Greymouth Street Race

**Buddha#81:Me** · 22nd October 2007, 08:14

Saturday dawned and the weather looked good in Chch but it didn't look so on the Coast going buy weather forcasts.
We got the Camper packed and hit the road the gusty NWester made the drive out Old Westcaost road exciting (nothing like driving a Motorhome in high winds). The trip over was slow but alot less painless than expected. We got to the Army Hall in Grey and met up with Old Gingernuts, Rashika, Stanko, and Johnny, signed in and put the bike through scrutineering. Off to the pit area and set up camp for the next day.

Race day: The Buddha family was woken FARKEN early by a VERY localised earthquake (the same one that let down some tyres and removed wipers from utes). The weather Although not raining looked like shite and sure enough it rained off and on untill riders briefing.

Post Classic Pratice: The track was very wet and wasn't offering much in the way of confidence so I just circulated to get a feel for the track again (It had been two years).

Bucket Practice: Its always funny watching the Formlua Classes changing tyres at wet meetings but when you don't have a tyre choice there is nothing to worry about. The slicks in the rain debate can start again 'cause the Bucket felt twice the PC bike in the rain on slicks and other than Race Wets I don't think you will find a better wet tyre for a Bucket. Practice went well and seeing that DC was having Issues with the RS/MB got me wondering........ along with some other fast bucket guys who did'nt turn up this would make for a rather interesting meeting.
Back at the pits DC's bike was in bits looking for the fault.

PC race 1: (Very wet track) I got a blinder of a start and went from row two to go through turn one in third....... well that about as good as the race got, I came home in about 7th but Visor and glasses fogging had me concerned.

Buckets race 1: (Very wet track) On the dummy grid we were starting off the front of the classics then the rear. So off on the warm up lap and gridded up on the first bucket row behind the Classics. At the flag drop I got to the first corner in 1st place only to be held up by the classic bikes and expected to have the likes of Diesel Pig start pushing through. The next couple of corners sorted out the slower from the faster classics and I could settle down and get the opportunity to have a look behind, there were a couple of slower classic's and 1 bucket, Rob A on the CB125........ whats going on.......I kept an eye behind and no other buckets came through so I had a resonably easy ride for 1st. After the race I found that there was possibly a second flag fall that didn't eventuate. I was still having issue with fogging.

PC race 2: (Dryish track) I gridded up on row three and got another good start and lost plenty of places during the race to finish in the top 1/2 somewhere, it was goo to see some blue sky and a dry line the fogging issues had stopped.

Bucket race 2: (dry track)Got on the front row and got a average start, turn 1 I was in about 4 or 5th (this one will be more difficult) The next coulple of corners I picked off Dangerous, Steve Rea and finally made it to 1st with Diesel Pig pushing me hard for a lap we were held up most corners by a slower corning classic. on the last lap DP pushed past down the back straight and I left my breaking to the last moment into the kink onto the start finish straight and outbreaked him and got the race win. After the race DP told me that he was having serious break fade. Two race wins and all I needed was a good result in the last to take the title off Big Bro who had finish in front of Dangerous on his spare bike.

PC race 3: (dry track) I went the same as race two but abit closer (I have the tyre marks down the left side of the GPz to prove it).

Buckets race 3: (dry trace) I got a shitter of a start and went into turn 1 in close to last place, so I put my head down and pushed through the feild up to 4th behind Dangerous, Stanko and DC (on dangerous's CB) ther was a small gap between 2nd and 3rd so Dc and I had a bit of work to do. The second to last lap I pushed up the inside of DC in the left hander an clipped his handlebar with my elbow and instantly had that heart sinking feeling that I'd taken him off......only to see the CB's wheel presented on my inside on the next staight. I managed to stay in front of him untill the flag and finished 3rd behind Stanko the winner and old Gingernuts 2nd.

End of the day we headed home after a shit hot days racing with one of my better results since starting racing 4 odd seasons ago.

**Kickaha** · 22nd October 2007, 09:16

Some awesome close racing in that class and well done on winning the class overall

**Joni** · 22nd October 2007, 09:47

yeah well done Buddha... was great to see you kicking some arse!

It was an amazing day over all actually!
Happy that you won it.
So happy for Stanko who won his first race ever! Go Mike!
Happy for your Bro who took Pre82
Happy for DieselPig who came in just behind him!

Yup, lots of happiness across the board.

**Nicksta** · 22nd October 2007, 11:26

awesome read dude!
have been told i should come down and watch these street races, i'm convinced to book my ticket for mext year now...
well done on your placings!

**dangerous** · 22nd October 2007, 19:32

Originally Posted by Joni

yeah well done Buddha... was great to see you kicking some arse!

It was an amazing day over all actually!
Happy that you won it.
So happy for Stanko who won his first race ever! Go Mike!
Happy for your Bro who took Pre82
Happy for DieselPig who came in just behind him!

Yup, lots of happiness across the board.

and happy for me for geting a 3rd in post classics and a 2nd in F4 (after leading it till the last 3 turns)

**Rashika** · 22nd October 2007, 20:52

well what a weekend eh?
racing at greymouth, a first for me
racing in the rain, a first for me
beating TonyB, and Rob Antonovich and Pete Jones (in dif races), PRICELESS!

Anyway, left earlyish... well not so early Sat morning, managed to bump into Stanko at springfield and almost get run down by the TonyB troop at the same stop, so tagged along with Stanko thru the torrential rain and snow over the pass. Quick stop at Arthurs pass to warmup and watch the poor buggers on bikes go pass, then back into the weather and plough our way over the pass with the snowgraders, yes there was 2 of them!
Scrutineering passed without a hitch for me, not so for some others. Stankos LC failed again and not just once this time for being dirty

but twice for various wee things. Mind you he did far better than Johnney who has now learned that TETHER switches! are required for street racing, just as well we had a few spare ones.
Parked the bikes up for the night, all safe and sound... well mine were fine, tho I dont take early morning excursions to wake up the neighbours

Next morning managed to get a reasonable park and even get all the bikes to the pits without crashing this time, altho it was looking extremely bad weather wise and proved to turn out that way.
Riders briefing then got my special yellow T to show how special I really am, along with all the rest of us special first timers. We got to have first bash at the track, cool I thought. Wet track but the rain had temporarily stopped, so thought maybe be ok. So we sat and waited, and waited... until the dry had stopped and the rain had returned with gusto and THEN they let us out on the track

Ah well at least i got a good slow look at the track as i tottered around on the LC very gingerly in the rain testing my tyres, the road and the bike. First 2 were good but the last was just not doing well. Kept dieing at low revs, fine if I gave it heaps, not a good thing in the rain, so did the laps and came back in to see what was up.
Missed the PC practice cos still trying to sort the bike, then there was bucket practice... damn that was fun!! New bike was bloody good to ride, even in the wet on slicks... just going carefully to see how it would go, and it was all good!

First PC race: ended up sitting on the sidelines with Stanko, wondering if I would be on the LC at all as we were not able to sort out the problem before the first race came up, so I was able to watch Darryl C, Diesel Pig and Darryl D all fighting it out. DC and DP had a great old battle ending with DP taking it out and Dangerous hung in there for third... Well done babe! And even got a few shots of most of you, sorry Buddha only got half of you :?
First Bucket race: well my first time in the rain in a race, interesting. Got a reasonable start and found myself in the top half of the field, wow that was pretty amazing. Found the track was kinda ok, not as scary as I was thinking it might be in the rain, had good grip so I was starting to actually race near the end of this one, and found myself chasing down TonyB with Dangerous only 2 places in front of him in 4th place, a 7th place for me... ferking shit hot!

2nd PC race: after pulling out half of the electrics a bright spark suggested the plugs which we promptly tried and it worked a treat, so I managed to line up with the rest of them... and then completely blow the start as usual. Ah well at least i was out there this time and the track was starting to dry, so I buggered around seeing if I could actually pass a few people, and seemed to get by a few.. the climax of which was passing Pete Jones on his chainsaw bike on the last corner before the flag. The same manouvre I perfected on TonyB... sorry mate but I just had to try it, damn the LC has a great front brake!

2nd Bucket race: This time I had a good start, but the track was getting drier so all those people who had slowed up in the first race came barrelling past me at the first corner, well a few got by anyway, so I settled in to chase em down. Toottled past johnney at some point, then I had Russell Bleach in front, snuck by him... then he snuck me back, so I really hung on to him after that. Tried a couple of times to get past but couldn't quite do it till the hairpin on the last lap when i managed to undercut him and suddenly there was TonyB in front of me, and the last corner was coming up so it was now or never... the ole undercut late break into the last corner trick, duck underneath and manage to sneak past him to the finish line. I shocked myself that time.

3rd PC race: (yes we got another round, awesome guys!) Another lousy start but I was ok with it, just glad to be out there really. This time there was all sorts of chaos, 2 crashes and i think they called the race on the last lap due to the white LC crash. Saw the first crash in front of me, 2 others and I managed to slowly pass round the outside of the sliding bike and carry on, then about a lap or 2 later there was the white LC down outside the pub corner. So I was loving the race, and was really finding top gear on the LC for once, and slowly gaining on the yellow 550 katana in front when it was all over... ah well shame about the end but bloody nice to feel confident on my wee elsie now!

3rd bucket race: Bit of a repeat of the last one, I remember seeing Johnney out there and waving as i got by him

, but this time it was Rob A and TonyB in front of me at the end and somehow I managed to just squeeze past Rob A after the hairpin but not quite make it to TonyB...

ah well some mightly fine racing there guys, It was bloody awesome to have such close racing the entire time! There was always someone to try and chase down and it was very inspiring to see you all out there giving it heaps. I felt good on both bikes in the end, and did feel like I had big improvements by the end of the day... so roll on next year!

And yep even got an interview by the prime guys...

hope it doesn't look too bad on telly, we'll see it if makes it in at all.

**dangerous** · 22nd October 2007, 21:01

SWEET it was a road trip and a road trip to a street race.
With 5 bikes in tow we headed off into a strong norwester, which after meeting up enroute with Stanko and having TonyB blast past with both turbos screaming out at 40,000rpm turned into a blizzard at Aurthers.
On arivell we signed in etc sorted out the nits that cant read whats required for scrutineering, parked the bikes up in the army hall and checked into the Kingsgate.

Race day
Rashika awakes and asks "is that rain" Stanko wakes with a loud ripper (too much pastry from the feed that night) and I roll out a bed with the old morning glory at attention (dont ya just hate that fellas?)
5am and I shot down to the car park and took the truck into the pits, found Ling wondering around looking for his fart and explained 'shes gone man shes gone'
went back to the room for a mint feed via the Buddha camp.. why I dont know but ling wanted to say good morning I guess, well not sure what happened but I had nothing to do with it.

After breakie we wondered down to pick the bikes up and to find that some c@#t had let out tyres down both my buckets and stankos bucket as well... well some one was worried about us and wanted the win of the day rather badly... when I find the FAT prick I figgered Id go all ginga on him, but instead I felt sad for the guilty party and decided to let it slide (memory like a elephant I have, hold a grudge like a true scott blood nut)

Practice well Practice was Practice, being a road rider I knew there was nothing to worry bout, rain... no worries get over it, a bigger concern was the truck that successfully achieved what Rashika couldnt last year and got over the dear net fence on the round about... however in the trucks efforts they tore the deisel lines off the tank and flooded the last turn in diesel, but the Fire Depo did a great job off cleaning up.

Race1 Post Classic talk about rain, fark the coast knows how to turn that shit on... anyway it doesn't faze me and I took out a 3rd place, sweet as in my books. Found that I needed to ride the clutch a bit as on a street circuit you dont use that many gears its more squirt, brake, point, squirt, brake, point, anyway this meant the 350LC would light up a bit in the wet but I found it managaeble, well Im used to it when riding the Guzzi.

Race 2 PC and the bunnies on the big block muilties pulled their thumbs out their arses and dropped me back to 5th position. I was having trouble launching the LC, in the hipe I'd dump the clutch and it would stand on end ease off and try again and the same thing would happen so I just kept it pinned but as a foot wasn't on the peg yet the bike would drift to the left which must have pissed a few off behind me... ahh well bad luck for them aye.

Race 3 PC Same ballsed up launch but who cares I was 3rd into turn1 out braking the muilties, but soon lost a couple a places and as the red flag was flown on the last lap Im unsure were I was placed but Im thinking 5th again.

Race 1 Buckets (f4) On the old CB125T and my visor had shit itsself with one side unclipping, it fogged up something wicked and the rain was awesome, got a love the west coast showers. The CB s a heavy old slut but brakes and handles well, the rain didnt faze me but I was finding it locking up in the rear under brakes, slicks are mint in the wet... dont stress it and ya fine.
The start was meant to be a double flag drop... well thats what I was told so I waited till launching, Buddha and a few others thought fark you lot Im outa here, so they had a massive head start, this had me spewing so I nailed the CB something rotten and worked my way up to 4th, which should have been 2nd if you remove the two cheats I couldnt haul in.

Race 2 F4 As DC's RS/MB had packed its pants I loaned him my CB as had I given him the MT he would have beat me... and well lets face it I didnt want that happening.
Great start and shot off into 1st place but was soon passed by Buddha i was after his arse like a gay man after Barrymore, I was doing well till I saw the front wheel of my own CB125 pull up beside me and thought 'how the fuck can that slow old shitter be about to pass me so I gave it the beanies but was passed on the inside at the hair pin, DC on my CB stuffed a gear change up drifting so far out I was headed into the tyres with no way back onto the track so I hit the picks and pulled in behind him as stanko shot past us... so fron 2nd to 4th I was shoved and then that bloody CB of mine took Ling back again on the finish line, so I lost 2 places and DC gained 2, Ling gained 1 and Buddha the jellied bellied fat guttet bastard... well he kept 1st slot, nice going man.
Race 3 F4 mint launch hauled arse into 1st spot and held a decent lead till Yowling came out a know were, I figgered as it was the last lap that I had it stitched up so lost concentration and slacked off so bloody Stanko took me out 3 turns before the checkered, nice going ling that street stock 2002 FXR150 sur showd my 1977 shit box what technology can do to ya... LOL you will keep.

Shit it was a good day blink and ya miss it soaked through and sun burnt all in the one day, good shit ya all, thanks for making it wat it was.
Photos to follow, stay tuned Ill even try and post a vid of Oysters V4 250 stroker built out of two twin chainsaw engines 40yrs ago.
Also watch out on Sky sport and later on Prime for the vidio of the race.

Somethin I find really cool about street races is the old bastards that come out to play, by old I mean in there 70's
Curly is a 74yr old digger on a 750Kat, what a great guy to get chatting with... he drove down fro Auckland way in his datsun ute that has 1million kms on it... and he brought it new, fucking rode well to.

**ajturbo** · 22nd October 2007, 21:54

wish i was there!!!!

**dangerous** · 23rd October 2007, 05:16

Ya know its bloody amazing that in 3 hours we have crossed the Island, over the canty plains and over those big white mountains, heres a few pics.

**ajturbo** · 23rd October 2007, 06:10

looks like you had a tail wind for the starts!!!

that must have helped GAV...

the old geesa with the kat!.. wow he gets around!... nice old bugger he is!!

**Rashika** · 23rd October 2007, 06:30

Originally Posted by ajturbo

looks like you had a tail wind for the starts!!!

that must have helped GAV...

the old geesa with the kat!.. wow he gets around!... nice old bugger he is!!

nope cos he wasn't there

but musta helped old Buddha out seeing as he won the bucket trophy!

Curly with the kat... cool guy, ended up speaking to him lots. At scrutineering, that night in the pouring rain and hail, and a few times on the day on the dummy grid. Saw him make a ballsup... in his own words he said " down the straight, saw the corner coming (this was the first corner!) and thought, shit aint gonna make that and ran off the end of the track. Lucky there was a runoff

"
and I was behind him, funny to watch cos he just smoothly came back and passed us smallies anyway

**Rashika** · 23rd October 2007, 06:33

a few more piccies...
pic 1: the ninetynines
pic 2: TonyB
pic 3: Dangerous, Diesel pig, and DC (with buddha behind on 181)
pic 4: johnney212
pic 5: Oyster
pic 6: Diesel pig beating DC in the first Post classic