Team Metalform Racing 16 November 2003 – AMCC Round 2
Before we go into our report it’s worth mentioning the Ruapuna Formula Thunder meeting the team raced at featured on Sky Sport recently. As well as some great coverage of the bike racing both Nick and Mike got mentions in the commentary, good to see our sport getting the coverage it deserves and even better that we featured! Back in the North Island…..you wouldn’t believe it – a fine race meeting at Pukekohe! Team Metalform Racing competed at the 2nd round of the Auckland Club Champs and along with all the other riders we were pleasantly surprised to find a dry track. The track had been in use the weekend before for the New Zealand round of the V8 Supercars, luckily there had been rain during the week to wash off the track but there were still some slippery spots over the hill and rubber marbles at every corner if you ventured off the racing line.
Nick Odermatt
The nationals starts in just a few weeks so this meeting was a great opportunity to get some track time and try to get my lap times down. Everyone else thought so as well and we saw some big fields out on the day. My previous best at Pukekohe on my 98 machine was a 1.05 and this would be the first dry meeting I’d had on the K1 bike. I ended up with a best time of a 1.03, good for the day but I need to drop off another couple of seconds to get right into national pace – where I’m going to find those two seconds I’m not sure but fresh rubber and some more practice should help.
Qualifying went well for me, I qualified 7th in Formula 1 and 2nd in Formula 2. The races were only 5 laps so it was quite important to get good starts. Formula 1 was tough with the big bikes taking advantage of the dry and their extra horsepower. I ended up with a 9th, 9th and 7th and had some good dices with Peter Vile on the big Thunderace.
Formula 2 saw all sorts of 600’s come out of the woodwork. Johan Bruns was up from Wellington and Jarod Love up from Hamilton getting ready for the nationals. These guys got ahead of me at the start and kept ahead in the first race, I started 3rd and stayed there for the whole race. The second race Jarod started from the back of the grid to practice his passing, I lead the first lap but Johan got past me and stayed in front. Jarod didn’t quite catch up by the end of the race so I finished up in 2nd place – good to have on the record that I bet Jarod Love, even if he was playing silly buggers! The third F2 race was great, Jarod sat this one out and Johan got away from me on the start line, I spent the whole race holding off Martin Dunn on his CBR and I managed to stay ahead till the finish line to place 2nd. My Metzelers were giving their best but the rear was wearing near the end of the last race, testimony to the Rennsports lifespan considering these tyres have done over 60 laps of Ruapuna and 50 laps of Puke (over 330kms at race pace).
The meeting should have me placed well on points so far but the next club report will have to wait until 2004 when we’ve got the next round in April. I’d like to take this chance to thank new support from Carters Building Supplies who are assisting me with getting to the Nationals this summer - Check out www.carters.co.nz.
Mike Smith
This report will be short like my race day.
After practice / qualifying I really needed to change my gearing but could not get the front sprocket undone, even using an air rattle gun it would not budge. I had managed 2nd on the grid but I just could not ride the section of track after the hairpin properly with the gearing I had, also I was hitting the limiter down the back straight for far too long. Anyway nothing could be done so I started with what I had. Slotting in to 4th after a not so good start I soon got into 3rd and started chasing down Lance on the Suzuki 1000. I managed to pass on the next lap and stay in front until the last time over the hill when Lance came by putting me back into 3rd for that race. As I ran into the pits I could hear a knocking noise which I thought was a big end problem so that was it for me. As it turned out I had just blown the clutch (must of done that perfecting my not so good starts) so not as bad as I had thought. Tim at Haldane Motorcycles will soon have the machine back together ready for the nationals so we will see how we go there very soon.
Big thanks as always to our sponsor without their help I would not be writing me little report. Good luck to all you racers out there (as long as you are behind me) Mike Smith.
Team Metalform Racing would like to thank the following for their support.
Metalforming Technologies, Il Woo Industries, Pacific Direct Lines, Carters, Corporate Design, Haldane Motorcycles, Pacific Freight Management, Waikato Sandblasting Services, Armour Linings, Fredco Motors, Metzeler Tyres, FFM Helmets, GP Star Leathers, Nazran Gloves, Maxima Oils, Izumi Race Chains, Forma Boots
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