OK. My hand's well and truly raised, I deserved this. After poor old Eddy/Drew/Brian/Dodgy Matt/Luke/Sue/Jamie and anyone else that would listen having to put up with pure Mair Smack-talk, I got what was coming.
Had some beers and restraunt laughes with Rossi Gal and her dad, Dodgy Matt, Mike and spaghEDDY the night before testing. Did some smack-talking. Got to the track on the test day, Mike and I got set up, then I went about running 68-69 second laps all day on a thoroughly worn out front tyre and a very shagged rear. Chucked the new rear on, set 8 blinding laps, called it a day, did some more smack-talking. Let Sue and Keiran have an early night while me and Mike went and drank all Dodgy Matts piss with Frenchy, Niki, Archer, Rachel, spaghEddy, Drew and my sister Vicki. May have smack-talked a little. Quick question. What KBer would you consider rooting should you be trapped on a desert island island with them, lost both hands and come accross them on all fours, head buried in the sand?
Anyway, Race day rolled around and with my stunning partner and vocal baby in tow, we hit the track. Smack-talking all the way. Sue set about showing off her pride and joy, couple of people even had a quick look at Keiran then it was action time. We'd fitted a new front slick to a graciously lent front wheel the night before and I declined Ol' Dodgys advise that the scrub session might be worth looking at. "Can't see the fucken point" I smack-talked as he left for a few laps. Qualifying rolled around and having ridden with Sam, Sloan and Johnny the day before I knew they'd all be quick, but I was (not so) quietly confident. As I rolled up pit lane I instantly knew something weren't right. My feeble brain quickly shut off it's smack talking and offered sweet F A asway of advice. Once on the track things seemed worse, MUCH worse. The front of the bike was bouncing around and the bars were giving the Ohlins steering damper a hell of a workout. I quickly dismissed a imprperly beaded front tyre as the culprit as I could literaly see the run out from side to side in the front rim. I may have swore, not realy clear. I very gingerly upped the pace (that's how you spell pace Sam) realising that I'd have to at least do two laps to even get on the grid. I did three, just to be sure. Carrying the front wheel about a foot off the deck down all the straights to minimize the wobble. Qualified 17th, fifth row and directly behind Matt Bleck in his debut outing at Minefield. Had a bit of a chat with him before the first race to guage how quick he thought he'd get off the line. Seeing as he'd never tried before, it was agreed that I'd best find someone else to aim at the back of.
Changed the front wheel between then and the race, big thanks to Dodgy and Mike for their sterling effort and MarkNZ for retrieving my tantrum thrown gloves from around the pit garage. Caught up with a shitload of mates and generaly chilled out a bit.
Race I
I knew that in a six lap race, against Sam, Nick Cole, Derek McAdam and the like, the start would be imperative. Collected my thoughts on the line and watched the lights. Anticipated them perfectly and got probably the best start of my career. I really can't remember much of the race but there was a fair amount of scrapping to get past Jay and Jamie Galway but once clear I pulled a bit of a gap, settled into a rhythm and set my sights on the three at the front, then promptly got the chequered flag. Fuck it! 4th didn't make me a happy vegemite. Luckily it was a fair bit better than 17th and the bike was doing what it should no problems. Made a couple of secret squirel chages for race two and looked forward to 12 laps.
Race II
I knew I had a shot at a win so was calm and collected on the grid. Lighs went out and BAMM, I aimed for the gaps. Carried a mint wheelie all the way to turn one and found myself in sixth out of the first turn. Glued myself to the group in front and began to pick them off one by one, enjoying parking the WBP GSXR right next to everyone in the turns, leaving them nowhere to turn in. Out braked Derek in third heading into turn one on lap two, moved to the outside of Nick Cole through the following right hander, strategically being in his way as he tried to move left through splash. Held him off to the hairpin then dispatched of Sams R6 on the middle straight. Seventeenth to first in a lap and a half had me grinning so I set about making a break. Led for a lap and a bit then heading through the infield I had the strange feeling Sam was all over me so I knuckled down a little harder and "OH SHIT" lost the front. I quickly ran to the bike as Sam and Nick shot past, restarting it but the left peg was at a funny angle and a bit loose so I parked it for the second time in as many meetings and watched from the tyre wall. Watched an epic 12 lap battle between Nick Cole and Sam, swapping the lead almost every lap and another between Johnny and Sloan. Those guys were actually bashing fairings in the hairpin. Frenchy had a blinder but that blond Poofter pulled one outta the bag to finish 7th! TonyOK did all he could to pull in the jet of a Gixxer but no Honda had a shit show on that day. Big ups to Matt Bleck for a strong race and thanks for the acknowledgements as I sat fuming guys.
Huge thanks to Sue for taking the over all parenting duties for the whole weekend and letting me get on with my selfish sport of choice. WBP Racing is fortunate to have fantastic support from Wealth Buy Property and Easystart Rental Management along with Dunlop and of course long time backing by Quasimoto Leathers. Actually Brett and Paula, ummmm, these leathers are getting a little thin, can't work out why. Thanks to Robert and Dennis from Crown Kiwi Technical for the spring changes and constant helpfull advise throughout the weekend too.
What have we learnt? When you're confident, shut your hole.
Thanks for reading, catch y'all at Round III
PS. Anyone with funny photos, feel free to post em up, I aint proud anymore.
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Karma ... Justice catches up eventually !! 
Originally Posted by chanceyy
huh .. 
oh yeah less of the talk & more action next time should do it .. 
haha good riding anyway man, yeah i saw the white beast coming up the inside of me as well my defense was useless.... must have been a good spot to watch from anyway!
GOOD RUBBER SAVES LIVES
.Ya little bro is claiming the win for the weekend but i think the Duc bet the lot of ya this weekend. Drew got the most points for SBK races that all 3 Mairorama's were in,SO DREW IS THE WINNER
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