So I'm not sure where to begin, but here we go...
We (Craig, Dave from Hi-Torque, Chrissie and myself) pulled the bike apart a few weeks ago. Completely stripped!! I was a little concerned to be honest when we loaded it all into the van at the end of the day in a couple of fish bins and a bare frame. Especially cause of our time frame. We weren't going to make round one, but round two was a definite. Craig and I had a few sessions in the shed at Chrissie's place putting it all back together after hours of sanding the frame and swing arm ready for painting. Craig did the hard yards and got the majority of it together and then I got the text I'd been waiting for... the bike goes!! AWESOME!!
I met Craig at Chrissie's place early Friday morning as we wanted to try our luck with the weather for the practise day. Esp seeming I hadn't ridden the bike at all yet. Got to Chrissie's just after 6am, Chrissie must have already gone to work or something as I didn't see her. Craig and I drove up to Feilding through the rain, but it stopped before we got there. Track was quiet wet, but to me it just looked beautiful There were only a few other bike there at that point and they were putting on tire warmers and all that flash stuff, so we got about 7 odd laps in our own!! MANFEILD...ON MY OWN!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! So sweet.
So did a few slow laps. Took a couple just to get over the whole "I'm at Manfeild" buzz (which hasn't gone away really) . Came in and checked over a couple of things, then went back out. Defining moment number one... exiting the infeild hair pin and thinking, I'll rev it out a bit a see what it's like. Well bugger me... Got to 9000 rpm and it started pulling like a school boy!!! Holy sh#t I said to myself, grinning from ear to ear! Oh yeah, this is going to be good!! We got close to 30 laps in over the day, and thanks to Craig, who is a great teacher, we improved through out the day. My lap times started at 1.59 and I managed to knock a few seconds off every lap we went out on. By the end of the day we got it down to 1.38. Pretty happy with that really, actually, very happy cause it was my first time on the bike AND at Manfeild. Bike ran great. It never missed a beat, which was a relief cause we were 100% sure how it would go. Bring on a race day!!
Got to the track early Sat morning, but not as early as some as the were HEAPS of people there!! Was trying to soak it all in. I was having a great time already and we hadn't even got out the van yet! We unloaded into our pit garage and went for a drive around the long track, as we only had the short track the day before. Flat, with a couple of tight corners thrown in, but some awesome looking sweeping corners too. Signed in and got my transponder. Went out for my practise laps. The extension to make it a long track was so sweet to ride! Definite good times ahead around there for sure. Came in pretty happy and then got told I qualified 11th out of 20. QUALIFY??? I thought it was just a practise session?!My lap time was 2.52. Very happy with my position though, again, cause it;s my first time out. Fuelled up and sorted stuff, then went and watched the 600's start and how the start lights all worked. Was feeling a little nervous about the start, as I wasn't sure how I'd go. The start ended up being the longest start EVER, and we sat on the grid for ages while something got sorted and a few people moved around. Thought I jumped the start and pulled the clutch back in, but then of course the lights went out and I thought I'd cocked it up. Can't really remember the take off (prob cause it was so fast, HA) but took quiet a tight inside line into turn one as there was a HUGE amount of room?!? Counted my blessings and tried to settle down, as that was the bit that I was worried about over, the start and turn one. Just the whole race left to go!!
Passed a few people and felt good going at the pace I was at. Wasn't sure where I was in the field, was just concentrating on who ever was in front of me...and catching them. This is wicked, wicked fun I thought. It felt like I was going a lot faster than the day before, but was hard to tell because of the track extension and having people around too. Came in puffing!! But smiling cause that was was serious goodness right there!!! Wow wee. Craig cradled up the bike and I kinda just stood there...grinning! Got my time sheet back and I had come 5th!! Holy cow?! My fastest lap time was 2.30. I'm not sure how many times I can say it, but I was pretty happy to say the least. Some would say F-ing stoked!!
We packed our things up, and had a wonder around. They announced that there was going to be another race, but it had started raining quiet hard and we'd already packed up, so we gave it a miss. Cause guess what?...We get to do it all again tomorrow!!! SOOOO AWESOME!!!!
Thanks a whole buch to Chrissie Whitfeild @ WF Photography and Craig Frethey for putting this ride together. You guys are fantastic and so easy to be around!! I can't say thanks enough, but I'll keep saying it anyway!! THANKS HEAPS.
Bring on Sunday!!
RAG Racing
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Originally Posted by scracha
Loving your energy - every sponsors dream 
Hope you go good today, looking forward to the reports!
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