Levels Nationals Kickaha & Divvo

**Kickaha** · 19th January 2009, 14:49

Levels Nationals Rd 2 Kickaha & Divvo

A quick check over during the week and an adjustment to the sidewheel toe and front camber and it was all good to go, loaded up Thursday night and hit the road Friday morning

At the track and we’re all set up and ready to go, we only do one session to scrub our new tyres so we’re ready for Saturday

I wander off to put the tent up which I last used about 1994 and after about an hour I work out how it goes and get it sorted and toss the mattress inside

Off to the clubrooms for a shower and the Bron team have the BBQ cranking and cook quite a nice tea and then it’s off to bed while the rest of them have a few drinks

Saturday morning and I’m up at my normal time (6.30am) I wander around a bit but it’s not until after 7.30 they have the breakfast cooking down at the clubrooms

P1
We give the outfit a look over, fuel it up and check the tyre pressures and we’re set to go, riders briefing comes and goes and then our first practice comes up, we do a couple of easy laps then dial it up for a couple more and then pull in, we’re only running 1.24 laps so we’re still taking it fairly easy

Q1
Another check over of the outfit and after a bit of a wait we’re out for Qualifying, an easy couple of laps to warm up engine, brakes and tyres and then the throttles against the stop and we put in a couple of quick ones and then pullback in to see we’ve dropped to a 1.17 which puts us 5th on the grid and a second quicker than last year

Another check over, a change of gearing is discussed and decided against, we fuel up and again the waiting starts

5 minute call goes out and we roll up to the grid, out on track and lined up on the grid

Saturday Race 1
The lights are out and we get a flyer, unfortunately everyone in front has gone to sleep and we’re going from one side of the track to the other looking for a gap that doesn’t eventuate, through the little chicane and one of the outfits in front hits something on the track which is flying towards us at head height, Divvo flicks right over the ripple strip to avoid wearing it and has to back off the throttle, this lets Alex/Glen shoot past us and cost us half a dozen bike lengths

It takes us another lap to catch and pass Alex/Glen and by then the front bunch has buggered off and left us alone, about lap 7 we back it off as there’s no chance of closing the gap and cruise the last few laps for a 5th place finish

Steve/Denny have broken the lap record at 1.11.238 and run 1st

We stick the outfit up on the stands and get our gear off and go looking for food and drink (team motto “anytime is pie time”)

Off to the Jolly Potter in Temuka for a feed and the Goober and Pig travelling circus manage to upset the publican within a few seconds of getting there but we have a good night anyway before heading back to the track

One thing you get plenty of at any National round is waiting around and after an hour or two we go out for the scrub session as Divvo has made a change to the front castor to get it to turn quicker after 3 laps the flags out and we pull back in happy with the changes

Sunday Race 2
Our start isn’t as good but we hang in with the bunch for the first 3-4 laps slowly getting dropped off, though the infield we’re as quick as the Pete/Jon but down the straight the pull 3-4 bike lengths a lap so we end up having a lonely race with the guys behind us abut 5 sec a lap slower than we are, towards the end of it we lap John/Jim and come home 5th again

Despite the fact we can’t stay in touch with the front guys we’re fairly happy as our best lap is a 1.15.696 which is 3 seconds faster than our best lap last year

Steve/Denny lower the lap record once again to 1.10.766

We gas up and the waiting starts, we’ve been hoping for rain but it’s not coming and when we roll up the grid for the last race it’s to a dry track

Sunday Race 3
Our starts better and we hang with the bunch for a few laps before we slowly lose touch, the left hander after the hairpin is where our groupies are hanging out and they’re giving us the go faster signal so I give them the finger on the way past, we back it off and cruise a round for another 5th place, the lap times in this race were all about 2 sec a lap slower than the last with the Lawrence brothers winning from Stacey/Louise and Steve/Denny in third

While we didn’t go quite as well as we’d hoped we came away very happy with the improvements over last year and we’re looking forward to Ruapuna to see if we show the same level of improvement there

**slowpoke** · 20th January 2009, 00:06

Great improvement in lap times, you should be well happy with that. Love the team motto too, I might have to put that into practice , I could always do with a bit more weight over the front end.....

**Wingnut** · 20th January 2009, 05:50

Hey Kickaha - which one were you guys piloting? What colour?

**roogazza** · 20th January 2009, 07:39

Love your race reports Kickaha, check nothings falling off, fill with gas and ride as hard as you can ! Great stuff !

I read solo reports and they're adjusting set up and this and that and looking for lots of reasons why they don't win !!!!! They miss the point. Just ride the thing ! Rider 80% bike 20% !! Gaz.

**Kickaha** · 20th January 2009, 17:46

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Great improvement in lap times, you should be well happy with that.

Last year when we got to Levels we'd only had the outfit a week so we're very happy with the improvement in lap times, the winning bike has around 50hp on us and all the bikes in front of us have more HP

Originally Posted by Wingnut

Hey Kickaha - which one were you guys piloting? What colour?

#27 Yellow and Blue

Originally Posted by roogazza

Love your race reports Kickaha, check nothings falling off, fill with gas and ride as hard as you can ! Great stuff !

Thanks

**wharfy** · 21st January 2009, 16:17

Sounds like a good time was had by all !!
Good write up.

**sidecar bob** · 21st January 2009, 16:49

Originally Posted by Kickaha

Levels Nationals Rd 2 Kickaha & Divvo

we put in a couple of quick ones and then pullback in to see we’ve dropped to a 1.17 which puts us to sleep.

our best lap is a 1.15.696 which is 3 seconds slower than sidecar bob last year

.........

**Kickaha** · 21st January 2009, 17:50

Originally Posted by sidecar bob

.........

Just because you were to scared to turn up

Hmmmmm now didn't I have some wire wheels someone wanted? I think the price just went up

**scrivy** · 22nd January 2009, 10:25

Originally Posted by roogazza

...and ride as hard as you can !
They would do far better if they raced as fast as everyone else.....

I read solo reports and they're adjusting set up and this and that and looking for lots of reasons why they don't win !!!!! They miss the point. Just ride the thing ! Rider 80% bike 20% !! Gaz.
Set up???? Isn't that putting up the tent???

Originally Posted by Kickaha

... the winning bike has around 50hp on us and all the bikes in front of us have more HP
er, the Lawrances won a race, and they've got a standard engine.....
Maybe their set up is better - they do have 2 ezy ups afterall.......

Originally Posted by sidecar bob

.........

Enough said......

Originally Posted by Kickaha

Just because you were to scared to turn up

Too scared to turn up????? What, and race with only 8 chairs??? You guys should have done Taupo. We had 25!!
Be interesting to see what the mighty Fwwrrrr BMW would have done around there - might have given you guys a run for ya money.......