Winter Series 09: Screw the recession, I'm going racing!

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

Good on ya man .
One thing though . The orange wheels look yucky . Bad taste.

haha I see Im in good company then, or is that bad company?

[roadracingoldfart]

haha I see Im in good company then, or is that bad company?

I make no comment based on being a coward .

NB; I had the wheels before bloody Repsol did , i want copyrite compensation.

[roadracingoldfart]

standard? may as well have a jet turbine each side Neil. Can I lodge me race protest not? its just way too quick and very ungentlemanly!

Hes no gentleman , hes a friggen Sailor .
Real Airforce blokes have a handlebar moustache

[quickbuck]

Hes no gentleman , hes a friggen Sailor .
Real Airforce blokes have a handlebar moustache

Movember was months ago.......

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

This was the shakedown for the bike and rider. The bike has been tinkered with a bit and I hadn’t been on the track for 18 months. The official goals were to get the laps in and have fun but the competitor inside wanted to do the best that I could. Lofty expectations perhaps but Im competitive, that’s why Im racing.

Saturday
Pumped up and ready to race, shame that it was only 4am. Lying in bed, feeling anxious and excited. Would I enjoy racing again? Will I do any good? Don’t want to crash first outing. FUCK ITS COLD! In the van at 6.15am and a quick trip from where I was staying in Fieldin had me arrive at Manfield. Joining the que of dedicated soles in their vans awaiting the gates to open. Outside the grass is crunchy, the air sharp. Should have really installed that radio. 7am and we all roll in to pick our spots. 2nd vehicle in, free choice of pit.

The enthusiastic Russell Forrest and Clive Banks must sense the greenness and come over for a chat. I lean Russell runs a zxr400 in posties and F3. Through his understated and outgoing demeanor I get the feeling as though he has done more laps than Ive had hot dinners and I will soon learn what the back of his bike looks like...

Bike out and on stands with warmers toasty, Junior (Ash Payne) and Whitebait (Glen Mason) roll up just as I sit down to relax. Ok, so I was shitting myself so hard my knees were knocking together and I couldn’t stand. Help set the bikes up and get the EZE-UP up and Braden Tait pulls a tasty 86 tz250 out his van and slots it in under the tent. Drool runs down my chin - a welcome distraction from the nerves of waiting. Hanging around, feeling as if the firing squad have loaded their guns and have flicked the safeties off. Shit. Outside temp. 2 degrees

F3 & Posties Practice – Outside temp. 2-6 degress
Feeling good on the first lap, outbraking someone and keeping up with the pace. This aint bad at all. 2nd lap, as tyres warm, the pace goes up. I get left for dead. Looking for the chequered flag, still not out. The sessions seems to go forever. Doesn’t seem to matter, im lost out there like a boat without a rudder.

Seem to get on more with the extension than the short track. Cant get my head around the steep banking. When you think you have too much speed you find that its not enough. Braking too early, no mid turn speed, too late and not hard enough on the gas. Typical rookies mistakes. I know what Im doing wrong but have no confidence in the front to push the turn speed and body positioning feels uncomfortable to give it some on the exit. I may as well have packed a picnic out there – best time of 2.27.

Saturday races – F3 & Posties. 10 degrees(?)
Good points: Very good launch, enjoy the hard braking into T1, Higgans and the far hair-pin. Dropped 3s off best time, even though I never strung a good lap together. Didn’t come last.
Bad points: still no confidence to quick flick = slow entry and mid turn speed. Cant get to ful throttle easily.

Sunday races

Up at 4am again! Seems typical compared to yesterday but still cold!

A.M – 10 lappers. Still friggan cold! F3 & posties
Notable that I improved entry speed and was keeping it mid turn. Best laps dropped by 3s to 2.19, even though never strung together a good lap. The oil flag out going into higgans gave me the shits everytime and killed any kind of corner speed through there. Cant quite get to full throttle easily with the standard twist tube. Often I would find myself at 8/10’s throttle rather than full throttle as I couldn’t reposition hand easier to get full twist.

P.M races
F3
After sitting down for a while after the AM race, I was pysched out and not keen to get out there for the F3 race. Rather help the boys get the warmers off and bikes off stands. See how it goes for the Posties race.

Posties
Keen to ride, but the sun is starting to dip and seems colder. Decided not to race due to these conditions. Have had enough track time to see that I need a lot more laps than the 6 lapper race will provide to get back up to speed, have kept it upright all weekend and if your not in the right frame of mind you shouldn’t be out there.

Seemed like a good call, as there were a number of crashes during this race and in subsequent races.

I had fogotten the intensitie of track riding and mental focus required. Found it all draining. Of course though, when you get it right, it is hugely rewarding. Will be looking to get it right next time.

Was great to see Ash Payne racing really well. Just wait until he has more than 5 hours on the SV after coming from the VFR400, and a TTX shock and fresh tyres. My pick is top 3-4 at the nats if he can string together a good series.

Glenn Mason/Whitebait is going real smooth and fast and is making steady improvements everytime. There is a lot to be said about that kind of approach and its good to have hard case charactors around the paddock.

Will have a sit down and plan out the rest of the years racing for me. Need to get a lot of laps in at trackdays to get up to pace, but not so keen to do so until the weather warms up in spring. That said, keen to head back down for the next weekend meet in September. Im really aiming towards the tri-series and particularly wanga’s but need to get track time in and money sorted for this.

Got some work to do to the bike. Its showing rich AND lean symptoms. Get a MX throttle assembly. Maybe strip the lights off it for next race and run total loss to get some more ponies out of the bike.

Thanks to the VMCC for yet another fantastic event. Thanks to the volunteer flaggies out in the cold all weekend. Thanks to all the other racers as well. If there werent so many bike nutters out there, there wouldnt be any racing! Thanks to the Mason family for the hospitality and letting me eat them out of house and home!

Some wank pics to set the scene are attached.

cheers
-Kyle

[Clivoris]

That was a great read Kyle. You're right about that Russell character too, dodgy as It's a shame you can't do more rounds cos it seems like you have a systematic approach to improving. Combine that with race-time and it's the recipe for success, and being well prepared for the tri-series. Watching F3 certainly gave me pangs to be out there as it's an awesome class with such a vsriety of machinery involved. Keep it up man and see you next time.

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

That was a great read Kyle. You're right about that Russell character too, dodgy as It's a shame you can't do more rounds cos it seems like you have a systematic approach to improving. Combine that with race-time and it's the recipe for success, and being well prepared for the tri-series. Watching F3 certainly gave me pangs to be out there as it's an awesome class with such a vsriety of machinery involved. Keep it up man and see you next time.

Cheers Clive for your comments and all your hard work for the club. Im sure the VMCC racing will have me hone up the racing skills again in no time.

It is really cool to have 4 completely different f3 bikes under the same tent. The variety makes it all very interesting.

[Whitebait]

Good write up dude! Pitty you spelt my name with one 'N'......

As for eating us out of house and home.....chop chop chicken is like $1.50 a can......I think you'd get sick before we went broke....

Look forward to seeing the GSV-R on the track again soon

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

Cheers GlenN! when you were pissing off into the distance the other weekend I was spelling your name in my head VERY differently in french!

After thinking about it all Ive decided that if its the money that is stressing me out, I need to get out and earn more money! going door knocking for a J.O.B tomorrow.

Im already worked though some issues with the bike. Also gonna hit up some test days real soon. Some really strong positives came out from the shakedown so just need to build on them with further bike and rider development.

Almost done polishing the frame, going for the whole bling look. You had better polish up that 2 smoker of yours, it will be letting the side down soon!

Loving that manfield long circuit. Gotta be back again for the august round

[Foxzee]

Awesome stuff...sounds like you are having a blast and that's what it's all about...see ya next time aye???? Till then keep safe and WARM!!!!!...that seems to be the key to success at the moment as it's damn cold!!!!