First up: the thanks bit...
Massive thanks to Jason (VTec) for entrusting me with one of his spare CBR6 front wheels for the meeting. Legend!
Thanks to Shaun Harris for the loan of your rear stand after I forgot my own one! (getting the bike back together was a bit rushed due to the delay in shipping of parts).
Also thanks heaps to Robert Taylor for spending a couple of his valuable minutes to come over to my pit garage and offer some advice on suspension set up. Bike felt awesome after lowering the front.
Thanks to Mum and Dad for coming down to support and help in the pits and feed me
And a big cheers to Nick, Steevie, Glenn and co. for being good pit mates.
What a sweet weekend!
After last month's total meltdown that saw my bike go down the track at about 180 and hit the pit wall, and a decent chunk of my annual bonus head over to the US for new forks and a couple of front wheels, my goal for this meeting was pretty obvious!!
Had wanted to do the test day to set up the new forks, but everything was rushed enough leaving Auckland on Friday morning, so that wasn't going to happen.
Highlights of the weekend:
Being lapped by the fast fellas and scamming a few tips off of them...most notably Sam Smith in to the final turn...even more impressive than usual speed through there.
Setting new PB's late in the weekend.
Having some close dices.
Not working
Had a fun but not successful (lap time wise) Saturday, and then a sweet Sunday
Saturday:
Rushed as always in the morning doing a few little tidy ups on the bike, missed scrub in. Oh well...
F2 practice: First time on the bike felt a bit dodge. Was feeling nice in the corners, but bottoming out under fairly conservative braking. Qualified 18th with a pretty crap time, but not too unhappy all things considered.
F1 practice: Added some pre-load to the forks. Braking a little better but still bottoming. Qualified 31st with a 1:19.7 or something like that. Wasn't too worried at this stage.
F2 Race: Added some more pre-load to the forks. Braking was better again, but still bottoming, and seemed slightly harder to hold a line but that may have just been me. Another ridiculously good start. From 18th to about 9th by the first corner. Lost a few place over the next few laps. Jono (KZ), got past and I kept him in sight for a few laps before he picked up the pace and cleared off proper like. A black K5 followed him past me but didn't quite get away. After about 5 laps of following him about 200m behind I started to reel him in pretty quickly. By the time I got to the poor bastard he'd caved in so much that I almost went up his arse at a decent rate before I stood it up and pulled the brakes on hard. Left him behind and went on to finish 13th with a 1:18.2, which was my average kinda lap last time here and good enough for now.
F1 Race: Very average. I could've sworn the red flag chick at the start was still on the track when the green flag dropped, and I don't think I even had my hand on the throttle when the green flag dropped...so obviously a rubbish start. Was all over the show in this one, and couldn't even hold it together to enough to cut Eddie off a few times. Rolled along, didn't crash. Gutted with 1:18.2 as my best but it was fairly consistent and given I was knackered I guess it was ok to stay at the same level.
Finished the day happy not to have binned but disappointed with lack of progress on times.
Sunday:
Rolled up to the track pretty relaxed, not really feeling in to it, and a bit gutted that fhe forecast rain didn't seem to be coming (I love my wet tyres!)
F2 Race 1: Felt rubbish. Finished 17th with a best time of 1:18.7.
F1 Race 1. Softened front rebound by 3/4 turn, and the bike seemed to brake a little better and turn in nicely, although this wasn't reflected in lap times due to a mega fun battle with Eddie on his beast. Both of us riding absolutely arse, but a good dose of close stuff in the corners, and I was being a lot more brave than usual on the passing attempts. Got past a couple of times only to be monstered on straights. Best time a nasty 1:18.9. Ripped!
Went and asked Dr. Rob how to raise the rear ride height on my shock. He informed me that it was already maxed, and recommended lowering the forks 5mm and adding a touch of oil. Didn't have any oil but went about lowering the bike...took a while to trust the front but the improvement was awesome!! Heaps better turn in, able to hold a line better on the gas, and surprisingly to me: much more stable braking.
I was absolutely farq'd by this stage after a whole lot of riding and no sleep 'cos of the wedding reception at the hotel we were at. Finished 21st according to the times sheets on mylaps, just ahead of Craig Sherriffs and Sam Smith...ummm, yeah, well done Tim Gibbes.
F2 Race 1: Actually didn't feel that confident and was pretty messy, but slowly got used to the new handling and busted a 1:17.8 later in the race. New PB, and finally broke that little barrier. Finished 13th.
F1 Race 2: Was feeling pretty good and was braking a fair bit later than earlier in the day. Was now so confident on the brakes that I was often having to let off well before the corner to keep some momentum up...which in my mind means there's a heap of time to be saved in that area next time I'm at this track. Sweet!! Was having heaps of fun in this race. Couldn't pull in the CBR in front of me, but 2 of my last 3 laps were in the 17's, with my last lap being a new PB of 1:17.4, despite being absolutely shagged, having tyres which had seen better days and dropping my nuts out of the sweeper 'cos of the cement dust down the whole straight. Most stoked about the feeling of confidence of being easily in 16's next time, which would mean that I can tag along behind the next bunch in the F2 field and work on catching them.
Got back to Auckland at 2.30am, got to bed at 4am and am now writing this race report at work. Bloody perfect 3 days if you ask me!!!
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Originally Posted by Drew
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