Thanks VMCC volunteers

[Keystone19]

My added thanks to all the volunteers also. Very smoothly run by a very friendly and on-to-it crew.

The decision to call off was a tough one and big ups for making the call.

Hope all those who had offs heal quickly and bikes are easy to mend!

[Possum41]

i agree shaun, we would pay just as much to hire the facilities as car meetings so they should pull their fingers out of their bumholes and offer us what we pay for.
Thanks to all marshalls and those involved with running the day, after me finally getting some good results i was dissapointed with the cancellation but safety MUST come first.

Cheers

[Duke girl]

I would like to comment to those who thought the bikes were being held on the dummy grid 4 too long. The problem for that happening was due to riders not coming up to thier right grid positions and also riders going out in the wrong race and pulling up on the start line in someone elses grid position whos race it was. U have to realise that the club has responsibilities to make sure that everything is done the way it is suppose to and that safety plays a huge part in running a good meeting. Y should the volunteers b attacked for doing wat they r suppose to just because of those riders who cant sort themselves out once arriving on the start line. Also I would like to congratulate Mel Jackson for making the decision he did in calling the race meeting off due to the high risk to the riders being for the condition of the track. For those who didnt agree try putting yr feet into his shoes and c it from where he stands, as we all know who it would have come back on if there was a loss of life. Look forward to the next meeting at Manfield on the 16th. Happy motorcycling everyone.

[Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)]

In reply to Dukegirl. Alot was also due to having to clean the track up - getting rid of the carnage and dirt off the track.

[roadracingoldfart]

Mel , your the god at the meetings and your decision is final. You made the call at the time based on the condition of the track .
My gripe is about the guys that crashed on the first lap being heros and just trying far too hard. When the track is like it was yesterday just ease into the bloody thing. I personally only had one slide when i was dumb enough to touch a white line at the side of the track but i could also see the tyre tracks of the guys that had been through before me so knew it was damp.
The clubmans guys, well they are new to this game and need to learn racecraft sometimes by getting spat off, although sad its just part of bike racing.
As brought up by BISTARD i also ask if we should go to the Taupo track for round 6 and i asked this question in a letter in the oily rag last year and still do ask it.
Its alot of money for a rider, its the highest track in the southern hemisphere (yes just by the mountains) in bloody winter,and its a track thats basically aimed at cars. The facilities are much of a muchness as only a small percentage of riders really use them but they are better than Manfeild i think, but hey, theyre new aye so they should be.
Thats probebly enough to get me in the shit but hey , free speech is a great thing.
Cheers Paul.

[Clivoris]

Thanks all for the understanding comments. Very tough call for The Clerk of Course and MNZ Steward, but they didn't have any choice given the carnage. Disappointing for all especially after the sun came out. However, my understanding is that the oil and other residues that had been brought to the surface by the rain showers, continued to sit on the surface of the track. This meant that the track continued to be too slippery, despite the sunshine.
I have to agree with the comments about how unsafe the T2 configuration is for bikes. I only managed two and a bit laps of qualifying before accepting that my bike wasn't going to play nice, and that was long enough to notice the tyre wall etc. I do know that Taupo have been suprised by the numbers interested in competing at our meetings and this will hopefully result in them taking our concerns and requirements seriously.

[MikeyG]

Disappointing for all especially after the sun came out. However, my understanding is that the oil and other residues that had been brought to the surface by the rain showers, continued to sit on the surface of the track. This meant that the track continued to be too slippery, despite the sunshine.

Having been out there in the crash van picking up bikes after we were all told the pin was pulled I agree with Clive. T1 and T2 especially felt as if bikes had ridden through oil earlier on the track and left a coating of it on the racing line.

On T1 there was a 2-3m wide section on the inside of the corner beside the apex where I could easily slide my shoes across the track surface and I am not surprised by the number of crashes - in fact I am surprised there weren't more crashes on this corner.

Please no more crashing at the next rounds. I've got a sore back and shoulders from picking up bikes.

[Clivoris]

As brought up by BISTARD i also ask if we should go to the Taupo track for round 6 and i asked this question in a letter in the oily rag last year and still do ask it.
Its alot of money for a rider, its the highest track in the southern hemisphere (yes just by the mountains) in bloody winter,and its a track thats basically aimed at cars. The facilities are much of a muchness as only a small percentage of riders really use them but they are better than Manfeild i think, but hey, theyre new aye so they should be.
Thats probebly enough to get me in the shit but hey , free speech is a great thing.
Cheers Paul.

Fair comments Paul. It is a lot of money to get there but when there is traction it is a primo track, especially the full circuit. We had pretty full entries too so I think that shows that a lot of riders think it is worth going to. However, the safety issues definitely need to be looked at. They could have cleaned out the bins and the toilets too. My daughter told me she had to wade through empty beer bottles in one of the womens toilets. I can only assume they were from the day before.

Please no more crashing at the next rounds. I've got a sore back and shoulders from picking up bikes.

Sorry Mikey . I think I forgot to tell you that this marshalling thing can almost be like exercise. Maybe someone here on KB will volunteer to be your assistant?

[Torque]

Yep, thanks to all the voluntary work at the track yesterday Was not happy with the call to not let myself and 15 other bikes on the track for a scrub in session though! We all got stopped because only a certain number of bikes were allowed on the track, not because we turned up late. I had to do the qualifing on new rubber so had very short time to put down a good time. I was allso one of the unlucky ones to bin my bike at a cost of at least $3000. 27 bikes down was a joke. Taupo has a cleaning machine i am told and it was not used after a car endurance race the day before. If you say all 27 bikes had damage like mine at a cost of $2000 thats $54000!! not to mention the brocken bones. I think the track surface needs to be looked at, i know we had a little drizzle but i raced all 5 rounds of the Nationals and we had drizzle at times and no offs. The track should of been in a fit condition to race on. Maybe the suface is new but you could see heaps of crap and oil after a small sprinkle of rain. Hope all the guy's and girls that fell off yesterday heal up quickly. Roll on the next round and i hope we stay upright.

[scracha]

yeah that wet track was getting slippy was getting used to drifting bike at end of day but i think that the racing should of been posponed for an hour the track would of cleared up nicely.. and clubmans had to be restarted 4 times. how many ppl crashed in superlite after that?

It wasn't wet track that was the problem. In fact, a good healthy cloudburst was what was needed to clean all the $hite that the ickle drizzle had brought to the surface.

My gripe is about the guys that crashed on the first lap being heros and just trying far too hard. When the

Umm..that was me at T7. I'd braked much harder for T1 & T5 without a hint of a slide or tyre chirrup so inexperienced moi hadn't got it into his thick head that not all braking zones have the same grip. At least my leathers are christened and I've learn't that crashing hurts.

I see that Taupo have invited the drifters back to fu#k up the track even more (again).

[HDTboy]

I see that Taupo have invited the drifters back to fu#k up the track even more (again).

We do have to share, it's not just our sandpit

[Possum41]

We do have to share, it's not just our sandpit

It does sometimes feel that because we are only bike racers and maybe because we don't attract big crowds to our events, that the curcuit organisers are not giving us a fair deal. Like i said earlier we pay the same price to use the facilities so we should have them handed to us the same clean way. Same with the curcuit it should be handed to us in a racable and usable condition, even more so to us because we only have two wheels (sometimes only 1) on the damn thing.
I personally (not sponsored yet) would have shelled out close to $1500 for this weekend only to have it ended the way it was, i wouldv'e got more enjoyment at the local strip joint but never mind. Heads up to the organisers for their call.

[Keystone19]

I personally (not sponsored yet) would have shelled out close to $1500 for this weekend only to have it ended the way it was, i wouldv'e got more enjoyment at the local strip joint but never mind.

Hey maybe you should ask the local strip joint for sponsorship!



On another note, perhaps it may be worth VMCC looking at getting a partial refund for the state of the facilities and the condition of the track?

[Possum41]

Hey maybe you should ask the local strip joint for sponsorship!

i would but can't afford to go to one cause all my money goes into trying to beat everyone hehe

[Clivoris]

Taupo has a cleaning machine i am told and it was not used after a car endurance race the day before. If you say all 27 bikes had damage like mine at a cost of $2000 thats $54000!! not to mention the brocken bones. I think the track surface needs to be looked at, i know we had a little drizzle but i raced all 5 rounds of the Nationals and we had drizzle at times and no offs. The track should of been in a fit condition to race on. Maybe the suface is new but you could see heaps of crap and oil after a small sprinkle of rain. Hope all the guy's and girls that fell off yesterday heal up quickly. Roll on the next round and i hope we stay upright.

Good constructive feed-back people. Thanks and keep it coming. Torque, do you mean that there is "cleaning" machine that does something other than sweep the track? The track was definitely swept for us but if there is something that actually does more than sweep, we need to look into it. Some decent rain certainly would have been better than what we got. I suspect it's been a while since Taupo has had proper rain to wash the oil etc out.
Maybe we need to get the Karts back to sweep the track for us?