Marty's Round 4 race report
Was a bit of a rush job during the week to get the bike all together and ready. I have had the forks up with Robert Taylor and his crew at Crown Kiwi Technical getting new Racetech valving, springs and oil fitted. So was looking forward to trying that out.
I had new rearsets from F1 Engineering to fit too. They were not as straight forward as I had thought and had to play around with them a bit to get the angles right for me.
The weather couldnt have been better. Blue sky and very little wind ment we were in for a great day of racing.
Formula 2 Qualifying: I had a few things to do this session. I had new tyres to
scrub in, test the settings I had on the forks and make sure the rear sets were set right. And try to set a fast lap! I spent the first couple laps making sure everything felt good and nothing was going to fall off. Then put my head down and try set a half decent lap time. But everytime I started getting into it I caught up to another rider. So ended up coming in after the session a bit annoyed that I couldnt set the lap that I was capable of setting.
Ended up with a 2.08 which put me down the grid at 15th.
Formula 1 Qualifying: I knew the bike was mint and the tyres were scrubbed so could put my head down and improve my time from the F2 session.
I spent a lap warming everything up and making sure I had a semi clear track in front of me. I managed to improve my time by 3 seconds and set a 2.05. So was a bit happier with that. But knew I could get lower.
The bike felt amazing! The front end was soo plush over the bumps. I could carry a fairly large amount of speed on the entry to the corners, so was going to use this to my advantage.
F2 Race 1: I knew I had to get a good start, so was really focused on doing that. The lights came on and then off they went. I got off the line perfect! I split through the field and made it as far as 8th by the first turn. I couldnt believe it really. But just kept my head down and stuck with the faster riders in front of me. But when on the extension and couple riders came together and went down. The race was red flagged so that awsome start went to waste. GUTTED!
On the restart I I got another good start and cut through the field. I was in a group of 5 bikes all dicing for the top 10. The final lap came round quickley. I tried to make a move on the bike in front of me at the back hairpin to get him around the big sweeping left hander. But a took the wrong line and hit the large bump and had to back off to get back on line. Finished in 11th. Which wasnt too bad as we were all batlling pretty hard for position.
F2 Race 2: I knew if I could get another good start I would be able to make up some positions again. The lights went out and we were off. I got off the line well again and split through the field.
We all settled into the race with the same group of 5 bikes all dicing for position again. I knew that if I was to stay in the top 10 I would have to really push hard. Bruce and Lee ended up getting my on the breaks into turn one but I knew Lee would go wide and push Bruce wide too so I took a sharp line and got them both on the exit into splash and pushed hard. I managed to put a good enough gap between us to hold them off. On the last lap I got overtaken by a 675 Triumph. I didnt even know he was there so I stuck with him and we ended up catching the bike in front of us at the extension. I tried to find a clean line past them both but just didnt have the power to get by. Finished to race in 9th less than a second behind 7th and 8th position.
Ended the day with a 2.03 laptime. Now I just need to pull finger and do those sorts of times during qualifying. Would make things much easier during the races.
I didnt race in the Formula 1 races as I didnt want to chew my tryes too much. I have been going through a set every round and simply cant afford to keep replacing them each month.
Allround a great day of racing once again.
I like to thank the following people for their help and support..
Motomart, Alpinestars, Robert Taylor and his team at Crown kiwi Technical, Capital Chemdry, Motul Oil, Pirelli, Wakefeild and Scott
Panel Beaters, all the boys and my awsome partner Anja for her love and support.
And I would like to welcome Go Fast Energy Drink to the team. Not just your
average energy drink at all.
Thanks everyone and I will see you at round 5 for the 2 day event.
Martin Billing #55 CBR600RR
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Originally Posted by Sparky Bills
good work on going thru, teach those 2 a lesson I would say, especially Busted he's a bit wiser 
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