Well seems like the thing to do is to write up a report after your day of racing eh! So here goes,...
Was really pretty nervous at the beginning of the day, first time back on Puke since I had a pretty big crash there 5 months ago, only 2nd ever race and also first time racing on the R1, (usually race an NC30 400cc in F3 but it isn't ready to race again yet.)
So thought bugger it, better to race R1 and have fun than sit on the sidelines watching everyone else. Plus I wasn't sure whether to enter clubmans or F1 (formula auckland), decided to go to F1, so I knew that there would be some really good riders out there, was hoping not to be left too far behind, and also to learn a bit from them.
Well qualifying was really a shakedown / learning period, had to learn what gears to be in for each corner and try and find some braking points. Going from a 400 to a 1000 makes it like being on a totally different track. Also was taking it pretty gingerly over the 'hill' where I crashed. Anyway by the end of the session I was starting to feel kinda comfortable, or at least not as nervous. I had absolutely no idea what sort of lap time I would have been doing, thought it could range from a 1.03 to a 1.07.
So, getting ready for the first race, about to suit up and Whitetrash asks where I qualified, thought 'oh shit' haven't looked, after a nice run from the end of the pits down to the Jennian homes building I was blown away to see that I had a 1.03 and was in 3rd place! (no Andrew Stroud, Ray Clee and co. in attendance today) then another run back to the pits to get bike and I was shagged... but ready to race.
Race one was pretty eventful, got a reasonable start and settled into 4th place, then a guy on a K5 highsided in front of me coming out of hairpin, avoided him and thought sweet im in 3rd place but then race was red flagged. On the restarted race Nicko passed me out of the hair pin after I stuffed up a bit, then got in a pretty big slide through the next left hander, caught on camera from Quasievil too, looks pretty cool I reckon! From then on I was stoked to be racing with Nicko, I was trying to stay with him and learn his lines, making the most of him having tire trouble otherwise he would be pulling away from me into the distance. Started pushing a bit much and had a few more good slides exiting corners, decided to pull back a bit and came 4th with a 62.7 lap I think.
Rest of the day my aim was to get into the 61 second laps, Nicko, Sam Smith and some other dude where just a class ahead of me to be honest, I would slowly see them pullin 0.5-1.0 second a lap away from me, and with nobody behind me for quite a bit I just concentrated on being smoother and faster, managed a 62.3 second lap this race. Race 3 was more of the same, I had the best view in the house of the top 3 dicing it out, was awesome to see. Started to feel a lot better / smoother / faster, was hoping I had done enough to crack into the 61's but alas I was stranded on 62.01 second lap! grr!
So overall totally stoked with the day, know I can improve lap times with another day of riding there, hopefully get into mid 61's. Highlight of the day definitly riding around and (sometimes, thanks to his bad tires) keeping up with Nicko, wicked!
Now the big problem is I don't want to race the NC in F3 anymore, just want to race in F1 haha!
Cheers to everyone that helped out on the day, and read this!
C ya next time in Taupo.
Daryl.
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Originally Posted by Drew
way to go
, I too kinda have a curvy figure which makes it worse beacuse im a guy. Well the waist kinda goes in and the bum pushes out. When I was in college the girls in my year would slap me on the arse and squeeze because apparently it is firm, tight...
I wear jeans
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