Rossi Gal's VMCC Round 4 & 5 Reports

[Rossi Gal]

August 18th 2007
VMCC Round 4

Well I decided to not do the test day this time after waking up and it pissing down with rain. Rather save my energy for racing he next day which seem to pay off...

Another lovely morning Only two races today as we were on the long track. I hadn't ridden on here since this time last year so was throughly looking forward to it!
Also a very enthusiastic looking Gav came and said he'd talked to Robert and wanted to put this ohlins Shock in for me during riders brief. Sure thing, why not? lol. In it went, and off to qualifying I went..

Ended up 4th on the grid after qualifying so was happy as.

Race One

Very amped up! flag drops and off we go! Managed to get hole shot so was stoked! only saw a front wheel from a fellow competitor once but was not to be scene again. Won that race by a good distance! Big smiles!

Race Two

Energies felt stronger this race right from the get go. I knew the boys were going to fight harder this race. Flag drops, 2nd to the corner, I think Troy had decided thats where he had to get me. Followed him through splash before making my move back into the lead through the hairpin onto the middle straight.
Very soon after (matter of seconds) I found myself sliding along the track not on my bike, looking at an on coming front wheel of either Troy or Glenn (couldn't quite make it out) but was hoping I was sliding fast enough to get out of the way!
Result of that race = Hospital

(I dont blame Gav in anyway for this even though it was him working on my bike..Chris, you can keep him! hehe)

But even so, I can only say that it was an awesome weekend all the same.

I must say a BIG thank you to my sponsors: Speed-Tech, MotoPaint (River-City Signs), Alf racing and Pirelli.

And to all those that helped on the day: Gav, Dad and Robert for sorting the shock out (Johno for the lend of it). Sue, Glen and the other medics for their expertise while lying in the dirt and ambo. Franz, Shaz and anyone else I missed for cleaning the dirt etc out of my bike and loading it. Franz, Darren and my Dad for keeping me company until the late hours in the hospital. And everyone else for being helpful and supportive.

Bring on Round 5!! Just need to get out of this silly cast.... hehe




September 22nd-23rd 2007
VMCC Round 5

Well, after a bit of running round I managed to get my bike all back together. New top fairing and repairs from JustFairings (Great Place), Repaint and patches at River-City Signs (aka: MotoPaint, best place to get your bike looking the shizzel!) Franz managed to work his magic and weld my front sub frame so it looks as good as a brought one! Robert Taylor for re-springing the shock and new internals for my forks. Speed-Tech for new cables and Bryan Bernard for new discs.

So after all that we arrived Thursday night in Palmy ready for a great test day. Had Robert Taylor come and play with my bike until it felt awesome! Thank you heaps!
Luckily my head space/thinking wasn't effected by my crash, as in some cases it takes a while to get in the grove. My wrist was still giving me grief so only did a few sessions before calling it a day.

Saturday Races

Qualifying

We had a 15min qualifying which I was looking forward to. As it happened I had to pull in after only a few laps with break issues.
Darren was kind enough to bleed them for me. But by that stage it didn't help my grid position (16th and stuck on the outside)

Race One (25min)

Yehaa! I had been looking forward to the longer races. Especially after my grid position, giving me time to play catch up.
Flag drops, lots of bikes, lost some places ended up maybe 19th coming out of turn one. 6-7 laps in race was red flagged! Could not believe this, had worked my way up to 8-9th and now having to start again from 16th!
Second time round 20mins, got straight into it. great race, worked my way up to 2nd crossing the line! Stoked! then 10sec penalty for apparently passing under yellow flag (whole nother story there) so on paper 5th.

Sunday Races

No qualifying, straight into race one.

Race One (10 laps)

Much better start, had a great lil battle with Vicki baby until my bike started squirming. Chilled out a bit came 6th i think.

Umming and arring about what to do, wasn't prepared so didn't have a new tyre on had. Looking back on it I should have just found one! Instead Darren offered to turn it around for me which seemed like a solution at the time with one race to go.

Race Two (15 laps)

Again my start was better, found away to get through some of the pack before turn one. Straight away felt the tyre playing up, now more so through splash and hairpin. Tried to make up places but just couldn't push it. Again decided to play it smart and just finish the race. 7-8th in that one. (sorry I haven't got my result sheets)

All in all another great weekend in the sense that I learnt alot off the track this time. Was happy that I was running 1:19's, only 1sec off my best time of 1:18 with all things considered.

With another Big Thank you to all those who supported me.
My Sponsors: Speed-Tech, RiverCity Signs, Alf Racing, Pirelli. To Robert Taylor for his help. My Dad, the Naki Crew who always seem to turn up for support and to everyone else who just help to make this happen.

Look forward to Taupo! hopefully Bike and Rider will be back to 110%!

[Str8 Jacket]

Hey chick, I was standing out at Higgins when you crashed, we were waiting to pick up dropped bikes and riders... You gave me a bit of shock. Glad you are OK and I was really stoked to see you out there this round!
You were going really well out there, it was awesome to watch you and Vicki battle it out!

[flame]

Great write up Aribabe. So awesome to see you get straight back out there after round 4's mishap. Crashing dam well HURTS!

I had the best time out there when it was just you and me dicing around

Hate to ask but could ya make sure your wrist is still sore for Taupo? kidding of course!

Was great catching up proper this time. Glad you could make it over for drinks on Friday night. Hopefully catch up with you before Taupo or shortly after for some stunting fun and .

[chanceyy]

tis awesome watching how far you have come Aria, ya doing damn good there girl ... sure was fun watching you & vicki dicing it up together .. makes watching that much more enjoyable .. Kudos to you for keeping the headspace in a good place after the penalty hon and for recognising you both were not up to 100% effort .. looking foward to hearing bout taupo's round is not far away

[Leong]

Watched you cross the line when you won the first race at Round 4 - Punching the air - Really good to see, you were riding real well!!

Also watching you and Glenn when you crashed too, and it didn't look good when you tumbled rather than skidded along. Bit worrying when you didn't get up quickly. Glad you're OK and right back into it. No doubt looking forward to the more familiar Taupo track!!

[Grub]

(sorry I haven't got my result sheets)

Great report 'gal. The results can always be found here http://www.vicclub.co.nz/mylaps.php?eventid=253087

[Nicksta]

well done chick..... was great to see you out there on the weekend after your crash last round... hurry up and heal that arm up so you can give those boys someone to chase at taupo next round!!

[HDTboy]

The round 4 report's been a while in the making.
Where does that leave you in the points now?

[et al]

Excellent writeup Aria and I admire your attitude and skills on the track. One big thing we (Troy and myself) have got out of this, our first season is the helpful advice that we have got from people such as yourself and your dad, and the willingness to share things you have learned/done that you think we can benefit from. Thanks.

[Bronza]

Hay girl, well done on racing this weekend. Only got to see a little bit of your race's. From what I saw you were doing really well.

Thanks for bring "my" jacket down again. I've still got it. So if you what it you know where it is.

[Keystone19]

You're a hard chick racing with a broken arm eh! I'd be sitting in the pits using it as an excuse not to go out...hahahhahahahahaha...you rock!

[Deano]

Bloody well done on some good results mate, despite the wrist. Nice committment !!

[Rossi Gal]

Hey thank you all so much! its support like yours that helps me to keep racing and coming back each round! look forward to seeing you all again at Taupo!