Ruapuna nationals race report
Wandered out to the track on Friday arvo as Alex was going to do a afternoon practice, about 2.30 I was starting to wonder where he was when he pulls up, turns out the new tyres for the outfit were a taller profile and rubbed on the swingarm so a few modifications involving a grinder and welder had to be done
He was taking his partner Trish out first as she will be swinging on the outfit for the season and wanted some track time, after a few laps later and he pulls back in to find the tyre is still fouling the swingarm so he calls it quits and shoots home to sort the problem
Saturday Q1 15 minutes
Back at the track (complete with a much more modified swingarm) after a couple of laps we’ve noticed a few of things, the taller tyres have changed the gearing a bit much and the outfit is to tall in the gearing, the new tyres hook up great and we’re getting far better drive and the taller profile tyre seems to have screwed up the brake bias and it’s weaving round under braking, we pull back in and after checking the times find we’ve done a 2.02, which isn’t to bad for Alex second meeting at this track
We pull off the back cover to drop the gearing and find the tyre is still rubbing but only just so we don’t worry about it, we go up three teeth on the rear and then change the bias, we run out of adjustment before we get it how we would like but get it a lot better than it was
Q2 15 minutes
We immediately notice the difference in the gearing running to redline in top down the straight and pulling out of the corners better, it’s not moving around under brakes anywhere near as much, we get a bit loose with it spinning up through the infield sweeper when I’m not paying attention because I waving to Diesel Pig on the who has become a flag marshal for the day and after pulling in find we’ve knocked 5 seconds off to drop to 1.57.383, and at the start of the day I’d said I’d be happy to help Alex get down under two minutes, in contrast to our times the LCR has pulled out a 1.42.512 a full 3 seconds clear of the Scrivener/Bryan combo in second place
R1 9 laps
We duff the start as Alex has the outfit in neutral when the lights go out and even the classic Harley outfit beats us off the line, we make a good recovery and are onto the back of the Newton/Newton outfit by the end of lap 1, we chase the hard trying to get up the inside into turn 7 and then following them through the dipper, we hit the sweeper right behind then and Alex goes around the outside of them with the outfits spinning up and sliding around ad I’m hanging off the side laughing in my helmet as we pull past and getting a good reminder of just why I love this shit, we end up a bit lonely with the rest having cleared off, but Alex still pushes hard, I cock up a changeinto the infield sweeper when we go in to hot and the chair lifts in the left before it and I stay out to long before swapping to the right and don’t quite make it, the outfit spins up and gets loose Alex backs off the throttle a touch and I’m fully across and he dials it up again, then he runs it over the ripple strip into the dipper for a bumpy ride and our worse lap of the race dropping to 2.00, on lap 8 we get lapped by the LCR and finish 8th out of 12 starters with two dnf’s when Goober/Pig have a battery crap out and the fuel pump stops working and Annan/Duthie going out with a bit of contact through the infield sweeper with Bron/Weedon, we do a best lap of 1.58.417
Sunday
R2 9 laps
There’s a slight rain at the track, just enough to make things damp and we’re hoping it will stay that way but by the time our race rolls around it’s dry and sunny, we notice the Aussie F2 outfit parked up by the hairpin on the warm up lap the spare motor they had fitted shit itself on warm up lap, this time Alex remembers to put it in gear and we get a good start beating the Lawrence brothers down to turn one where they come slipping back up the inside, the Wolland brothers also get a flyer getting into turn one in third, we hang onto the back of the bunch for a couple of laps but they slowly pull away and we’re left by ourselves again, ½ way through the race we notice we’re gaining on the Wolland brothers as Burt’s got sore arms and is starting to get a bit tired, and after a few laps we’re only a couple of lengths behind and then the bloody outfit dies, Alex notices the kills witch tether has come off wacks it back on and we’re away again but that’s given them the break they need and with two laps to go we can’t make it back up, this time we make the whole 9 laps with out being lap and get a new quickest lap on lap 8 of 1.55.597
R3 12 laps
We’ve changed the gearing again as with our new turn of speed we’re running out of revs before turn one, I’ve got Alex using a different line into turn one which is working well and we carry more speed into it, we launch off the line and our start is good and we hang onto the bunch for a lap or two before they start to pull away which leaves us riding around by ourselves, on lap one we come into the dipper to see Goober/Pig parked on the ripple stripafter trying a overly ambitious move on the Lawrence brothers and just about taking Ritchie off the chair, Pig pushes the chair off the ripple strip to find the fairing has jammed under the front wheel a bit of adjustment and they’re away again, taking about 4-5 laps to reel us in , passing us out of turn one, Bron/Weddon have run into gearbox problems with only having 1-4th in there 03 R1 outfit, with two laps to go the LCR of Sellar/McLeod come past us and a lap latter Scrivener/Bryan give us a wave as the go past as well and then the flags out and it’s all over, Kber Rat also gets to do that race as Tim Wolland has a elbow problem and he steps in to help out
A absolutely awesome weekend, with great weather and some awesome racing with the KB support crew out as well and also met Zorst who was doing his first race meeting in the 150/SS classl, a big thanks to Joni who kept me fed and watered all weekend and made it so much easier for me, Alex for asking me to race with him and the sidecar community as a whole for being such a helpful friendly bunch roll on next year when the Kickaha/Diesel Pig Sidecar crew will be coming to a track near you!
Originally Posted by scracha
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thinking that too many KBers watching to let him beat me i got my arse into gear. The rest of the race Tony, Stewart Smart and I swapped places, good fun. I managed to outbrake Stewart into the hairpin in the last lap and rode defensive fat arse lines for the rest of the lap.
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