Blue Thunder Race reports. Vic club 06

[Racey Rider]

O well good luck with your campaign and trying to win the title ...

Thanks. I think my 'The Title' Dream has been blow out water by events so far. So I'll have to refocus, and try to knock RG100 from his 3rd place before the end of the season. Even that won't be an easy task it seems.


Racey

PS. 'CowPoos', you did read post 9 didn't you?

[cowpoos]

What a day to be racing! 5 degrees it was when we rolled out for the scrub-in and Qualifying runs. Wet track, slightly rainy, but not too bad.

I was still not happy with the power output of my new motor, so had sorted my old motor again and brought it down to race on. I didn't know if the first run was a scrub in tyers session, or the main Streetstock Qualifying, so went out in it anyway. (they really need to get a better sound system at Manfield).

Got out right behind our mate 'Vtec', and kept up with him well for a few laps, pushing round the outside of him a time or two through corners. But a badly adjusted clutch kept slipping under power, so I didn't get my one chance to make a pass stick while he was still warming up.

Made a quick adjustment to the clutch, and realized we were out again straight away for our qualifying run. This time my cable popped out from the clutch plates lever, leaving me with no clutch for most of my qualify run. I tried to be smooth by blipping the throttle when changing down gears, but was just making such a hash of it it was embarrassing.
When time sheets came out, my BestTime was less than 1 second down on that of 'Vtec'. but qualifying was so close that that 1 second put me in 6th place against 'Vtec's 3th on the start grid.

Race 1. - 15 Laps
I wired in my clutch cable, and headed out to line up for race one. It was still as cold as cold, wet track, but no rain. One of the ZXR250 was right in the wrong place, sitting on the back of the GP125's grid. When being asked to move back, and us streetstocks moving slightly forward, he ended up in my spot, which left me a row back from where I should have been. Never mind,, lets just get on with it!
I got a good start when the flag dropped, only to be passed by a Flying RG within 50 metres! What The ???? Good start Glen!
Lots of traffic in the first corner slows the pack down, but all got around safely, and I settle into following a group hoping that tires will miraculously warm up on such a bitter day. (highest temp for the day was 7 degrees).
As the field separates a bit I find I'm on the tail of three streetstock riders about mid field. Getting a bit more confidence, I set my sights on passing them. Bert and his ZXR250 was the first to feel 'Blue Thunders' wrath with a inside pass through the S's (I think? hard to remember it all). Then there was another Green ZXR 'Truck' to get passed. Those 250's really do honk down the straights compared to us 150's, so out braking them, or speed around the corners is the only option for us. Somehow I got past it and that left me with one KR150 that was catchable. I sometimes talk about this old motor being fast. But while chasing down this other KR rider, I found his speed to be the same as mine down the straights, so it must be that my new motor is slower than normal, not that this old motor is any faster than standard.
Somehow I got past him, (sorry about the lack on detail here, but at the time, I'm not thinking about what to write to you fellas later,, but just making the pass,, staying upright,,, and making my frozen fingers do what they're told!). Pressing on I was able to create a bit of a gap on the following riders, so switched my train of thought to the next task... Lapping Ivan!

Sure enough, about lap 11 I spied young Ivan on his flash GP125,, With full Wets on,,,, doing his best 'look at me... I'm a GP rider!' thing. Half a lap later and I took the opportunity to go round the outside of him in the last sweeper.
See Ya!

Then there was another ZXR250 in front to be had. but by this time I was running out of laps, and I think he may have turned to see me coming, as he did a Rossie and put the hammer down, extending the gap he had on me before the flag.
So 6th place for me in race one.
Sadly as i came back to the pits, I looked at the bikes temp gauge to see it reading high again, which could only mean one thing...
another Blowen head gasket!!!
I think the barrel it's self must be warped on this old motor as it just won't stop blowing gaskets.

Race 2

Luckily I had the other bike with the new motor down with me too so went about the task of swapping over all the race setup bits over onto the 'new motor' bike. Changing wheels over without the normal race stands was a bit of a budget affair. (Thanks for holding up the bike while I whipped out wheels Guys.)

Flag drops and we're underway. Another holdup in the hairpin as we idle around in Sunday cruise mode while the leaders take off This race was shorten to 6 laps. Made a break on some of the guys at the tail of the field and was feeling safe in my position going into the last lap. I looked behind to see a reasonable gap back to a green ZXR250 that I thought was 'Bert'. The thought went through my mind that 'Bert' was never going to catch me in the last lap from that distance, so eased off the pace a little.... no point falling off in the last lap eh. So was surprised to see a Green ZXR250 blow past me down the back straight on the last lap. It wasn't 'Bert' at all!! It was Russel!
If I had KNOWN it was RUSSEL coming,,,,, AHRRR! You idiot Racey!
So by out braking Russel I catch him at the last sweeper. Carrying more speed I go round the outside of him to line up wheel to wheel as we see the checkered flag. Of course I know whats going to happen.... Russel just opens the throats on that four cylinder 250,, and rockets ahead to the finish line, leaving me in 9th place. Ar Crap. *%&^#! 250's!!

So not a bad day on my scale of things. but the competitor in me is still disappointed in my placings. The new motor was 4 seconds a lap slower that the old motor. Lets hope the Training day next weekend can help me claw that back for next round.


Thanks to my Sponsors for helping this happen :
2Day.com - Web hosting, Domain names, Dedicated servers
Freeparking.co.nz - Online solutions You can Use.
Un-named KiwiBiker

Cheers.
Racey

have now...lol....good shit bro

[MOTOXXX]

comon dude. your a head of me now that i crashed.

you can do it!!

[Racey Rider]

The wild weather My wife and I drove through to get to Fielding on Thursday night, did not make for a promising outlook for the Track test day that I was attending on the Friday. But the next day dawned fine and clearing, and turned into an ‘excellent weather’ test day.
After buying a few more carb jets, my initial run showed I had at last found the right jetting setup, with a lovely tan colour to the sparkplug.
They let us out on the long circuit to practice up for the race day ahead.
So with the bike running well, and a bit of practice under my tyres, I was keen to be putting in some respectable times, and be closer to the action up front on race day.


RACE DAY
My objective for the day was to move from 5th on the Championship, to 4th.
AJ Chappell was currently in 4th spot, just two points ahead of me. I’m sure I can beat him, now my bike is running better, so it should be a done deal by the end of the day. I tried to put the fact, that there was a couple of gun riders below me that also had plans of hitting the top four out of the equation!

Went out for qualifying and put in a 2:38 which was 4 seconds off the pace I had done the day before. 2:38 put me 7th on the starting grid. No worries... I’ve seen Rossi win from 7th on the grid before... so, Not a problem.

Race 1
I got a reasonable launch from the flag, and join the streetstock/GP125 soup that was the first corner. I don’t recall seeing the front of the field again after that, as they were just Gone! I had a few dices with Tim(#49) and Graeme(#21), but Graeme’s RG150 is fast, and just pulled away from me in the end. Tim made less mistakes than I did and also held his spot. So halfway through the race I was left on my own to cruise around. I did get to put a pass on Vtec though before the race was over.

Ok, so he was standing beside his bike on the grass at the time, but a pass is a pass, and I made it home infront of him in 7th out of 12 spots. BT 2:32 Vtec 8th, AJ 9th - there’s my two points gained right there!

Race 2
Had a good chance to make a pass stick on Motoxxx(#83) in race two. was right on his tail for a lot of the race. I would occasionally get a better drive out of the hairpin and just pass before Higgins. But that boy is so smooth. I never saw him make a mistake all day! Unfortunatly I did make mistakes. So Motoxxx 6th, Racey 7th, and AJ 8th. Another point up on AJ. BT2:31

Race 3
The last race was my chance to drive home my advantage over AJ Chappell.
Things were going to plan till the last lap, (it was only a 2 lap race). AJ was behind me right through to the new track hairpin. I had struggled with that turn for the last two days, never finding the right groove to make it flow nice. I lost a bit of time there again on the last lap, and AJ caught me. Going into the first apex of the sweeper, there’s a horrible resealed trench cut across the track. The tight line was the only one that ever worked for me there... so I went for it...
Unfortunately AJ was also going for it.... The fact that he had the inside line meant either I got there first making him brake... or he got there first, pushing me wide. Nice guy that I am ... I left the door open for him .... (I didn’t even hear a THANKS......) He pushed me wide over the bumps ... I chickened out and hit the brakes ... and watched my one point lead disappear around the sweeper. BT2:31

So at the end of the day AJ and I are Tied on Championship points... in 6th spot.
Motoxxx squeaked in above us by 3 points. and Texmo cleaned the field up with three wins, pushing his way to 4th in the Champs.

The New motor ran well all day. Tho I'm feeling a bit like an ‘also ran’ after the high hopes I had had pre season. But it’s good to be riding against strong competition, and I feel like I’m improving all the time.
I hope to buy that new front tyre one day to give me more confidence in the front end.


Hope to see you all next time.

PS. My sponsorship money has all run out, so ... If anybody’s got a spare $ or two I’ve still got one side of the bike free for stickers!

Thanks to my Sponsors for helping me get this far :
2Day.com - Web hosting, Domain names, Dedicated servers
Freeparking.co.nz - Online solutions You can Use.
Un-named KiwiBiker


Cheers
Racey.

[MattRSK]

Well done Racey. Good to see you out there. Sounds like you enjoyed yourself. I like your approach to racing.

From Matt

[vtec]

Good stuff mate, keep making those mistakes. It's the only way to improve. If you're not making mistakes, then you're too far in your comfort zone, or else you're a legend.

[kiwifruit]

Great reading Alex, see you there next time

[sugilite:Me]

Great report, and well done on your days racing.
Thanks for helping me with starting the bikes n stuff!

[babyB]

cool write-up as always Racey good on ya

[Racey Rider]

A reminder to all yous in the 'Dark U.' Left click and highlight if you can't read my Blue.

Weather was looking good at Manfield for round 4 of the Vic club Winter series. I had just spent another test day with this new KR150 motor, and now had it running well - Pulling 1:35’s on the short track, 3 seconds better than my last run in the dry.
(I'm still trying to achieve the 1.33 I did on the RG150 I had in 2003 when I did my first two race days)

Qualifying for Streetstocks went well, and I was able to lay down that 1:35 Best time again. That put me 7th on a grid of 14 starters, with just 2 of the 250 four strokes ahead of me.

Qualifying for Superbike Lites/F3 took a turn for the worst though when two of us got knocked off the track by another biker. There was about 4 of us 150’s riding in the F3 class (F3 = upto 650cc twins/ upto 450cc Four strokes/ upto 250cc two strokes ). So we are out gunned from the start, but just riding for the fun of it. At the end of ‘Denny hulme’ straight, some yellow fourstroke classic bike comes barrelling past us, (well trying to anyway), and then when he’s right level with me, pulled over and Hits me!
Our handle bars and foot pegs lock together for a moment. His bike is heavier than mine, so I get pushed sideways - all out of shape - totally stuff up my corner entry - I can do nothing but get it together, brake hard, run through ‘Higgins’ corner and off the track taking Neil on his 150 off with me! Neil knew it wasn’t my fault, and gave the classic guy the appropriate finger gesture as he somehow made the corner and was gone. Thankyou Neil! We didn’t get your number mate, but maybe an Apology is in order! I can only presume you didn’t think about us 150’s not having to brake so early as you, but there was No excuses for Crashing me off the straight line that I was Holding!!

SS Race 1.
7th Place/second row on the grid sounded alright. I got an ok start and rode a good race, to the best of my ability. I was rapt to see I put down consistent laps of 1:35 for laps 2,3,4,5 and 6. I really don’t remember making any mistakes in that race, so I was really disappointed to find I came 11th place! You’ve got to be joking.... My best ride ever on this bike and I come 11th?
To be fair, 3 of the riders that beat me were on 250’s, and one was on what I suspect is an illegally modified 150. Take them out and I’d be 7th. yes, 7th sounds better.

SS race 2.
18 lap race. Much the same, but placed in 8th as 3 guys DNF’ed

Championship position: I still hold onto 7th place on the table if I calculate correctly due to some guys not finishing all races. With only 4 points between place 5 and me in 7th.

F3 races were just a bit more track time, with one interesting happening.
I was having a good battle with ‘MotorXXX’ on his RG150. We were swapping
positions a few times, good close racing. he went through the ‘S’es in the lead one time and I caught him at the hairpin. I got a better drive out of the hairpin than he and was slowly gaining on him down ‘Denny hulme’ straight. Halfway down we were wheel to wheel, shoulder to shoulder, almost touching elbows. I thought I’d give him some ‘stick’ and was shouting at him GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
Sadly I spent too much time concentrating on shouting, and how close we were, and not enough on the approaching corner...... When I finally realised I had won the drag down the straight, it dawned on me, I won because MotoXXX had hit the brakes for the corner .... and I hadn’t!!!!! Once again I found myself careering off the track at ‘Higgins’, only just pulling the bike up before the tyre wall! Lesson learnt!
This whole episode was captured on video as well. Nothing like letting everyone have a laugh at you.

But had a great day. Bikes very reliable.
See you at the next one: 23rd Sept. Heres hoping for rain so I have a chance to keep
some of those 250’s behind me.

Thanks to my Sponsors:
2Day.com - Web hosting, Domain names, Dedicated servers
Freeparking.co.nz - Online solutions You can Use.
Un-named KiwiBiker

Cheers,
Racey.

[Sketchy_Racer]

I suspect is an illegally modified 150.

Good stuff racey!!

Great to see the KR going well and reliably!!

(ps just wonderin whom you think the illiagal 150 is could you PM me )

[sugilite:Me]

Another good race report Racey.
Can I suggest you move to superbike, that way you won't have time to look at another rider yet alone shout at one, just ask loose Bruce hehehe.

Kinda reminds me of the time I raced a slow old go cart against my then girlfriend, I passed her and turned around to give her the finger and laugh at her till I found a spectacular braking method......by crashing straight into a barrier!!! I even managed to cut my leg while wearing leathers! Did not hurt as much as the constant and often repeated laughing hiena impersonation from her!

Anyways, another top effort, I love your passion for racing, keep it up! (like you would do anything else!)

[babyB]

hay Racey cool write up again. good on ya sounds cool
lol when dose the dvd get released

[Racey Rider]

Thanks guys.
But HOLD THE PHONE!!! Seems I didn't calculate Russells points correctly, And I am now 6th on the table! Just 4 points behind AJ.

Have PM'ed you RG, and see that you agree with my suspicions.
we'll just have to learn to ride faster.


.... well, me anyway!

[MOTOXXX]

yes you made a school boy error on higgins old boy.

i was in tears watching that. lol


I tried taking out my air filter for f3 to see if i could get any more speed out of the bike. it didnt like it as its not tuned for it and had a dead spot up top.

im thinking about geting the bike tuned after vic club, no airbox cover, or air filter and sticking in a bigger main jet.
should be good for a few more hp and race it at boxing day races