We didn't make to the track day this round, so drove up early on Sat morning. Nothing like an early morning road trip, good coffee on the way (I recommend the coffee cart on the right side of the road in Otaki!) and good yarns. We came well prepared this round and had a sweet set up including a table, coffe plunger, jug and toastie pie machine...all on a nice blue table cloth!! Next round, a vase with flowers.
Qualifying was a strange one again. It never seems to be consistent. This round we got 3 laps, one of those under a yellow flag? So no passing first lap, and used the second lap to get some clear track or at least be in less traffic. Third lap I started to go a bit harder. I did have a small rear wheel slip exiting Higgens, but apart from that traction was ok. Was happy with that lap, and thought I'd push a bit harder again on lap four, but got a checkered flag instead. Damn. I thought the lap was clean but not very quick. As it happened, I qualified 2nd!! I wasn't sure how, but was super stoked!! I think it helped that I was a bit calmer (head wise). Now to make good of the front row, and not play silly games like jump starting the lights, or another favourite one of mine, bog second gear.
Gridded up and felt good. Was focused on leaving AFTER the lights, which went well. Was 4th or 5th to turn one and was enjoying the lack of bikes around. Passed Daniel M which surprised me, just to have him pass me back on the front straight. I managed to out brake him though into turn one and stayed in front of him. Then came a great battle with Joel Dykstra. A battle that lasted all 3 of the final laps. I lost count how many times we changed leading each other!! Was really exciting and I couldn't help thinking to myself that this was one of THOSE race battles that could go either way. I was having to push hard to pass Joel back at times, including inside him OVER the patch/bump on the long left hander on the back track. Real grit your teeth stuff at times...AWESOME!! Managed to just stay in front of him at the end and finished in second. Woo Hoo!!My first finish in the top three!! Loved the battle Joel and I had, and to come in 2nd...wow.
Race two warm up lap had a shower of rain in it, which I thought would slow things down a bit, but no one told Sam, Joel or Daniel that. The first lap felt fast and had to work hard not to lose places early on. After the first lap I was in 3rd behind Daniel, with Sam Croft already pulling out and making a nice lead for himself. I was trying to hunt down Daniel, and was tucked behind him comong down the straight to Higgins. I out braked him on the inside, and felt good with my line, but a quarter of the way round lost the front!! Hit the ground pretty hard with my right knee and went for a bit of a slide!! Not sure how Daniel didn't run over the top of me actually. Nice work Daniel. Stopped sliding and looked up to see 3 bikes coming straight for me. Pretty sure (in my mind anyway) that I was the fastest man on the planet and ran to the side of the track.
The bike had slide off the track into the gravel which was good.
I walked around for a while trying not to let my knee seize up. Had a look at the bike and while there was some damage, it was no where as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's amazing how many things I thought about while sliding along the track...keep your helmet off the track, how I was a dick for dropping the bike, losing points for the championships, blowing the chance to finish the round in the top 3, telling Chrissie and Craig about how I just dropped their bike (and for the record, they were both AMAZING, which I prob shouldn't be surprised about eh), what my boss was going to say on Monday, what my wife was going to say (who was also awesome about it). All of that in about three seconds. Ha ha.
Went with the Ambo people and got checked out. They were alll great and very thorough. Went and got x rays which all checked out fine, and made sure I got my clearance cert from the doc to get my track license back. Drove home with our team and shared a few beers and had some dinner.
So out of this day I have learnt that I'm surrounded by great people, which I kinda already knew, about having to push hard all the time and that keeping a calm head is a great thing to try and do. Oh, and that it feels great to finish second!!
A big thanks to Craig and Chrissie for being awesome through out the day, and to Sue Futter for checking in on me. Her smile is def contagious. To the ambo staff and the pick up crew that bought my bike back in.
So once the swelling in my knee goes down (it's fatter than my thigh at this point) I'll get out an give the bike a clean and help Craig fix it up again. Then...bring on a two day round next month!! AWESOME
RAG Racing
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!! Hope that swelling goes down real quick !
Originally Posted by Kendog
Which is going to change things on the table, and make an almost impossible task to catch you in points. I am shaking my fist at you as I type this!!
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