Arrived at the track just before 8.00am and got myself sorted in the garage. Drew arrived with the bikes soon after.
Earlier in the week Drew had made a modification to the fork emulators to stiffen the front end up a bit (well a lot actually ) and Robert Taylor had also serviced and upgraded my shock, so I was very keen to see how much of a difference it would make.
I had also reversed the gear shift pattern and was a bit nervous as I had not had any practice on it.
The weather was looking great and it seemed that the wet patches on the track would (hopefully) dry out pretty quickly.
I had a couple of small slides in qualifying – the front end started to wash out on exit of splash which was quite disconcerting and I think I was slower than usual through there for the rest of the day after that.
I got ahead of Neil for a few laps before he came back past, and had been slowly reeling Geoff Booth in so figured I was on the pace – qualified 3rd overall and 2nd in pro twins so pretty happy with that.
Ashley Payne was only 8 points behind going into this round and as he had qualified on pole, I figured I would have my work cut out for me to stay ahead of him.
Race 1
I got an okay start but others must have got a better one as I ended up about 5th going into turn 1. Another bike was edging up the inside (Disco Dan I think) and I didn’t want to give up my line so just tipped in anyway – I could see he was pretty close so poked my elbow out a bit (Spies styles) in case we were going to get all up close and personal (better my elbow than the brake lever eh – as it was we didn’t touch)
Ashley Payne, Geoff Booth, Paul Buckley and Neil Chappell were all up ahead and I couldn’t close up on them but kept pushing hard.
Coming through splash on about lap 4, I see Neil tumbling/sliding to a stop, frantically waving his arms so I would avoid him. He was off the racing line so no worries there, although I did run over something that had come off his bike –possibly his bar end. By the end of the back straight I saw the red flag out so we all entered the pits.
We were all told to stay put, but soon after Geoff Booth scurried off to his garage. When we re-entered the track to grid up for the restart, Geoff was sent to the back.
I got a great start this time and was side by side with Ashley going into turn 1.
I couldn’t quite stay with him though and he gradually pulled away for the win, I held on to 2nd, although Geoff had gained a lot and I was a bit lucky for his misfortune.
I found that stiffening up the front end had made the bike harder to turn so we raised the forks by 5mm.
Race 2
I got another pretty good start but Ashley and Geoff checked out soon after. This left me dicing with Paul Buckley – despite being in different classes, a good battle is always fun, and we swapped places a couple of times. Slipstreaming really played a part with the bikes being so even. Coming into Higgins we were both trying to out brake each other – Paul had the inside line but ran it in too deep, giving me the inside line on the exit. I passed a back marker entering the sweeper and apparently he cut across in front of Paul, giving me a decent gap. Finished 3rd which put me 3rd overall for the day.
The bike is feeling a lot better now with the suspension work and is not as mushy as it was. The reverse gear shift pattern is great on the straights but I need more practice going down through the gears smoothly and positively. Despite this I did however manage to do a personal best, albeit by .006s.
I am now holding on to 2nd place in the championship over Ash Payne by only 3 points and the way he is riding I really need to pull finger.
Big thanks to my Team-mate Drew for all his help, Robert Taylor for setting up the suspenders, our sponsors (listed below) and the Vic Club officials and marshals.
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Originally Posted by slowpoke
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