Pukekohe Nationals
We flew into Palmy North Thursday morning and from there got a ride to Wangavegas with Jethro to pick up the van and trailer and carry on the trip North to Puke
Arriving at Steve Brons place we were greeted by the sight of a lovely repainted sliver and pink trailer (Pinkie) complete with sign writing “Sponsored by Dave Annans Gay Outreach Program” while I was busy pissing myself with laughterlets just say Divvo wasn’t feeling to much love for those that did it
Now the original plan was to leave at 11am but after dicking about loading up and lunch etc we finally got moving and twelve hours after we arrived at Palmy we finally arrived at the Motel and checked in
Friday we’re off to the track to get set up and upon arriving find a bunch of tents set up in pit lane for the V8s the following weekend so we grabbed one of them and got the gear out and Col and Hellfire who flew in Thursday night did the same
It was looking like being wet all day and with the forecast for the weekend being fine we decided not to bother with practice while Col and Hellfire decided as they hadn’t been there they’d get out there and do it
There’d been mutterings about stabbings, spray painting and police action from Divvobut after the perpetrators of the “Pinkie” incident turn up they kissed and made up with promises to return the trailer to one colour (not pink)
All set up with nowhere to go we have a fairly relaxing day watching Col/Hellfire and others ride round and round, Whitetrash also turns up with Keiran to say hello, luckily Keiran doesn’t seem to have inherited his Dads looks
Saturday Practice
Tyres pumped up (including wets), fuel checked and we’re good to go, it’s alternating between showers and drying out so we leave it as late as possible before fitting the slicks and then drop it off the stands and gear up
We roll up to the dummy grid and onto the track, after a couple of laps Divvo starts dialling it up, now this isn’t my favourite track and I’ve always wondered if perhaps the English translation of Pukekohe isn’t “bumpy shithole”
After 9 laps we pull in and find we’ve done a 1.08.669 which straight away is as quick as we were doing last year
Divvo decides a change of gearing is in order and we swap rear sprockets to lower it slightly before the next session, we find the chain has a tight spot so we put a new one on which is better but we now think the sprocket hasn’t been machined properly
Saturday Qualifying
After having the wets ready due to the showers it’s back out on slicks a couple of easy laps and then into it hard, the outfits feeling good although we’re spinning up big time as we hit the top of the hill, time for a few more pies I think as nothing I’m doing seems to make much difference to it
Stacey/Lou pull past us onto the back straight and Divvo pulls in behind to get the draught but no such luck as they pull away so fast we can’t stick with them but with the session over we’ve done a PB of 1.06.972 and qualified 3rd behind Stacey/Lou on #1 and Bron/Denny on #2 and with the Lawrence’s beside us and Pete the Pirate/Jono behind us so we’re pretty happy with that
Nothing much to do apart from fuel and a check over and the inevitable wait begins, more showers but as the racing starts it’s starting to dry and we know we’ll be out on slicks
Race 1
Warmup lap and we grid up, this seems to take ages as there’s some confusion over grid positions down the back
The starts pretty average and straight away into turn 1 the Lawrence’s and Pete the Pirate/Jono go around us we tag straight onto the back of them down the back straight
Pete the Pirate/Jono are out wide at the hairpin trying to go around the Lawrence’s and go around they do off the track onto the grass as we motor on through, the next few laps are hard out trying to pull the Lawrence’s back in
We’re right on the back of them for most of the race, they punch out of corners better and we haul them in from the hairpin over the hill and through turn 1, about 5 laps into it and we’ve swapped places a few times but now we’re hitting lapped traffic and when they put a bike between us over the hill I think we’re screwed but we pull them back in and then the white flags out and we’ve a lap to go, right on them at the hairpin and we get the good drive through the lefts and we hit the hill hard out, so hard in fact Ritchie just about gets a LCR nose cone up his arse when they suddenly slow enough that Divvo has to brake or run into the back of them, that costs us the drive we need to get past them by the flag and they beat us buy .288 of a second and we come 4th behind them with a new PB of 1.06.103
Day 1 over and we’re pretty happy with the results and with nothing much to do but change a rear tyre we trot off to Triple R racing and borrow their tyre machine (Thanks Red) after I swap that over we have a couple of MNZ supplied sausages off their bbq and a coke and then head off for some of Burt Wollands spit roast that he puts on each year (no no not that kind of spit roast Scrivy)
Sunday Tyre Scrub
Showery weather again and although we think we’re going to strike it lucky it’s wet when we head out to scrub in the new rear, we do the three laps and pull in and decide to run the old tyre as the wet scrub session didn’t really work the new tyre at all
Race 2
The starts better and we hit the back straight in 3rd a lap later the Lawrence’s pass us and then Pete the Pirate/Jono, they miss a gear off the hairpin and we go around then, they take us down the back straight again and then duff another gear change and we go up the inside and set off after the Lawrence’s
Lap 5 and we’re back onto the Lawrence’s and then coming though turn 1 we see Steve/Denny parked on the inside having lost a rear sprocket, we’re all over the back of Chris/Ritchie but can’t find a way past and coming through lapped traffic, we get the good run over the hill and pull out left to go past but Col/Hellfire are there and we have to slot back in behind the Lawrence’s, they lead us over the line by .17 of a sec and we finish
The dnf of Steve/Denny removes any chance of them retaining the title and the Lawrence’s become #NZ1 for the first time in 14years
In between races we check the gas lube the chain and have a bit of a look over the outfit, Brons crew are sorting out the rear sprocket issue and will be good to go for the next one
Race 3 NZTT
We get the hell start and are right up Stacey/Louise onto the back straight but they’re using the extra HP they have to pull away rapidly, around the hairpin and then Steve/Denny rocket past on the inside between the two left handers, Pete the Pirate/Jono go past and the Lawrence’s make a pass as well the next few laps we pass and are repassed several times, lap 6 we hit the back straight and I’ve got my head down I pop up for braking expecting the Lawrence’s to being front like the last lap but we got the good drive onto the straight and nailed them on the way down with out me even noticing
Lap 9 and coming around the hairpin and I see Jono just stop rolling having been spat off the back of Pete the Pirates outfit and I’m thinking he better not hit those next corners to hard or it’ll be a bit untidy, they’ve got the black flag out for him at the start finish and with him gone we resume the chase after the Lawrence’s
They’ve pulled a bit of a gap but we’re getting close, then into turn one they ride around a back marker who blocks us through the chicane and onto the back straight and they pull several bike lengths, in the end despite our last few laps being faster than theirs we can’t mount as serious a challenge as the last two races and finish 4th some 3.299 seconds behind them with Steve/Denny winning the TT title and setting a new lap record at 1:03.342
All over for the season and we’re well happy with the way it’s gone, no breakdowns, finished every race and went quicker at every circuit than we ever have before, we’ve beaten people we haven’t got close to before and put pressure on others which looks good for next year, especially if we can afford a few more HP as we’re running a dead stock engine at the moment
Loaded up and out the gate as soon as it opened to head south and try for the 3.00am Bluebridge ferry with a side trip to Masterton to drop off “pinkie” for a respray, a quick stop in Taupo for food and on the road again hitting Masterton at 1.00am, trailer off and on the way thinking it’s going to be close then we hit roadwork’s on the Hutt motorway and as we turn off at the bottom of the gorge some bastard is moving a house taking up both lanes, by now I’m positive it’s a deliberate conspiracy to stop us getting there but we make the terminal with 20 minutes to spare, a bit of a sleep on the way over and off again with Col driving while I sleep
Finally home I crawl into bed at 2pm Monday and don’t get up again until 6.00am Tuesday feeling vaguely human
Originally Posted by scracha
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks