Daniel's Winter Series 09

**discodan** · 19th October 2009, 21:03

I always like reading other people's reports so it's about time I stopped being a lurker.

Things I have learnt about: Tyres, Suspension, Fibreglassing, Brakes, Crash repairs, painting, wet grass grip and more!

My confidence hit rock bottom at the first round of the winter series with lap times 6 seconds slower than the previous year things could only get better.

After experiencing never ending bike problems over first half of the year there were times when I was sitting on the tyre wall covered in mud / gravel contemplating giving up.

Fortunately I didn’t because from round four onwards I had an absolute blast! I will start from there then...

Round Four
I love the long track, apart from a minor off and some great racing two forth place finishes in Pro Twins will do me nicely thank you.

Round Five
I decided to splash out on some new tyres and went back to the Pirellis that I set my best time of 1:17.5 on the short track last year. Wow what a difference. Suddenly I didn’t have to close my eyes through splash anymore and I was attacking the hairpin like a rapid monkey.

Pro Twins were racing with Post Classic seniors and while I didn’t want Geoff and Ashley to get away I narrowly missed running into a post classic through the esses, instead running off onto the grass (a technique that Deano copied later but with much better execution)

The next race swung in my favour however with Geoff somewhere off in the distance I mugged Ashley while he was being held up in the hairpin to take my best finish of 2nd in the winter series and a new PB of 1:16.5.

Race three was over in the first few metres due to a loose gear changer and about 20 bikes passing me into turn one

Never the less, I was still on a high from the previous race so I was still happy with the weekend.

Round Six
Before the Pro Twin race I had already set a new PB of 1:16.4 so things were looking up. The first race was quite eventful with a bit of everything from a near highside at turn 4, a badly timed false neutral and of course ducks on the track. 3rd place with Deano closing and I was pretty stoked not to be in an ambulance.

Much to my dismay, the rain clouds set in just before the last race but thanks to Busted and Cookie I was about to try my first proper ride / race on wet tyres.

A good launch and I noticed poor Ash wheel spinning and going nowhere fast on his near slick tyres. I settled in behind Geoff and decided that if he crashes then we are going too fast, if not then we can go faster. After a couple of laps I was confused as to why no one had had a go at passing me for second so I took a look behind only to see a huge gap! This was great, another second finish would be awsome. As we circulated I entertained the thought of going quicker so I started showing Geoff a wheel here and there, which made for a great and exciting race. Two laps from the end I made my move but only for Geoff to out brake me into turn 1. On my second attempt I made it stick and put my head down for my first ever win!

It took a while for it to sink in but what a great feeling. My last lap was a 1:20 on a wet track, which is what I was doing in the dry not that long ago.

So I thoroughly enjoyed myself and my bike knowledge has come a long way. The Pro Twin class is a great class with some excellent racing in it. The top 7 riders in the Pro Twin Championship attended every round of the winter series this year, more than any other class

Congrats to Geoff , Dean and Ashley.

Thanks to everyone that has helped me during the season and all the excellent advice.

Get well soon to everyone who is injured.

Cheers.
Daniel Kempthorne

**KS34** · 19th October 2009, 21:12

Great write up, well done sounds like you have come a long way.

**quickbuck** · 19th October 2009, 21:23

Great stuff Dan.
Yup, reason for huge gap... You guys were really flying in the wet!!!
Well done on the win. Bloody well done!

Oh, and good on you for finally putting in a write up.

**dhunt** · 19th October 2009, 21:29

Awesome effort Daniel. Thanks for the write up I had wondered how you were getting. It's a little bit differcult when I'm not in the country.

Are you doing the RR Spectulator/Endurance race at all?

**Clivoris** · 20th October 2009, 06:41

Fantastic season man and that last race was great to watch.

**t3mp0r4ry nzr** · 20th October 2009, 07:31

good on you man! thats a gd time for a wet track also

**discodan** · 20th October 2009, 08:28

Thanks all.

Dhunt: Yeah I'm all signed up for the tri series and gonna try and get as much racing in while the weather is good. Gah tells me that you are in Nepal! Do you still have your bike and are you coming back to race soon?

**wharfy** · 20th October 2009, 13:04

Good result Dan, and a good write up too !
See you at the Tri-series

**Cajun** · 20th October 2009, 13:07

Nice one Dan

**dhunt** · 20th October 2009, 15:05

Originally Posted by discodan

Thanks all.

Dhunt: Yeah I'm all signed up for the tri series and gonna try and get as much racing in while the weather is good. Gah tells me that you are in Nepal! Do you still have your bike and are you coming back to race soon?

Yeah definitely more fun when the weather is good aye. Good on ya doing the tri series - that should be lots of fun.

Yip in Nepal for another month & 1/2 or so then heading back to NZ. Still got my bike and am keen to do some more racing. I guess it depends on work & $$$s when I can do some more.

**Ivan** · 20th October 2009, 20:32

yeah good on you dan you were flying in that race good luck for all your future races

**Marknz** · 20th October 2009, 21:13

Great write up Dan. Your effort in that last wet race was arguably the best I have seen this season. Well Done!

**Deano** · 21st October 2009, 06:32

You've progressed very well this year Dan and have surpassed my PB at Manfeild. Huge props for sticking it to Geoff in race 2. It's about time you went into supersport eh ? LOL