Kickaha's Battle of the Buckets

[dangerous]

Rider of the day? Not a KB'er unfortunately... but DC would take that IMO

Rider of the day... no way, DC was just as tuned into it as he always is nothing different there same with all the top riders, great riding but thats normal.

My Observations after an hour out there would be (and I will have missed menitioning a lot too)
MudBoy, well done man
Tyger Tung, wicked skills on the Slut man... you have joined the few that have not been biffed from the sluts saddle.
Jonny, mate awesome skills on a proddy bucket, very smooth and sweet lines.
SpeedPro, ya old bastard... made me sweat it out before letting you go.
Nipper, for doing the best job on a piston and rod i have ever seen.
Rashika, the only chick with the guts to take on 40+ blokes.
Thunder, ya ridings improving fella go hard man.
The list goes on... so many riders giving it hell and taking on the big boys

[Thunder]

Thunder, ya ridings improving fella go hard man.

Thanks Dangerous, had a great day, glad I was on my FXR , it was pretty comfy for the hour race. Thanks to the organisers, flag marshall & photographers it was a great event. Also I would to thank Darryl Cotton, Dangerous, Stanko & B31 for helping me get the FXR up and running. Still cant work out the hairpin, even after 4 races + the GP, maybe never will.

[stanko]

Thanks to the dedicated Buckateers that made this happen, it was no small feat. The biggest threat to my days racing was squashing my finger in a folding bike ramp, then some clever clogs showed me the saftey warning sticker about not leaving fingers in ther when folding it up.
The big race was just that Big loads of bikes carnagein the first minute, i had to remind myself that I needed to last an hour. I must have finished mid field cos I lapped a few people and got lapped a few times. Each time I lapped Tyger Tung I thought how brave he was wearing those leathers, good one man your obviously not a fashon victim.
I took Yellow peril out with the intention of running it in the afternoon, but I was happy to lend it to Diesel pig on the condition he tells me what was wrong with it , answer handles like shit but the engine goes good, so there is room for improvment there.
after 40 or 50 goes at the hairpin I think I will need another 40 or 50 to get it sussed.
One of the best things from Sunday was meeting the Northeners. Thanks guys for coming . Bad luck Steve , but people were still admiring your bike even after it was blown up, that s one purdy bike
Once again Thanks Dangerous Rashika Tony Mac and Spud for the many hours of work that we could easily take for granted.
Special thanks to SuzyQ for the CD that turned up at work today with hundreds of brilliant pictures from the meet

[Skunk]

I'd just like to thank everyone down there for the great racing and hospitality, had a great time and was good to put faces to names (even if for some it was after the event).

Thanks to Dangerous and Rashika especially for putting us up (and up with us).

Good sandwiches too, SpeedyGirl. If only I had grabbed some earlier. Thank you all.

[TonyB]

Firstly, huge thanks to the BOB comittee. Well done, and thanks for an awesome morning!

It was a long hard road getting there. My Bucket has been under development for quite a while now. Stanko has spent many hours sorting the thing out, so huge thanks must go to him. As with any modified machine, some times you take a few steps backwards before it all comes together, and my bike was a classic example. We braced the frame, which helped the handling imensely. Months ago we fitted a different expansion chamber, which initally made the bike substantially slower as it no longer worked with the original carb. We threw on the old carb from Dangerous' 2 stroke bucket, and while this made good power it became VERY unreliable. In the meantime we fitted slicks on wire wheels from an NZ250, and I insisted on jacking the rear end up. I didn't realise it at the time, but this made the bike very very difficult to ride. A bears meeting gave a clue as to just how bad it had become, but due to 'mitigating factors' and the heat of racing, I really thought it was all me. After being a total sad sack for a few hours i decided "FUCK THIS!" I realised there were two options- 1) give up racing or 2)practice till I got better. So deciding to follow Koreas lead, I loaded the bucket into the van and found a decent sized carpark in an industrial area. After doing figure eights for a while I realised two things;
1) The bike only turned properly if I stayed right down low.
2) The seat and rear set pegs forced my weight forward all the time, so riding it was like doing a hand stand.
So I bought some GSXR250 clip ons and got Stanko to turn up some spacers for them. And I reshaped the seat so it wasn't tilted forward.

The Have a Go day was supposed to be the day for sorting it out. No such luck. I couldn't even do a full lap.

So then I commandered Dangerous, and we took the bike and a handful of jets out to Top Secret Proving Ground 1. After a lot of frustration, we began to suspect that the jetting had nothing to do with it. However we did get it making enough power to slip the clutch in all gears The next morning i pulled the carb apart and found loads of alloy swarf and a big chunk of rust between the inlet spigot and the float valve. Then I went out to Top Secret Proving Ground 2 to see if it worked, and sort the clutch. It definitely worked, so Stanko pulled the clutch to bits and we de-glazed everything. It worked !

So then the day before I pissed about trying to fix a few small things that might end my race, then i went out and collected the other two bikes I had to take.

BOB day dawned with a Nor'West shower. I roll out of bed at 5:45 and toddled off to the track. After that its kind of a blur, probably because we had;
Practice
2 min break
Race 1
2 min break
Race 2
10 min break
55 mins plus 1 lap!!!

Practice was basicly tentatively wobbling around trying to get used to the bike, which i had never ridden on the track in its current form.
Race 1. blurry as! Had a battle with Stanko, realised just how much ground you loose if you try and the wrong gear through a corner.
Race 2. even blurrier!
55 min- Started further back on the grid as I had a feeling the first few laps would be busy. Shit was I right!! As mentioned above, I was having issues on the first (bumpy) right hander, and the second one wasn't much better. got stuck with Stanko behind some proddy bikes. Next thing I know the leaders are all over us and I have a moment in the second right hander and Kickaha clips my front wheel. Some off road travel got me back on the track, a looong way from the righthander. To add to the amusement, the camelback I had in the hump of my suit was over filled, and it was forcing fluid into me, whether I wanted it or not! I got fuller and fuller, till I became quite bloated and uncomfortable. A huge buuuuurp sorted that out!.

Before the race I had a feeling that I would get faster as the race went on, and it proved to be true. By the end of the race I was able to keeps up with the likes of TonyMac on every corner except the right handers, and I couldn't get the hairpin right. A strong southerly wind had me either a gear too high or a gear too low on the start finish straight- I couldn't accelerate at all untill I got round the kink. But other than that the race was very very encouraging. for one thing the bike went perfectly for the whole hour!!!! Plus it looked like i might actually be able to ride quickly with some more practice. Originally i had planned to economise my movement on the bike, but that theory went out the window and I ended up hanging off for the whole race.... but...

When i got off the bike I couldn't stand for a few minutes- I was not alone, Dangerous colapsed into a trailer and curled up into the foetal position! My wife and brother were there watching the race. MrsB has witnessed me at my worst after recent wasted race days, dissapointment and depression. so when she ran up, gave me a hug and said " Wow thats the best i have ever seen you ride!!" the air got just a little bit dusty...

[gav]

How about a race report from ya, Skunk?

[dangerous]

We threw on the old carb from Dangerous' 2 stroke bucket, and while this made good power it became VERY unreliable.
The next morning i pulled the carb apart and found loads of alloy swarf and a big chunk of rust between the inlet spigot and the float valve.

I was having issues on the first (bumpy) right hander, and the second one wasn't much better.

Hmmm... just finished looking into the reason my MB seized up, head off and no damage TFFT. So for the 1st time I put a inline filter on the fuel line and drained the tank... in no time the filter was full of all kinds a shit, so off with the carb... and what ya know? yip mostly blocked same place as Tony's carb (suspect as that was my carb that the shit in it came from my tank aswell)
So I guess my bike locked up due to limited fuel and going lean.

1st right hander is smoth as Tony, however it does need to be taken at the right angle.
2nd righty... smoth aswell, I think you need to look at something there.
The bumpy corner I find is the left in between the rights... its a shocker reckon it will be the corner that puts me on my arse, both buckets loose traction and slid/shudder the way through that one.

[Skunk]

How about a race report from ya, Skunk?

OK then...

Practice: Once I saw which way the track went things started coming together better. I had geared the bike with a 34 rear and 14 front hoping that the gap between the gears wasn't too big (4 speed box). I found that over-reving in 3rd just picked up 4th so I had to keep the corner speed up or I would bog on the exit. Made a note to change the gearing before the first race.
Track impressions; it's all sweepers compared to what I normally race on, even the 'hairpin'. I seem to be going too deep into the hairpin on the brakes which unsettles the bike on transition to power. Started to lose the front once but pulled it back with the throttle.
Found I just didn't have enough speed; I was hitting top speed half way between the corner and the start finish line.

Two minutes between the practice and first race! Bugger, no time to fix the gearing.

Race 1: Big field. Good start but held up by a couple of bikes at the kink. Passed a couple into the hairpin on the brakes but went too deep again and lost pace for the exit. Repeat that for the rest of the race. Passed by most, passed a few. Bloody good fun. No idea where I finished.

Race 2: Another good start and again held up at the kink. Shorter race this time so I only got passed by two lead riders.

Battle of the Buckets: Yet another good start and straight away I backed off the pace to try and last the distance. Seems everyone else was out for a sprint race... Saw two crash out on the first couple of laps. I'm sure I was close to last by the 50 mins to go board so I upped the pace a bit. Not sure how far into the race I was but I think about 15 mins and the gearbox decided it was time for a rest. Couldn't select any gears without a up, up, down, do-we-have-one?, down, up guessing game. Got worse and worse so I pulled out. Bugger.

Should have entered in the BEARS bucket racing but didn't for various reasons. Good day out overall though.

[ajturbo]

what a day!!
thanks for washing the track for us guys!

1st practice... need another gear.. into pits for a bigger front (14 tooth) sprocket...
2nd pratcice... still in pits changing luke's front.....

1st race didn't get last

long race... didn't get last.. and i finished

thanks to the flag wavers!!
and the organisers

[TonyB]

1st right hander is smoth as Tony, however it does need to be taken at the right angle.

I spent an hour going around that corner every lap. I think I know a bump when I feel one.

2nd righty... smoth aswell, I think you need to look at something there.
The bumpy corner I find is the left in between the rights... its a shocker reckon it will be the corner that puts me on my arse, both buckets loose traction and slid/shudder the way through that one.

My bucket loves that left, powers through there no worries at all.

[dangerous]

I spent an hour going around that corner every lap. I think I know a bump when I feel one.

mate what I mean is maybe you need a different line as... I dont recall a bump on that corner, so perhaps I go under or over it.

the gearbox decided it was time for a rest. Couldn't select any gears

Ohh crap man, sorry in all the hype and rush of things I never relised that you had shat ya dacks... pitty cos there was spare bikes available

[k14]

mate what I mean is maybe you need a different line as... I dont recall a bump on that corner, so perhaps I go under or over it.

I'd say the bump he's talking about is the strip of seal that goes on the inside of the corner about 1m out from the ripple strip for about 5m or so. It has a small crest on it so does create a little bump. If you get the line right you should be able to miss 90% of it though.

I think there is a small bump on the left hander (next corner) but not too bad. The biggest 2 bumps on B track are the last corner (first corner on full track), quite alot of corrugations on the inside. Then on the outside of the kink on the back straight. There's a big trough just by the end of the ripple strip on the right side of the track. Easily avoided by riding to the inside but is ok to ride straight through. Can unsettle the bike quite a bit though.

[Kickaha]

I'd say the bump he's talking about is the strip of seal that goes on the inside of the corner about 1m out from the ripple strip for about 5m or so. It has a small crest on it so does create a little bump. If you get the line right you should be able to miss 90% of it though.

Never noticed it

I think there is a small bump on the left hander (next corner) but not too bad.

They're the worst on the track but you can miss them if you hug the kerb, the RD350LC gets very untidy over them and thats why Glen fell on his arse

Then on the outside of the kink on the back straight. There's a big trough just by the end of the ripple strip on the right side of the track.

Nope all gone, whole section there has been resealed

[johnnyboy0212]

hey fella's
thought id put my two cents worth in too. i had the best days racing ive ever had! my bike felt mint,thanks to those who told me how to set the thing up right. met afew new peolpe,even some for overseas..(strange they is).but a wicked day to be had by all.the big race was brill, i couldnt beleive how meny bikes went down,crapped out and blow up in the first three laps alone.at first i was playing with tonyb in the early parts of the race .shit it was fun ehh, then mid way through i came up on dangerous on his big block thumper!.i never thought id catch up to one of the fastest guys on the track (don't get a big head for that coment either d)in the end though i got stuck in back traffic and the barsted got away.besides it was only half way though the race and i didnt want to fuck things up.id love to know what placing i got,i mean hell i passed tt three or four times and thats all that matters. thankyou all for the most enjoyable day.and thankyou so much to suzyq for the disk of all the barsteds that pasted me!.

[TygerTung]

Hey Frank Thomas, you should come and race on saturday at the motorcycling canterbury meeting I'll give u a good run fer ya money on the mighty CG, will be good to have a bit of competition.