Innovative Moto Developments/Moto Academy NZ King of Ruapuna, Round 1, 31 Aug 2013
What have I been up to? Racing again!
Second consecutive weekend away racing with the IMD250 and Moto Academy NZ team. This time at Ruapuna in Christchurch for King of Ruapuna Round 1.
Marc-Antoine Jacquet was entered in the 125GP class on the IMD250 for what would be his very first trip to Christchurch let alone laps at Ruapuna. This is a very complex circuit that can take many hours to master, if you ever do acutally master it.
After a pleasant evening at Mel (Jackson) and Traceys we got to the track early to a very sunny but very cold Ruapuna. My weather station did not show above 10 deg C all day, but we were shadowed by the tall trees. We could have picked a better spot to park!!
I must mention the awesomeness of Jamie Rajek from Wolf Pack Racing who hauled the trailer with our bikes and gear down there for us. Without that we would not have been able to go down at all.
So while we set up, I got Marc to head out around the track on the bicycle to get a bit of a feel for the track. He had been working all week with the track map and some starter pointers I had offered, but it is no substitute for the real thing.
Then the bike was warmed up and we were ready to go for Qualifying Practice along with the Pro-Twins and Superlight bikes. Marc took things nice and easy as we had planned and still managed to qualify P1 for 125GP class. A fantastic effort.
Race 1 came along and Marc got a great start and powered into the first turns in the middle of a huge group of bikes. Thankfully he came out the other side, which he would do on each and every lap of the day, also 'O' for awesome.
Marc steadily increased his pace throughout the day, picking different areas of the track to work on at different times and also finding out how physical it is to race this circuit!
Results-wise he came out with Pole Position, P1, P1 and P2 by half a wheel to Scout Fletcher, 125GP NZ#2 rider, and he nearly had her over the line. A few more metres along and he would have passed her. So that is not at all a shabby days work.
The IMD250 ran faultlessly all day long with not a single issue. We changed gearing once and thereafter simply cleaned and fueled the bike.
We have most certainly turned the corner with the development of the IMD250. While the speed of the bike is really good, with the bog standard 2007 KTM250SXF it does not have the raw power to push really high speeds, but future units will have engines with modified cylinder heads (which we will be introducing in our Lab-bike this summer) or the new 2013 or 2014 model engines which have all the power we need already in them. BUT, the handling of the bike is simply superb. It really could not get any better. We have no tyre issues, no chatter issues, no wobbles and bounces and it will pull wheelies when you give it a handful. It would be difficult to be any more pleased with how it is now going.
Next development step will be a new Leo Vince Ti/Carbon muffler and modified exhaust pipe to suit. It will look and sound CHOICE!! and hopefully will offer an improvement to the power curve.
Thanks again especially to Interislander, Griffith Performance Racing, Kiwi Suspension Solutions and to all our other supporters for making this journey possible.
Cheers
Steve and Martin.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." John Ono Lennon.
"If you have never stared off into the distance then your life is a shame." Counting Crows
"The girls were in tight dresses, just like sweets in cellophane" Joe Jackson
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