testday
well. about an hour sleep on friday night and getting to the track late and just being rushed and then hearing about HD incident and finding out the guy wasnt so much of a 'random guy' pretty much had my headspace fucked for the day. I probably should have given it away but instead muppeted round in the med group working on style more than anything else. Didnt do anything special and just found myself getting really frustrated with the day really. By the arvo I figured I might as well give it away and I had 'new' second hand tyres coming for the morning so I put the bike in the stables and took the rims off it ready for sunday morning.
Raceday.
keen to get going and had a decent nights sleep so feeling a bit better about the day really. Got over to the track about 7.15 and had a scout round for Bryce to get my new tyres. The pits can be a big place when your looking for someone! but we must have been circulating in the same direction cause by the time I did a lap round the pits I had tyres waiting next to my bike for me. So second hand Power one Vs to go on the bike. Got it sorted then waited for qualifying.
Qualifying.
Interesting!. The bike instantly felt WAY WAY different. It really didnt like being upright and had this feeling it was going to fall over at any stage. First tip in to a corner and I was like.. ARRRGGGHH .. Im falling off!... Then it just kinda settles in the lean. Very caucious with the throttle but the more I used it the better the bike sat in the corner. Took it really easy and I REALLY didnt want to fall off and was surprised to qualify 4th with 1.23. Mint! I was thinking this power one tyre thing could be a really good idea and thinking I had plenty left in reserve for the race.
Found out it was a 2 classes in one racing with the open twins gridded in front of us. Now Im really not complaining a whole lot and dont really know what the protocol is with it but a quick look at the laptimes told me the front of the open twin class doing 1.16-1.18s and the back of the open twin class doing 1.28-1.35s and the front of clubmans doing 1.18-1.24s would make for a really interesting first lap. Especially when I found out we were all starting off the same light. I thought I better make a plan for the start of the race and thought getting through as many of the twins as I could was probbaly the line of attack.
Race 1.
Waited on the dummy grid just long enough for a shower of rain to come across. Did the outlap and sat on the grid planning what I wanted to do to get round some of the back of the twin and it showered!. Fantastic!. Not a hint of rain in the forcast and it STILL manages to rain on raceday!.
Lights went out and I took off planning to go through the gap in front of me which closed up pretty quick. changed my mind and went to the outside. Hit turn one in the middle of the open twin class about 400 bikes wide on an extremely slippery track with no one wanting to lean!. The track got REALLY narrow! and I backed off then tried to cut up the inside of turn 2. Another bike had the same idea and pushed me onto the white line which ended up with me getting it out of shape so dropped back and thought I better recoup. Through splash and the bike was dong a niggle thing.. Hairpin... slide... mid striaght.. wheelspin.. niggle... wheelspin. higgins... huge step out from the rear..... It was about now I went FUCK this!. Im outta here. Muppeted down the back striaght and pulled off into the pits and was not really surprised to see 4 other bikes with the same idea. Won the race to the hot chip stand and sat in a grump for a while till I got over myself.
Race 2.
Was really itching to get out there and the rain (that wasnt surposed to be there in the first place) had gone elsewhere so it was all on.
Start was a bit average. I tried to get a jump on Mark but just too much traffic in the way. I went round a few and beside a few and .. well to be honest Im not sure. I just kinda picked gaps where I could see them. It wasnt long before I found a little piece of the track to call my own. Following Mark into the hairpin to see him go down pretty hard. Bugger!. I thought I best just carry on and figured I must be up in the top 3 or 4 for clubmans now so it was chase whatever was in front of me. Got passed a few and then had clear track for a while. Wasnt long before I lost sight of everyone behind me and coming out of the hairpin I could see that the guy behind me was sitting comfy and not losing but not gaining so it was a comfortable ride to the finish to finish 10th on the track and 3rd in clubmans. It was good to finish on a high but I finding out my quickest lap was in the 1.24s I left thinking I really need to work out how to get more out of the bike.
All in all.. its still better than going to work for the day!
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...nevermind I was there to help out, the little I did anyway!!!
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