It had been 10 weeks since the last time I had ridden a bike so I was quite eagerly looking forward to the first round of South Island Cup for 2010 at Levels Raceway, Timaru. The weather forecast had been looking good for Timaru all week and they were right on the money (for once). A fairly crisp morning but clear blue skies got the temperature up to double figures by the time we had our first practice session.
I went out for a few laps to get reacquainted with the track and bike. There was a lot of traffic and was impossible to get a clear lap in. I circulated for 4-5 laps and came in with a best time of 1.14.4. The session was supposed to be qualifying so I was hopeful of a front row start. However there was an issue with the timing system and thus no times were had before the first race was up. This would make the warm up lap fun as the grid would be determined on a “first in first served” basis! But I was well used to this form of “qualifying” from buckets.
The 125’s (all 2 of them) were off first and then about 20 seconds later the lights went out and the F3 field was off. I got a good launch and managed the hole shot into turn 1. I was a little tentative for the first lap knowing that the track temp wasn’t quite at summer levels and knowing the brakes and tyres would take a lap or so to get up to their optimal ranges. My main competition was NZ Pro Twins #2 James Hoogie and I knew he would be hot on my heals, so I kept my head down and didn’t look back for the whole race. After a very uneventful race I crossed the line in first place after and a fairly substantial 18s gap to James in 2nd place. A good start to the day with a fairly unexpected and quite satisfying result, there was however two races still left in the day.
For the second race the 125’s were combined with F3 and thus we were all off the same start. This would be good seeing as the current NZ champ and Levels lap record holder Al Hoogie was riding, this would definitely give me someone to dice with. The lights went out and I didn’t quite get as good a start this time, releasing the clutch a fraction too early and loosing a small amount of drive into turn one. James got the holeshot and I was in second going through the first corners and out onto the back straight. I had a look at passing James off the end of the straight but wasn’t quite brave enough under brakes. I followed him for the rest of the lap planning on another move off the end of the straight. Again I wasn’t close enough so I followed him through the next series of tightening left hand corners and thought about going up the inside into the hairpin. However Al had different plans, he used the superior handling of his 125 and rode right around the outside of me at the hairpin. He also had a go at James into the next corner but wasn’t able to make it stick.
Out of the chicane Al got the run on James and passed him into turn 1. I got a really good run onto the back straight and thanks to a good slipstream off James managed to pass both he and Al to take the lead. I kept my head down knowing Al would be hot on my heels. We crossed the line for the start of the fourth lap and Al went past me into turn 1. I got him back down the straight using the fairly decent top speed advantage of the 450 but he managed to get back past me into the hairpin. We crossed the line to start the final lap with Al 2-3 bike lengths in front. Again I got a great run onto the back straight and used the horsepower of the 450 to make a clean pass around the 200m mark. I kept a defensive line off the straight to ensure he couldn’t come back past and employed the same tactic into the hairpin. I knew he would be right on my wheel coming onto the start/finish straight and just to make things a little harder I managed to miss a gear coming out of the chicane. Just as I crossed the finish line I saw his front wheel out of the corner of my eye. I had taken the win but by the narrowest of margins and the timing sheets confirmed it, I had won by 0.045s! Looking at the laptimes my final lap was a 1.10.9, less than half a second off my personal best from nationals in January. Shows what some good competition can do to your laptimes.
After this race I was really looking forward to the 3rd and final race of the day. The sun was still shining and I knew I had a great chance at a F3 clean sweep. I got a slightly better start this time but was again 2nd into the first turn; the SV650 that James was riding had the slightly better acceleration off the line. I made sure I followed him closely onto the back straight this time and with a good slipstream moved into the lead. Coming out of the hairpin I could hear the unmistakable whine of a 125 having its clutch slipped, Al was right on me again. I kept my head down and focussed on keeping him behind me. I didn’t dare look back for the whole race and was very surprised not to see him for the entire 5 laps. Looking back after I took the chequered flag he was no where to be seen, having crashed on the 3rd lap trying a late braking move into turn 1, hehe. So I completed the trifecta of wins with a 9s win to James in 2nd place.
So the skills learnt in the three South Island nationals rounds have certainly shown through with three very good wins in the first round of the South Island cup. It was a great day and hopefully I can continue this at the remaining two rounds later in the year. Finally thanks to my sponsors Alexandra Panelbeaters, Alexandra Signs, www.motorbikeparts.co.nz, Shoei Helmets, Teknic Leathers, RK Chains, Afam Sprockets, Silkolene Oils and Two Wheels Unlimited Alexandra. I am very grateful for their support and assistance in my racing.
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Originally Posted by SWERVE
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