I was pretty excited for the two day meeting at manfield, double the racing equals double the fun.....supposedly. Got to the track at about 7.30 to put Alex's tyres and rims onto my bike for the weekend, Heidenau tyres are fantastic and helped me heaps on Saturday in the conditions that there where, seeing as Streetstock aren't allowed to use wets.
Day 1
I qualified 11th out of 17 with a time of 2.57 which came as a bit of a shock to me as it was my first time on the long track and my first time racing in the rain. (all that coaching from Moto Academy Steve must be paying off). My first race went pretty well, i got a better start then normal and was actually 'racing' for most of it, not just doing my own thing at the back of the group, I passed Sue in lap 3 by out-braking her into my favourite corner..turn 1 and I managed to get past Rogan just coming out of dunlop on the last lap which I was happy with. After all the hard work I finished 13th!
The rest of the day was moved to Sundays program after alot of oil was left on the track.
Day 2
In the practise I sorted out what i thought i needed to do with my cornering, gearing, markers and the weather. Race two of the weekend came around and i was pumped! Maybe a little too pumped...got penalised 20 seconds for a jumpstart damit. I managed to keep up with Sue trying to get past her for a couple of laps when BAM I was picking up my bike off the track in turn 1 for the second time this year. With only a few bruises i went out for my third race with just a little less confidence than last time, got my best start this year and had fun racing with a couple of people. Coming into turn 1 on the 4th lap I got a few wobbles and got a bit of a fright but thought I got it all under control again when BAM, I thought I would help with the gardening on the side of the track. I heard they might re-name the corner '15 year old school boy' after the way I keep throwing myself at it
. Getting brought in by the recovery vehicle was not the way I thought I would be returning into the pits.
After getting the all clear for my bike and me, out I went again for the last race of the weekend. All I was concentrating on this time was keeping the shiny side up and finishing the raceMy confidence was lacking a little bit more this time but I managed to keep it upright and still get pretty good times.
Big thanks to VMCC for clearing that huge amount of oil on the track so we could continue what we were there to do, RACE!
Thanks to my sponsors and supporters: Dad, Alex from Ride Life, Moto Academy, Wharfy, VMCC, Billy from ACF Fiberglass, Jeff Whitehead and Heidenau Tyres
Mihi.
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