Well, for those that might be interested, here's my weekend at Manfield.
Started off pretty average, having to load up the bike and pack everything with a killer hangover and no sleep, and the prospect of the long drive from Ham's. Good night out though eh Quasievil and Torque!
Me and Loosebruce were heading down together. and we must have made it about 50km from Ham's when a cop pulls me over. I really did deserve a ticket though... travelling at a whopping 103km/h FFS what a wanker, pretty obviously just revenue collecting that ticket, so its see you later to $80.00 and another 20 demerits.
On to the racing... having only been to Manfield once a year or so ago on a 400cc bike meant basically learning the track from scratch. Went out in a "run in" session and managed to work out what gears to be in for most corners. Then because F1 is allowed out in F2 qualifying I got another chance to familiarise myself with the track. Unfortunately my chronic clutch slip had returned so it was one lap and into the pits.
I wound out the very last of my clutch adjustment before the F1 qualifying and had the smallest amount of free play left. Went out onto the track around midfield, as you never really know where about you are going to fit in, and don't want to hold everyone up at the front. Spent most of my time passing people and only really got one clear lap in, still had a bit of clutch slip but not too bad. Qualified second with about a 1.13:5 or there abouts I think. Still felt I could take at least half a second of that time pretty easily, and probably a whole lot more.
Came back in and myself and Motoracer set about putting some washers under my clutch springs to help out the clutch situation. In the end we got the job done with time to spare. But it was starting to get a little bit stressful as we had a few hickups trying to get it all put back together.
The weather had held up all morning and the track was dry, then as we got ready to line up on the dummy grid it began to spit. I got a pretty crap start as the clutch felt quite different, but still held second place. Was feeling confident that I should be able to take the lead and pull away, but as the rain began to increase the slicks just got more and more slippery. I had a few pretty decent slides and was passed and put into third place. At this point I decided it was a good idea to just ride safely and not push too much. The last thing I wanted to do was crash on slicks in the wet, having done that two weekends ago. Ended up in 4th place.
That was it for racing, as despite putting on wets for the next race the meeting was cancelled before we went out again.
So overall fairly happy with the weekend, despite only getting a 4th position, I feel a lot more comfortable about the track for the next round. And depending on who enters for the next round i'm also confident of getting some good times and finishing positions.
Big thanks to all those that helped out on the day. Motoracer for all his help in the pits, along with Cowpoos, and Vtec. Rossigal who helped and also followed us back to Ham's to keep an eye on the bikes on the trailer for us. Quasievil and Quasimoto for their support, Shaun for the lending of his awning, without which we would have all got soaked.
Looking foward to round two and being more prepared, and hopefully some better weather.
Daryl.
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Originally Posted by Drew
have to get there 6:00-6:30...
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