Round six
I'm OK ! I landed on my head !
The weather was shocking leaving Wellington on Friday morning but I made it to Manfeild in one piece and the weather there was cloudy with the odd shower ( as forecast by the Metservice )
I picked up my new rear tyre and stowed it in the van, because I was quite late getting to the track I wasn't keen on paying $100 bucks for half a day but as the weather improved I decided I had to give it a whirl.
The only mod to the bike since the last meeting was a K & N filter so there was not much to do except practice getting down as low as I could on the bike. The track had a few more repairs which changed the line through the esse's (again) but the bike felt good so I decided I would save the new tyre until after lunch on Saturday.
Went to the pub for a steak and a beer or two with Darrin, Rachel, Keelim and Gah and had a good discussion about the various corners and what gear etc. and the general concensus was that I should be holding 3rd through turns 2,3 and 4 as the 675 has enough torque to allow that and back to 2nd for the hairpin. It all sounded good to me.
There are a few advantages in getting old, one is that you can listen to others opinions and advice with an open mind, the other is to STOP at 4 pints
Race Day:
F2 Qualifying
The bike felt good I tried holding third through the esse's and it seemed OK, not having to change down seemed to make the bike a bit more stable on the entrance and still got plenty of drive out of splash and around turn 4 and I figured I should be able to gradually increase my speed through there and maybe gain a bit of time.
Back into the pit after the session and I was told my transponder was not trans'ing or spond'ing or something any way they had no times for me so I was at the back of the grid. I immediately knew what the problem was. I had fitted a tether kill switch in preparation for Greymouth (they are required for street races) and in the process had unplugged my transponder and forgot to plug it back in again. DOH !! Of course I was sure I had done a personal best time during that session
Somehow even though my transponder was not plugged in a time was entered against my name of 2:38 ??
F1 Qualifying
Bike felt good I was getting a wee bit of rear wheel slippage exiting turn one but nothing to drastic.
The 3rd gear through the esse's theory seemed to be holding up 1:17 saw me 29th on the F1 Grid.
Was not really happy with that but at least I knew the transponder was working.
F2 Race 1
Pretty average start from the back of the grid, managed to pick up a couple of places round the outside of turn one and two, but my usual rivals Clive, Aria, Nick had pulled a big lead on me I didn't seem to be able to make up any time on them. Managed to get past Ivan Juggins and Scott Taylor and somehow ended up in front of Jamie Rajek who obviously had had some problem to drop from 8th to 30th place in one lap and also Nicholas Cole, I think I must have been trying to keep up with one of them when I managed a (so I am told) quite spectacular high side coming out of turn 4 . I remember bouncing and rolling sky, track, sky,track,sky,grass,sky,grass, sky and a bit of grass. The sky seemed to be rotating counter clockwise so I decided against trying to stand up but could move all my fingers and toes and a gentle experiment with my neck assured me that nothing seemed to be broken but the sky continued to rotate counter clockwise so I answered yes when the marshal asked if I wanted the ambulance. The St Johns gave me a very careful examination and loaded me into the ambulance and who should be sitting there but Clive. “What are you doing in my ambulance” ? I asked, “just going out in sympathy bro” says Clive.
As you will all know there was plenty of carnage at round six Clive and I waited in the first aid room for an ambulance to take us to Plamy and people called in to see how we were doing the ambulance was used by more urgent cases and Clive eventually went by car and I shared a ride with Cory Mudge who was in much worse shape than me and was being administered morphine .
I only had mild concussion and was kept in for 4 hours for observation, after a couple of hours I was moved out of my cubicle in the emergency Dept. to a chair in the transit area. As I shuffled down the corridor ( I was a bit stiff and not in a good way) I saw some poor bastard on a gurney with a neck brace on. As I passed trying not to gawp, I noticed with a shock it was Gah ! I checked that it was indeed him, “how you doin' ” Seemed a pretty dumb question to ask someone with a neck brace on so I muttered something like “see ya later” and gave him a pat on the leg (which in hindsight is also pretty dumb to do to someone who has just crashed a motorcycle) .
Latter as I waited to be picked up Sandra limped out with lots of dressing's on her arms and in considerable discomfort by the way she was walking, her main concern however seemed to be that she was meeting her family in Thailand this week and her mother didn't know she raced motorcycles, and how was she going to explain it. I guess it is some small comfort to know that SOMETHING scares her, motorcycles sure as hell don't !!
AJ came and rescued myself and Gah from the hospital and took us to the house Gah was staying (along with a few others) were we we treated to a great feed and plenty of cheek.
AJ then took me back to the motel the Vic Club team were staying at and found me a spare bed. I said “someone has to sleep with me to make sure I don't die in the night” but got no takers for some reason ?
I would like to thank all the people that helped clean up the mess, Darrin and the others who loaded the van, Deano and Drew for getting it back to me in Wellington. AJ turbo for getting me from Palmy, Mel for a lift home and everyone who offered help and en-quired about my health.
Times like this the motorcycle “fraternity” does indeed seem like family and it is a great comfort to people like the lovely Katie O'Donnell who are unable to do anything because of circumstances beyond their control to know that there loved ones will be “looked after” if it all goes pear shaped.
Especially of course I would like to acknowledge the GREAT WORK done by the health professionals, St John and the staff at the Palmerston North Public Hospital who were “professional” and empathetic and of course ACC for picking up the bill.
The New Zealand Health system is really really good and we must all make sure that it does not fall prey to the vultures of the corporate world who would privatize it to “Farm the sick for profit” as Winston Peters so eloquently put it.
My bike is in remarkably good shape, my helmet and leathers are fucked, I'm OK.
Sadly I will not be able to compete at Greymouth this weekend.
Big thanks to Vic Club and all the volunteers for another GREAT series and see you all at the Tri-Series !
p.s so much for my concern about how to stretch six and a half laps into a race report
Oh and new tyres are useless if you leave then in the van...
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Bikes For Life "Misfit Racing"
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: Hope we managed to pack the van ok? Was good having the few beers friday.
Originally Posted by wharfy
all the best
ahhhhhh 'matie'
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