Having done two meets of the Nat’s superbikes.

**GIXser** · 26th January 2009, 18:33

Just got back shagged’ (No... not literally Tony or Frenchy!!) from a few weeks away down south. caught up in Timaru with Sloan We had a few practice days and I really enjoyed levels, its an awesome track.

I have to say I was a slight bit apprehensive jumping on a track with the best of Nz (or most of them anyway) and it was by pure luck and a bit of clever work that I was there amongst them, including 6 factory backed teams. Guys that have done isle of man’ and superbikes on a international level, and the list and accreditations goes on.

So here I am.. I guy that done about 9 race meets in total!! And yes it did cross my mind “albeit swiftly”What the FUCK am I doing here!!
I…. qualified ermmm.. last….. on the grid at timaru (levels) only 9 on grid. We line up on grid and start lights go out and off we go,
I was straight away amazed by the lightning speed at which everything happened, so different than club racing and what I had experienced so far,
I managed to hang on to Rhys holmes for some time, until he got the better of me and I started dropping back finished 9 th ..cos Shirriffs bike well…(I wont speculate ) kinda spat the dummy and he came in after a few laps..

Second race levels (superbikes)

More nervous than the first.. I lined up on the grid and it started spitting more and more you could see the drops of rain coming down as the lights went out.. Took off and saw Brad Selfe still at the grid it seemed he wanted no bar of this, I can only suspect he probably had a few hectic weeks ahead of him with work and ‘couldn’t’ or didn’t want a possible off”( he ended up doing some wheelies and pulling off after a lap or two)

Oh and I forgot… before as we lined up on the grid the lights about to go out, Graig Shirriffs sticks his hand up, and im thinking WTF… seems his bike packed a sad again and stalled, so they push started it and as rules stipulate he had to start from dummy grid. He came up behind me after half the lap, overtook me in the turn and as im thinking, jeez.. hes cutting this fine.. he’s sliding around on his arse in front of me,
Anyways I finished 8 th

We head of to Ruapuna the following day.

This is one hell of a track, very technical in some places fast and slow around the whole track, this is where you want your suspension tuned to the max.

I struggled to come even close to any of the guys in practice and if I had to lay blame and trust me I have thought about this. I would split it up like this,
20% bike and engine, 30 % suspension, and 50 % rider ability and fitness.
No matter what I did to my bike it wouldn’t turn fast enough for me, Robert’s time is very limited during the nat’s and pinning him down was fairly hard even though I appreciated his advice and time imensly my bike handled far from even close to perfect , I came out of the infield during practice and the front started wobbling, I had ‘nt lost the front end at that stage but it folowed shortly after ,still on a hard lean I landed on my knee slider and pushed of hard, and amazingly the front picked up again, the still in the turn the front slid out again, and I bounced of my upper knee and thigh and thought this has got to be it, but no the front picked up again and it tossed me out of the turn still on the bike
Now don’t get me wrong like I said, its 50% rider if not more but I couldn’t gell with it for whatever reason.

The Racing on Sunday was great I and really enjoyed it and I think I learned a great deal, I felt somewhat honoured to have Strout” as well as Hayden, slow down in qualifying for me, so I could follow them and their lines. That to me was a high point of the weekend.

Sloan has done extremely well in the the last two meetings , especially Ruapuna, where he came 6 th and 7 th don’t forget there are 6 factory backed teams there… so hat of to that boy for sticking it to the “man” .It was great to see Sloans Dad and mate come down to chchc as well as Brione and Ang. basically we couldnt have done this without their support

One last thing” if someone asked me what could be done better at the nats, I would say this.
They need to work on their marketing in a big way, I wont go in to the nitty gritty but I think a monkey with a bottle of Jack Daniels could do a far better job compared to what has been currently done about it.

Anyways all in all a great event and very well run except for the small flaw above. And im looking forward to Manfield hope to see some of you there

**emaN** · 26th January 2009, 18:49

Originally Posted by GIXser

... I felt somewhat honoured to have Strout” as well as Hayden, slow down in qualifying for me, so I could follow them and their lines. That to me was a high point of the weekend.

mate, that there is wikkid!

**R6_kid:Me** · 26th January 2009, 18:57

Good work old man. So is it less time on the hair, and more time in the gym?

**CHOPPA** · 26th January 2009, 19:03

Good shit Eddie! All these club racers are gonna get a shock next time they race ya, specially if you break out the secret weapon....

**k14** · 26th January 2009, 19:06

Nice one, good to see someone not scared to race with the supers cause they might come last!! There is so much to learn from them that is impossible to pick up from club racing!

Will come and say hi at manfeild!

**Clivoris** · 26th January 2009, 19:09

I agree with everything wat you wrote mate. Respect for getting out there and qualifying. In my opinion that's quite a feat in that company.

**Tony.OK** · 26th January 2009, 19:11

Mate without a hint of a joke, well maybe a little one..............you and Sloan are kinda my heroes, I always root for the little guy...( no that does'nt mean if you were smaller I'd root ya ).
Big ups to the pair of ya.................

**Kickaha** · 26th January 2009, 19:29

Nice to see you and Sloan down here and giving it a go

Maybe some you could look at doing some club meets down here next year to give you a bit more practice on the Southern tracks before next years Nationals?

**Frenchy** · 26th January 2009, 19:39

well done mate!! big ups to you

**mikeey01** · 26th January 2009, 19:45

Good on ya dude, keeping up with them fellas like u were doing is still one dam fine effort to be proud of!

**Wingnut** · 26th January 2009, 19:46

Anyone who goes out there and gives it a go gets my vote man. The F1 racing wouldn't have been as enjoyable to watch had you, choppa and brads made an appearance at round 2.

All going to plan I will be doing the three south island events next year. Am tired of sitting on the side lines - gotta get out there and get amongst it. We all aint getting any younger thats for sure.

Good on ya GIXser.

**Quasievil** · 26th January 2009, 19:54

Good work bro, hope you had your happy pants on, that gives you a second or two eh !!
And those professional teams PFFFTT mate you got the poster !!!

Definately going to Manfield so will see if I can help you out there as a Pit person.

**puddytat** · 26th January 2009, 20:10

You fellas did real good I reckon, I wandered over 3 times to say hi,the 1st time you were busy & the other 2 times you must of been eating pies somewhere....unfortuanately I didnt get to see any of your races as the clubbies were up after ya's & i was too busy trying not to

with anxiety..

**Toast** · 26th January 2009, 20:29

Seriously good shit, Ed. I saw the lap times from round 2 on mylaps and was genuinely impressed at how close you got to the top boys in terms of lap times. They're whippin' your arse, for sure, but a totally top effort given your experience and support, and better than most of us could pull out.