Well, after my efforts at Manfeild a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t think it could get any better – I was wrong! In fact, I’m not quite sure what to write in my report as I’m still buzzing!
I went to the practice day on the Friday and put out some pretty consistent 1.09s on a dry, fast track. Bike was running well and although the tyres were looking a little well loved, they were still gripping really well. At this point in the weekend I was coming over the hill in 4th gear and hitting the rev limiter in 5th down the front straight. I knew I had to change a few things to get more speed through here and went through a few options of changing sprockets etc. No sprockets were available in a hurry so I decided to try and ride around the problem and tried a few different gear changes.
Robert Taylor spent a little bit of time working my suspension for me just before the last practice session and I then had Torque, Cowpoos and a couple of others winding me up about changing suspension before racing and telling me to take it easy at first. So, with new suspension settings and some new gear changes to try, I went out for the last practice session of the day. After a couple of laps taking it easy I decided the only way to test both of these things was to wind it up a bit. I cranked out a few fast laps and pulled a high 1.07! Nice way to finish practice!
Day one of racing and we do two qualifying/practice sessions. The first session I ran my old slicks and qualified 6th fastest. Second qualifying I had new slicks on and managed to hold onto 6th putting me on the second row of the grid sitting next to Jason Easton and behind Andy Bolwell and Terry Fitzgerald. I was now getting into fifth gear on the first corner out of the hairpin and into 6th early on the front straight, the suspension was perfect and the new tyres felt fantastic.
First race and I had a great start – pulling alongside Terry and Andy. I managed to hold onto the front guys for the first lap and a half before they started pulling further away – there is a slight horsepower difference between their bikes and mine! Wiggles had got me at the start but I out braked him into the hairpin and managed to open up a bit of a lead finally finishing in 6th place. Best time was a 1.07.01.
Great way to finish day one!
Day two and we had a short scrub in session and then our first race. I had a blinding start and slotted into 4th place briefly, then back to fifth, into fourth after Jason Nairn fell off and then Bill Van der Hoyven took me and I slotted back into 5th. I held onto Bill for the entire race and would catch him into the hairpin but we were so evenly matched that I could never get close enough to take him. Fastest lap 1.06.64 – a PB for me at Pukekohe (by, ummm, about 3 seconds….) – but the most rewarding was that of the 10 laps in this race, 6 of them were in the 1.06s!!! Wow!
After our first race the side cars went out and the accident occurred meaning a long delay in proceedings. My sympathies to the family concerned.
Last race of the day was a bit shortened and late in the day. I was optimistic of a good finish in this race being the TT and all but I had underestimated how tired I was. I had an average start and I struggled physically with this race. I could not hold Bill at all, dropping into 7th place. Consistent low 1.07s in this race but I felt slow and messy so was disappointed with my efforts. Still, food for thought over how to maintain my physical well being throughout a really long day so I have the strength left to race at the pace I was managing in the previous race.
Having said that it was an awesome weekend and I can’t wait to get out there again. Thanks heaps to everyone who helped me out this weekend especially Nicksta, Jen, Brendan, Kevin, Cowpoos, White Trash, Tide, Gordon and my behind the scenes helper-outerers: Haldanes Motorcycles and www.Kiwitrackdays.co.nz.
Also thanks to all the Formula 3 competitors and their crews who went out of their way to help me whenever they could and were friendly and welcoming at every step of the way. With a bit of luck I might manage the whole national series next year. As it was I finished 12th overall in the National Series after competing in two rounds. Congratulations to Torque who moves into the top 10 in F3 for the year.
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For the record Qkkid was in my bed, not the other way round
Originally Posted by Yow Ling
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