Hey everyone...
Didnt start off to well... My tyres hadnt arrived at the bike shop on the thursday night, so couldnt pick them up till the next morning. Well and truely pissed off because I was missing out on valuble testing time. Arrived at Manfield just before 5pm, had a quick chat to Robert Taylor about my forks then went to the hotel...
Practice 1 and 2: Forks werent working well, and Robert couldnt work on them till Saturday night, Shaun gave me a couple of settings to try out which helped emmensely... Brakes were also a problem due to a dodgy master cylinder that I had put on from my crash in Invercargill. Times were still slow, but im feeling alot better and more comfortable on the bike. Put down a time of 1:14.835 putting me 11th out of 21
Qualifying: New tyres on way more grip on ext of the corners, really starting to get on the gas hard and slide the bike around put down a time of 1:14.456. Qualified 11th.
Robert Taylor sorted out my forks and told me to find him in the morning to measure it up and set up the bike.
Scrub In: Used all 10 minutes to get used to the bike, the bike was a real handfull under brakes but felt so much better mid corner giving me more confidence. Robert dropped a bit of fork oil out and I was ready for my first race.
Race 1: Got an OK start, and settled into pulling in Andrew Evans. Did that and was aiming for Geoff Booth. All of a sudden Derek Hill came out of no where and passed me. For some reason I slowed in the middle of the race (mind thing) Gav had a massive high side, I hit his oil and had a good slide. Decided it was time to pull my shit together and started going harder. Started to catch Derek as he was getting tired. Put down my fastest lap of 1:13.941 at the end of the race... Finished in 9th place.
Race 2: Got a shocking start and before i knew it i was back in 14th or 15th... I was thinking oh shit im miles behind with heaps of people to pass meaning Geoff and Derek will be getting away... Stuck my head down and got pass Jono in the middle straight... Did a demon braking manuvoure into turn one and passed both Andrew Evens and John Ross under brakes. Settled in to pass Kevein Brookes. That took about 2 laps. I was out to get Geoff and Derek but they had gained a bit of a gap. Next thing Andrew Evans passed me under brakes. The chase was on. He was quicker through turn one, but i carried alot higher speed through turn 3 (Splash) and would gain alot, then fire out underneath Andrew on the exit of the hairpin. Had a few good dices like this, then i was managing to stay infront and riding defensively. White flag came up and I was still 10th place... Coming into the last sweeper and i stuffed up my braking point. I then didnt hook second gear and was stuck in 3rd. Didnt get the drive i needed and Andrew just pipped me to the line by 0.088 of a second. Best time of 1:13.523.
Huge thanks to Chloe, Shaun and Moto-dynamix, Robert Taylor from Ohlins, Trev for supplying the bike, Graeme Cole for semi fixing my dodgy brakes, Garry H, Torque and all the others that helped me out
Itching to get back out on the bike and ride faster and harder and smoother. Still need to push myself harder. Looking forward to Pukekohe and learning more and getting quicker
Cheers, Chris
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Originally Posted by The_Dover
, I too kinda have a curvy figure which makes it worse beacuse im a guy. Well the waist kinda goes in and the bum pushes out. When I was in college the girls in my year would slap me on the arse and squeeze because apparently it is firm, tight...
I wear jeans
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