Better late than never-- VMCC report RD1

[Teambwr47]

Part 1......

Okay first off, apologies to all my sponsors and supporters for the delay in writing and web posting this race report. The reasons for the delay will become very clear once you start to read the report. Shamefully I’m posting this after the 2nd round of the VMCC has happened but hey ho that’s the way it will have to be….. might bore some to tears but I’ve made up for the lateness by writing a lengthy ‘war and peace’ report…….

The last report was for the 4th round of the AMCC series which was my first race meeting in New Zealand and despite our bike being virtually a roll out of the shop road bike, it went pretty well. I had planned to get the bike better kitted prior to the final AMCC round but it was not to be and we had to miss the meeting which was very annoying to me. I would have raced the bike fairly standard again just for the track time but in the end having no bodywork scuppered the plans to race as the stuff we had borrowed from Dave Cole got sold prior to the meeting.

So, with no racing there was plenty of time to get into the bike in terms of getting it better prepared for racing. While I could track prep a bike and have done for a few people the full spec preparation on this bike was turned over to Dave Cole who I knew could build a good motor and complete bike package. Suspension in the form of Ohlins was on order in the shape of a TTX36 shock and the very best 25mm fork cartridge that we could get, all to be fitted and fettled by Robert Taylor. Add to the package a Graves system and other parts plus some race bodywork and we’d be ready to go in plenty of time…….or so I thought.

So with a few weeks to go until the start of the VMCC winter series I was sure I’d get to Taupo for some testing and hopefully get to round 1 ready to compete at the front with a full spec bike. As the weeks went by however parts and kit just failed to arrive in the timescales I assumed. When we got to one week prior to the Taupo meeting and still no suspension I thought the chances of racing were again slipping away. Thankfully the long, long wait for my race bodywork ended with the arrival of a big box from Racers edge in OZ and thanks to Perry in True Tone Auto Sprayers, Papakura it looked awesome in Yamaha blue/black.
A call to the ever helpful Mr Taylor revealed that the suspension had been shipped and was due to arrive on the Monday of race week so my forks were sent of to him for stripping to await the new kit. All this time my bike was at Dave Coles workshop and on a visit to his place I was treated to a look at my motor completely stripped to parts and laid out on the workbench. Rather a shock was the fact that my clutch was knackered after just one meeting and that a valve bucket had some damage to it. All this was on a virtually new motor but almost certainly the clutch was down to that fact I had had to run it on the original oil at the first race meeting. The valve bucket was put down to a manufacture fault and replaced by Yamaha. Anyway back to the engine build… the time put into the motor and the level of care taken in the build by Dave is impressive and I’m sure once set up will give us one of the best motors out there.

Jumping around time wise here but anyway… I was not that keen to race at Taupo without ever having seen the track before. I knew the track time available on the race day would be minimal and trying to learn a track in a short timed qualifying session is never a good idea. This in mind I had planned to test our bike there the week prior to the meeting on a track day but these plans were scuppered by the bike not being ready. Thankfully my mate Russ Rutan offered his R1 to me and I accepted gratefully meaning myself and John Hanna (CBR600rr) got to ride at the MotoTT trackday the Saturday prior to the VMCC event. The track day was useful in at least getting to know which way the track went but I rode very carefully as it was not my bike and the rear slick was in fairly dire condition. The day was great weather wise and the MotoTT crew certainly seem to put on a good trackday.

So the week prior to the race……… finally the suspension arrived and things seemed to be on the up… could we be ready I wondered? Now Dave Cole’s wife had warned me that things can get a bit ‘last minute’ sometimes but as the week went on I started to realise exactly what she meant. A call to Dave on the Monday let me know that my crank was due back soon while Friday the call was a little more dire in that a set of shims we needed were on order and due to arrive on Saturday morning. Just to put this in context I wanted to set off for Taupo at 4pm that very same day. That afternoon I kind of assumed the weekend was off and took my kids to the swimming pool for their club lessons.

Feeling bit pissed off as I watched the kids swimming my mobile rang….. it was about 1650……… now for the past few weeks I had been talking to Ricoh New Zealand about a job that they were looking to create and I was waiting for a formal interview to be set up. The guy who rang me sounded quite flat in the brief conversation and due to the noise I said I’d call him back when the session was over. As I was already moody from thinking the racing was off I assumed the worse and that the job was not happening……. err wrong.

‘The jobs yours mate if you want it…but sorry to drop this on you, we need you here Monday to talk terms and then Tuesday if you take the job you off travelling’

Slightly shocked by the lack of notice but very pleased I said fine I’d try and sort out being there on the Monday. Now the dilemma which I was faced with……. Race or not race?
My sensible head said forget racing, this is a once in a long time job chance while there will always be other races,……the racer in me still wanted to be a on a bike that weekend.
A call to Dave seemed to suggest we would not have a completed motor so I said if the parts arrive and you can build it we’ll go but don’t panic.

I posted a thread here for views on the dilemma just for fun and it was 50/50 split on race or not. With a kind of ‘what will be will be’ attitude I turned up at Dave Cole’s place early Saturday afternoon to find him still building the motor and bike which we finished at near 4pm. So we were ready, well kind of…….

The engine which cost a pretty penny or two was freshly built and now needed a run in period and I was off to a race meeting to race it….. eeekk
So we arrived at Taupo basically with a completely untried package and a kind of ‘see how we go plan.’ Sign on out of the way I was amazed to find that there was no scrutineering just a pit lane riders briefing after which I approached the organisers and explained our situation. Very kindly they agreed to let me out in the Supermotard session to do some running in and I circulated well behind their session just putting miles on the engine.

Back to the garage and all seemed well with the bike and I was pretty much straight out into Superbike timed qualifying. Still cautious of pushing the new engine to hard I set myself a rev limit for each lap and gradually increased the pace as the short session went on. I was not that bothered about where on the grid we placed as my main aim for racing here is always going to be the 600’s,……me and Superbikes are finished, they have hurt to much over the years. The Superbike entry is just a way of getting more track time and after the three hour drive I was glad we entered the extra class as the races were scheduled to be just 4 laps per class!!! On track it was like I’d never ridden the circuit before, yes I’d done the track day the weekend before but on someone else’s bike the pace was way to slow and the 600 was so different. The new suspension felt good but the rear was moving around way too much under power but I put that down to the cool track and my rather tired rear Dunlop 209. As we’d not been sure I was going to make the meeting I thought we’d use the tyres that had done Pukekohe AMCC plus practice day and then a full Kiwi Trackday event where I did some tuition and seemed to spend all day on track.
Back to the garage after the session and I was fairly happy to have set a 1.38.3 securing 9th on the grid for Superbike. I knew there was more time to come as I learned the circuit and bike during the day and I set a goal in my mind that I wanted to get into the 1.35’s.

One of the substantial benefits in my mind of buying my Ohlins suspension from Robert Taylor of Crown Kiwi Technical is that support comes with it and after the superbike session Robert was on hand to tweak our set up. With some adjustments mainly to the rear Robert commented on the state of the rear tyre but that’s what we had to work with for the day.

[Teambwr47]

Part 2.........

Out into the Supersport session and I was keen to unleash every last BHP that the new motor had in search of a good grid place. The entry for Supersport was a large one at over 50 and the track was rather busy as a result with many knowing they were riding with the chance of not even making the grid. I got stuck in traffic initially but made my way through and found a fairly large gap ahead that meant I could push on my own for a time. When I came across traffic I was pleased that my overtaking head that seemed lacking at Pukekohe had returned and I was happy to dive into gaps when they existed. Back at the pit garage and everyone seemed quite pleased that I’d set a 1.36.8 which turned out to be 3rd on the grid and obviously a front row start. I was starting to wish I’d rung Dunlop for a fresh set of the marvellous D209’s as I was struggling with getting on the power out of taupo’s tight turns and also the turn onto the back straight which I just could not seem to get right.

So to the racing…….

Superbike race 1
Lined up on the inside of row 3 I got a shocking start!! I’m still getting back into the 600cc start line frame of mind, which is masses of revs and fry that clutch for the initial take off. In my last 600 season in the UK I was a demon off the start line and from pole or front row took the holeshot many many times and if not I was usually well placed to lead with a lap or so….
The R6 I just don’t seem to be able to launch as well as I’d like and the clutch, while better at Taupo due to kit springs, still seems to either slip completely or bite like a switch and either bog or wheelie depending where in the rev range it is. More practice needed!!!
Into turn 1 I made back some ground on braking after being swamped by other bikes on the blast away from the line and was somewhere just outside the top ten. In the first lap a passed a couple of bikes and tried to settle into a rhythm and learn where I could push the bike harder and what gear to run at certain points. As the race went on I got behind Derek Mcadam and after a bit of a tussle and too many mistakes I got past to finish 6th with a best lap of 1.36.8. While I was happy about 6th I knew I’d not ridden that well and I needed to ride better and more smoothly for the Supersport race.

Supersport race 1

Front row start and I was well and truly up for a fight. Mind firmly in gear I finally got a half decent start and despite a coming together with Sam Smith on the way to turn 1 I was up there in the first few bikes as we tipped into the hairpin. As the first lap unfolded It was obvious the three bikes ahead of me (Cole, Frost and Burkhart) just had that extra bit of pace and they set up a lead fairly quickly with me holding 4th. That lead seemed to stay fairly constant through the race as did mine back to Sam Smith and Ricky Mckay in 5th and 6th and we all kept those places to the end with my best lap at 1.36.4
I was much happier with the way I rode this race and tried a few different things, which seemed to work better and the time had improved. What I had not been so happy about was the throttle set up on the R6. I’m not sure if they’re all the same but the throttle on our bike is like a light switch its either on or off. When I try to roll it from the apex the power comes in way too aggressively causing the bike to kind of snatch forwards. Its something that is very obvious at the tighter turns and will be on the list of things to sort out before we next race the bike. There were plenty of happy faces back at the garage and we thought race 2 might be a chance to get a better result.

Superbike race 2

Fired up by the Supersport result I just seemed to push to much in this race and expose the fact I still have plenty to learn on how to get around Taupo. There are times when you feel like you’re riding hard but actually you go slower and this was one of them. I kind of got out on my own for a while with a gap behind and Mcadam just ahead. With the race distance improved by one lap I thought I was catching Mcadam but actually Tony O’Keefe closed me down. I took a look back at turn 8 and he was right there and past in a flash.
To the flag I was in 8th and not best pleased as we’d taken a step back with a best lap of 1.37.2 The bike was certainly struggling with rear grip but my mind was what caused the drop in pace compared to the Supersport race and much sitting quiet in my garage chair was done prior to the next race thinking about my riding.

Supersport race 2

In an attempt to try and find some more grip from the now poor rear Dunlop I took a bit of rear compression off the bike and rolled to the grid sure we could improve the pace.
I got a decent start and on the first lap I was in 4th and at the back of a group that I think included Sam Smith, Sloan Frost and Johnny Burkhart. I felt very very comfortable and while I lost some ground on the throttle out of the tighter turns I seemed to have more pace in the centre section of the track, the run through turn 7 (a fast left) and also on braking. I was sure I had a chance to be in the fight for the win and started to line up a pass for 3rd. Well I would have if it were not for making a complete hash of turn 6 the tight left hand turn on what I think was lap 3. On the way in I grabbed 1st instead of 2nd and the bike just went completely sideways on the slipper clutch and I missed the apex, in fact I only just missed running into the gravel, managing to get the bike sorted and turned in but losing a fair bit of ground and letting Nick Cole through to 4th. I still thought we had a chance to get back with the leaders and I kept the gap the same for the next lap until we came back to the same point in the track. As I exited turn 6 I got on the throttle early and the rear just span up, not to much of a problem really I barrelled into the next fast left sweeper knee on the ground and body tucked tight to the bike to have the tyre spin up again proper MotoGP slid styleee. While it must have looked very cool it scared the shit out of me and believe it or not the thought went through my mind ‘ that’s enough.’ I took a look back at the next corner and there was nobody there and despite still racing I had the thought ‘you have to be in Auckland to get a job tomorrow, calm it down, you don’t want to crash. The next time I passed the start finish I just started to cruise and keep and eye behind and finished a safe 5th with a best of 1.35.9. The guys ahead got into a rare old battle and went faster in the closing laps with Sam Smith setting a new lap record. I was happy to have run with them for 2-3 laps and know we have the pace to run with what seemed to be most of the riders who will contest the front places in the next National 600 series. Sitting in the garage reflecting on the race I was happy to have raced rather than not and hope that with some more circuit knowledge and fresh tyres that we should have the pace to battle for a win.

Many thanks to all those that helped get the bike and me sorted for Taupo….
Dave Cole for building an awesome race bike from the road bike I last raced.
Preston Roberts at Motosxtreme for lending me the van for the weekend and the ongoing support.
Dunlop for the tyres I decided not to replace….. the D209 that we used at the meeting was well and truly past its best but still performed fantastically. Next time out I’ll be on the freshest of Dunlop’s awesome product for sure.
Robert Taylor for the suspension help
Yamaha NZ, Shoei, Teknic, RK, for your support this year.

So where’s the race report been in all this time since the event………… well I took the job on the Monday, travelled on the Tuesday for a week, then the guy I work with dropped me in at the very deepest of deep ends by going on holiday for 3 weeks. As there’s just the two of us taking care of our section of the business, its been manic since then and with juggling family life and work etc I just never seemed to get the time to complete this report.

Sadly I could not make Manfield this past weekend but I will be there for the next round.

All the best to those I shared the track with at Taupo and hope to see you all out there again soon.

Brian Wood
Sport Production - 28

[Teambwr47]

Ooooppppssssss............. forgot to say the biggest thank you to my wife who despite having worked all week in Hong Kong and only flown back on the Saturday morning, came to the meeting with kids in tow.