Popped my marshaling cherry!
Woke up at 5am (there's a 5 in the morning as well?) had a quick shower, and chucked on the leathers. Warmed up the bike, and headed out to the pre-determined meeting point of Mobil K Road. Pitch black, cold as shit, numb hands. Woohoo, Summer is well and truly gone.
Met Big Dog and his partner at K Road, and proceeded on down to Autobahn for coffee and breakfast. Had a good brekky, and found it was quite fun teasing Big Dog's missus about the runny chicken periods and pig carcass that was sitting on my plate. Mock-disgust ensued.
Stocked up with a couple of V's and a cookie, jumped back on the bike, and down to Pukekohe. First time i've ever been to Pukie, I used to watch the V8's on Telly as a youngin, but only half heartedly. 8.15am, park up, meet a few of the other Marshals, try to get changed into the lovely Orange overalls, only to find that they don't make any *ahem* mens sizes. Tried fitting my fat belly into a 10, but it just wasn't going to happen. They gave me a Vest instead.
Milling around outside the office, someone suggests we go and help with the bales. Sure I pipe up, how hard can that be? Little did I expect that they all had to be joined together in at least 3 different places. And there were so many of the damned things. Started on Ford corner, slowly getting the hang of it. Sweating like a bastard, when I look up, and discover that i've only tied about 10 of the bloody things together. So much for the glamorous world of motorsport.
Kept hacking away at the bales, finally get them all done, and walk back through the pit lanes, and have a bit of a nosey at everyone setting up. Bloody hell, there's a lot of money involved there. generators, and compressors going, tyre warmers as far as the eye could see. Big bikes, little bikes, baby bikes. Just so much going on in one area, Awesome site to behold.
Back at the office for Marshal briefing, listen to the safety talk (DON"T REMOVE THE HELMETS OF FALLEN RIDERS!) Get assigned to Jennian Corner. Ask around, and by the sounds of it, it's not a glamorous corner, and it's usually pretty quiet. Fair enough, was kinda hoping for something more exciting (the Hairpin!), but was happy to have a quiet day on my first run.
Boy was I wrong.
Walked over the the corner, and met the other Marshals there, good bunch. Moved under the Jennian sign, and found myself a good possie on the back of the Armco where I could see the bikes coming off the grid, around the first two corners, and into the S bend just before Castrol corner. Choice. First few races go by uneventfully. Was awesome watching these amazing bikes go by, Superbikes, to 2-Stroke 125 screamers. Something for everyone.
Race 4ish. GP125. First stack happens. Rider comes through the grid, gets into a tank slapper, bike drops onto the tarmac, flicks the rider up, and off over the bars. Rider comes crashing down on his head. Unconscious. Rider flips and rolls a few times, coming to rest a good 70 meters from where the Tank Slapper happened. Bike flips, end-on-end, flys over the rider, and comes to a rest just past him. Holy shit. Little stunned, See the other Marshall gapping it over the fence, and toward him. I follow in quick succession. (Man, us Fatty's can move with the right motivation!)
Get to the rider, kneel down, and see he's looking pretty dazed. Ask him if he's OK. Complains of a sore shoulder. Looks beyond dazed and confused. Big Dog arrives, as the point chief, and tells us the Ambo is on the way. I kneel beside the rider, and hold his Helmet in place so he can't move his neck. Still just lying there, conscious, but not moving. Very unsettling. Ambo arrives, Ute arrives, another vehicle arrives. Ambo's take over, talk to him, and take off his helmet. Holy shit, the guy looks to be in his 60's. Load him up on a stretcher, and took him off site. I hope he's OK. (Pass on my wishes if anyone knows who this is). Bike gets loaded up onto the Ute, and taken away. I walk down the line with another Marshal, looking for debris, and oil residue on the track. Pick up a lot of rubber, and bits of fiberglass. Sweep away a large puddle just after the starting grid, and head back to my post.
Racing resumes. Crash on the Hairpin, A rider runs out of fuel at Castrol corner (on his checkered flag lap!). Enjoy some amazing racing. A yellow R1 was one of the most amazing riders i've ever seen. A battle between a Blue Motard and a Black Ducati Monster. One of the Superbikes hits the bales on Ford corner (Glad I put the effort into connecting the Bales then). Rider gets checked out, walks away, and borrows his mates bike for the restart. Awesome. He's gonna be sore tomorrow though, apparently he was going quite quickly.
Lunch. Ute drives around, flicks us a bag of food. Open it up, Holy hell. Hot pie, Filled Roll, Fruit and a piece of Cake for everyone. Tuck in, only manage to finish the Pie before the racing starts back up again. Back to the post with food in hand.
GP125. A rider comes struggles with Jennian corner, straightens up the bike, and goes straight into the grass. Keeps it up most of the way, just losing it as he hits the sand. Hoof it over, by the time I get there, he's up and walking about. Seemed pretty coherent. I held the bike upright as he shook it off. Ute over, lifted the bike onto it, he's off, and back to my post. Was following a rider of #21 for quite a few races, the Rider seemed really small, heard over the PA later that she was a 15 year old schoolgirl. Holy hell. This girl has more talent in her little finger than I do in my entire body. Good on her! Definitely one to watch over the next coming seasons.
A few more rounds, a few more spills. 4.30pm, final two races called off due to impending weather. Ironically as soon as it's called off, the sky turns into the most blue and sunny it's been all day. Ah well. Start untying the bales, walk back to the office, take off my lovely vest. Those bales take so much damned effort to set up and put away. Mucho respecto.
Say goodbye to everyone, and thank you for the experience, and decide on a slow lap before I leave as I still haven't seen the rest of the circuit. Hit a top speed of 70 as i'm still a little nervous after watching all the crashes. Complete a lap in probably about 2 minutes. My new personal best! Something to work on for next time.
Left the track and headed home, only to join the dreaded Long-holiday traffic heading into Auckland. Get home. Collapse. Write this. Drink 1 beer. Off to bed.
Had an amazing time, learnt heaps about lines and braking points, had some awesome conversations with fellow Marshals about all sorts of things. Saw some awesome racing, some spectacular crashes, and I think I made a bit of a difference, even if it was only in one man's day.
Pity that that was the last round of the AMCC, and that it starts again in August. Never mind, i'll be back.
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i decided to try racen and what a good day a littel slippery at times but so glad i didnt have to do the bales hope you had a good one i did
tough job, soo glad you and others do it 
Originally Posted by johnsv650
were you at the hairpin? I cant remember the name of any except jennian and castrol.
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