k14 07 Nationals Rd1 Report

[Cleve]

Good write up. All the best and see you at Minefield.

[k14]

Here's a few pics: oh yeah, big thanks to lynda blair for taking all the photos, i'll post up some more of the other kb contingent later.

[k14]

And a few other randoms:
1.) Hayden Fitzgerald on his CBR1000 2. & 3.) Saturday afternoon 4.) Jay Lawrence on his ZXR600 5.) Aftermath of Auzzie Chris Seaton dropping his R6 6.) Jay Lawrence dominating in the Spirit of Speed race on a Honda RS250GP, with the times he was doing on it he would have been top 6 in 600's, very impressive.

[svs]

nice photos. the nats are always a learning experience. what happened to chris seaton?

[Ivan]

Jays fast as,
Looks like fun Aussies bike a bit munched

[sugilite:Me]

Hi Kirk,
Was great to meet you. Well done in the way you faced all that adversity
Superb race report too.
See you at levels

[k14]

nice photos. the nats are always a learning experience. what happened to chris seaton?

I think he tucked the front on the 2nd turn, that was on saturday arvo. He also crashed again on the sunday (can't remember if it was the r1 or r6 though).

[Racey Rider]

A Frustrating few days by the sound of it.
But thanks for sharing it all. It helps us to be motivated to sort out our own problems when we know, we're not the only ones that finds racing difficult at times.

Heres hoping for Better Luck next weekend.
Keep the reports coming.

Racey

[Toast]

Good write-up K14. Good results considering the problems you had too.

[Toast]

And a few other randoms:
4.) Jay Lawrence on his ZXR600
6.) Jay Lawrence dominating in the Spirit of Speed race on a Honda RS250GP, with the times he was doing on it he would have been top 6 in 600's, very impressive.

Are these two pics on the same corner? He's getting off of the bike so much on the 600, both ass cheeks seem to be off the seat, yet not on the 250. What's up with that?

[k14]

Yeah its the same corner but they are taken at different points of the corner. The 600 one he is pretty much on the apex and the other one he is still coming into the corner. My guess anyway. Also the 250 wouldn't need as much muscelling around aswell as having more ground clearance than the 600.

[Torque]

Great to meet you for the first time mate and thanks for the gear to get my bike on the track. See you at the levels

[Tim 39]

A few hours later the first race came up, by now the rain had stopped and the wind seemed to be drying out the place fairly quickly. A mate and I went to see the first couple of laps of the F3 race, which was right before our one and we could see a dry line forming. The majority of the F3 field were on wets and it certainly was a wet race. We had to return to our pits by now to get ready for the race. Seeing as I was by myself I didn’t think I had enough time to change both wheels over to slicks so decided to keep the wets on, anticipating most people still being on wets as well as the track still being predominately wet. How wrong was I. I got to the dummy grid and found myself to be one of only three still on wets. It got worse when I went out for my warmup lap. I found the track 99% dry, with just a few small damp patches right off the racing line, oh darn.

I took my 12th position on the grid and the lights went out. I got a awesome start, rocketed straight to 3rd before the first corner but after then it went way downhill. I think by the end of the first lap I was down to about 10th and kept going lower. I knew it was a waste of time trying to battle against anyone on slicks. Having hardly ever ridden on wets in the wet, I had certainly never ridden in them in the dry. They felt horrible, sliding all over the place, it felt like I was riding on jelly. Having no confidence in them at all I just held in there for the race distance trying to be as easy on them as possible and came home in 13th, helped by a couple of crashes. Came in at the end of the race and the wets had shown the abuse they had just been given. They were torn up pretty badly on the left side but not as bad as I expected, certainly not usable in the wet again though.

yea I must say riding that dry race on wets wasnt much fun!! however was a good experience, to be able to ride on a marshmallow bike i supose. My wets wernt much worse, they were munched when I put them on and absolutely chewed to shreds when I took them off!

[Tim 39]

oh oh oh and with a lot of strange feedback from the bike and some scary kneesliding through the hairpin I managed to get an 11th. I wouldve been stoked if it had rained (the only time I have ever wished it would rain, and it didnt)

[Shaun]

keep at it KIRK, you will get there