NZSBK #3 - Ruapuna
After travelling up to from Timaru on monday, we decided to take it easy on the tuesday rather than heading straight to the track. Headed out to the track on wednesday for a limited testing session. Spent the day getting used to the track and making some small suspension adjustments, but the lap timer was on the blink so hard to tell if things were going in the right direction.
Practice on friday was OK, making a few changes but spent more time just trying to ride the circuit proprly. But at the end of the last session I noticed oil leaking from the rear shock. Took it out for Robert Taylor find the rear preload adjust was cracked - and with no spare - he kindly replaced the hydraulic adjust with manual lock rings to get it through the weekend.
Practice/Qualifying on saturday was going to be a mission. Gareth Jones and James Smith were already circulating faster than lap record pace, so would have to pull finger and go hard. Qualified 16th with a 1:43.8 (about a second faster than my best time from last year).
Race 1, knew Nick Cole would be coming flying through from the back (he'd had an off after 1 or 2 laps in qualifying so had to start at the back of the grid), so kept out the way into turn 1. Passed greg into the hairpin and tagged onto the guys in front for a couple of laps. Best time was a 1:42:3 in lap 9. That was when some of the faster riders were coming through and lapping me so i could follow them round a bit. Only issue was into pothole when someone came past I stuffed up the gear change into the corner and the bike lurched forward - I ran off the track and managed to keep int going and get back on the track just before the hairpin. Over 2.5 seconds faster than last year so target for the weekend acheived.
Race 2. NZGP. Rubbish start again but quickly passed Dr Steve on Gregs bike into the first corners. Race was quickly red flagged after Jay went down and we went back to the pits to refuel and line up for a full restart. Bike was heavy on fuel for the 15 lap race and to be honest I felt it was handling like a sack of s**t - I couldn't get the bike into the corners, or hold the lines I wanted. After about 6-8 laps it started getting a bit better, but by then I was pretty knackered and couldn't push the pace i had in the first race. Thanks to greg for giving me a stickier tyre (SC1) for the race though - the SC2's were spinning a bit toward the end of the first race.
Anyway that meant that at least I finished in the points at all south island rounds (albeit in 14th and 15th places), didn't crash, went faster than last year and had fun.
So what have I learnt?
The top guys in the country are very quick. Not only talented riders, but able to get the bike setup to make their life easier.
Fitness. Still need to be fitter. Not unfit, but should it really be that hard to get a bike into the corner and hold it online?
Bike Setup. It can't be all due to fitness/strength. Need to try more dramatic changes with the bike to really understand how it effects handling and what changes need to be made. Mid corner speed wasn't too far off the faster guys - just getting into the corner without it running wide was a problem for me. Not that this is an excuse for the rider - the bike shouldn't be that bad, but probably could be better.
Track time. Nothing beats track time - and trying to improve your riding.
The way home was interesting with the van engine suddenly letting go at Greta Valley north of christchurch. Had to get back to chch to hire a van to get the trailer and gear home. That delay meant we only made it to the last ferry of the day and getting home and unpacked about 3am. Then having to drop the hire van off at 8am on the way to work today. Now at work and it's raining and already wondering where the last 3 weeks of racing bikes in the sun has gone.
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Originally Posted by scracha
He would have been missing his keyboard and comfy chair down South.
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