Tarawera 75 Race Report.

**barty5** · 14th July 2008, 14:21

Originally Posted by Ktmboy

Yeah I came round the corner on the first lap and he was holding up his hand minus a digit. Had a blood fountain going so told him to wait and informed the next check. Looked freaking sore.

Which part of the track was that on ?? which lap??

**Ktmboy** · 14th July 2008, 14:28

Actually I think it was the second lap and in the tighter stuff. Sure it was a KTM rider

**barty5** · 14th July 2008, 14:47

just wondering as i went past a guy who had stopped bout 5 ks in 1st lap dude in front of me hauled up to stop with out warning nearly took him out.

**tnarg** · 14th July 2008, 17:34

Found a couple of vids up on youtube already.

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=VMNt7XubFrI

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=cqBlu2vNg5k

**LittleJohn** · 14th July 2008, 19:11

Sounded like fun, so where did everyone get???

**dammad1** · 14th July 2008, 19:42

Originally Posted by tnarg

Found a couple of vids up on youtube already.

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=VMNt7XubFrI

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=cqBlu2vNg5k

Cool vids, but man that start is mad, especially trying to filter all those riders into a hairpin.

Two many riders for that kind of start, if they staggered the start like at the GNCC's it would be much better and would stop all those major pileups and bottle necks.

Maybe have a short qualifying lap to see what row you started on? As just turning up early to get on the front row seems a bit stink.

**scott411** · 14th July 2008, 19:45

i know i prefer the mass start, the gncc style takes something away for me, its why i have never raced one,

the prologue idea sounds good tho, but a heap if organising, you would need to do it the day before

**dammad1** · 14th July 2008, 20:00

Originally Posted by scott411

i know i prefer the mass start, the gncc style takes something away for me, its why i have never raced one,

the prologue idea sounds good tho, but a heap if organising, you would need to do it the day before

Yeah it would probably be to hard to do in just one day but i'm sure an event like this would still be hugely popular across two days, especially if you just took your time and made sure everything was run properly.

I think the Mass start would certainly be exciting, but this is not suppose to be a sprint race, to train and prepare yourself to last the 4 hours and to get taken out in a pile up on the first corner is really a bit crazy.
If they spread the field out they would have alot less bottlenecks and people could just concentrate on riding as fast as they can and hopefully at the end the results would be truly representative of the real pace and ability a rider has rather than wether you were lucky enough to not get stuck behind a cue of bikes or wether you could find a shortcut around it.

**scott411** · 14th July 2008, 20:30

it is hard tho, as how do you split up the start? i know alot of guys like to go for the overall so if you do it by class it is a bit hard on those guys,

the Tarawera is a special race, it has run for 30 years with not many changes, if anything the tracks have got easier and turned it into a 4 hour sprint race, they used to put swamps in and bus people to watch them, but i had a talk to one of the organisers about this a few years ago, they never got the numbers when they ran the course that hard,
MX riders now dominate this race because of it, some of the old footage shows the track going up a stream for a km or so,

**B0000M** · 14th July 2008, 20:42

Originally Posted by scott411

it is hard tho, as how do you split up the start? i know alot of guys like to go for the overall so if you do it by class it is a bit hard on those guys,

the Tarawera is a special race, it has run for 30 years with not many changes, if anything the tracks have got easier and turned it into a 4 hour sprint race, they used to put swamps in and bus people to watch them, but i had a talk to one of the organisers about this a few years ago, they never got the numbers when they ran the course that hard,
MX riders now dominate this race because of it, some of the old footage shows the track going up a stream for a km or so,

would be awesome to have more of that sort of thing in there, it is very much an easy track, the only difficult parts are where it gets too chopped out or when one person falls off and blocks the track, rather than actual difficult terrain

**Ktmboy** · 14th July 2008, 20:51

I'd have to agree with Scott about the start. This is adrenalin pumping stuff and quite tactical. If you seriously want to win you have to make the commitment to get there early to secure the front row, or else think wisely and stick to the outside to avoid confusion. I saw one guy at the end of the You Tude vid going up the side of the hill. Shit, I wouldn't have waited around either but would have gone even further around on the Moto x side.

Only thing I didn't like was the speed through the breaks. It wasn't technical at all but just how big your balls were. Shit put some trees across the track with options to go around if you have to. Put a bog in but a way around that takes 3 minutes longer.

This can still be NZ's premium off road race but make it different from any other old cross country. Keep the start!!

**soundbeltfarm** · 14th July 2008, 20:51

what would it rate compared to some of the trail rides we have in taranaki?
does anyone know.
i know its a race so there will be that factor but lookin at that you tube vid does it get any harder than what was in that?
i'm keen to do it next year but would like to know what im up against and when i'll need to start training .
my fitness is like zero now but with calving about to start that'll sort me out a bit .
my riding skills are not the best so will need my fitness in check
cheers

**scott411** · 14th July 2008, 20:58

it may be worth going to one of the trail rides that the TTBRC run, it has a lot of similar trails, they run 1st sunday of the month,

**dammad1** · 14th July 2008, 21:18

I guess they need to decide what their target market is going to be, make it real hard and you won't get the numbers or make it all rideable and try to get all the average + trailriders out their racing.

for me the challenge would just be to ride the 4 hours at speed unlike when your at trailrides and you stop every 20 minutes for a yarn. And for the masses thats harder than it sounds.

As for the split starts the time difference is allowed for so it goes by time, so no matter where you start if your fast enough you can still win.