NZ TT Pukekohe 6/7th Dec Help Wanted

[gpercivl]

I had a lot of fun in the back of F3 but my old '87 1WG FZR400 lacked top end speed...I managed to get down to 1:12.3 after putting in new brake pads on Sunday morning, but the newer 400cc 400's were doing 1:10's and the close to 450cc 400's were a lot faster.

I tried to draft Ross King on his 450 when he lapped me around the 11th lap but even though I was on his tail coming out of Castrol he just pulled away with ease. I was maxxed out at 14,500 in 6th watching him leave.

I finished 10th overall for the day...Manfeild should be better next weekend as I won't need as much top speed and my old 400 seems to get out of corners quite quickly but I'm not expecting too much.

Bob Knight my team mate in No Hair Racing crashed on Friday and on Saturday trying out new SBS brake pads...they seemed to work too well over-heating his disks casuing them to grab into the hairpin creating a 90kph shoulder high stoppie then off the track into the dirt. Then on Saturday they seemed to fail going into Castrol and he ran off again...so not too good a weekend for him.

HO-hoon did you notice me in the hairpin??? How much slower was I than the others??? heaps I expect

Cheers, Greg

[LB]

Originally posted by bluninja
Well what a fabtastic 2 days at Puke. The racing was good, the flag marshalls were superb. I had a fun 2 days on the dummy grid. It was tiring to be on the go all day, but it makes me appreciate the efforts of the officials and support people at race days.

Bluninja: I disagree with your comment about the racing - the racing was not "good", it was F***ING EXCELLENT!!!!!

Some of the best racing I've seen in a long time. We have some superb riders around at the moment.

Thanks to you and Mitch and all the others who put so much effort into the race meeting (I know what's involved behind the scenes!!)

[bluninja]

Lynda, good from my viewpoint. Had I been in the stands, or racing then I would have had a different experience. Here's a pic of a few time wasters standing by the side of the track. See how many you can identify.

[Hoon]

Originally posted by gpercivl
HO-hoon did you notice me in the hairpin??? How much slower was I than the others??? heaps I expect

Sorry I honestly can't recall.  I get yours and Bobs bikes mixed up but you both seemed to be doing alright.  One thing that I did notice on the hairpin was that lots of people are slow there.  There were only a few riders that were quick.  I guess that all the lockups and going in 3 wide at times had something to do with peoples confidence but yeah I was hoping to see some dazzling displays of how to take the hairpin but everyone pretty much takes it the same way (even Clees, Stroud, Haldane, Bernard etc) complete with the occasional mistake!

One thing I did find interesting was the amount of bikes bottoming out their front forks - you could hear the fork chatter as they shook to a halt.  It was mostly the fast F1/F2 bikes that were doing this (and the poorly setup ones) so I guess thats an indication of how hard they were pushing.

[LB]

Bluninja:
Mitch holding the helmet strap board
Your good self holding the 2 lap warmup board
Jim Tuckerman back-on
I recognise the guy holding the green flag but can't think of his name

[LB]

And it could be Chris Costello with the folded arms?

[bluninja]

Not bad Lynda. Not Chris with the folded arms, but an AMCC past president and life member who was chief scrutineer. As for the man with the green flag, he's part of a father and son stewarding 'dynasty'.

TTFN

[What?]

Originally posted by Coldkiwi
57.7??? mother of god.

That's quicker than murph isn't it?

I seem to recall that during a car/bike meeting at Puke last summer, the V8 elite were staggered to see Rees & co. lapping faster in the wet than the V8's were doing in the dry.

[Penta]

Originally posted by 750Y
i may be wrong but i heard Tony Rees had done a 56 something once(the record?) & my source was pretty reliable. not that it matters much, if you're under a minute you're at the top of the sport in NZ. how do those guys do it? practice? balls? talent? all 3 plus the hell bike? AWESOME to watch... I take my hat off.

Sorry but Wrong, lap record is 57.846 no 56's done by Ree's (finger on the timer clock not correct.) How do those guys do it? ALL THREE and more!!

[bluninja]

So Ray Clee took the lap record in race 1 of superbikes? Wow.

BTW all the laptimes are posted on www.mylaps.com Just select country and New Zealand and then the race meet and races that you want.

TTFN

[Mitch]

Originally posted by Lynda Blair
And it could be Chris Costello with the folded arms?

Heya Lynda, it's Lyndsay Banks with his arms folded and the GREAT Warren New thrashing about with the green flag  

What an absolutely amazing weekend!!!

[Coldkiwi]

ooooer dear! those 600 times are scary! 1:00:53 by Mr Harris!! Feck sakes... hardly surprising he did well in the isle of man then.

[Hoon]

Heres a link to the Herald Article on the meet:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydispl...ection=general