Well after last rounds dramas and having the bike seize and destroy the plating on one cylinder I was hoping to have a much better weekend this time round.
I went up for the friday test day to run the new motor in. It was all going well and the bike seemed to be running nicely and doing all the things it should have been. Steve and I decided that after two sessions we could swap the jets out ( rich jets in for running in) and put some leaner ones in. Although still rich the bike decided that it wasn't having anything to do with this and again seized! I swear Iwas going to rip my hair out.
Never mind, the 250 got put aside whilst we worked on the issues with the 125s. Needless to say the friday test day wasn't exactly what I would class as a success, but a lot was learned.
After the evening tutorial, Steve and I headed back to his house with the 250 to begin pulling it down. It took a bit of elbow grease but we were lucky that the cylinder, although damaged, was still in servicable condition. Great. Got the bike back together and hit the hay at around 12 for the next morning.
Saturday
I slept in a little more than I should have but the boys had set up the pits which was good and steve had put fluids in the 250.
After riders breifing we fired up the 250 and did a heat cycle. We decided that if the bike was running well that we wouldn't alter the jetting and just be happy with how it was running.
Superbike qualifying
I made the decision early to start putting the wets on. The track was damp and although there was a little clear sky, I could feel it in my knees that it was going to rain. I headed out onto the track, praying that the mighty 250 would do me good and run all day. As suspected the track was very wet with quite a bit of puddling so wets were the obvious right choice. I was however incredibly suprised as to how much grip was out there on the track. I've had my knee down in the wet once before in my riding carrer, and I think i managed it on the second lap! Everything was feeling good, the bike felt strong and I was feeling comfortable in the wet.
Just for those that don't know, It's been exactly one year since I crashed my 125 into the pit wall at manfeild and broke myself and the poor little bike. Since then I havn't had one race in the wet, and the dreaded white paint marks (which were a major contributer to my crash) had again been freshly painted making them like ice in the wet.
It took a while to really put it aside in my head and forget about it, but for most the day it was always sitting in the back of my head.
I qualifyed 13th in superbikes. Not as high as I would have liked but so be it!
Supersport Qualifying.
I was feeling much more comfortable this session out and was really getting into the grove of things. I had found my strong points and my weak points.
Qualifyed 6th in Supersport. Was pretty happy with that!
Superbike race one
I seem to have the knack to get the 250 off the line because the amount of places I made up was astounding!. I think I was in 4th place coming out of turn 1. I got swamped a little going through splash and lost a few places though. I picked off a couple of bikes but then found one that I recognised. It was the famous White Trash. I put my head down and managed to get the pass on him, but then found myself out there on my own. I'm thinking either I slowed a little or Trash man speed up because after about 4 laps he came past me again. As soon as he went past my mind went into "I'm not having this" mode, and the race was on.
We swapped positions at least once a lap I believe, with some real close racing. I hope it was as entertaining to watch as it was for me to ride!
On the final lap i think i put a pass in coming into splash which was a bit dicey as i was not feeling very postive about the amount of grip at that corner. But it stuck. I managed to hold that lead untill the end of the race and took out 6th or 7th place. My best lap was a 1:18.269 with Jay lawrence just ahead of me with a 1:18.268. Loved that race, that is exactly what racing is all about!
Super sport race 1
This one was a bit boring, ended up on my own and then I believe I ran out of fuel as the bike lost power down the straigh and died, although upon inspection in the pits, there seemed to be fuel still in there. Mike put some more in and started the bike and it fired up perfectly. Weird. Never mind nothing could be done about it.
Superbike race 2
Again a great start, but I lost touch with white trash this time, again ended up on my own but with him in sight. Sam Smith fell and the race was red flagged. After the restart it was the same as the first part of the race, I was keeping with Jimmy but couldn't make any ground. I pushed fairly hard but not wanting to crash uneccessarily didn't take it to far. I was cool to see that myself and Jimmy were catching the front group though! I finished in 5th postion with a personal best of 1:16.6 in a totally wet and cold track. To say I was stoaked was be a understatment.
Supersport race 2
Very similar to race one, ended up on my own. did the laps learn a bit and had fun. Finished 6th if a recall correctly.
All in all it was a successful day for me in my view. I learned a lot about racing in the wet and also got over my mind block with the pit wall incident, which for me was the most important thing. the bike ran well (when i had gas!) And we got some pretty decent results.
Can't wait for next round
Thanks to:
MotoAcademyNZ
Steve Bagshaw - for his bloody hard work
The boys Kyle, Luke and sam
Mike for his mentoring
Vic Club for yet another good meeting
MARSHALS! Thank you all for spending your day in the miserable conditions!
My dad for coming along to support me,
And Jimmy Mair for one of the best battles yet!
Cheers all,
-Glen
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Originally Posted by White trash
Fucken gold I tell ya!
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