TonyB's Sound of Thunder

[TonyB]

Ahhhh yes, the brakes. I'm a bit pushed for time, so here's an email I sent someone:

I learnt some valuable lessons about brakes in the last 4 races....
1) always check the reservoir levels during the day as they will drop as the pads wear out
2) If you don't check the reservoir levels you may find yourself sitting on the starting grid with bugger all brakes
3) The brakes WON'T get better during the course of the race
4) You have to brake very early when you have bugger all brakes
5) I can now lap faster with bugger all brakes than I could last weekend with good brakes
6) If the reservoir is empty, you reeeeaaalllly shouldn't just top it up, pump the brakes, and hope for the best. AND if the lever magically gets firmer while the bike is sitting for a bit, THAT IS A VERY BAD THING
7) Just because the brakes worked well for the next two races doesn't mean it'll stay that way for the last one.
8) Air bubbles in the brake line will expand rapidly when the brakes are very hot, possibly making their way into the master cylinder
9) When (8) happens, you'll suddenly find yourself with no brakes at all
10) Pulling the brake lever to find it just flops about impotently is NOT a nice feeling!
11) I must brake way too early for the sweeper, because I got around it with no brakes......

Does that explain it?

Thanks for the positive feed back. Tanya, 'tis a shame you didn't head out for a look, there was some great racing.

I definitely put a few ghosts to bed* over the weekend. The 'arm pump' has been a huge problem, and it is a huge relief to have found the cause- many people told me "it's all in your head", and I had just about started to believe them. Aside from that, for about 1-1/2 years I haven't been riding too well, not even as quick as I had been when I first started racing, and I had started to wonder why the hell I bothered doing it. I'm still slow, but there is hope, and I'd be out there every day if I could, just learning to fly.


*(© Stanko, 2006, all rights reserved)

[Dazza]

Bloody brilliant writeup, makes me want get out there & give it ago,now about Mothers Day @ Manfield this Saturday, that could be a goer.

[SDU]

Awesome write up TonyB Did anyone get any pics?
Great that you luved it!
Pity we didn't get out to see you race on Sunday but it took all of my break between shifts to go riding with FQ & Co while he test rode (his now) Duc ST4.

[TonyB]

Thanks dazza and SDU.
Yeah I saw a few the cameras pointing my way a couple of times- hopefully there will be some good pics

[RCV]

Good write up there Tony which kinda caught the atmosphere of the weekend for sure - lots of races and no world championships to worry about..... Last of all lots of people having a bloody good time for sure. It was my 1st BEARs meeting and hopefully wont be my last.

F@#k those 675`s can pedal along cant they? The sight and sound of the 3 main fellas scrapping it out at the speed they were was impressive as was 'Save of the Day' from Bruce Telford on the Aprilia in hot pursuit coming out of the dipper - impressive stuff!

And on that subject - ol Stewie was certainly pushing that 900ss along now wasn't he? 1st race meeting as well - best keep an eye on that one for sure

Cheers
Graeme@Thunderbike

[TonyB]

ol Stewie was certainly pushing that 900ss along now wasn't he? 1st race meeting as well - best keep an eye on that one for sure

Shit yeah! I told him he'd better come down and do some of the winter series races, because he's got some serious natural ability. If he had the same power as the winning bikes in Streetstock I'm sure he would've won a few, maybe even cleaned up. Damn I wish I could ride like that!

[Rashika]

Thanks dazza and SDU.
Yeah I saw a few the cameras pointing my way a couple of times- hopefully there will be some good pics

ok, got a couple but not a lot I'm afraid... wasn't out there for a long time
A couple of TonyB, the guzzi that Dangerous raved about, and the RR Buell

[Rashika]

and a couple of the other guys
TonyMac (67) doing bloody well on the Gilera and his son Madkeenandy... Now TonyMac, you know not to look back!! You did get a great start in that race

And a couple of very tidy Ducati 250s

[Deviant Esq]

Nice pics Rashika, thanks for adding those in You're up early!

Good write up Tony, sounds like good fun. I really need to get down to Ruapuna when there's bike racing on... trouble is, I never seem to know when it's coming up. Is there a website that keeps track of upcoming bike events at Ruapuna? I'll have to go once I'm back in Kiwiland, support the KBers racing! I'll do a few laps around there myself one day.

[Dazza]

Hey that MGSO1 was going to be mine, wicked photo/bike, bugger, one of my only regrets in life, you know the old could of, should of.

[Rashika]

Hey that MGSO1 was going to be mine, wicked photo/bike, bugger, one of my only regrets in life, you know the old could of, should of.

OMG... well you would have had Dangerous bowing down to you if it was... haven't seen so much drool in a fair while now

[Dazza]

OMG... well you would have had Dangerous bowing down to you if it was... havn't seen so much drool in a fair while now

Yeah it was a bit of a bugger as I was going to trade my Mille on it, had secured 1 of 2 coming to NZ but had no road gear on it so flagged it, it certainly would've been an appreciating classic. Hindsight is a wounderful thing yet soo cruel ! It has to be the only bike in years that has had me lusting , oops sounding dodgy now,i'll shutup while I'm ahead.