Farkin' hell.........forget Hampton Down's, Ruapuna is the schizz! Seriously, what an awesome track, and an awesome weekend's racing. If you do one road trip a year do your self a favour and do the Sound of Thunder or Lady Wigram or some bloody thing and experience Ruapuna. From the scary fast entry to turn one, to the funky lil' dipper, to the "flat chat in third don't look at the kerb" kink out the back it's just a wicked circuit with something for everyone and flows much better than HD, in my limited experience anyway. Good people too, with a fantastic atmosphere throughout the pits.
Soooo, how did I go? Well, it was learning experience, just to get a bit of extra track time in readiness (I use that word loosely, I doubt I'll ever be ready) for the National's next weekend, so I suppose it was mission accomplished.
It's all a bit of a blur to be honest. I only flew in from work Thursday evening after 2 days travelling, and between doing the last few things to get the bike ready that night, get it in to Wellington Friday for Stroudy to pack up, getting on another blardy plane to Christchurch and learning what is a quite technical track it feels almost surreal to be sitting in a motel with a few moments to myself, looking back over the last coupla days. Before flying home tomorrow and back again Thursday to do it all over again! Lucky Lake Alice has closed or my long sufferring missus would have me comitted!
So, Saturday morning was straight out into qualifying on a track I'd never seen before. On a bike I'd never raced before. Nervous? Like you wouldn't believe. I tried following a few blokes and sort of fumbled my way around. Funny moment was as I legged it down the front straight well over 200kph with no one in front and realised I was headed straight down the drag strip and nearly completely missed the first turn. I ended up with a 1:46.5 and 18th on the grid. Pretty blardy ordinary, made to feel even more ordinary when Stroudy rolls in with a 1m34.5 and not completely happy with bike setup. All the same it was good to be actually doing it rather than stuck at work just thinking about it.
Race 1 and it was just a case of trying to be smooth (bike seemed quite snatchy getting on/off the gas) and getting into a rythmn and reinforcing/adjusting reference points. Thanks to a coupla guys who either lay down or headed to the grass to get out of my way I fnished 13th (I think) with a best of a high 1m44. I was struggling to get the bike to turn, but with not having raced (just a coupla casual trackdays) since last September I figured the rider was more in need of adjustment than the bike.
Race 2 and I tried a bit harder, tucking in behind Tracey Durham on the stunning Guzzi MGS-01. It as only about 2 laps in and I went for the inside line past him outta the infeild sweeper, gassed it up and next thing I know I'm up outta the seat looking down at the front guard as the bike does a series of porpoises/ slaps down that short straight. I actually had time to think about making "that" phone call to the missus........before the bike finishes kickin' her heels up and lets me back in the saddle. So it was a bit more conservative for the next lap or so and noting that the bike was feeling very "tippy" and nervous on corner entry, and "pumping" on the gas at exit. I caught back up to the Guzzi but didn't get close enough to attempt a pass. 14th, I think, with a best of a mid-1m44.
Getting back to the pits and looking at the front end: between race 1 and race 2 the fork o-ring has gone from 20mm showing to jammed against the bottom of the fork, and looks to have about 35mm static sag (set up with 20mm before leaving home) WTF? I only had 3 turns of pre-load left so cranked it on and upped the compression damping. Not ideal, but best I could do.
Race 3 and I got a better start, getting in front of the Guzzi and staying there. All in all the bike felt much better (more preload on rear too) and I just rode comfortable race for 14th(?) again, with a best of 1m44 flat.
I went down with 3 goals:
1. Get within 115% of Nats qualifying, just to relieve the stress of knowing if I could even qualify.
2 Aim for 110% (1m44 is pretty much that exactly)
3. Have bike in one piece afterwards
I ticked all the boxes, which is nothing amazing, I know, but it's just lil' steps eh? Lotsa lil' steps will hopefully add up. I'll get some new springs in the front end and will hopefully take a few more lil' steps next weekend.
Thanks so much to Andrew/Karyn Stroud and family (amazing bunch) for chauffeuring my ride/gear, Keiran and Ian from Just Motorcycles for the assistance and bike wisdom, Motomart (Pirelli and EBC Brakes) and Motorcycling Canterbury for an amazing weekend.
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Originally Posted by KS34
makes me giggle every time, even after wooping myself with it earlier this year 
Kerb's plenty grippy too...
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