4.40am Saturday morning and I can't get back to sleep. The alarm was set for 5.20am, but the thought of bacon and eggs lured me out of my warm bed.
Luke and Simon arrived about ten to six, so I threw a coffee at each of them and we hit the road. Collected Mikey and Sean along the way.
It was pleasing to see the sky looked pretty clear and it was going to be a mint day for racing.
Got to the track and Drew and Vicki were already set up in the pit garage and tinkering with the italian stallions.
We unpacked and put the tyre warmers on etc - all set to go!
Qualifying.
Went well enough - I felt I had got a few good laps in and no one came past me. There were two spots on the track I didn't feel comfortable. The ripples exiting the sweeper - we were told to avoid these during rider's briefing so I did - but getting a good line either inside or outside of the ripples was not so easy and took me the better part of the day to get it sussed.
There was also a dip in the right hander into splash which kept upsetting the bike - not very confidence inspiring just as before dab the brake and flick it over into the left. Kerry Dukey was kind enough to tweak the rear shock a tad which seemed to help, but the biggest factor I found was me hanging off more, which seemed to settle things down a bit.
Checked the placings and I was 5th on the grid (4th in pro twins). I was pretty happy with this, but no so when I saw that Jarrod and Geoff were both nearly 2 seconds quicker.
Race 1
Sam Love unfortunately crashed out during Supersport, so did not compete the rest of the day, effectively bumping me up one place on the grid.
I got a good start and tucked into turn 1 behind Jarrod. By the time we hit the back straight however, he was already making a gap and I just couldn't keep up.
Paul Buckley was gaining on me fast when the red flags came out.
I got away again well at the restart but Paul came around me going into splash. Things pretty much stayed this way until the end giving me 5th overall and 3rd in pro twins. Best time was a 1.19.094 - I still had a long way to go to compete with Jarrod who was in the 1.17s.
Race 2
Another good start, in fact nearly a replay of race 1. I tucked in behind Jarrod and again he just kept pulling away - I was unable to keep up. After a lap or two Bryce Meads came alongside and passed me into coke. I chased him down and we had a few good tussles, then Paul Buckley joined the fray.
I could tell we were going quicker than I had all day trying to keep with them, and then Paul outbraked himself, leaving Bryce and I to fight it out. I was often getting better drive out of corners only to have him pull away down the straights. He then ran off at the hairpin into the grass and I made a bit of a gap. I went off the boil a bit, and felt more pressure being by myself - I made a couple of mistakes and sure enough, Bryce caught me again.
I don't think I have ever braked so hard going into coke and the bike was letting me know it too. I was thinking THIS is real racing. It made race 1 seem a little sedate. I managed to stick with Bryce until we came up on Nicksta in the sweeper - he got a good pass and I got a little held up. Not to worry though as he was entered in F3 and doesn't affect my points.
Finished 5th again overall and 3rd in pro twins. Best time 1.18.2 - better but still some progress to be made.
Of some comfort is that I learned that Geoff and Jarrod are both running power commanders and I'm not.......yet. I now have one lined up and a mechanic mate who will hopefully pull some 'tricks' out of his bag. All legal of course.
I'm hoping that it's more of a power issue, otherwise I guess I just have to harden up.
Thanks to VMCC for a great days racing, my sponsors for their support and Mikey, who is the best pit helper you could ask for.
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made for some great racing.
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