Scooterazzi Wellington Enduro, 18 Sep, Kartsport Wellington

[Trudes]

SO..........


What happened?
Who teamed with whom?
Who won?
Who fell off?
Come on folks, I have to live vicariously here!

[Dutchee]

In Auckland, it rained in the morning, was fine in the avo. AC3_snow, Rick52, Captian_Soup, Gigglebutton, Jubba and lots of others fell off.
I broke my F5 bike, my F4 bike picked up the head of a screw but was okay, lots of people didn't turn up, some turned up and went home,.

But the BIG NEWS of the weekend, (even more astonishing than Pumba turning up), was that Henk DIDN'T crash.

Now, I want to know too, what happened down Wellington that everyone's keeping quiet about?

[koba]

It was good.
No idea who won, it was quite hard to follow.
The were heaps of crashes in the warm up races but only a couple in the main event.
The start was an hilarious moment with a backwards-running le-mans style start.

[driftn]

What a day, who would have thought racing a poxy little 100cc smoker would be just as much fun as my F2 bike. Im hooked, as is Jimmy, as is Drew. wont be long untill the Mairs are lowering the tone of yet another race class.. BUCKETS FOR THE WIN!

[Clivoris]

What a day, who would have thought racing a poxy little 100cc smoker would be just as much fun as my F2 bike. Im hooked, as is Jimmy, as is Drew. wont be long untill the Mairs are lowering the tone of yet another race class.. BUCKETS FOR THE WIN!

It's so true isn't it. Watching from the stands communicates nothing much about how much fun it is. See you out there, if it's dry...

[Henk]

See you out there, if it's dry...

Great Southern pansy

[F5 Dave]

It was a good day Maired slightly by the rain. Opps sorry spelling mistake.

Early in the day Fish was looking fast & Jimmy was looking furious so that was probably the pair to beat, but I have to say Hamish & his Dad were going very well, I still can't believe how fast his Dad was having ridden that track & that bike so little.

The Enduro was after lunch & it was increasingly like the track would dry again after a shower or two. But then the rain came set in.

Discretion being the better part of Valour; Mark decided that someone better do some sort of job of the lap scoring so we had 1/2 of a clue who had actually won. Note I say 1/2 a clue. So we bravely retired to the Lap scoring hut after rummaging up a pen & blagging a lolly bag to write on. You think I'm kidding.

I gotta say it was real easy to follow the first dozen or so laps, but then things got difficult as people started pulling into the pits or breaking down. Really it was a bit of a shambles & we were lucky that Hamish missed the start fitting wets as he was the fastest consistent runner & that Fishes bike got the splutters as he was dramatically unlapping himself. That was making the math hard.

But really the race was won & lost in the pits. With only 1/2hr on the track you just can't unlap yourself quick enough (unless you are much faster Like the above two on full wets i the stinking wet). Esp when you had to come in & do a song & dance routine before going out you lost at least a lap maybe two if you weren't clean.

So we ended up with No.12 Rogan & whoever ther chap he was riding with (he was riding great btw). Team Freeman had the consistency award & I always forget his name but bike 77 was well ridden, leading the early section & looking the best to win if not for an extra pit stop.

Got to say you keep hearing bitching from Lap scorers about numbers. We had numbers either totally absent, or written in black on a red screen, no side numbers. Its pretty hard to follow. For an endurance event we really need proper lap scorers with a decent sheet to tick off laps of the different riders. But the whole point of this event was a bit of a laugh so I hope people don't get too wound up in the details. (fish had actually made sheets but didn't know were were going to pike out & take on the roll).

[White trash]

What a bloody AWESOME day.

Despite all the accusations of "burgling" being thrown around the pits, I was only there for the sheer shits and giggles of the whole thing.

Learnt the track and the bike in the first practice.

Fish had a good little battle with Dave for the first race with Hamish not too far behind them and looking really quick.

Crashed on the first warm up lap of the first heat and had to start the race on cold tyres. Took a few laps to get in the groove then slowly began to reel in the front group. Finished 6th I think, having a ball the entire race with some real close quarter racing. Not much damage to Fish's bike thankfully (sorry again mate).

Fish went out in the rain on the slicks for his second heat race but decided to call it early so we could fit the wets for my second heat. When I say "we", I mean Fish. I mostly just got in the way and fucked about.

Second race was wet, not much to say as I had an unfair advantage. Cleared off and had a play in the rain.

Endurance race was the funniest shit I've ever seen in bike racing. I duffed the start completely and took two tries to start the bike. Last into the first turn I set about making up spots which wasn't too hard. BUT, the bike would breakdown and only just idle each lap after sucking in a lungfull of water and you'd lose a couple of spots. Handed over to Fish at about halfway to see if he could do any better and he stopped on the outlap. Rode like a madman, making up many spots but the bike was running real bad so he eventually ended up idling around in top gear to keep the bike running. Hamish was fricken FLYING on wets and the racing was really entertaining if a little sodden. Anyway, we got spanked.

So yup, another bucket convert right here. Just need to sort myself a bike and I'm out there playing silly buggers too.

Big big thanks to Fish for selflessly letting me ride (crash) his bike and all the good natured rivalry and ribbing in the pits. Fucken excellent day.

[F5 Dave]

There were surprisingly few crashes in the Endurance Race, but of course some clown had to throw it up the track the corner after the checkered flag. I suppose its a bit like drag racing - the engine should expire as it goes over the finishing line.

There were a heap of crashes earlier on & commiserations to Ren who disappeared off to the hospital with a suspected collar bone break. But lent his bike on so it could be raced & then again be chucked up the road (see above).

[White trash]

There were surprisingly few crashes in the Endurance Race, but of course some clown had to throw it up the track the corner after the checkered flag. I suppose its a bit like drag racing - the engine should expire as it goes over the finishing line.

There were a heap of crashes earlier on & commiserations to Ren who disappeared off to the hospital with a suspected collar bone break. But lent his bike on so it could be raced & then again be chucked up the road (see above).

Yeah, collar bone broken in three places. Poor bastard.

And as for crashing after the finish, Drew also threw it away on his outlap of the endurance event, so balanced things up nicely.

I can't believe people still lend Mairs bikes......

[Henk]

I gotta say it was real easy to follow the first dozen or so laps, but then things got difficult as people started pulling into the pits or breaking down. Really it was a bit of a shambles & we were lucky that Hamish missed the start fitting wets as he was the fastest consistent runner & that Fishes bike got the splutters as he was dramatically unlapping himself. That was making the math hard.
Got to say you keep hearing bitching from Lap scorers about numbers. We had numbers either totally absent, or written in black on a red screen, no side numbers. Its pretty hard to follow. For an endurance event we really need proper lap scorers with a decent sheet to tick off laps of the different riders. But the whole point of this event was a bit of a laugh so I hope people don't get too wound up in the details. (fish had actually made sheets but didn't know were were going to pike out & take on the roll).

That's it though, once you do lapscoring once, especially for a busy race, you will then understand why they bitch about numbers.

If I'm unlucky enough to be lapscoring and I miss someone because he/she hasn't got decent numbers on their bike, do you really think I'll give a damn. Personally, I'd like to just lapscore those who've followed the rules and stuff the rest of them. I also wouldn't give a damn if there was $1m up for prizemoney. People might start paying attention then.

Or get everyone to have a go at lapscoring and that'll learn them

As for these Mair boys, I think there's something wrong with them. First they enjoy sidecars (which spill oil all over every track, even if they're not running there, because no big bike ever spills oil, so it must be them), then they enjoy buckets (which spill oil over all over every track, or they just crash and hold up the proceedings). I dunno, what's the racing world coming to, people having fun, it's just not right lol

oops, it's Dutchee, forgot Henk keeps himself logged in here

[Trudes]

Thanks for the race reports fellas! Loving it.
Glad all enjoyed the racing and all the shit that goes with it in the pits, we could do with some more A graders. Hope all injuries heal up soon too.
As for numbers, I agree with Henk, if they can't be clearly read or are absent then it could be assumed you really don't give a shit about having your laps scored.

Hoping to have Rangi fixed soon, need to replace a bunch of bearings, rebore the barrel and replace piston, so not sure if I'll be riding at the 2 dayer, but either way will be there to lap score (yes, the above was a wee warning) or wave a flag or something, so hope to see a few new bucket jockeys there!

[Clivoris]

Great Southern pansy

Soo true that. It's the tissue paper petals that cause most of the difficulty.

[andrew a]

HI all I'm pleased there was a reasonable turn out. Sorry I didnt make it. A few reasons but one was Byron did a MTB race. Came in last but was 3rd in the under 13 class [he's 10]. He was pleased he didnt give up.

[hmurphy]

Awesome day, was run really well and it was great to have a bunch of new faces around the pits. Thanks again to Fish for organising the event, this whole year has been run extremely well with great turn outs and exciting race days. Thanks also to Mark at Scooterazzi who is not only very quick on track on someone elses bike but also very generous with the event sponsoring and prizes.

Overall it was one of the best race days I have had because it was my first time out on proper wets (had a go once on completely ancient wets, both of which were far too big for my bikes rims). Even though it was only 10 or 12 laps I can't believe how fast you can go on wets and how easy it was to control sliding, not to mention having your knee on the ground through big puddles! I was a little gutted with the first race because although I got a great start I started near the back of the grid and had a lot of work to do to catch up and Dave was bloody moving on that new 100 of his. Even though it's not properly tuned in, it's bloody fast enough... you should just leave it as it is haha

Dad is officially hooked and was grinning from ear to ear. He was very nervous for his first road race, the last time he raced he was my age and it was motocross. I am sure he will turn up again sometime soon.

I look forward to seeing all the new buckets that are on the way, I hope they get made/bought sometime very soon!