entry and middle of the corners.

Chequered flag came out and I would've been close enough to stuff him at turn 2, his worst turn, but it was too late.

I'd finished well back because of the bike that stalled on the grid but despite the dramas I was feeling very amped and really enjoyed the race.

While I was waiting for the second race Michael and I sat down and had a good chat to Gary, one of the track owners. He was very happy to hear some feedback on the Play Day set up from both a bike rider and car driver.

The second race took a long time to get to. The programme had changed so that the 250s were split into the Hyosungs and Pro Lites, which added another race to the each round of racing. Also, the weather started looking a bit dodgy so there was a delay for weather. Eventually the second round of races got under way but I was pretty much certain we wouldn't get the last round in, especially as all classes were now doing 2 warm up laps for safety reasons.

This time I lined up in the correct place and there were a few empty spots.

The lights came up, the revs went up and we were off!!

This time a huge gap opened in front of me and I happily stuffed it full of CBR. This meant that I was on the inside going into turn 1 and a couple of bikes went around the outside. At turn 2 I went for the outside but we were 3 wide at the apex and I got trapped out there, a couple of bikes coming straight across my nose at turn 3. Pretty soon everyone sorted themselves out and I ended up behind Peter Woodford and Andrew Shields again. Heading for turn 6 I had a lot of moisture on my visor and it put doubt in my mind because it's the corner most likely to be wet. Turns out it was fine but I'd been cautious and given away another place because of it.

This time Peter took Andrew relatively early and started pulling a gap. I stuffed it up the inside of Andrew at turn 2 as I didn't want to get stuck behind him. Peter had set his sights on the bikes up ahead and went after them hard. I was chasing him and matching him everywhere except the exit of turn 5 where the SV just thumped away, so he was increasing the gap at that corner then maintaining the new gap for the rest of the lap.

I'd pretty much given away catching up to him after the third time the gap stretched so concerntrated on staying in front of Andrew. I knew where he was fast and made sure I covered that. I could hear a couple of different bikes back there somewhere and guessed that Andrew had his hands full fending someone else off.

Another race done and I'd decided that was it for the day. I was meant to be out for dinner in the evening and if they did get the final round of races in it they wouldn't start until about 5:15pm.

So we quickly packed up and my brother and I grabbed a quick feed at the food van. I know I was meant to be out for dinner but surviving on bananas, muesli bars and water for two days leaves you bloody hungry. The Egg Burger, Chips and Coffee were surprisingly good for deep fried trailer food.

Just as we were finishing that lot the announcement was made that the last round of races had been cancelled.

It was a good weekend riding. I was extremely pleased with how the paint and stickers had turned out and I'm actually getting a little bored at the track as there's nothing to do to this bike except ride it. There was always a bunch of things to do on the Triumph when it was sitting still. Better yet, the CBR hasn't tried to kill me every other time I've taken it on track.

Thanks to:

• Michael for driving up to the track and helping out
• my brother for turning up and taking some photos (Facebook account required to view them)
• Stefan @ DL Consulting, Veridian and Elephind.com
• Alan for changing tyres for me
• MSTRS for the excellent stickers
• Tony for expertly applying the stickers
• Boaz for being a cool gaurd dog
• my uncle for the excellent paint job
• my wife for not looking at our bank balance

Some photos on Facebook from my brother - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3360269&type=1

Image courtesy of clmintie
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