So, after much thinking about getting back to racing I finally did over the weekend entering the Auckland MCC meeting at Pukekohe. While I’ve done a fair bit of racing in the UK and done ok there, this was to be my first ever race in New Zealand having moved here with my family in July 2007.
For those that don’t know me I last raced two years ago (April 2006) and that last race finished not exactly in the way I would have wished with a huge crash out of 2nd place in a UK 6 hour endurance race at Brands Hatch . The crash resulted in some serious injuries including a broken neck, arm, shoulder and a number of other things. All now seem healed up to a state they are not an issue when riding other than a reminder of how painful racing can be!
Since being here in NZ we’ve made friends with a few guys who are new to racing this year and I was fortunate enough to be lent one of their bikes, a CBR600RR about a month ago for two sessions at a Pukekohe test day and thankfully felt very comfy being back on a bike. After the my crash the immediate feelings were retire from racing but those feelings disappear over time and with a move to NZ came a rekindling of the need to ride bikes, or rather, race them. We’ve been quite fortunate here to have had a number of people agree to support us and after much discussion a new 2008 Yamaha R6 was delivered to me with the support of Yamaha New Zealand and Motosxtreme Yamaha in late February.
Unfortunately due to being owed some cash in Europe the funds to race the new bike took a while to be available meaning that its only in the last 4 weeks that we’ve got around to getting the bike ready for the track.
The R6 was delivered with just 3kms on the clock and after failing to get a dry test day to run it on the bike was delivered to Dave Cole to be built, eventually to a full spec Sport Production 600. My target at that time was to make the last two AMCC rounds and then run at some winter series races before entering next seasons AMCC in full plus the Nationals. I hoped that most of the parts I knew we needed to source could be bought and fitted in time….wrong!
As ever with racing time flies and before I knew it the weekend of the AMCC was here…. Our bike however was far from ready, still waiting for race suspension, exhaust system, power commander, engine work, bodywork etc etc.
The Ohlins suspension ordered for the bike from Robert Taylor was not due to arrive in NZ until mid april but he was able to supply a damper for the weekend. Thanks go to Dave Cole who while track prepping the bike offered to fashion on some old 2006 fairings that Sam Smith/Midge Smart had used until the 2008 bodywork arrives. So except for a race chain, clip-ons our new R6 would have to run as virtually a standard road bike for my first race here. At least we were full spec so far as tyres were concerned as having secured a Dunlop contract, a set of D209’s with an Ntec rear adorned the shiny new wheels.
Not fancing riding a brand new bike for the first time in morning practice I managed to get on the Friday test day and picked up the bike from Dave on route to the track. On track I tried to restrict myself to increasing rev limits to give the bike a short run in period before exploring the rev range fully during the day. The day was quiet in terms of bikes with maybe about 10 bikes on track.
As my last set of leathers were cut off me in the UK due the seriousness of the my ‘incident’ there, the test day let me break in a set of Tecnic leathers and gloves supplied by Whites Powersports along with a lovely Shoei X-Spirit helmet. The ‘Accelerator’ suit felt great in terms of fit and comfort and the Shoei Helmet as ever is a quality piece of kit. Managed to do four sessions during the day and the bike felt good as the pace increased with me trying different lines and gears at various parts of the track.
Having done two car track days at Pukekohe I did know roughly what the lines were but on the bike it was like starting all over again and boy does the place seem bumpy on the bike compared to the comfort of a tin box!!!!
Overall the test day went well, I spent the sessions just getting used to riding again and learning what the R6 felt like in terms of throttle and suspension feel etc. Didn’t touch the suspension at all during the day as I thought I’d try and get used to the bike and track first and gradually raise the pace seeing how the bike responded. Actually the standard suspension on ‘out of the crate’ settings felt quite good for the pace I was running which was somewhere around 1.06’s. As rain was at that stage forecast for race day I finished early to rush up to Motosxtreme with some borrowed spare wheels (thanks to Dave again) to get some Dunlop wets fitted.
So onto race day.....
Got down to the track at 0730 and set up our awning and tools etc as well as two banners for Motosxtreme. My two semi team mates Russ Rutan (R1) and Richard Prowse (GSXR1000) arrived shortly after and off we went to enter and get scrutineered. After a little issue with the scrut not being able to see the lock wired sump plug, which meant removing the lower fairing, the bike passed and we were off to timed practice. For my first race I’d decided to enter both Formula Auckland and Formula 2 partly for more practice/track time but also because I wanted to race against Russ and Richard.
Formual Auckland practice.
This session I was in a group for a while and felt fairly comfy with the pace which felt very similar to the previous days test. Put in about 5 laps at pace and then thought I’d save pushing harder for the F2 session. My best time in the session was a 1.05.65 which was a bit disappointing but I knew was something I could improve on for the F2 session.
Formula 2 practice.
This was the session I needed to push in and managed to get out on my own initially but with some riders ahead as targets to try and catch. Started to try and attack turn 1 a bit harder and also the run from the hairpin to ford mountain and still feeling fairly comfortable caught up with a few other riders and realised that my pace around from turn 1 to the back straight through the complex was a fair bit faster than those ahead of me which was encouraging. Got back to the pits and discovered my fastest lap was early in the session while catching the riders ahead of me to set a 1.03.89. for 8th .
After this session we sat down in the pits and kind of set a target for the day and I thought getting into the 1.02’s was the goal.
See part 2 for races...........
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I'll make sure i don't have a flat tyre tho this time 
opps!
Originally Posted by CHOPPA
Keep at it, and have FUN, lots of it
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