Shane - Superlite (#43)

I thought I was sitting in the pits at Paeroa it was so hot at Hampton Downs. It was a real scorcher, especially sitting around in bike leathers.

Friday was really hectic. I had to change the oil and filter, get everything back on the bike as I'd pulled all the fairings and some other bits and pieces off while sorting out the quick shifter and shift lights and a couple of other bits, give it a wash and polish, change some of the stickers cos I'd put them on backwards, get food, get gas and a whole bunch of other things that had to be done. All before heading to the bosses place for our work Christmas do and get home in time to meet Nicki and Franz.

All of the big jobs and most of the little jobs were sorted by 3:30pm, just in time to pick up my wife from her work Christmas party. Picking her up I got cornered by one of the IT guys who tried to talk me into joining the party and doing burn outs. Normally I would've been all for some free beer and playing silly buggers but I was racing the next day and there's no way I'd turn up there feeling seedy.

After dodging the drunken IT dude and collecting my wife we headed home for a shower and change of clothes before stopping at the Supermarket and petrol station on the way to the Christmas Party.

None of us had been to Stefan's yet as he'd literally just moved into the place so I had to rely on GPS to make sure I found it. For once the stupid thing got me there without telling me to do insane things like park in a Supermarket car part for 11 hours and catch a train. It took us directly to Stefan's. Probably because there was only one route. It did, however, pronounce road names so badly I had to look at the screen to figure out what the hell it was talking about. That totally defeats the purpose of having the instructions read out.

Having only a single beer at a Christmas Party seems so wrong but everyone was happy to see the company name on such a good looking bike.

It also felt wrong to leave a Christmas Party early, however, I needed some sleep and Nicki and Franz were staying the night before the three of us headed to Hampton Downs the next day.

We got to Hampton Downs at 7:30am and started looking for a shed. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that Hampton Downs was not doing the $25.00 per bike like they had been. Rather, you now had to cough up $175.00 for half a shed and then you could have as many bikes as you liked in it. Looked like we weren't the only ones to have been caught out by that.

However, Nicki is always prepared so we moved to the skid pan (strangely it wasn't being used for once) and quickly got setup. For once I actually remembered to check my tyre pressures before putting the tyre warmers on. Had to put some in the front as I run it a bit higher than most for braking stability and the rear I drop to lower than most. These pressures seem to work really well, although it does take a little while to heat the front up so the first few corners are usually pretty slow for me.

A short while later I finally figure out what I had forgotten (I always forget something but I never know what until I go looking for it) - my Under Armour and the large water bottle that's sitting in the fridge.

For qualifying I wasn't able to do my usual (go out at the back, do a very slow half a lap then have 4 laps of totally clear track) because they'd already opened pit exit so I rode straight out. There weren't many in front of me and they were a fair way ahead so I proceeded as normal.

I'm really starting to wish I could have a morning warm up of 3 or 4 laps though. Pretty much every qualifying I stuff up because my head isn't in the game yet and this one is no different. Missed apexes, running wide, in the wrong gear and waving the back wheel around in the air all happened at some point. I didn't manage to get a clean lap and thought I'd made a right balls up of the entire thing. But when I went and had a look at the times I'd gone faster in that qualifying than I had in the entire last race meeting. I'd also managed to qualify ahead of guys that I'm usually behind so it was an excellent result despite feeling terrble.

Lining up for Race 1 I headed for my spot right next to the wall on the inside. It seems to be the best place to be as everyone heads to the left to come sweeping into turn 1.

The lights come up, a couple of guys jump then stop, the lights go out and we're off!!

As already mentioned everyone heads left so there was a hole in front of me, which I gratefully filled. Into Turn 1 and Bryan Krzanich, who qualified behind me for a change, went steaming around the outside. I was taking it a little gingerly as my front tyre takes a little to warm up so didn't try fighting back. I fell in behind him but Andrew Shields got past me out of Turn 5. His bike hauls like a bastard out of corners whereas mine drops out of the power through 5 so it's not surprising he got me there. I went up the inside of him at Turn 6 but he got the power down on the exit and eased past me again.

However, on the start/finish straight I was chasing him hard aiming to pass him on the outside when, at about row 3 of the grid, he moved left and got out of the throttle!!

I don't know how I missed the back of his bike as I had to get out of the throttle and dive right, but thankfully I did. Once on his right I pretty much glided up the inside of him and into turn 1.

Getting involved in that little battle with Andrew had let Bryan get away from me so I got my head down and started hauling him back in. The gap was coming down all the time. Lap 4 and I see Marcus Wyatt waiting to rejoin from the Turn 2 run off and he'd probably get back out just behind me. On the last lap I was almost within touching distance of Bryan coming up to the start/finish line, the chequered flag was out and Marcus Wyatt snuck past me 20m before the line!!

I was robbed dammit!! Mind you, that's exactly what I was trying to do to Bryan so I shouldn't complain. But that won't stop me!!

My fastest lap time had improved by half a second over qualifying, which surprised me as I thought I was going way faster. Turns out I was just having more fun instead.

By this time it was starting to get really hot. Because I'd forgotten my Under Armour I was only going to be getting out of my leathers once and that'd take ages so I started knocking back water and chasing the shade instead of taking my gear off.

Getting ready for Race 2 and the commentators were saying Turn 4 was starting to break up from the heat. Nicki had already told me that as she was in Pro Twins which was a couple of races after F3.

Heading for the dummy grid everyone is trying to squeeze under the shade outside the sheds. Even sitting in the shade after a couple of minutes I switched off the engine cos the temperature was climbing rapidly.

Out on the grid I had to leave my visor open cos otherwise it steamed up straight away and I launched with it still up. Thankfully mine never needs to be locked down so flicking it closed was all that was needed.

This time I hadn't gotten such a good start and lost a few places off the line. Peter Woodford had gotten his act together and got a good start, going around the outside of me in Turn 1. The bike didn't feel right but even so I started chasing him down.

Turn 4 I got peppered with bits of tarmac and had a bit of a slide, but it looked like I wasn't the only one.

The bike wasn't feeling right but I pushed up the inside of Peter at 6, he came back on the exit but I had the better straight line speed and took him back. Turn 1 and he went really deep and really late to get around me but he was so close to running off the track it looked bloody scary.

Peter passed the next guy in front and I managed to get him as well, but shortly after that a front wheel came up the inside of me at Turn 2N ot far enough so I closed the door on him. It was Neil Slater and he came back at me again. We passed each other a couple of times before he managed to gap me just a little as I was sliding around all over the place.

I was getting frustrated and not enjoying the race at all because I was sliding all the time. I'd had a big wobble at Turn 1, I couldn't get on the throttle in Turn 6, I kept getting hit by shit at Turn 4 and twice I was so busy trying to find a decent line through 4 I ended up in the wrong gear. And it was too damn hot to think straight.

By the end of the race I was just annoyed, too bloody hot and not happy with how things went at all.

We were considering whether or not to pack up and bugger off as more often than not these meetings have only gotten two rounds of races in. However, there was still enough time to get them in so we decided to stick around and see.

There seemed to be no question of the third round being cut so I put 4psi in the rear tyre.

The track was stupid hot by now and there'd been a regular series of bikes going down at Turn 4. Considering the amount of sliding around I'd done there in Race 2 and all the crap that kept getting flicked up by other bikes it wasn't helping the confidence.

The entire dummy grid was hiding in the shade of the sheds with engines off because of the heat, waiting to get out on track. Once pit lane opened we got going and the bike immediately felt very different. Because I'd put more air in the tyre to keep it cooler out on track it felt like I didn't have any grip. With the lower pressures I have grip immediately but this time it just felt wrong.

Launching I didn't get such a great start, dropping back a couple of places. I was being very cautious because it felt like I didn't have any rear grip, even though the back end hadn't let go at all. Consequently I lost a couple more places and ended up trailing Neil Slater again.

After a couple of laps I was finally confident the back end wasn't going to let go even though it felt harder so I started to settle down. I still wasn't getting through Turn 4 anywhere near as quickly as usual and to make things worse Nicki had warned me Turn 5 was starting to break up as well.

Unfortunately the gap stayed pretty constant until the end of the race.

However, the last 3 laps I finally started moving my body when and where I was meant to. I'd been trying to doing it for the last two race meetings and it wasn't until the last few laps that I actually started doing it properly. Changing when and where I moved meant that when I used my normal braking markers they were now far too early. Getting off the side of the bike before braking changes your perception of speed because you're no longer on the centre line of the bike and you've also got fewer things to do in the same time frame.

Overall I had a good day. Race 2 was shit and the first part of Race 3 was similar, Turn 4 did my head in all afternoon and it was ridiculously hot. But I'd lowered my best lap time, Race 1 was great fun and I'd finally started to make the change to the way I ride that I'd been trying to.

Thanks to:

• Michael for driving up to the track and helping out
• Stefan @ DL Consulting, Veridian and Elephind.com
• Nicki and Frenchy for having a generator and Eze Up that can take 2 bikes
• Alan at Grey Street Motors 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

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