After a very looong trip up on Friday (left home at 6am - arrived at Palmy at 8pm) im sure the ferry gets slower every trip and the Kapati coast traffic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
But never the less we arrived and booked into the Chancellor Motel. BIG THANK YOU to Graeme, and family for sorting us out a room and such a warm welcome. This is an awesome place to stay when you are in Palmy and Graeme is big into the racing. Thanks also to Choppa for the recomendation.
Up at pre-dawn to get to the track and change to wets as it was p**sing down. Ants was entered into Streetstock & Pro-twin so he was racing back to back.......... which was a rush but at least we got to watch some racing inbetween.
Practice: This was the first time Ants had ridden on full race wets and was unsure of just how far he could push it. After a couple of siting laps he settled in and began to quicken the pace. Qualified 14th on the mixed grid. Was reasonably happy with that position.
Straight out on the RG was a bit worrying as he had a lot less power but a LOT less grip......... lap 2 out of splash and down he went........ not a hard fall but a broken brake lever saw him sit out the session and not record a time........so it was last on the grid.
Pro Twin: Race 1 saw him get the hang of the wets pretty quick. The restart saw Geoff Booth start from pitane which certainly helped Ants get a 3rd (pro-twin) but thats racing.
Race 2. Out on dry set up this time saw him launch well but he got swamped into T1. After a long battle with 3/4 others he managed to finish at the front of that group to take 6th.
Race3: Not such a great start this time. Had to fight hard all race and finished 7th.
Streetstock.
Race1: Another awesome start saw him carve through the pack into T1. But in a class such as being at the front is a huge advantage in the opening laps. Having a much clearer track to open the gap. However after a real battle with one of the Finn bros he managed to finish 5th.
Race2: He was really fired up for this one(dissapointed that it was cut too 5 laps) Due to a few casualties in race one the grid was a bit more bunched up which allowed him to get nearer the front pack out of T1. He pushed hard and was rewarded with a 2nd. Might have been a different story if it had been 10 laps!
A great day.......... pity about the crashes and the hold ups, but thats life and at least we got 3 races in one class. The level of riding in streetstock has risen a lot since last year- some real talent out there. Ants had a bit of a wake up call into the calibre of riding required to stay on the pace in pro-twin....... but enjoyed it hugely and toughened up "real quick"
After a night at Paraparaumu we caught the early ferry and arrived back home at 6pm on Sunday.
A long 60hrs away for only 30laps........... but if thats what it takes .................... we will be back next month ( selling the furniture as we speak: 2days plus a friday practice makes it a bit less of a rush.
Thanks MCC for loan of the club ezy-up. Thanks VMCC and Andrew for coming over to welcome us. Thanks to Hels for the offer of spares
Thanks to The Chancellor Motel (see ya next month)
Well done all you competitors............ and speedy a recovery to the less fortuanate.
See ya all in June........... THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN
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Originally Posted by SWERVE
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