Hi All,
Round 5 of the Bridgestone Victoria Motorcycle Club Championship Winter
Series was held at Magic Manfeild. It has been 4 weeks since round 4. It had rained overnight and it looked like it may fine up for the day…... Regardless it seemed like we were in for a great day of racing (Aren't they all?).
I arrived at the track with plenty of time up my sleeve. After finding a car park beside the scrutineering shed and unloading my bike I headed for the Sign-in office and handed in my race licence. Upon returning to the shed I noticed my bike was already scrutineered. Now that is service!
At riders brief we found out the issue with the “High Speed” run off out of turn 7 has been resolved by the Road Race Commissioner (Billy Billington) with the instillation of an Air Fence. This is a great result for all concerned.
Qualifying:
I was first out there and got a good look at the damp track. I then proceeded to ride around gathering pace every lap. All I wanted to do was put in a time. It didn’t have to be fast. As it turned out I was 2nd fastest. Second fastest to Graeme “Billy” Billington on his CBR 250RR Minilite bike. This surprised me a little as the track was actually drying out and I was sure there would be somebody faster. The times were about 10 seconds off a “dry time”.
Race 1:
We got the call up to the race. I was first to the dummy grid. I waited for the gate to open and headed out to get some heat into the bike. The track was rather wet by this time as the weather had come.
I lined up the bike on my #2 spot and waited for the lights to go out.
I got a great start and tried to keep with Billy. Uriah Ryken (#37) on his Street stock 150 wasn’t going to let me get away and got passed me on the infield. I tried to keep with him despite not requiring to as he is in a different class. He managed to run off at the Hair Pin so I was back into 2nd place overall. Then Josh Head decided he was going to take my position on his Street Stock 150 (#15). Uriah came back at me and the 3 of us had an awesome race swapping positions all over the place.
I had a plan for the last lap to catch them down the back straight and come through the last corner fastest and rob them over the line. As it happened this wasn’t to be and I almost put the bike off the track onto the new run off….. Time to realise I still had a Championship to win and there is no way I can do it if I wreck the bike…… 4th over the line was great and 1st in class by 30 seconds was good enough for me. The best lap time for me was a 1:40.383. Not too bad in the conditions.
Race 2:
Race 2 was after the lunch break and a very heavy downpour of rain.
Again I got off to a good start and stuck to Billy all the way to turn 1….. I thought it was a little strange that my 2 cylinder 250 could keep up with the slightly more powerful 4 cylinder 250 with a light rider onboard, but there you go….. Then Josh and Uriah went past me. This time I wasn’t going to fight. I rode around keeping it all together and got caught by Mihi Banks on her 150 Street Stock with Full Wet tyres. As it turns out she had a lot more traction than me on my Dunlop’s. Don’t get me wrong the Dunlops are great in the dry, but the track was very wet and I was being super careful. So once again Billy won, Josh was 2nd (1st 150 Street Stock), Uriah 3rd, and Mihi 4th. I was 5th but more importantly 1st 250 Production. That was very important as it meant that I now had 347 points in the 250 Production Championship. This meant I had an unassailable lead so I have finally won the Winter Series in 250 Production.
Race 3:
With the Championship wrapped up I went out to have a bit of fun in race 3. All I had to do was bring it home in one piece and I would top off an awesome day.
Again I got a great start. I have worked out how to get this little bike off the line with the tallest gearing available, and the heaviest rider in the field on board…..
After circulating at quire a high pace in wet conditions (yes even worse than race 2) I could see I was catching Billy. So I pushed a little to see if I could get onto his tail. On lap 4 as I was heading down Denny Hulme Straight things were going awesome. I then braked for the corner in the usual place but my front wheel locked instantly. That horrible noise of tarmac against my helmet and the distinctive sound of metal and fibreglass sliding down wet tarmac shortly followed!!!! I had just parted company with my bike at one of the fastest places on the track. Exactly where Marc-Antoine Jacquet had in round 2…… I tumbled 5 times and ended up in the gravel trap a few metres from my bike.
Thankfully the only damage was to my bike, leathers and helmet. I was able to walk away with a somewhat tender right shoulder but there were no breaks this time thankfully.
For those playing at home Billy won again and Josh Head got second. Sue “Skippy” Forrest got 3rd overall on her Minilite 250. Simon Robson got 7th overall after a jumped start. However he was 1st 250 Production so picked up the round win for the day.
I was pleased with the results overall but really gutted that I made such a simple mistake!
I am really looking forward to Round 6 at Taupo on November 2nd…. I just have a few repairs to do.
Thanks go to:
RNZAF
Forbes and Davies + Dunlop
ProRider
Celtic Leathers
Race Fairings
City Honda
My partner Coral for all the support on the day and at home.
Last but by no means least, the Victoria Motor Cycle Club for putting on an awesome
Day.
For the third meeting in a row the Ambulance never actually had to go out on track.
For those that are interested the footage from all the racing can be purchased on
DVD from www.ctaslive.co.nz. Or you can watch it race by race for $2.50 each or $20 for the lot for 30 days!
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and good write up too.
Originally Posted by quickbuck
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