Hi All,
Round 1 of the Victoria Motorcycle Club Championship Winter Series was held at Magic Manfeild. As it had only been 2 weeks since I last raced there I didn’t bother with the practice day of the Friday. I decided 2 days of racing would be enough for me. Round 1 was scheduled to be 2 races on Saturday, followed by 3 longer races on Sunday. This meant there was 125 Championship points up for grabs in 2 days of racing! Not a meeting to miss….
I went along to Friday Practice for a look to see who was around, and discovered Chappy having all sorts of issues with his borrowed bike. I stuck around to give some moral support/ get in the way, then gave him a hand to get the pit garage set up. Oh, and I took my bike and gear to put in the garage too…. Much safer than loading the ute the night before.
Saturday was a nice sleep in for me. I headed to the track, and it was going to be an awesome day. Conditions were promising to be very close to what they were two weeks ago when I had set my personal best of 1:29.686.
Qualifying:
We got the call up to the qualifying, and I was first out there. I wanted to get a clear track, and then see if I could tag onto one of the faster MiniLite 250’s down the straights to improve my time. After 4 flying laps I managed to get a 1:29.790 to secure 4th over all on the grid. There were 3 MiniLites filling the first 3 places, and a lot of bikes behind me, including #4 NZ ProLite rider Aaron Hassan who managed a 1:31.1 to qualify 6th. I was very happy to qualify lower than a 1:30, and my Front row placing on the grid. I went and gave my bike an oil change before the race.
Race 1:
I found it nice and easy to find my grid spot, and sat patiently while the rest of the riders formed up. The 5 red lights came on one by one and all went out. I nailed the start, and managed to fly through the esses and was second on the road exiting the hair-pin. The bike in front was Sarah Elliot on a very fast CBR250 MiniLite. It was at that point the bikes of Sarah Rosacker and Simon Vollmer went past as well. I tried to keep with them, but they have a huge horse power advantage on me. Not to worry, I was first ProLite so just concentrated on my own ride. As I finished the first lap Aaron Hassan came up the inside of me into turn 1. He obviously found some pace since qualifying. Aaron and I had a huge battle for a few laps, with me generally riding around the outside of him in the corners, while his light weight frame had the edge when it came to accelerating down the straights. As I followed him I copied his “tuck” to see if it increased my top speed. It became apparent that indeed I did obtain a higher top speed with a new riding position. After an intense battle we cam into Dunlop Corner together. I had a plan to “under cut” him on the exit. Unfortunately for me Aaron had a slightly different plan, and to avoid me turning into him I had to stand the bike up and run onto the grass, and through the gravel trap…. I managed to keep it all upright and make my way back to the track. I rejoined beside Zane Burrell on his RG150 and put in some laps to secure my second place in ProLite. I finished ahead of Jamie Fell on his Honda VT250 ProLite, and Alex Hockley on his Hyosung GT250R. I managed a lap of 1:28.860, which is a new PB and almost a second faster than 2 weeks previous.
Race 2:
We got the call up for race 2 only to be turned away as soon as I got there. There was a huge accident on the main straight that involved a couple of bikes coming together. I knew it wouldn’t be a good outcome as soon as I heard the circumstances behind the accident. Tragically Mark Brehaut lost his life in the accident, and racing was cancelled for the rest of the day. RIP Mark, we will always remember you.
Sunday:
After a very sombre night, but a good sleep I arrived at the track prepared to race again. There was a blessing of the track to start the day, and a lap of honour for Mark. It was well attended my racers, and spectators who came on their Road bikes.
The club decided to cut the programme shorter to make the day a little easier for the racers and volunteers, as the incident from the previous day had obvious impact on all involved. I used the 5 lap scrub session to clear my mind and also find an alternative reference point in Dunlop in case I needed to use a different line. I figured the reason I run off is really because I couldn’t work out how much track was left. During the Scrub I missed my braking marker heading into Higgins by 25 metres! I chucked the bike in anyway, and found I could actually hold more speed. I then run out of revs down the back straight meaning it was the fastest I had ever approached Dunlop on the 250.
So after a walk around the pits trying to cheer myself and everybody else up, I got ready for Race 2.
Race 2 (Take 2):
I got the bike started and headed out to the dummy grid again. I did my post oil change leak check and waited to be let out on the track. Once the lights came on the nerves started for some reason… It may well have been the bouquet of flowers at the end of the pit wall. There was defiantly something playing with my mind. I got a very average start, and managed to get swamped by Rogan Chandler (#72) and David Neil (#43) on their 150 Street Stock bikes into turn 1. Aaron Hassan was well ahead as well, and I had little chance of catching him. I settled myself down into a rhythm and ended up in a dice with Rogan and David. Then on lap 4 we came up on a back marker into turn 3. It was Turiana Banks on her KR150. This is Turiana’s first year of racing so she was wearing a high-viz vest to indicate this. Rogan went around her on the outside of turn 3, while I back off a little to assess the situation. She was getting a blue flag from the marshals at point 3 which means hold your line. Between turn 3 and 4 David got passed her, and I was following him through. At this point we were approaching turn 4, and I was on the Apex. At this point Turiana moved over to take her line and our bikes touched! Turiana got one heck of a fright, and I was a little worried that I had hurt her leg or something, as she immediately pulled off the track. I was doing approximately 95 km/hr when we touched! I wondered what I should have done better….. After a bit of thinking there was nothing I could have done to prevent the situation other than not be on the track at all.
As it turned out Turiana was fine apart from being a little shaken. Rogan and David carried on with their battle, and I gave up that little fight, as they are not even in my class, so no need to really push it. Aaron was well up the road, and the other ProLite bikes were a little way back. So I put in some consistent laps to hold onto my second place. I managed to get consistent 1:30.0’s to 1:30.6’s for all the laps apart from the one where I had the incident.
Race 3:
This race my plan was to go out and not ride off the track, nor crash into anybody!! Oh, and to see if I could get down below 1:30 in the warmer air temperature.
So once the lights went out we were off. The first corner lolly scramble wasn’t good to me this time either, and I ended up in another battle with Rogan and David. Aaron did another disappearing act while I battled it out with the Street Stocks. I had an epic battle on my hands. Eventually Rogan and I got passed David. Then Rogan got a little gap on us. David had not given up got passed and managed get to pull a gap on me and catch Rogan to beat him over the line by 0.015 seconds! I ran high 1:29’s and low 1:30’s for the entire race, with all my laps within 0.6 seconds of each other.
I had achieved all my goals for the race, and secured 2nd place for the day.
So with a new personal best time within 1.59 seconds of the Prolite Lap Record, and 66 out of 75 points secure in the Championship I was very pleased with the results.
Thanks go to:
ProRider: The track time, and tips I pick up are invaluable.
Forbes and Davies: for awesome Dunlop tyres and gear.
Celtic Leathers: Still look great.
RNZAF: The paint work is still shiny
Race Fairings: The best replica Ninja 250R fairings out there.
City Honda: Service with a smile.
My partner Coral for all the support on the home front, and the tips provided to increase my pace.
Last but by no means least, the Victoria Motor Cycle Club for putting on an awesome Weekend in the most trying of circumstances.
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