Well what a brilliant weekend’s racing!
Took a half day annual leave on Friday and got home to find Cowboyz and Sarge starting the load up the bike process. Thanks chaps
Cowboyz and I hit the road about 5 and after gassing upat Feilding we had a most enjoyable cruise up the island arriving at the track just after 9. Thanks to MSTRS for the tent putting up in the dark session
Day 1. Practise.
Up nice and early to a beautiful day in Taupo with no sign of the forecast rain!
Met up with Martin Peck and got the bikes set up in the garage. Very glad we spent that little bit extra and got to chill out in comfort out of the sun. Had a good crew in the garage, Cowboyz, Martin, Supersonic, Paul Koot and Darren Calder.
I’d not really had a decent ride at Taupo before, having attempted the RR Spectacular, but the rain was just too much. So I was quite looking forward to a good dry run and a chance to try out the long track for the first time.
I went out in the medium group for the first couple of sessions just taking it easy. I’d heard quite a few comments on how slippery the track can be and so kept that in mind. It took a few rounds to get used to the best markers and when and where to make gear changes and after 2 sessions I still wasn’t feeling comfortable with it.
My other problem was my rear tyre. Don’t get me wrong, its a PR2 which is an awesome tyre and has been outstanding throughout the winter series but, at the end of the day I’ve got 18 inch rims and the rear tyre is oversize. This gives it a very large dropoff and when it’s leaned over the contact patch is buggerall. Which means it slides. Mostly I feel it coming and correct, but I have had a couple of nasty ones which have almost lowsided me. Today was no exception and I got big slides in two particular places, one going into the midfield sweeper and the other during the hairpin onto the back straight.
The only solution was to try and hang off a bit more, slow down a little, and in the case of the hairpin, not change down too low which robbed me of a bit of drive out. Still, better being a little late out than dumping myself in the middle if the track I figure.
About this time, during sessions, I got talking to Nigel and during the course of the conversation was kindly offered a ride on his mighty 150cc Chinese built one of a kind avgas running Senke bucket
Now, this looked liked a very fun wee machine indeed so I kitted up and jumped on. About now I got the briefing that the gear shifts were all 5 down then neutral then back to first! Sounded ‘challenging’ so off I go, joining in at the back of the slow session.
Awesome fun alright and I’m getting the hang of the gear changes. It even has a gear position indicator which would be great in the dark, but absolutely useless in daylightThe thing sounds great and I’m tapped out in top, lying on the tank and having a marvelous time. I see Skippy on her CBR 250 in the distance and very slowly draw up behind.
Coming out of turn 1 I go through the gears and suddenly discover the ‘joys’ of the gearbox design. Without going into the painful details, I find out the hard way why there’s a good reason that most other gearboxes aren’t designed this way and I nearly bin it into the grass before making a very undignified recovery and carry on my merry way trying to make up my lost ground lol.
Over the next couple of laps I slowly draw closer to Sue who is looking like she is highly amused by this little red bee buzzing around in her wake and it was hilarious to find myself outpowered by the CBR
I’ve gotta say though, that zipping around the track on this wee thing was one of the weekend highlights for me, nice one Sueand thanks Nigel for giving me a shot
One surprisingly nice benefit of blatting around at full noise on the Senke was that the next 2 sessions back on the Gixxer in the fast group all seemed to make sense of the track and at the end of the day I finally felt comfortable with it, even the repairs.
Packed up for the day, headed into town with Cowboyz and Polly (Martin) for supplies for the trackside barbie, had a great fry up, talked shit with froggyfrenchman and clan before heading to the tent for a quite decent nights sleep all things considering.
Day 2. Qualifying.
Went out for Posties qualifying, found some clear track and managed a 1:55 which gave me position 9 on the grid of 20. Quite pleased with that although I suspected that this may not be the final running order as some others seemed to have been sitting back a little.
Race 1.
Having no tyre warmers I was especially glad of the long warm up lap and found my spot tucked up 3rd back on the inside. This was my first start at Taupo and I could see that it would be a very intense sprint down to turn 1.
Sure enough, it was bloody mayhem into the first turn and I narrowly avoided being swiped off the bike on a couple of occasions. It was a bit messy around the infield with lots of jostling, but eventually I was either passed or managed to pass and found some relatively clear track.
About two laps in I passed Peter Ellis on bike 42 on the back straight but was re taken under brakes going into the chicane. There was a fair bit of dicing around turn 1 and into the midfield and he managed to get past Martin Peck just before turn 4 when he overcooked it and went down hard right in front of us at the end of the short straight leading into the sweeper.
Right now what? With very little time to react, Martin went inside him before cranking it over into the sweeper and getting round.
It’s funny how time slows down in these situations really and I was able see his and his bikes trajectories in slow motion as they slid in a straight line across the track and into the grass. Braking heavily, I was able to slip around the inside of them and get leaned over for the turn. Amazing amount of dust stirred up by bike and rider and I’m glad to learn that he got off reasonably lightly with a possible broken finger.
I’d lost quite a lot of ground on Martin by now but was able to gain on him going into the hairpin leading to the sweeper. Just quietly, I suspect that he may have been taking it easy having the championship pretty much in the bag and didn’t want to risk a bin. However, I wasn’t able to get past despite a couple a nearlys, especially coming out of the chicane on the last lap where if I’d had just a bit more power I may just have managed it. It was not to be though and it was a bloody good race and apparently made for quite good spectating. Finished 11th overall, 4th in class with a 1:53.278.
Race 2.
Pretty much the same type of start with a mass of bikes going into turn 1. I saw that Gian Louie on another Gixxer 750 had had a blindingly good start from pos 12 and had absolutely smoked the turn and was well ahead of me and just behind Martin. I managed to get in behind the two them but had very little chance of getting past. I managed to pass Gian once on the back straight but he got me again in the chicane. So that was the order. Three same vintage Gixxers battling it out the whole way, nothing in it, hugely exciting racing and I came in feeling stoked but wishing I hadn’t been 3rd in the lineup lol. Finished 12th overall 6th in class with a 1:53:750.
Looking at the results afterwards though I noted that my laptimes were up to a second faster than the guys ahead of me so that made me feel a bit better
So, overall, a great weekend and a huge learning curve once again.
Lessons learnt? Brake later, use the correct gear for the conditions. Do not use oversize tyres. And get better starts!
But the best part. Taking out the trophy for third place in Post Classic Senior! Absolutely stoked with that!
Huge thanks to the Pacific Club organisers and marshalls, and to Michelle, Cowboyz, Sarge, Sonic and everyone else who has given support and encouragement. It’s been a brilliant season of racing!
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Karma ... Justice catches up eventually !! 
Originally Posted by cowboyz
Having said that, I'm glad there were only 3 rounds and not 4 lol
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