vtec
15th May 2006, 00:39
http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Manfield
Well folks. I've got another (hopefully) enthralling race meeting write up for you all to enjoy, and perhaps inspire you into some racing of your own. It's really changed my life so far... not sure if it's changed in a good way or not, but I'm sure enjoying it.
So in the lead up to the race day, I had been following the weather updates all week. It never looked good, in fact it kept getting worse right up until Saturday when me and dad would have to make the final call as to whether or not to make the 7 hour van journey down to Feilding. Well since we weren't 100% sure of what the weather would do, and it looked possible that we could catch the gap in the two weather fronts, we decided to start packing up the van and go. Even though we heard some pretty crappy reports on what the weather doing down in Palmerston North. We decided to be stubborn and make our way down, cause if we didn't, the weather would have been perfect for sure. It's just one of those things.
We spent the morning of the Saturday getting everything packed and chucked in the van, all strapped up proper cause it was going to have to last quite a marathon. Then spent the rest of the day driving till about 6.30 at night to arrive at the Raceway Court Motel. Once we got to our room, bugger, I realised I would be sleeping in the same room as my dad. Obviously he would get the double, and I'd get the single, but the problem was that there was only about 1 metre between them. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't got such a good sleep on Friday night, and some dozing action in the van on the way down, that I would have been screwed Sunday morning, cause that man sure knows how to snore. I think I woke up approximately once every hour all night. But still, once morning came round I felt pretty good. Felt surprisingly relaxed too despite it being completely clouded over.
We got up at 7.45 am. I noticed a fancy looking ZXR250 parked on a trailer at our motel, and instantly I felt my confidence wane. It sure looked fast. We headed to the track somehow ended up at a Garden show, but found the correct entry gate after a short while. Unloaded the bike, set up the tent, and we were ready to go. Signed in, got a transpoderiser thingymabob. I noticed that there were quite a few entrants in the streetstock category. Sweeet. Was going to be a decent proving ground this time, as there were a couple of ZXR250's to compare myself against aswell as a whole pack of RG150's, and KR150's.
Then came the serious business of socialising. Got approached by Loosebruce, and got to meet DSS3 aswell, have huge respect for these guys, as they are at the forefront of F1 racing in NZ and by the looks of it, all under their own steam, didn't look like there was too much sponsorship going on. Also met Racey Rider, one of my inspirations off the forums. Was probably one of the tipping factors that got me racing streetstock.
Went back to the bike, and played with the brakes to see what they felt like. They felt pretty shite, and I wasn't going to be able to brake with two fingers, cause the lever was coming right back to my two outside fingers. So I decided to try bleeding it for about the 5th time to see if it helped. Bled a whole lot of fluid through, and put all fresh stuff in. Seemed to work... for a short while, it went back to being soft in no time at all. Bugger. There might be something seriously wrong with my master cylinder I decided (could have been caused when I broke off the brake lever the week before), but at least it was still usable, was just going to cause me to brake early, and cautiously.
Eventually we get called up for the streetstock and 125 practice round, I'm pretty eager, and get on the dummy grid pretty swiftly, and one of the RG150's pull up next to me. He asks if I'm vtec. Ha, yep, introduces himself as RG100!! Aha, yep I've read a few of his posts, cool. I find out that its his first time racing out of buckets, so I just tell him to take it easy, cause from the rider's briefing the track wasn't in particularly good shape, with some gravelly powder on one of the corner's from a race car spill, and numerous potholes around the course. I had already got in my mind that I was going to go out easy in practice, cause they haven't seemed to agree with me recently. But still that's what I said to myself the previous week. <_<
They let us out onto the track, a couple of the 150 took off pretty quick, but I was pretty happy to just sit back, ride like a commuter around it a couple of times before picking up the pace. Spotted where the potholes were, and where there were a few rough/bumpy patches. Took in the gradually tightening corners. Then decided to pick it up a little. At least the track had pretty much completely dried, so I could go at a respectable pace. I still didn't like my brakes, and had to revert to using all four fingers to get it to slow down, whereas usually 2 fingers is all I need to get it to do a stoppie. Ah well, just going to have to get used to it. Started chasing after a couple of the 150's that took off at the start of the practice. Made some good ground, and started to get into the swing of things following one of them round for a couple of laps to learn some different lines. Then I picked it up some more, and went passed, and did a couple of laps just learning my own lines. Still never got to terms with the entry to to last corner before the front straight. It starts as a very easy corner, but gradually tightens. Always chickened out and got on the brakes way too early. Anyway. I felt I had been riding quite conservatively, and would be happy with a top 5 qualifying time, as that would put me near enough to the front of the grid, so that I could launch hard and get to the lead before the first corner. So I rode it back to the pits at the end of that session. Parked it up, tried bleeding the brakes some more, and it started to feel pretty good... for about 5 minutes. Decided to give up. Useless.
Went over to look at the times, and got talking to RG100, I could tell he was excited, I was excited for him. Talked to Chappell, and MotoXXX, discussed the fact that my bike was pretty quick on the straights, but that the 150's were supposed to have a braking and cornering advantage. I couldn't see it in the dry though. When they brought the practice times out, I was very surprised to see my name right at the top of the streetstock field. I was timed at about 1:34... 1.69 seconds ahead of the rest of the field per lap. I thought, damn, how could that happen. Still I was pretty happy, cause I knew as long as the track was dry at race time it meant I could ride relaxed, and be in good stead to take a race win. Talked to RG100, and he was stoked as, cause he was right up there on the times aswell. So was Chappell, and MotoXXX. I could tell there was going to be some good battling between the 150 boys, but I was quite surprised to see the other 250's well down the field.
Well folks. I've got another (hopefully) enthralling race meeting write up for you all to enjoy, and perhaps inspire you into some racing of your own. It's really changed my life so far... not sure if it's changed in a good way or not, but I'm sure enjoying it.
So in the lead up to the race day, I had been following the weather updates all week. It never looked good, in fact it kept getting worse right up until Saturday when me and dad would have to make the final call as to whether or not to make the 7 hour van journey down to Feilding. Well since we weren't 100% sure of what the weather would do, and it looked possible that we could catch the gap in the two weather fronts, we decided to start packing up the van and go. Even though we heard some pretty crappy reports on what the weather doing down in Palmerston North. We decided to be stubborn and make our way down, cause if we didn't, the weather would have been perfect for sure. It's just one of those things.
We spent the morning of the Saturday getting everything packed and chucked in the van, all strapped up proper cause it was going to have to last quite a marathon. Then spent the rest of the day driving till about 6.30 at night to arrive at the Raceway Court Motel. Once we got to our room, bugger, I realised I would be sleeping in the same room as my dad. Obviously he would get the double, and I'd get the single, but the problem was that there was only about 1 metre between them. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't got such a good sleep on Friday night, and some dozing action in the van on the way down, that I would have been screwed Sunday morning, cause that man sure knows how to snore. I think I woke up approximately once every hour all night. But still, once morning came round I felt pretty good. Felt surprisingly relaxed too despite it being completely clouded over.
We got up at 7.45 am. I noticed a fancy looking ZXR250 parked on a trailer at our motel, and instantly I felt my confidence wane. It sure looked fast. We headed to the track somehow ended up at a Garden show, but found the correct entry gate after a short while. Unloaded the bike, set up the tent, and we were ready to go. Signed in, got a transpoderiser thingymabob. I noticed that there were quite a few entrants in the streetstock category. Sweeet. Was going to be a decent proving ground this time, as there were a couple of ZXR250's to compare myself against aswell as a whole pack of RG150's, and KR150's.
Then came the serious business of socialising. Got approached by Loosebruce, and got to meet DSS3 aswell, have huge respect for these guys, as they are at the forefront of F1 racing in NZ and by the looks of it, all under their own steam, didn't look like there was too much sponsorship going on. Also met Racey Rider, one of my inspirations off the forums. Was probably one of the tipping factors that got me racing streetstock.
Went back to the bike, and played with the brakes to see what they felt like. They felt pretty shite, and I wasn't going to be able to brake with two fingers, cause the lever was coming right back to my two outside fingers. So I decided to try bleeding it for about the 5th time to see if it helped. Bled a whole lot of fluid through, and put all fresh stuff in. Seemed to work... for a short while, it went back to being soft in no time at all. Bugger. There might be something seriously wrong with my master cylinder I decided (could have been caused when I broke off the brake lever the week before), but at least it was still usable, was just going to cause me to brake early, and cautiously.
Eventually we get called up for the streetstock and 125 practice round, I'm pretty eager, and get on the dummy grid pretty swiftly, and one of the RG150's pull up next to me. He asks if I'm vtec. Ha, yep, introduces himself as RG100!! Aha, yep I've read a few of his posts, cool. I find out that its his first time racing out of buckets, so I just tell him to take it easy, cause from the rider's briefing the track wasn't in particularly good shape, with some gravelly powder on one of the corner's from a race car spill, and numerous potholes around the course. I had already got in my mind that I was going to go out easy in practice, cause they haven't seemed to agree with me recently. But still that's what I said to myself the previous week. <_<
They let us out onto the track, a couple of the 150 took off pretty quick, but I was pretty happy to just sit back, ride like a commuter around it a couple of times before picking up the pace. Spotted where the potholes were, and where there were a few rough/bumpy patches. Took in the gradually tightening corners. Then decided to pick it up a little. At least the track had pretty much completely dried, so I could go at a respectable pace. I still didn't like my brakes, and had to revert to using all four fingers to get it to slow down, whereas usually 2 fingers is all I need to get it to do a stoppie. Ah well, just going to have to get used to it. Started chasing after a couple of the 150's that took off at the start of the practice. Made some good ground, and started to get into the swing of things following one of them round for a couple of laps to learn some different lines. Then I picked it up some more, and went passed, and did a couple of laps just learning my own lines. Still never got to terms with the entry to to last corner before the front straight. It starts as a very easy corner, but gradually tightens. Always chickened out and got on the brakes way too early. Anyway. I felt I had been riding quite conservatively, and would be happy with a top 5 qualifying time, as that would put me near enough to the front of the grid, so that I could launch hard and get to the lead before the first corner. So I rode it back to the pits at the end of that session. Parked it up, tried bleeding the brakes some more, and it started to feel pretty good... for about 5 minutes. Decided to give up. Useless.
Went over to look at the times, and got talking to RG100, I could tell he was excited, I was excited for him. Talked to Chappell, and MotoXXX, discussed the fact that my bike was pretty quick on the straights, but that the 150's were supposed to have a braking and cornering advantage. I couldn't see it in the dry though. When they brought the practice times out, I was very surprised to see my name right at the top of the streetstock field. I was timed at about 1:34... 1.69 seconds ahead of the rest of the field per lap. I thought, damn, how could that happen. Still I was pretty happy, cause I knew as long as the track was dry at race time it meant I could ride relaxed, and be in good stead to take a race win. Talked to RG100, and he was stoked as, cause he was right up there on the times aswell. So was Chappell, and MotoXXX. I could tell there was going to be some good battling between the 150 boys, but I was quite surprised to see the other 250's well down the field.