VMMC Round 1 Taupo Track 2 20 May 2007.
5.30am and I struggle out of bed, clean my self up, eat, hitch the trailer and Im on the road by 6.20am. Once at the track I was very impressed with the level of organisation by the Vic club. Riders briefing was nice and early and then straight into practice and practice/qualifying. Conscience of the low track temperatures and unswpet track I ran well within myself but somehow managed to qualify with the fastest lap with a 1.25. a great confidence booster! 2nd fastest was the CBR of Alex (Momentum) 1.5s back. I could hardly see a thing out of the foggy dark visor so changed to a clear visor for race 1 and dropped psi in the front tire to promote fast warm up.
Starting in pole was a great feeling but also nerve wracking as I didnt want to do anything dumb arse to loose the spot. The plan to get off the line was to ring it out and slip the clutch as the 250 engine doesnt really have the power to spin the wheel off the line, it will bog down so slipping the clutch is a must to get away quickly. I revved it up till it was screaming and slipped the clutch, but still boged a little (will have to launch it off the limiter next time) however I got away better than anyone else and kept in the lead up to the turn 1. I went in deep, trailing the brake till the apex holding the inside line making any contenders come around me if they wanted to get by. I got round the turn nice and decided to put my head down and gun it, trying to ride my own race and not think of anyone behind me. I was struggling with turn 5 as I wasnt getting my body positioned on the bike early enough and not sighting the exit early, so I was getting lost in the turn, not cranking it over enough or not carrying enough speed through it. Also turn 11, the left hander onto the main straight, I wasnt game enough to lay the bike over through the bumps and subsequently was running wide on that turn and loosing lots of time. The silly thing is I normally run through the bumps and carry lots of speed but I was shy of them this time around. Anyway, I was racing at the front until lap three when I ran wide on turn 9, really wide! I ran off the ripples and onto the dirt but keeping it pinned with both ends sliding and the bars slapping and taking a cone out in the process I re entered the track to be right on Momentums tail who had gone past me to take the lead. Lap 4 and in 2nd place the gearbox popped out of gear (or did I kick it out?) twice into neutral driving out of corners and lost mega time as the gap widened. Riding way out of comfort zone and pushing the bike more than I have ever before I got closer to him in lap 5 but again the gearbox popped out of gear. Making time up under braking into turn 13 I got right up behind alex and coming up to turn 1 I knew I could get under him as he had a wide approach and braked relatively early. I dived under him under brakes and lay it over to the peg and got by, by turn 4 I was carrying alot of speed and finally I got turn 5 right, knee planted and both tires working hard for max traction. I thought that I would hold alex off as long as I didnt do anything silly but I ran it wide again on turn 11 but was still in front. Trailed the brake into turn 12, had turn 13 & 14 lined up nice and thought the win was mine but tipping into turn 14 I saw a wheel on my inside and was caught by surprise, I stood the bike up and tipped in again to give me some room and that was enough for alex to get by me on the final turn!, I gassed it as hard I could but didnt gain an inch up the finish straight and alex got me by a bike length or 0.088s. The racing was close and I was way outside of my comfort zone but it was a huge buzz. I was shaking for a long time afterwards. I was so focused on the racing that I wasnt at all distracted by my visor totally fogging up even though vision was very limited at times. ultimately I think the decision to call of the days racing was the best one as I wasnt too keen to go out onto the track again after seeing everyone crash there brains out and seeing Frosty in a bad way. Get better soon dude. I had thought of a way to knock at least 1s of my lap times but unfortunatley I wont be able to put to use at Taupo for some time. Manfield next and im not really looking forward to sliding around over the bumps but I do enjoy the fast turns. See you at the track.
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Originally Posted by Dean
, I too kinda have a curvy figure which makes it worse beacuse im a guy. Well the waist kinda goes in and the bum pushes out. When I was in college the girls in my year would slap me on the arse and squeeze because apparently it is firm, tight...
I wear jeans
haha. it was good racing with ya, see ya next time dude
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