Team loosebruce & dss3

[Clivoris]

Great skills team. Awesome to see you there giving it heaps and having a good time.

[blueblade]

Awesome riding Sudep. Never seen you racing before. Very impressive. Bike looked like a piece of shit, all held together with duct tape. Bruce would have loved it Brilliant effort.

[Sparky Bills]

Good Racing dude!!
Was great to meet some new faces too

Martin

[Frenchy]

sorry mate tried to load that vid of you off my phone but couldn't work it bloody computers!!! here's a pix of me on my way though mate!! nearly $1000 worth of fines in 4 days

[Motoracer]

Before the race

I haven't done one these in a while but I'll give it a go. On the dreaded Saturday (2^nd Dec), I was inside my Uni by myself doing my end of the year assignments to pass my course. I don't know how I came to the conclusion of doing the Wanganui race but I had a clear idea of exactly what I had to do, on that night.

The following week went by like a hazy dream which I wouldn’t call a night mare, as it still came with it’s bitter sweet moments. It was only on the Monday or the Tuesday (11-12^th Dec), that I actually got the chance to start organising for the race. It almost seemed impossible to attempt it with only 2 weeks to go, with no race licence, race entry or training…

After a few heart filling emails written appropriately, I was starting to see light at the end of the tunnel as far as the race went. Wally Cole gave me the big thumbs up for the race entry even though entry had closed 12 days before hand and the girls in MNZ reassured me that my race licence would be processed in time. Next thing I needed to worry about was my bike and myself as a rider. It seems bizarre to think how it’s only been 2 weeks since then, because I was so franticly busy the whole time!
Once bike was reasonably where I wanted it to be, I did a track day at Taupo to help me get up to speed and set up the bike properly. With out doing this on the Friday before raceday, would have made things very difficult. After the track day, I spent the next 3 days refining the bike set up as well as taking care of other last minute details.

On the Monday (day before race day), I ran into more complications with the bike and I started to stress about the race for the first time. With a couple of helpful chats with nicko and Shaun on the phone, I became a bit more relaxed and finished packing up the van. Me, Sally (sallo) and Nicki (Nicksta) began our journey at 17:00 hrs and made good time.. Then once I got into Huntly I started thinking of MNZ as their office is there. Then a few thought processes later, I thought "Oh f*ck!". Nicki and Sally asked what was wrong. I then confessed that I was a muppet and I had forgotten to bring the Race entry papers and my race licence! Without a second thought, the girls calmy asked me to turn around. Nicki then came up with the really good idea to get someone to bring it down half way for us. My dad then left his nice meal at the restaurant and came to my aid which I felt really bad for but I was very greatfull.

It was now 18:30 hrs and we decided to give it another go and set off down south. The rest of our journey was pretty uneventful. This was a really good opportunity for me to get to know Nicki a bit better and exchange some memories we have of Bruce. After chatting with the girls all the way to where we stayed, I ended up getting a solid 3 hours sleep.

[Motoracer]

The race day

We arrived at Wanganui nice and early (ish) at 06:40 hrs with only 20 minutes to unload, fix a problem which could have meant the difference between racing and going home. It must have been 07:00 hrs on the dot which was the closing time for sqrutineering, that we got in and had the bike checked. The only thing the bike needed was an overflow catch bottle. I asked around all over and Quasi was the man who could help me, with the Double Brown beer can. Nothing else would have done as far as I was concerned, maybe a redbull can but I really wanted Double Brown.

We were a man short in the team and it was really awesome to see (Andy) AJturbo there nice and early and getting his offer to be our Team Mechanic. Just after rider briefing had finished We walked back to the bike and I soon realised another muppet moment. We still hadn’t dealt with an electrical problem that I had put off before, due to lack of time. The girls and Andy came thorugh for me and we got the problem fixed as a team. It was a mad rush but I actually got to go out in the sighting session and put down about 3 or 4 laps in. In the rush I didn’t get to concentrate properly so I couldn’t even remember the corners properly.

I will thank Nicki a bit further down as well but I must say, she is one switched on lady. The minute I got back into the pits, she took care of everything like putting the tire warmers on, reminding me if I needed fuel or not and other basic but crucial factors that really made the difference. Sally was also very good to talk to as she kept my mind off from stressing out about the task I had ahead of me. She was kind enough to feed me dinner the night before and then she took care of getting me replenished with food and drinks through out the day.

[Motoracer]

Practice/Qualifying

I had 2 different ways in my mind to approach this day. I know I am a good instinctive rider and I do ride good when I ride going by feel. However a lot was at stake so I wanted to minimise the chance of crashing to the point of elimination. Therefore I chose to ride by thinking everything through methodically rather than just trusting my instincts and going by feel.

To be honest, as much as I like to think I am different from all the rest, I too had the "I’m bullet proof" outlook on my mortality. I have lost a mate before and people I used to know to bike accidents. However Daryl and specially Bruce’s accident was something else. It couldn’t have hit me any closer to home as most know I was pretty close to Bruce. Other than death itself, there are other horrible risks like the tragic accidents of Motobob and Inlinefour. This was the first time that I have actually been fully aware of the conciquences of bike accidents and the risk that is envolved in our sport. To get through this day, I cleared out emotions and fears and gathered my strength together and accepted the challenge I had set before me.

For practice 1 I went out into the track and instantly felt pretty good. I passed a few people and ended up following a white and red 06 R6 for a while. Then for the approach into the railway tracks, I out braked him and stayed infront for a while. Then near the end, he passed me again and I followed him. He looked like a good rider so I got closer to read his name on the back of the leathers. I freaked out when it read "Smith", for Sam Smith. For a while I was stoked that I got to ride for a bit with him but I soon convinced myself that since this was his first time as well, he would have been taking it easy to learn the lines and braking markers. My biggest problem is that I let myself become intimidated too easily. I found it so much easier to ride with racers when I didn’t know who they were. When I found out who they were, it almost became harder. Probably because I doubt myself a bit too much. That’s what I admired about both Bruce and Daryl. They both were out there having fun but at the same time, they gave it their best and stood proud infront of the world, challenging who ever came along. Stroud, Smith, Lawrence, Sherrifs, it didn’t matter to them. They just wanted to give everyone "the learn" while having fun. I really admired their courage, a lot…

For practice 2, after the first lap Stroud passed me coming out of turn 1 and then a few quick riders did the same. The boys from Aussie in yellow brand spankin new Yamahas with all the bells and whistles were screaming past noticeably faster. Sam by this stage had gotten into grips with things and showed why he is a "shit hot!" rider. He flew past at some stage and this time round I over shot the corner while trying to out brake him. I realised the fact that Wanganui is a tight circuit and it’s not the easiest place to pass with corner speed. I knew that Qualifying and race starts would either make or break my chances of good race results. On one of the laps, I went into turn one pretty quick so I had to go wide over the muddy patches and lost the front. I put my foot down and somehow managed to keep it in two wheels. After the next corner, I just made myself forget about that little close call because if I thought about it, it’d have probably made me slower.

[Motoracer]

Races

By this stage MSTRS had come to our pit area and he gave me the team banner he had made for us. I was so stoked! I couldn’t get that part organised in time with everything happening and he had gone into the trouble of finding the material and printing for us, which was really cool! Frenchy also came by which was really cool!

Race 1: I was a bit disappointed with my Qualifying result. I put down a 55.8, which put me at 13^th out of 25 riders in F2. The speakers announced the final call for F2 riders to the dummy grid and instantly Nicki and Andy sent me on my way along with my sexy umbrella girl. It felt really cool to have a proper umbrella girl standing next to me, like as if I was some pro racer. More importantly, getting that bit of shade from the hot baking sun, for sometimes up to 15 minutes long in leathers does make a huge difference. We got on the track and after 1 warm up lap I got lined up for race one. After doing the gearing adjustments on the bike, I hadn’t tried it so I wasn’t that used to it. So I only managed to keep up with the rest of the riders. If you didn’t know, race starts is what I do best usually, so I was actually hoping to shoot ahead a few right in the beginning. That didn’t happen, although I didn’t loose any positions either. I didn’t quite seem to get the feeling right and I was over working my body. I soon lost the tail of the leading group and even got passed by 1 bike after my 2^nd lap. He then almost instantly had a crash right in front of me and his bike cart wheeled across the track spinning into my direction. With a bit of braking and swerving, I managed to miss him by about a meter.

The race was stopped and the ambulance came out and took the rider away. I hope he is OK now. We had a long wait before going back into the pits and getting ready for another go at race 1. Before going back in though, I was pulling heaps of wheelies with nicko which was really cool.

Then after a couple of other races, our race 1 was happening again. It was like a reinactment of the previous race. Everything was the same, except for the fact that I had listened to Shaun’s advise and learned to relax a bit and calm down. I didn’t feel tired anymore and there wasn’t much stress on my arms. This time round I managed to stay on nicko’s tail the whole way through and after finishing the race. I was actually pretty proud of myself for keeping up with the fast bunch. When I looked back, I was shocked to see that the gap behind me and the rest of the riders was so huge that I couldn’t even see anyone behind! I managed to come home with a 12^th and got a lot of encouraging words from my Team and others.

During lunch time, there was a ride around the track for everybody with the helmets off. I felt honoured to take Nicki around on the back of my bike..

Race 2: For race starts I should have just stuck with my instincts because that’s when everything flows into perfection but I decided I should try thinking it through to do better than race 1. I actually ended up messing that one up by getting an accidental wheelie off the line by trying too hard. A couple of people went past but on the approach of turn one, I almost said "No, you fu*kin don’t" in my helmet and out braked them to get my position back. It was a nice race. As in, nothing exciting happened in a great or a bad way. I just did my thing and enjoyed the track of Wanganui which I absolutely love! Specially the esses after the railway tracks. That takes me right back to the time I was about 5 years old and playing in the big playgrounds in Germany for the first time and having the most fun in the world! It was really really awesome!! There isn’t an inch of the circuit I don’t like. Every part of it is just so awesome. That is by far the most fun I’ve ever had on a bike.

It must have been the 5^th lap, where I was trying to gain some ground on nicko, when I over shot the corner and ended up loosing about 2 seconds from running wide. I knew the race would finish soon and it was impossible to try anything to gain back about 3-4 seconds to go up one place, so I already started streaching and loosening my fingers, arms and legs after I saw no one was in sight behind me. So after the last corner, I thought "This 1 is for you guys" and clutched up a wheelie in 3rd from the final turn till past the chequered flag. I managed to grab 13^th place just cause it’s a more suitable number to go with the Hell Pizza theme, other wise I would have tried harder… maybe he he he. My best that time was a 55.02 seconds.

Even though I was a bit disappointed to being with, I became pretty happy with myself. I know I can always go better next time if I do it again and even right now I know how I could shave off at least 2 seconds while still maintaing the same level of safety. Like people have been saying, I haven’t raced in a while so I was paying the price by making silly errors everywhere due to lack of practice. Like I said, the Qualifying was going to either make or break me. If I had somehow qualified in the 2^nd row, I reckon I would have finished better too… Nonetheless, I had a LOT of fun and I’m pretty happy. I got to do exactly what I wanted to do because of a lot of people.

[N4CR]

sorry mate tried to load that vid of you off my phone but couldn't work it bloody computers!!! here's a pix of me on my way though mate!! nearly $1000 worth of fines in 4 days

DO A RUNNER NEXT TIME MAYBe? SAVES CASH,INSURANCE,LIVES,BABIES, KITTENS AND STRESS IF YOU GET AWAY WITH IT.

NICE RACE REPORT GUYS, GOOD TO SEE IT ALL HAPPENING!

[Motoracer]

What now?

I love going fast on the road but I had already slowed down on the road as a choice, even before the 2^nd of December ’06. Now, to be honest I really don’t even want to think about any fast road rides ATM… Racing is pretty appealing with all the opportunities out there now that wasn’t available to me when I was giving racing a proper go, 2.5 years ago. Back then, we almost had to do everything on our own. Now everyone is supporting each other and with people like Shaun at hand for the advise and help really makes a difference. Other than that, I have grown up a lot since the last couple of years and if I was riding/racing with a dim candle light back then, I have spot lights as I seemed to have clicked about a lot of things. With stunting, racing, riding or with life in general, a lot has been making sence to me these days.. so I should decide soon on what I want to do… It may not even be bikes, who knows.. My interest is very varried so I could take a break and go overseas to travel or maybe get a drift car to play around or go flying as I always wanted to do. The most likely choice is either giving stunting a proper go or racing another go. Proper stunts as in proper, not just the odd wheelies and stoppies.

[Motoracer]

Thank you

A special thanks to my team. My race result was definetly a team effort. There is no way in hell I could have done it with out Nicki, Sally and Andy. Nicki was so good with organising and being the responcible level headed boss. As I said, I would have been lost without you. Sally, you are really cool and a very nice person. Thank you so much for everything. Andy, good to catch up as always. Sorry there was no opening for an umbrella girl spot for you but you make a pretty good team Mechanic. With 2 drop dead, gorgeous blonds (talkin about the girls, not you Andy) and you Andy, I bet I was the racer to envy among all of them. It was my pleasure to get to work with a cool bunch like you. I reckon our Team kicked ass!

Also Thanks to:

Eyetight – SDV Logistics NZ – For travel expenses and use of work van and time off work on Friday which was very important.
Fishy – Your help in getting my bike ready for a few nights and advise on fitness.
Death Inc – Getting the Steering head bearing out and doing the tire change.
Twosmoker – For the use of tire warmers and doing me a deal on tires.
MSTRS – For going the extra mile and preparing our Team banner.
Shaun Harris – For the advise and use of kill switch thingie.
Nicko – For the advise.
Quasi – Quasi Moto – For the use of the tent and finding me a can of Double Brown.
Frenchy – For Lending A hand. You know why I put ‘a’ in Caps.
Ray Clee – For letting me use the front fairing you lent to Bruce.
Mum and Dad – For being understanding.
KickingZebra – Air compresor.
Wanganui Race Organisers – for beinding over backwards for the cause of my race.
MNZ – for processing the lincence in time.
Rex Graphics – For the prints on the tops even in a busy Christmas time.

There may have been more people I should have mentioned but that’s all I can remember.

Cheers,

Sudeep.

[Motoracer]

The Evidence

Pic 1 - The Team! Andy, Sally and Nicki.
Pic 2 - Replica of the "WEAPON". Note the Double Brown.
Pic 3 & 4 - For the guys in KB. Some pics of the super sexy sallo!

[DEATH_INC.]

Good on ya Sudeep. Woulda loved to be there with ya

[Mrs Busa Pete]

That was an awsome read and Bruce and Darreyl would of been proud of what you and your crew acheived in 3 weeks. All 4 of you should take a step up because you all done well.GOOD ON YOU GUYS & GALS And sudeep good luck with making your choices if you decide to go over seas you will be missed.

[Shaun]

Well done to all the Team

Suddeep, from what I saw of you on the track mate, if you do decide to give racing another go with a bit more seriousness than last time, I would say you would quickly become a force to be reckond with mate

Dam fine effort, loved the wheelie across the finish line, class