2015 AMCC Round 1 @ Hampton Downs
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, 22nd October 2015 at 20:31 (11828 Views)
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