Hi All,
Round 2 of the Bike Rider Magazine Summer Series was held at Ricoh Motorsport Park at Taupo.
This was hosted by the Pacific Motorcycle Club.
For the 250 Production Bikes we were on the 2.2 km Track 2.

There was a Track Day on the Saturday however I spent the afternoon of this day traveling up form Bulls in the quiet traffic.
Once at Taupo I got my tea and fuel and headed for the track.
I arrived a little too late for Sign-on and scrutineering, however this was also able to be done the next morning so not a problem.
I then got my accommodation sorted at the track thanks to the good folk of the Pacific Motorcycle Club.

After an awesome sleep I headed over to the Sign in office. I noticed the grid for 250 Production/ Development was rather full.
This is good to see and provides racing all the way down the field.
I then went to the Scrutineering shed to get my bike sorted.
Then I got myself organised for qualifying. It was going to be a hot day so I drank a whole bottle of water.

Qualifying:
I was first out on track and slowly built up my pace as I got more and more heat into the bike.
I then got passed by Connor London on his #99 Hyosung GT250R. He was riding particularly well.
Then Billy Billington on his CBR250 and Fergus Meynes on his Hyosung went passed me. Not to worry I was going to put in a quick one on my last lap.
Then the session got Red Flagged. Blair Robson had dropped his dads Ninja 250r in the approach to turn 7.
As it turned out I managed to get pole position. This was a result of my Transponder failing and having a Manual Time recorded.....
My time was 1:23.683.

Race 1 (8 Laps):
Pole position is very easy to find on the grid so I got there quickly and waited for the lights to come up.
As they went out there was a charge of bikes for turn 1. At that point despite me being first to the braking zone I got mowed down!
Billy was first out, followed by Connor and then Fergus. It ended up being a bit of a procession from my point of view so I worked on body position while creating a
gap on the 4th placed 250 Production bike, Rod Gibson on his Hyosung GT250R. On lap 5 I was coming up behind Sue Forrest on here CBR250 to lap her at turn 5.
Just as I got passed the Red Flags came out. It turns out Gorge Vaculik-Hamilton and Danial Phillipson had a bit of a coming together on their 150's heading into the
Chiccane that links turn 7 to the Back Straight. Both riders were uninjured in the incident.
So the Race got backdated to lap 4 (Last Completed lap). So 1st 250 Production was Connor, Fergus 2nd. and I got 3rd.
Still 20 points is better than no points. My best lap was a 1:28.436. Not as fast as the previous weekend (1:28.119 lap record). Oh, and Connor managed a 1:25.876.
We then stopped for lunch.

Race 2 (6 Laps):
After spending the entire time out of my leathers since Race 1 I was feeling fresh and ready for action. Due to some more stoppages in the proceedings the race was shortened
to 6 laps instead of the scheduled 8.
I got out on the track quickly again and waited for the lights to come up. Once they went out we were off. This time I got a much better start. I was having a dice with Connor and Fergus all the way up to turn 7. I think there were about 5 lead changes! Then as we came into the A1GP Chicane I made a bit of a mistake. I was too busy watching other bikes and not riding my own. I lost a second or so. This doesn't sound like much but on the little 250's you pay for that big time.
As it turned out I couldn't keep the pace of Connor or Fergus this time either. Connor lowed the lap record some more (1:25.495), and I could only manage a 1:29.878.
I was a little disappointed with the lap times but it gave me a few things to think about and work on.

At the end of the day it is 40 points secure in the championship.
The next round is at Manfeild on January 19th 2014.

Thanks go to:
ProRider Motorcycle Training
RNZAF
Dunlop
Celtic Leathers
City Honda
Race Fairings