Froggys BRM Rnd 3 - Clubmans

[froggyfrenchman]

Having made it to the track on Friday night and caught up with the usual suspects for one or two too many brews, 500ml of red bull was not really enough to kick start me on Saturday morning. Thankfully it was just a practice day!

I decided to go out in the medium group and learn the track. I have only done Taupo once before - that was round 1 on track 2. Being as it was my first day on a track I was too busy trying to survive to learn anything then.

For the first couple of sessions it seemed i had forgotten how to ride. By lunch i was over that and riding well (by my standards anyway)

Lunch break was spent patching up a mates cbr600 that he low sided about 12 laps into his ownership.

Sunday morning - looking at the program to see who entered, i decided that i would be happy with mid field finishes.

Out to qualifying - it felt good, and not too many bikes passed me. I was confident that i would be at that midfield point. Checking the sheets, i saw i qualified fith. Great! Hang on - the pro twins are in the same grid... Im third in clubmans! *insert small dance here*

Race 1 - the lights go out and im off, tip into first corner, hey, im second, no, thats a pro twin, holy mother of internal combustion im leading the race! How did that happen?
After a few laps out front I dropped to 4th, then we were red flagged due to a crash. So i came in third.

Race 1.5 - Could well have been the first race, without the red flag. Lead the first lap and ended up third.

Race 2 - More of the same! Lead the race for a while and came in third after the closest racing i have ever experienced. There were more than a few thumbs up exchanged on the back straight during the warm down lap.

I was pleasantly suprised to see that the days results were enough to put me second in the serries points. Bring on round 4!

Thanks heaps to the guys I was playing with. Im sorry that i cant remember any names, and my printouts are in sombody elses car. Im sure you know who you are.... good stuff. Such an enjoyable day. See you all in April

[RDjase]

You were looking good Dan, getting hang of Taupo now mate

Lunch break was spent patching up a mates cbr600 that he low sided about 12 laps into his ownership

He was lucky not to do too much damage, I was going around the outside of him on turn 4 and he went down in front of me, a wee ride thru the scoria and I managed not to run into him or his bike.
I wasted my LC in the same spot a few years ago, a slow low side did heaps of damage when it dug in a fliped

[froggyfrenchman]

He was lucky not to do too much damage, I was going around the outside of him on turn 4 and he went down in front of me, a wee ride thru the scoria and I managed not to run into him or his bike.
I wasted my LC in the same spot a few years ago, a slow low side did heaps of damage when it dug in a fliped

He was quite lucky - a fairing blade, bit of fiberglass work and he is in business again. I was rapt to see ot didnt slow him down, he got back out there and started his first race the next day.

[kittytamer]

Was some good fun racing for sure. You got the jump on me on the starts (I guess the extra 450cc helps!) but I managed to get past for the win in the first 2 races and 2nd in the 2nd (3rd?) race. How close were you when the R6 binned it on turn 11? Did you see it?

[froggyfrenchman]

Was some good fun racing for sure. You got the jump on me on the starts (I guess the extra 450cc helps!) but I managed to get past for the win in the first 2 races and 2nd in the 2nd (3rd?) race. How close were you when the R6 binned it on turn 11? Did you see it?

Yeah, i was pretty damn close. Had been closing the gap between us and was going to try and get under him under brakes in that corner. He was prob 3m in front of me when it seemed that he locked the front and went over the bars. It was a hard and fast impact and he bounced a long way off the ground. Then rolled 6 to 8 times off the track. Not nice to watch. The side of racing we try not to think about.

[JovoMan]

Impressive weekend froggy you did great, wd!

Anyone know how Rex is? That was one big crash . Had the best (or worst!) view in this case. Was behind kitty approaching the far hairpin and think Rex went for the pass but got his braking all wrong. Huge front stoppie heading for kitty's bike, flipped over and he continued to bounce all over the track like a crash dummy it was not pleasant to watch. Rex was returning to racing after 25 years.

Had issues with brake fade and losing one contact lense during each race but weekend ended well.
Will have movie of Race 2 up soon guys just finding time to edit. Good footage of Josh, J. Hoy, froggy and kitty so stay stuned.

[ryanf062]

it was awsome whatching you from up top on sunday looked like you were really enjoying it.

[nigela]

Impressive weekend froggy you did great, wd!

Anyone know how Rex is? That was one big crash . Had the best (or worst!) view in this case. Was behind kitty approaching the far hairpin and think Rex went for the pass but got his braking all wrong. Huge front stoppie heading for kitty's bike, flipped over and he continued to bounce all over the track like a crash dummy it was not pleasant to watch. Rex was returning to racing after 25 years.

Had issues with brake fade and losing one contact lense during each race but weekend ended well.
Will have movie of Race 2 up soon guys just finding time to edit. Good footage of Josh, J. Hoy, froggy and kitty so stay stuned.

Rex rang me on Monday night to let me know he was okay.
Just broke some bones in his hand and damage to his knee which might keep him out of the next round.
I think he might need a new helmet though, the marshals said he face dived into the track 3 times, and I have never seen such a mangled helmet.

[froggyfrenchman]

Rex rang me on Monday night to let me know he was okay.
Just broke some bones in his hand and damage to his knee which might keep him out of the next round.
I think he might need a new helmet though, the marshals said he face dived into the track 3 times, and I have never seen such a mangled helmet.

It sounds to me that he got off pretty lightly. That was one hell of a series of impacts. Im glad to hear he is going to be okay.
I have the next few weeks off work, so cant check my email. Im told that im the front page star of the club newsletter. Any chance you could foward it to me at home Nigel?
aprilliameows@hotmail

[JovoMan]

Sup people, glad to hear Rex is good. I usually have camera rolling but didnt for Race 1, shame he could have seen himself on camera doing some good tricks :-)
Ok finally finished race 2 vid after some issues. See links below.
PART 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ9Fn4CiT_I
PART 2 (Race finish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Z8Zq_JTho

They let me keep the music in the vid yeaahh!! otherwise might be a little boring but good for us clubmans anyway. Sorry not much footage of everyone in other half, can only do near the camera. Some good dicing, looking forward to the last round I think Rossi has entered clubmans again lol.