preparation
At Hampton Downs I discovered that one of my much abused forks was leaking oil, a quick consultation with CKT and RT confirmed that they could replace the seal while I waited if I brought it in.
So after removing the forks, carefully putting them into a shotgun case, strapping it to the side of the trusty Hornet and a stop-only-for-gas ride to New Plymouth I arrived just in time for afternoon tea
The 675 forks are no longer perfectly round so a bit of work was required to fit the new seal but it was duly done, another cup of tea consumed then once again into the gun case and strapped to the side of the Hornet. A bit of a tour round NP to find somewhere for a feed and cup of coffee to sustain me on the trip home. Sitting outside the cafe I was able to watch (with some amusement) the double takes of passers by when they spotted the gun case.
The ride home was actually very pleasant as I could take my time and enjoy the ride. I am not normally one to wax lyrical about sunsets (actually I think I did in the Greymouth report ??) but that evening from the plateau the sunset was truly impressive.
I got home pretty late so the re-fitting of the forks had to wait for the morning.
After getting the bike reassemble, the van loaded and the check list checked I was ready to roll early Friday morning.
Practice
The showers in the morning (as forecast) gave me a chance to try out my new wheels with wets. They certainly made it a lot easier to make the decision ! It was good practice as the forecast for race day was for similar weather.
My practice times on the wets were pretty ordinary and it soon dried out enough to switch back to slicks, even though the track was now dry it soon became apparent to even an old duffer like me the second hand slicks I was using were truly rooted ! So gave myself an early xmas pressie of a brand new set of conti slicks from Chris Osborne.
There was one practice session left in the day and with the new rubber my times instantly dropped from 1:20's to 1:17's the bike felt MUCH better
The lovely Katie O'Donnell arrived (after battling traffic all the way from Wellywood) and took me out and bought me a beer and a nice big steak
Race Day
BEAR's Qualifying
The meeting was officially called wet which meant that no stopping for rain (unless the clerk of the course decided it was dangerous) so as I had the new slicks on the bike and it looked like it might be dry by the time I went out for BEAR's qualifying I removed the front wheel and had the wet ready to put on but the slicks had their electric blankets on warming up to be sure.
Eventually after much dithering around I decided that the slicks would be the go.
There was still a bit of water about and being a bit nervous about what would happen if I ran off the dry line onto the damp one with slicks I posted a very modest 1:20 to put me 14th on the grid.
600 Supers Qualifying
The outing in the BEAR's qualifying and the dry line getting wider meant that I was confident to up the pace a little and managed a 1:18 that put me 16th on the grid. The bike felt really good the new tyres looked pretty good so I was pretty happy – my times where heading in the right direction and I was almost back to the best times I had been doing on the Hornet
Race 1 BEAR's
With the track rapidly drying by the time this got under way I was feeling confident enough to get a decent start, get around turn one without indecent and managed to lower my lap times a bit further.
A bit of attrition saw me finish in 10th place with a best time of 1:17.4 The lap chart showed that I backed off a bit after the field split (I was 2 seconds behind the first bunch and 2 sec's ahead of the second bunch) in some kind of limbo.
After Katie and I fitted the tyre warmers I had time only to add fuel drink water and wipe the not inconsiderable amounts of sweat from my face then it was out for race 2
Race 2 600 Supers
Another good start and I managed to get around the outside of a couple of people at turn 1 they all soon re-passed me and though I tried hard I could not keep up. I did manage to string a number of 1:16's together in laps 4, 5 and 6 with a best time of 1:16.7 in lap 6 so I was not disappointed and was not lapped !! only a few hundredth's of my personal best for Manfeild of 1:16.5
Race 3 BEAR's (2)
As we waited on the dummy grid a few drops of rain patted onto my visor – bugger – how long would I be able to keep going on slicks if it started to rain ?
I decided that I had better make the most of the dry track, I got a good start passed a few round the outside at turn 1 managed to get ahead of Gavin McKay in lap 2 and even seemed like I was making up time on Jarrod Wintle and David Michael (and in fact was in laps 2,3 & 4 ) even though my times kept improving during the course of the race theirs improved more and I gradually slipped back. However my good start a DNF from one of the faster guys, the few spots of rain meant that although my time for the race was slower than the previous F2 race everyones times were slower so I finished in 8th place. I was pretty happy with that result and especially again not getting lapped
Race 4 600 supers (2)
The track still had the odd damp patch on it and was a little cooler than the first F2 race again I got a good start and made a few people work a little to get past me and even had a bit of a “race” again with Tupu Gregory before he managed to get by me in lap 5 and began to pull away.
I was coming into Dunlop and the 675's engine sputtered the tacho needle went wild and then all the instruments went dark – bugger- clutch in pull off the line and raise my hand, I was coasting down the entrance to pit lane and looked up to see Sketchy taking the chequered flag !! Double bugger I could have coasted over the line and got 6 points !
I quickly realized my first choice was the correct one – I would have been trickling along the front straight at 50 -60 kph when the front runners came sweeping onto it head down for the line at over 200 – It doesn't bear thinking about !!
I knew that the symptoms indicated and electrical fault and I quickly spotted the offending wire, plugged it in and the 675 roared into life as soon as I thumbed the starter.
Despite the DNF the K2 race team had a great weekend it was really good to see a lot of familiar faces, the 675 feels great after the engine work done by Simon Banks, the fork seal by CKT and the new conti slicks which after six races look pretty good.
So I head to the Cemetery Circuit in 8th place in BEAR's 17th in F2 (the 6 points I lost with the DNF would have put me in 13th equal with Tupu Gregory on 23 - oh well)
Again it was a well run meeting – big thanks to the organisers and the volunteers that made it run so smoothly and the lovely Katie O'Donnell for support and work in the pit
Roll on boxing day !!!
Extended forecast
Sunday -- 2010-12-26:
Dry with westerlies.
21
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks