Well off for the last round of the year. Bikes all back together and pretty again from the wee incident at wyndham and feeling ok-ish about the day. Had hoped to get out the Friday before the meet but unfortunately the weather looked dicey and the money situation is verging critical so thought id skip it and wait till the weathers a bit flasher.
Practice
Umm well fuck not much to report there. Tried a new foot peg/lever set up and thought it was all sorted. Well it wasn’t. A whole lap of ruapuna in 5th – trying not to stall at the hairpin/pothole. Turns out my turned up footpegs were about .5mm out and were causing the downshifts to jam. Quick change of footpeg sorts the problem but i missed practice. And i hate missing practice.
Race 1
Start near the back cause i got feeling a bit iffy on everything. Reasonable start and get going. Pace im setting is over 5 secs of my best and it is really constant but not fast. Go alright holding my position for the first 3 laps but then i overtake an SV ahead and someone tries a round the outside move on me into the first corner – we brush elbows. No probs there but i’m like whoa. That was cool and my thoughts kinda drift from racing. In the next two laps i proceed to loose about 4 positions and by the end i really just want the race to end. To make matters worse i get taken by the 450 cbr on the line and end up 12th in f3. Was not a happy camper. The whole race felt awkward and i really didn’t enjoy it.
Race 2
Still kinda feeling iffy. But know i should harden up. Start right off the back again. Get a crummy start as the first start procedure was aborted. Bugger. First 3 laps are the same as the first race. Braking too early, too soft, not tipping in well, not leaning enough, no t on the gas hard enough. Come lap 2 daniel on his rgv passes me and i decide i should damn well keep up with him. Eventually i note he is slowly pulling away and i decide to harden up. Start braking a bit better and turning better. Mainly i got my tip in and gas working properly. Even got a nice slide out of the right hander after the hairpin which was nice. Lap 5 i drop into the 52’s finally. Last lap i blow the hairpin and the proceeding right but still manage a 54 which was nice – must have gripped the bars too tight the lap before though as my hands are killing me and the brakes are murder to pull. But again i get taken by that FUCKING cbr450 on the line. Ya bastard. End up 11th.
Race 3
Final race of the year. This time i go out with the "harden up and ride like a man" method. Start up the grid a wee bit so i don’t end up riding forward soo much. Get the best start of the day and feel a bit more on the ball. Have finally got my balls back on the braking side of things and am starting to tip in with proper speed. Chase down a SV in front of me that has beaten me all day and clear him off down the straight and am gone. Nothing better than taking a SV down the straight on a 400. Just keep pushing as hard as i can. Start experimenting in pot hole (god thats a fun corner) with hitting the gas hard and early and find the bike really drifting under power. The winds pretty strong and its not nearly as fast as ive been through there so i guess thats wind doing the work. About lap 3 timmy goes down on his 125 and it really puts me off a bit. Took me a couple of laps to spot he was alright and just sitting watching the racing. First time ive seen a mate at the side of the track. So i downshifted too many gears into the set of lefts at the dipper twice and gave the rev limiter its daily workout. Ohh well. Outside that it was the first race where i was feeling better at the end of the race than the start. Overall the times were down on the first race but they were defiantly the best times of the meet. End the final race in 8th for f3 which is getting better.
Overall it was a kinda frustrating meet with things feeling a bit off but i guess its just something that happens from time to time. Hopefully go out next week for a bit of practice and get my confidence and groove back in. Cheers to Eric De boar too for having a yarn and giving a bit of encouragement after the meet. Certainly one of the coolest and nicest fellers out there.
Eitherways back to the road for the next meet up at nelson and can’t wait for it.
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keep it up. smooth, concentration and controlled attack will lead you forward
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