Well that was fun
Spent Sat. getting the mighty XR ready for racing with...
1. A new seat profile (3cm lower at the back) to bring the seat back nearly level.
2. New rear tyre.
3. 53t rear sprocket.
4. Clean/Dry/Polish/Lube/Clean/Polish again.
5. New grips.
6. Clean/Polish again.
Got over to Takaka thinking we were going to be late and stuck down the end of the paddock but were about the 3rd vehicle there. Set the awning up and unloaded the bike. Dope (YZ250) and Matt (IT175 and YZ250) arrived and all piled in under the awning out of the sun.
The track had been watered regularly for the last 2 weeks in preparation for racedayand the narrow chicanes from yesteryear were opened up wider and in the case of the bottom onto the front straight it was turned into a 90 degree corner instead.
I went for a wander with the new camera and took some shots of the still shiny bikes whilst I had the chance.
Racing was 5 laps with round 1 then lunch with milk tanker watering the track (with water - lots of water) then 7 laps for rounds 2 and 3 and the all-in final with 20 laps
I was racing smallbore and midbore (no pre-80 racing here) and Shane rode it in open 4st.
Well I replaced the grips after my 2nd race, man they were awful! Far too fat. The seat was nice, you could move around without it getting in the road but it still had plenty of padding for the stutters that formed later on. Power was good and shifting was very nice with the skimmed flywheel.
I was being lapped at about 5-6 laps, the track wasn't short but the faster riders were taking some bits much faster.
Brad Thomas, Cockie Meadows and Shane McGowan were flying in their classes and toying with the opposition, pulling length of straight wheelies on the RM, Honda and CZ.
The dust stayed down most of the day with the 20 lapper being the only race where it became a problem (over 30 bikes on the line).
The food and prizegiving were to be held at track-side but just after the racing finished and we were relaxing under the awning bs'ing away, the rain came.
Food and prizegiving were shifted to the shearing shed 100m down the road.
By the time we waited for the rain to stop :roll: the clay road to the shed was a bit wet and proved problematic to even walk on and some 2wd cars with trailers had fun...
The food (prepared by my old school - Motupipi) was excellent and the prizegiving worth attending.
All-in-all I had a fun day and improved my skills with the camera, the bike and the bs.
Apparantly other riders rode as well and did racing things but I can't remember names so I just TOOK PHOTOS as usual.
PS. Off-camber downhill rights arn't so bad with good tyres
PPS. Nope, I didn't fall off.
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Originally Posted by Brian d'marge
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