SCUZEMEs RACE REPORT VMCC Round 4: Miracle of Miracles
I never miss the Friday practice the day before the race meet,unfortunitely I had to escort the Wellington Rugby Team through the Wellington City Streets in a pre VICTORIUS Ranfurly Shield Parade, the only thing I love more than stopping traffic in the middle of the city is race day.
Finally got to the track about 3.30pm, man the place was packed, found Marcus, Gah, Phil and Kevin and got set up in our garage ready for the next day.
We headed out to the place we were staying and have a few quiet ones settling in for the evening.
Since the last round I had spent a lot of time thinking about my racing, asking advice and trying to work out why I was not improving, as I sat there I went over my plan in my head:
1. The first thing I had done was get out to Manfeild a week before and spent the whole day just working on braking later into the turns I felt I had made some huge improvement by days end.
2. I recognized the importance of qualifying well and realized that for a lot of the field where you are coming out of Toyota on the very first lap often determines where your going to finish.
3. I recognized I need to stop trying to go round the outside of other riders if I could and try and smother the race line to upset the rhythm of riders behind me, in other words ride aggressively but also defensively in the areas of the track where I knew I would be weak.
I summarized over a tequila shot BRAKE LATER, GET GOOD GRID POSITION AND CHANGE MY LINES and went to bed.
RACE DAY
F2 QUALIFIER
Well my secret weapon a wet track didn’t eventuate so I was determined to go hard in the qualifier to get good grid position, I had replaced my 190 rear METZELER RACE TECHS with a new 180 profile because I thought this would help me in the tight sections of the track.
Went out and went hard Qualified 10th with a 2:07 good enough to put me within striking distance of the sharp end mission accomplished.
F1 QUALIFIER
In the groove now and feeling really confident with the 180 rear I qualified 15th ,I think my time of 2:04 on the long track was a PB as well.
RACE1 F2
I was feeling very confident about my races this weekend, I got a good start cut into the inside and was in the main pack going round Toyota, I stayed close to the apex instead of going wide and used a huge gap to undercut quite a few bikes, going through splash then hairpin I came out just behind the lead pack.
I used a combination of later braking, deliberately not going wide and staying on a tight defensive race line to keep me up within my nemesis Bruce Williams and someone id never tasseled with before Lee Bradford both on deadly Kawkas.
The Yamakazi was hell of a quick coming off corners and picking my moments I managed to overtake both Bruce and Lee Muhahaha. OMG was that Marcus infront of me, I pushed very hard and was helped when Keelim ran out of fuel and made Marcus hesitate round the sweeper extension, cranking into Dunlop I was a just a few bike lengths behind him, coming out of Dunlop I was on the gas earlier then I ever have been I swear I was drifting, back wheel spinning like a SBK on the exit, it was so close but not to be 2/1000th of a second was all that was between between us I finished 7th with a new PB 2:03 my best result in an F2 race.
WTF is going on!
RACE 1 F1
I really enjoy the SBK races, there is a lot less pressure and great race experience, lined up on the grid and again got a pretty good start but mid pack I just went hard and seemed to just continuously be overtaking riders through Splash, Hairpin, Higgins, Left hand extn, Right hand extn shot past Keelim (and this guy can move), OMG is that Johan! Got past him coming into the far right hand extn hahahaa I was laughing my head off because I couldn’t believe it, I got a bit wide on the left hand sweeper and Johan got back infront he was gone. The rest of the race consisted of me an Spud doing the titanic 1000cc vrs the 600cc battle I held him off for ages but he eventually got past and I had to settle for being the 2nd 600cc bike home (I think) after Sketchy for a 9th place with another new PB 2:02 and 4 seconds ahead of Marcus, very happy with that result!
I just want to say that the best feeling is having people you know lined up on pit wall thumbing and clapping as you go past it felt awesome.
RACE 2 F2
Well we stopped for lunch and someone got some good photos of my kids on the Yamakazi, unfortunately one of them clicked it into gear and when I went to go and grid up for the second F2 race both my rear tyre warmer and Marcus’s front tyre warmer ended up getting wound up in my rear tyre as it spun on the stand yay!
Tried to put it put of my mind and went out and grided up.
Not the best start and was a little behind in the pack by Toyota ended up dicing with Bruce and Lee again on their green machines and felt I could have done with one more lap to get an even better placing but as it was I came in 11th with another 2:02.
RACE 2 F1
Last race of the day and the temp had gone down a little.
I had got out the spare set of tyre warmers Ryan had slapped them on after the 2nd F2 race, when I took them off to go a grid up I saw that my new rear was pretty torn up with 30mm to 40mm either side of mid tyre looking like it was suffering from cold shear, the back end had felt rock solid all day but I think because I was getting more aggressive on the gas out of the corners the suspension was not handling it well.
Myself, Keelim, Phil and Luke stayed pretty tight throughout this race and I managed to hold them off to the end to come in 12th with a best time of 2:03.
To say im happy with the weekends racing would be an understatement I felt I rode to my potential on Saturday and now I just want to be consistent at that level and build on that consistency.
The great thing is I know my R6 is still not being ridden to its edges it still has more to give.
Thanks to everyone that helped out in the shed, gave good advice and encouragement see you at round 5 which will be exactly a year from when I did my first Clubmans B race.
Cheers Scuzeme.
Video up soon.
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Bikes For Life "Misfit Racing"
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