Well after the disaster of the previous weekend I thought it couldn’t possibly get worse, but I was about to be proven wrong.
The trip from Cromwell to Timaru took just on 3 hours. I arrived at approx 1700 on Thursday night ready for the practice day on Friday. We arrived out at the track nice and early to get scrutineering and sign in all sorted on time. After the previous weekends problems (thought to be due to a dodgy coil) I had managed to get a loan of one off another guy in the field and so fitted that up ready for the start of practice day. I wasn’t able to get out in the first practice session but made it for the second. I went out first to check whether the bike was running ok and then just to get reacquainted with the track. The first session went without issue, was very happy with bike (the replaced coil had seemed to fix the problem) and now I could focus on getting the suspension setup for the rest of the weekend. We got two more practice sessions that day and I had made definite inroads into getting the bike a lot more compliant with the bumpy track. At the end of the day I had put in the 4th fastest 125 time of a 1.13.4 and in the last session did 7 straight laps in the mid to high 1.13’s so I knew I would be able to at least keep that pace for the races.
Saturday dawned misty with wet ground and just enough drizzle to keep the ground wet. First qualifying saw me once again donning the wets for the session. The track wasn’t overly damp, no standing water, but it was still enough to warrant running wets. I cruised around for about 5 laps banking on the second qualifying session being dry. At the end of the session I was classified 9th fastest. I didn’t really mind where I was in the standings cause by now the cloud had already lifted and the track was drying quickly. I knew the second session would be in the dry and that I could go a lot faster if that was the case.
Sure enough it continued to stay dry and I threw the slicks back on the bike. I went out at the front of the pack to ensure I was able to get 3 or 4 clear laps in. I had again changed the rear suspension and instantly felt the changes over the bumpy parts of the track. Making the bike a lot more comfortable over the changes of seal. I came in after 5 laps and ended up with a 1.14.6 and with the 7th fastest time. This left me on the second row of the grid. Happy with that and knew I could better that in the race.
The dry but overcast weather continued and at about 1500 the first 10 lap race was up. We went out for our warm up lap and gridded up in our positions. The red lights went out and I got a great start, 3rd place into the first corner and out onto the back straight. I was a pussy on the brakes at the end of the straight and got passed up the inside by three guys which relegated me to 6th position. I made a small mistake coming into the hairpin later that lap which probably cost me a second and I lost touch with the lead group. I continued to circulate at an ok pace (1.13’s all race) and never saw anyone in front or behind me till on the 8th lap. I came down to the end of the straight to see the yellow flags waving, there had been a pretty nasty accident involving three riders and I could also just see some small rain drops starting to fall on my screen and visor. I took the rest of that lap pretty easy and sure enough the red flags were out and the race was over.
Apparently what had happened was the guy in 3rd (Adam Chambers) had highsided by himself coming out of the corner. Then the next guy through (Gregor Stevens) highsided too causing the guy in 4th place (Cam Horgan) to run into his bike and crash too. Gregor was pretty badly injured so the ambulance was on its way to tend to him and the race was declared over. This meant I finished up 6th, 10 seconds ahead and behind of anyone else in the race. Pretty boring but that’s how they go sometimes. I was happy to at last have finished a race without having any problems and also happy to be very consistent in my lap times. That bought a close to the Saturday proceedings and it was back home to get ready for the final two races on Sunday.
Again as per the previous day the morning was misty and drizzly. By the time we got out to the track the low cloud had lifted and the track was dry. We had a 5 lap scrub in session just after 0900. On the second lap out I was completely gutted. My mysterious cutting out problem experienced at Teretonga had returned. I was only able to get into fourth gear and above approx 10k rpm it would cut out. ARGH!!!!
I came in at the end of the session and went about testing all electrical components to try work out what the problem was. I tested all electrical components to be within spec according to the Honda manual and swapped over a few components praying that it would remedy the problem. I went out for the race and on the warm up lap I already knew the problem had returned. I gridded up and again got a good start, 4th through the first corner and onto the back straight. As soon as I hit third gear the bike cut out and I was swamped by the whole field, relegated to last. I cruised around for the first lap and the problem was rather bad. I was fairly close to pulling in on the second lap but saw that a rider had fallen at the hairpin promoting me to 14th place. After much debate I decided to stay out and try make it to the end of the race to gain the two championship points given for 14th place. After being lapped two times (now I know how ya feel Ivan) I was very happy to see the chequered flag come out.
Seeing the times from that race I was pretty gutted to see that if I was on the same pace as the previous day I would have been battling for 3rd-5th place. But oh well, that’s how it goes sometimes. Seem to be getting used to saying that eh?
Back into the pits and I set about changing over every possible part of the bike I could to try and get rid of the mystery faulty part. After changing all I could I went out for the final race of the weekend. By now the day had become a scorcher. The mercury nudging thirty, Timaru had turned on a stunner. The warm up lap again showed that my attempts to remedy the problem were in vein and I was barely able to get into third gear now. I gridded up and the bike really struggled to get off the line. After the first set of corners it would only run in first gear and I was close to being lapped before being able to make it back to the pits. So that was the end to my weekend.
So the mystery still continues. I am praying I am able to fix the bike before Friday. I have again taken virtually the whole bike apart to totally rule out any mechanical issues. So am pretty sure it’s electrical. I’m off to the track this afternoon to test some parts I have borrowed to try and finally fix the problem once and for all. Wish me luck and check back next week to see how Ruapuna went. Here’s hoping for a change of luck.
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Originally Posted by spud racer
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