Hi All,
Round 3 of the Bike Rider Magazine PMCC summer Series was held at
Manfeild. If you recall I had a bit of an off in Round 2 and sustained a broken
collarbone. So I have been in recovering from that, and getting the bike serviceable
again.

Qualifying:

As it was very wet my plan was to head out, put in one “flying” lap and see what
happenes. I mainly wanted to see it my bike still ran properly after the incident at
Taupo.
I pushed the bike out of the pit garage to start it, and it wouldn’t! After many attempts
to try and get the bike to run it wouldn’t, so I missed qualifying. This would mean a
back of the grid start for me!

I managed to get the bike running again after a bit of tinkering, and put it down to a
slightly fouled spark plug caused by 8 week old fuel which I cleaned up. The bike was
running again. So it was time to relax and prepare for the race.


Race 1 (5 Laps):

As I tried to start the bike the problem I experienced before manifested itself again!
This was very annoying to say the least as I could see the championship slipping
away from me.

With the help of my mate Bill Mason we proceeded to dismantle the bike to get the
carburettors out and ensure the Jets were clear. On the Ninja 250r this is not the
easiest of tasks, and involves taking quite a bit of the bike apart. We got to the point
of removing the primary jets and discovering a partial blockage in one of them. So
Bill raced off and purchased some new spark plugs for me as a track side clean isn’t
always satisfactory. I reassembled the bike and got the last fastener tightened up for
race 2 just as the final call to the grid was going out.

Race 2 (5 Laps):
I really had to rush the warm-up lap as all the bikes were released out onto the track
before I got there. So it was a case of remembering everything was cold, and no time
to warm the brakes or suspension. Not to mention I hadn’t ridden the bike with my
new shortened leavers.

I lined up on the grid and waited for the red lights to come on one by one. The best
part about being late is that you don’t have to wait long! The lights all went out and
we were off. I got a wicked start and was near the front by turn 1. However rather
than play 10 pin bowling with a Ninja 250 I decided to take it very gingerly into Turn
1. To say I took things very easily for the first is somewhat of an understatement. I let
the leaders head off into the water, and then took position behind Daniel Phillipson
on his KRR150 Street Stock (#50), and Zane Burrell (RG150, #103). I could see they
both have already crashed at some point during the day so just sat there watching
their riding, and ensuring they were riding properly… The only 250 Production bike
in front of me was Marc-Antoine Jacquet on his Hyosung GT250. He was riding at
quite a fast pace for the wet, so I really left him to it. My first lap was a pedestrian
(by my standards) 1:53.406. This was really my warm up lap. Come lap 2 I rode a
little better, and put in a series of 1:43’s through the race, finding slippery parts of the
track all over the place! My fastest lap was a 1:42.629. This was faster than Marc-
Antoine, but not quite as fast as Warwick Torr on his CBR.

I crossed the line 2nd in class, and secured 22 valuable points toward my
championship. I was so happy to race and finish it was like the moment I took my first
ever win!

Race 3 (5 Laps):
On the Dummy Grid I saw Marc-Antoine and told him I hope to give him a challenge
this race. He just smiled at me…. This time I got an awesome warm-up lap in and
was feeling confident, however the track was even wetter than before! I took my
position as Tail End Charlie on the grid and waited for the lights to go out. I got
another awesome start, and was in the lead pack going into Turn 1. Marc and
Warwick Torr on his CBR 250RR (#13) were ahead of me. I had a bit of a mission
staying in front of the CBR as he had much more power to blast past me down the
straights. So I sat behind him for a bit coming up with a plan as it wasn’t worth putting
a dodgy move on him to end up in the dirt. While I was making my plan Marc-Antoine
was disappearing into the distance. He really was riding smoothly in the very wet
conditions and I was floundering around doing 1:46’s and slowed to a 1:48 before I
got a little wake up call from Daniel Phillipson as he showed me a wheel down the
front straight, so I decided it was time to execute my plan on Warwick. At the hair-
pin I ducked for the inside and took his position off him. Part of this was to get a good
drive down Denny Hulme Straight into Higgins. It worked a bit, but I got passed on
the back straight… as expected, but what Warrick wasn’t expecting was how much
speed I was going to carry through the corner formally known as Dunlop. All I had to
hope for was that my Dunlops would stick and avoid as much paint on the track as
possible! My plan worked, and I set off on my final lap to try and get the fastest lap of
the race…. Yes, my confidence was much improved. I finished 2nd on the track, and
2nd in class. I didn’t quite get the fastest lap, however I got 22 very valuable points to
win the Bike Rider Magazine Summer Series 250 Production Championship.

So that is the Summer Series successfully defended, and now it is onto the Winter
Series where I am yet to claim the #1 Trophy. It is going to be tough, as Marc-
Antoine has entered, and also the very fast Sarah Elliot is swapping her CBR250
Minilite bike for a Ninja 250r Production bike. She is NZ#5 so we will see how it goes
this winter.

Round 1 is May 5th so stay tuned.

Thanks go to:
Forbes and Davies: for awesome Dunlop tyres and gear.
RNZAF: Especially Paul Martin for all his hard to make the bike look great (again).
ProRider: For providing me with the funding to enter the Bike Rider Magazine
Summer Series

City Honda

Celtic Leathers

Race Fairings

Helpers on the Day (in order of appearance): All the pushers to help me try and start
my bike! Bill Mason and Volunteers of the Pacific Motorcycle Club