Sexy Pumpkin over-cooked and composted
Nervous doesn't quite capture how I was feeling after MSTRS applied the race number boards and other decals to my freshly repainted race bike (now known as the Racing Punkin' ). Crazefox had done a beautiful job of repairing and painting the fairings in a stunning orange with gold pearl, and the whole package came together once the decals were applied by the Zen-master of vinyl. My head was spinning "ShitI don't think I can ride as good as this bike looks".
My brilliant 10 year old supporter and I arrived at the track nice and early for Round 3 of the Actrix Winter Series. Setting up took longer than usual as I admired the lustre of the gold pearl in the dappled light of the VMCC garage. The day was looking good for a cold start, but a dry track that would hopefully warm with a bit of sun. My goals for the day were pretty simple. Stay upright, work on my vision through the corner and continue learning what works on the 600.
Super Bike Qualifying
Thanks to the help of Jarrod Wintle I had refurbished but untested front brake calipers and a fresh Metzeler Racetech to scrub in. These things combined with the very cold track and some slippy damp spots, resulted in a very gentle qualifying. The new rear made an incredible difference to the bike handling and I am going to have to find the budget for more frequent tyre replacement. I qualified 31st with a time of 1:26. No worries as I am happy to be at the back for the time being.
Super Sport Qualifying
This was taken a little more seriously. Tyre all scrubbed in, confident that the brakes were working and the brain thinking "whark this bike looks fast now". The bike felt great and I relaxedly-focussed on keeping the smile going and riding assertively but within my limits. I was absolutely stoked to be 20th qualifier with a time of 1:19. Most importantly, less than 1/100 of a second quicker than Scracha on his new 600 terror machine and actually within spitting distance of a whole bunch of riders who are my reference points for this year. My buzz was building nicely. After the last round I expected Wharfy, Scuzeme and Sinful to have stronger qualifying times than me, but I'd had a good run. See Crazefox for a paintjob guys, I swear it's worth 2 seconds.
Super Bike Race 1
I love being on the outside of the grid and I got a fabulous start by making heaps of places up around the outside of turn 1. All those times watching Scracha do this had paid off. Things then got real congested around turn 2 and further through the infield to the hair pin and I backed off, losing many of the places I had gained. This was a 10-lapper and I soon found myself settling into a rhythm and feeling like a racer. There was a bit of dicing with some R1s early on but they eventually pulled away leaving me nothing but a good view of Scuzeme's butt off in the distance. As a man confident in my sexuality, I have no shame in admitting that I proceeded to reel his butt in. There were a couple of places that I was making up good time under brakes and for the last 3 laps I planned how I would jump him. I eventually got by under the brakes and rode for the final lap like a man who had dinner booked with Jessica Alba. To my delerious delight I held him off and finished 21st with a time of 1:16. My secret goal for the season had been to get into the 1:17s on the short circuit. As far as I was concerned I could pack up and head home, my season was already a success.
Super Sport Race 1
My goals for this race were to get more consistent and try and bring that lap time down into the mid 1:16s. The track was warmer and Kerry Dukic and I had decided make some minor adjustments to the rear Ohlins, so optimism was in the ascendant.
The first lap was pretty much a repeat of the start in the Super Bike race but I pushed a little harder and dont think I lost as many places through the infield. The race progressed as they do with the various "races within a race" developing. I lost track of everything apart from the battle between Scracha, Scuzeme and myself. All of us have different strengths and there was a bit of backwards and forwards until Scracha put the mean pass on us coming into turn one on around lap 5 or 6. He seemed to stuff the exit up and left a gap up the inside of turn 2 that I grabbed like a free beer, and got by the both of them. The punkin' was feeling good and this felt like the right time to truly get my head down and try and build a lead on them, but try as I might I could hear someone right on my tail. I was determined not to look back and worked hard on riding as fast as I could without leaving the door open on the inside of corners. The Punkin' was singing right up until lap 9 when I ran out of talent, and front end traction on the exit of Splash. I had had my hand in my pocket, was feeling cocky and paid the price.
As an aside, I have discovered some unexpected benefits of racing. One has been the awesome friendliness of the race paddock. It really does make the meetings something special. The second has been how much I've learned about managing disaster and dissappointment. I think the Dalai Lama would approve. The third, that I was thinking of while sliding along the track accross the ripple strip and through the mud, was how crazy it is to be able to relax while all this was occurring. I just had to trust the quality of my kit (and the awesome Celtic Leathers repairs); keep my hands in and feet together; and hope that whoever was behind me wouldn't nail me. Turns out it was Scuzeme and he did an excellent job.
It also turned out that the cosmetic damage was fairly minimal, but the ripple strip had punched a decent sized hole in my alternator cover which was promptly filled with half of the infield; leaving the race punkin' looking like a steaming heap of compost. I knew I should have taken a photo when it was all pristeen.Oh well.... My racing was over for the day but somehow I was still buzzing to beat the band.
I really must thank my sponsors and supporters again, and take the opportunity to remind anyone reading this that if you contact Q8Oils for product and tell them you have been sent by me, you will get it for pretty much wholesale prices. Sorry for scuffing the gorgeous paintjob Crazefox and I am very happy with how the Metzelers are performing. I will be ordering some more this week.
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Originally Posted by Drew
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