Sharky's PMCC R2 - Manfeild

**sharky** · 26th January 2009, 22:49

Practice -

Roll up with my father-in-law Phil and meet a few KBer's who we are sharing a shed with, Ninjaboy, Biggles08, Prettybillie, JRandom, Flame and Darren. (There is evidence that this garage was last used for throttling chickens and shearing sheep!)

My first time at Manfield and my 3rd race meeting (one each at the North Island tracks).
Main objectives; go out and familiarise myself with the track, don't crash or break anything before race day, scrub in new tyres and test suspension set-up (thanks to BUNGY at CYCLETREADS, Phil and my new sponsors

) All objectives completed and my bike now feels awesome, no sign of the front understeering problem I was experiencing in my first 2 meetings.

Race day -

PC Qualifying - Decided to be pushy and go out near the front to give me more of a chance of a clear run. A few faster guys pass me, I tried to follow to learn a few tricks but couldn't keep up. 10th, 1m25.07

F3 Qualifying - had a look behind a see Clivoris, I know he's quite quick so let him thru at the hairpin in the hope that he can drag me along for a quick lap but as I did so I buttoned off too much and he disappeared into the distance - Bugger! 16th, 1m25.37

PC Race 1- Muffed the start, wasn't watching the flag ( rule #1). Around turn one safely then, picked up a few of the places I'd lost. Found myself behind Vince on his Guzzi. Found it difficult to get by him with his superior HP, I could see he was getting on the brakes earlier than me, so after a couple of laps managed a good drive out of Dunlop and ducked down the inside under brakes into turn 1. Set about hunting down Anthony (meanwhile Benk was hunting me down) but the gap was too much to make up. Bloody enjoyable race! Finished 5th (pre '89 Jr). Best 1m24.38

F3 Race 1 - Slightly better start. Decide to try and head around the outside of turn 1. Somebody else had the same idea, (think Scratcha) he had a wee 'moment' and almost went down. I got a bit of target fixation and as a consequence let everyone through on the inside. All the guys who were much quicker than me cleared off and I had a lonely race. Unbeknown to me, Benk was all over the back of me, but I was none the wiser. Finished 12th (F3). Best 1m24.29

PC Race 2 - Good start, I had got in front of Vince this time which I was quite pleased with. Anthony was just in front of me this time so I pushed really hard and managed to squeeze past him. Can't remember where it happened now, blame it on heat exhaustion. He was all over the back of me for the remainder but couldn't find a way past. Benk was in the mix too. Finished 4th, my best result so far. Lap 1m23.98

F3 Race 2 - Bloody magic race! The faster bunch had a good gap on me, I maintained it for a while then they streched away. This time I was VERY aware of Benk's presence. On the 2nd lap he out braked me into turn 1 - hello! I chased hard and took a wider entry into Higgins to get on the gas earlier and drafted past him. This time I braked later into turn 1 to avoid a repeat. As we rounded the bend an Aprillia had just got down and this enabled us to jump on the back of the next bunch. Anthony got involved in our dog-fight and the order changed numerous times in the remaining laps as we slipstreamed each other, at times going 3 wide into and around corners. Anthony won the day, then me, then Benk. (The Aprillia that crashed has a fundamental problem, the arse of it just skips sideways going around corners even when going slowly on the warm-up. Rear shock fubar? - just incase you are reading) Finished 12th. Set my best lap of the day 1m 23.0

I thought there wouldn't have been many people that had as much fun as us that day but reading the other reports it seem there were grins a plenty all round!

Currently holding down

(all be it a distant 2nd) in pre '89 jr. Mainly due to being one of only a few that have finished all the races - but hey, I'll take it. 10th in F3.

Thanks to my father-in-law Phil who I'm sure subsidised my weekend despite making me feel like I was paying my own way.
My sponsors RED-i PRINT, Cycletreads and Divide Interior design.

Can't wait for round 3.

Scott Findlay #277

**prettybillie** · 27th January 2009, 10:58

We'll see you there in Taupo

**Benk** · 27th January 2009, 11:23

Nice racing man. Bring on Taupo. Keep an eye out for my hizbolah up the inside

**I14** · 27th January 2009, 21:31

Great racing guys, I can see I'm not going to get an age allowance so better just learn how to catchya. Hopefully wherewithall will come before Alzheimers or else I won't realise why I'm doing it???

**Benk** · 28th January 2009, 07:10

Originally Posted by I14

Great racing guys, I can see I'm not going to get an age allowance so better just learn how to catchya. Hopefully wherewithall will come before Alzheimers or else I won't realise why I'm doing it???

Geez Paul, Im giving you a 2 second head start from the line

**I14** · 28th January 2009, 21:54

That's right I need it Ben. Only have to learn how to corner as fast as you guys and you'll never make up the lost time. You have to stop improving and let me catch up.

**NinjaBoy** · 30th January 2009, 00:04

Great write up and it was great sharing a garage with you. See you at Taupo

**scroter** · 1st February 2009, 14:29

Originally Posted by sharky

As we rounded the bend an Aprillia had just got down and this enabled us to jump on the back of the next bunch. Anthony got involved in our dog-fight and the order changed numerous times in the remaining laps as we slipstreamed each other, at times going 3 wide into and around corners. Anthony won the day, then me, then Benk. (The Aprillia that crashed has a fundamental problem, the arse of it just skips sideways going around corners even when going slowly on the warm-up. Rear shock fubar? - just incase you are reading)

no offence but rear shock problem aye, I'd like to borrow that excuse book, I battled with him for over half the race before putting a bike between us meant he couldnt get me down the straight. from where I was it looked like rough with the controls, as in over riding it. also id be surprised if the rear shock in an rsvr factory is any worse than the bikes around him at the time and they were all riding smooth.

**sharky** · 1st February 2009, 17:44

Yeah I dunno mate, I followed him on the warm up lap, (obviously we're riding slowly at that point) and the arse of it was boucing up and down and skipping out. During the race I had to put up with him for the first couple of laps too, but he eventually got away from me due to his greater HP, which I wasn't too upset about to be fair. Talking to others in the pits, we weren't the only ones finding him a bit of a 'hinderance'.

**Biggles08** · 2nd February 2009, 08:14

Good write up bro :-)...didn't catch much of you out on the track unfortunately but you were good company in the pits.....at least you kept your clothes on!!!!

hahaha

**I14** · 2nd February 2009, 21:12

Originally Posted by Biggles08

Good write up bro :-)...didn't catch much of you out on the track unfortunately but you were good company in the pits.....at least you kept your clothes on!!!!

hahaha

Yeah was pretty ugly, lucky it was the end of the day!!