For once I was organized well before race day and had the van loaded ready to hit the track for the Friday practice day.
Trouble was there was several hundred tons of dirt on the road between me and manfield!
They got the road cleared about 1pm and I took off for Manfield.
I hit the track and straight away CowPoos ambushes me, I take up the chase, he was leaving big brownies out the corners, I tried to slip under him on the brakes and he viciously slammed the door on me. I tried the outside and he just about forced me onto the soggy grass. Thats it I decided, time to get SERIOUS, so I flick the van indicator on, pull off the track and unload the bikes out the back
Seriously, the guy qualified in 7th place in his first road race ever, in the heavy weight class no less!!! Well done Ryan, awesome man!
I got to manfield with just enough time for one session only.
The 750 was ready to go and needed testing the most, so I went out on that.
For the 1st time it was running really well. Everything felt smooth, fluid and quite fast. The front end in particular impressed the hell out of me, I was coming in to the infield hairpin on the extended track and was able to throw it on it's side with the foot pegs scraping all the while hard on the brakes and viciously twisting the bars. Take it from me, all the legends about ZXR750 front ends are true, if only the nine's front end was that good!
Straight after the session they announced all the limp wristed car dudes had gone home to be put to bed with warm milk and cookies by mumsie thus giving us an extra session!!! I quickly zoomed out onto the track and finally perfected the line for the complex double apex S W E E P E R that leads back onto the end of the back straight, so YEE HAA!
RACE DAY
It dawned cloudy looked threatening, but low and behold it cleared into a beautiful Sunny day with little to no wind, perfect!
POST CLASSIC - 1989 Kawasaki ZXR750 H1
Qualifying time: 2:09.805
I headed out early to get a clear track, on the second lap I pushed against the rear seat a bit hard whilst getting behind the fairing and the bloody thing threatened to fall off, so I had to stop in the pits and re seat the seat! I got going again and prayed I had enough time to get at least one flying qualifying lap. Turns out I got pole, by 5.25 seconds
Race 1. 4 laps - Fastest lap
I got a crappy start considering I was on pole, and a guy on a motard and another on a gsx1000 got great starts. The motard was damn fast, pretty much as fast as the 750! I passed him around the left hander onto the extended circuit and then he nearly took me out in the infield hairpin on the extension!
I then took off and caught up to Paul Brigham on his GSX1000, it took some work, the GSX was a rocket ship and I wondered where he had been in qualifying???
I had a good scrap with him, but alas on the third lap my clutch stopped engaging, so it was very hard to down shift and I found myself running two gears to high into and around corners. Not good! I proceeded to have a real battle with Paul, we were passing each other 2 to 3 times a lap, I'd pass him through the corners and he would blast past down the straight! It came down to the last lap and the last few corners, I know I had to pass him around the outside at the start of the long left hand sweeper that leads back out onto the short circuit. As I came into the hairpin the bike would not change down and I had to run wide and that was that, 2nd place. Still, it was really fun dicing with him and we shook hands on the slow down lap, he was PUMPED, as he well should be!
It turns out his engine was bored out to 1240 and was running on methanol
I came to the conclusion that the clutch fluid had been a little low and I'd leant it over for such long periods of time air had got in the system. So I bled it as best as I could. It's times like this I miss Richards experience badly!
Race 2 - 4 laps - Fastest Lap 207.017
I hole shotted and managed to gap the Paul with a pretty hot 1st lap. On Lap three the clutch problem came back for a rerun, so I adapted to brutally bashing it down the gearbox and continued to pull away to win the race.
Race 3 - 2 laps - Fastest Lap 2:07.833
This was an out right sprint race being only 2 laps long. I usually take a little bit of time to wind up, but I have been working on that of late. This was going to be the acid test on my progress to date. I knew a good start was cruicial and fortunately for me thats what I got! I hole shotted again and managed to gap the feild both laps to take the win.
This is the 1st time the ZXR750 has run properly at a race meeting, so I'm stoked with it's performance. After all, it is just my street bike with race numbers stuck on lol
It's only modifications are a Pipe, K&N air filter, and heavy duty clutch.
The rest of the bike is stock. I know there is another 5 to 6 HP in getting the jetting right, I just did not want to experiment on race day. I did notice it made better power as the day warmed up, so that is something for me to ponder on. I'll get the jetting sorted before the next round.
For today, I was just pleased to have it running out there on the track
FORMULA ONE: Kawasaki 1998 ZX9R C1
Qualifying time 1:59.358 - The 9 is more suited to the short track as all the extra corners on the extended track suit the lighter modern liter bikes and 600's alike.
I do however as a rider really enjoy the layout and corners of the extended track. The long double apex back onto the short circuit is my favourite corner on Manfield hands down!
I felt comfortable with the superbike straight away and it was a real blast around the long track. I just tried to ride smooth and fast.
It seemed to work as my time qualified me in 2nd position behind Craig Shirriffs. So i was pretty pleased about that.
Race 1. 4 Laps - fastest lap 1:59.301
I got a pretty average start and was about 6th into the first corner. I picked off the 1st three riders and set about closing the gap on 2nd place Robert Jackson on the ex Deane Fultons Honda Fireblade. It's a real quick bike and Robert rides it aggressively.
I managed to catch up on the last lap and went around the outside of him on the left hand turn leading onto the extended circuit. He tried to stick it under me for the next 2 corners but I held him off, Then coming into the hairpin he tried the big up the inside braking move, but over shot the corner, so I just grabbed the pics harder, threw the bike on it's side, managed to avoid him and I took off for the finish line finishing in second place with Craig Shirriffs only 3.2 seconds in front. My fastest lap was only .42 seconds a lap slower than Craigs, So I was pretty happy with that.
Race 2. 4 Laps : Fastest Lap 1:58.869
The race was delayed on the dummy grid and our tyres went cold.
I got a pretty good start, but as I approached the braking marker I hesitated a little not knowing how much to trust the front tyre and a gaggle of riders went through
I picked a few off but the gap was quite large to the next bunch so I settled with bringing it home in 5th place.
Race 3. 4 Laps : Fastest Lap 1:58.594
Once again I got a "so so" start and a few people passed me. I again picked off off a couple of riders and tried to bridge the gap to 1st and 2nd place. I pulled them right back on lap three with a hot lap, however being the 6th race of the day was taking it's toll and my body cried enough so I backed it off a little and just brought it in while it was still shiny!
At the end of the day, I was pleased with how the nine had performed.
There were 30 finishers in race 1, so the superbike class is really big this year, in fact the biggest superbike field I think I've seen!
I'll edit this post when I see the official positions in my classes.
It was so good to get the sun back and have a full days dry racing, YAY!
Roll on Round 4!
Some people have asked for photos of the 9 on my other race report threads, so I attached two to this post.
The modifications over stock are...
1998 Chassis with Ohlins rear shock and fork internals
2000 Motor
Muzzy 998 Big Bore Kit
CSL ported heads
Team Kawasaki Australia cams
Under cut gearbox with other internal modifications
Heavy duty clutch
Marvic Racing Wheels
Bike Owner: Richard Leong
Motor assembled by Richard Leong
Rider Anthony Bradford
Technical advice greatfully received from Dereck McAdam
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. Makes me wish I was there
. I'm missing the one o'clock in the morning starts, driving down to feilding in a cold and unheated van and turning around and doing the long drive back up to auckland after a long day racing!
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