I’m loading the Bikes and the weather isn’t looking to good, it’s light rain and overcast, but I figure I’ll go racing no matter what, knowing Dangerous doesn’t like the wet I send him a txt “here pussy pussy pussy”hoping a healthy dose of peer pressure will shame him into turning up, but lo and behold as I pull up at his place he’s loaded and ready to go
Get to Ruapuna and I hear bikes on the track and I’m thinking shit they said 10am sign in, it turns out to be the 150 boys having a morning training session, sign in completed and a combined pre72/pre82 class grids up for practice, the tracks fairly wet but after a couple of laps I’ve worked my way to the front of the pack I pass James and he tucks in behind me, I do the same in the moderns class and then chase Tony Mac around in the bucket/150 class
Pre72/Pre82 Race 1
34 bikes line up and I’m up the front although not for long as the dragging LC clutch makes a getting a good start a problem and I hit turn one with 10 or so bikes in front of me including some slow guy on a Katana, James trying to make some places up around the outside is out on the grass but holds it together, we hit the fast kink and just as I tip in catch a glimpse of a wheel alongside and know I’m going to get hit, he smacks into the muffler and I run off the track and loose about 25 metres to the front bunch so it’s head down arse up and I set off after them, I get past the slow guy on the Katana and a couple of others to slot into 5th behind James (RD400) into the infield sweeper James takes the two guys in front of him and I knock off one then and go after the other, I get past him then he comes back at the next corner, another lap and I get him and I get right behind James for a lap working out where to make the pass, last lap and coming into the sweeper and James tips in a bit early and I hold it a bit wider for a sec before I turn in and gas it up harder and earlier and carry more speed and run him down before the flag for a 2nd place finish
The slow guy on the Kat also got beaten by a CB250RS, how slows that?
Modern Race 1
Well compared to some bikes there 1980 is modern so I figure it’s eligible, but my main motivation was TonyB was out on his FZR1000 so I really wanted to try and do him over on the RD350LC, flag drops and I’m left for dead, but after a couple of laps I’m onto the back of TonyB, it takes a few laps and we pass and repass each other for two or three laps in a row but when I hit turn one without him passing me I know I’ve got him beat, fuck knows where I got in that one
Buckets/150
I end up in a hard out battle with James on “Hotdog” after getting past Dangerous and we’re swapping places each lap and end up side by side down the straight with neither of us having a speed advantage but James being a bit braver than me under brakes into turn 1, K14 is all over the back of Dangerous whose MT/MB100 is playing the game and going for a more than a lap at a time, but getting on the gas early K14 has a ripple strip moment when he just about highsides over a damp patch through the dipper and then he runs out of gas, I follow James onto the straight on the last lap and run him down before the flag with both of us beating a reasonable number of he RG150 crowd as well
Pre72/Pre82 Race 2
I get a better start and although I have a few bikes in front into turn 1 I pass most of them before the fast kink and end up 3rd after the hairpin, with James and a quick Triumph in front of us, I send the next few laps trying to get closer to James and while I gain in some areas I loose in others as he's a bit better under brakes than I am and the gaps stays about the same, pushing hard through turn 7 the front end is chattering and I can just about already taste the hospital foodand decide that 3rd will do me in that one
I flag going out in modern and give Diesel Pig the FXR for the bucket race and the bastard is riding it faster than I do
Pre72/Pre82
I’m 6th into turn 1 and 3rd by the hairpin with James on his Rd400 and the quick Triumph in front of us, the Triumph pulls off at the sweeper and then it’s only James to get by, I pass him down the straight and he come back up the inside into turn 1, I can see another shadow behind me and I’m guessing it’s Diesel Pig who’s on a enforced go slow today running Black Betty’s (CBX550) new motor in, I nail James earlier down the straight on the next lap and he’s not close enough by turn 1 to get me back, I keep pushing as hard as I can and take out my first race win
Buckets/150
Both Dangerous and James beat me off the line (nothing unusual in that) and a whole heap of 150 riders get between us, I’m swearing at them and yelling “get the fuck out of the way”as James and Dangerous pull a gap, I stick the FXR under a couple at the hairpin and then make my way past Dangerous and set off after James, we swap places a bit then I make the pass stick and make it first bucket home, stopping to tow some guy riding a MT/MB100 back to the pits after he was dumb enough to run out of gas and making it to 49kmh down the return road with him hanging on
All in
Last race of the day, my memory is starting to fade by this time and my eyes are glazing over and all I can remember is that I beat TonyB on his FZR1000 “again“, and although I could see Diesel Pig not far in front of me there’s no way I can make up the gap, a bloody awesome day despite the weather looking a bit crappy and having a damp track at the start of the day, but by the end being dry and sunny
Roll on Teretonga in two weeks time
Originally Posted by scracha
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I rode around like a complete nanna and managed to make it back in one piece. Straight back out on the bucket for practice - the bucket and the FZR couldn't be more different and I was riding along on the bucket looking down at the engine trying to figure out what was wrong... looked up and found that I was keeping up "oh... thats it then"
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