I decided a while ago to do this round of the Hartwell series to get some practice in for the Easter cup at Mac Park. The Easter cup at Mac Park will be huge as it is the 50th anniversary of the track and club and top riders from everywhere will be coming to race.
The long weekend started with me heading over to Mac Park on the Friday. I chose not to do the practice day to save some money and energy as i planned to do two classes. This would mean i would be out on the track about 12 or 13 times for the weekend.
I arrived at the track on Friday afternoon just as my mate turned up with the tent and his gear. We set up the tent and unpacked all the bikes and gear. I was in a tent as i couldn’t get into a powered shed, so we made do with a tent and generator for the weekend.
I awoke to a bright clear day. The temp for the day was going to be about 26 deg with light winds, which was perfect. I got my bike scrutineered and was set for the first session.
i had some older tyres on to do the practice and qualifying sessions on but they were a very soft compound so would make a good qualifying tyre. I took it easy in practice as to not wear what was left of them out before qualifying.
Qualifying got under way and i was out with the first group i nominated to race with, the over 600 novice bikes. These consisted of modern superbikes from 2004 to 2012 so they were very much younger than my old bike. We all took off for an 18 minute qualifying run which was a bit unusual as most of the time you only get about 10 minutes to qualify. The reason for the long 18 minutes was this class didn’t have a practice so incorporated it into qaulifying.After about 10 minutes of running around trying to get some clear track, running the tyres in and checking everything felt ok i decided to do a mock start and try for a quick lap. I found a clear gap in the riders coming around from the last corner, so i took off. The lap felt fairly good and i was trying to hit all the apexes of the corners as best i could, i came to the finish line and to my surprise my lap timer said 1.17.01 which was my best time at mac park by half a second, i decided that i should leave it at this time to save the tyres for the other class qualifying session later on so i came in and got the bike ready for the next session.one of my mates came by and asked what time i had done, so i told him not knowing he had been and had a look at the time sheets. He said i should throw my lap timer away as it was wrong. I had done my fastest time to date at Mac Park of 1.16.974 and i am now into the 16's.it has taken a while but I’m there. I think there may be a 1.15 there somewhere but i think that’s all my old bike will be capable of with its current setup.
Whilst waiting for my next qualifying i was called to the timing hut over near the start finish line. the only other time i was called to the box was when i got in trouble for monoing across the start finish line at my first race meet so i didn’t know what to expect.it turns out that the clerk of course wanted to talk to me about the time i had just done in qualifying as it was a full 2 seconds faster than the nearest rider in the novice class, as a result i was put into the next class called over 600 expert/non expert as a non-expert rider, which placed me 8th on the grip amongst 26 other expert and non-expert riders. Most of these riders are big time fast sponsored riders so i was privileged to be there but at the same time i knew i was going to have to pull my finger out.
the next qualifying session started this was the period 6 class which i raced and won last year, i didn’t have as faster or as cleaner run as last time out but i managed a 1.17.86 lap to take pole position.
The first race was the historic, period 6 classes and thunder bikes class. The same crew from last year were there. I got a good start but because i had a different set of tyres on i wasn’t confident with them so i took it a little easy into turn one and got passed by 3 riders into turn one. I stuck with them and then decided the tyres were ok i went for a pass at the end of the straight and passed one rider. I waited for the end of the straight and passed two more and cleared away to win my class in that race.
The next class i raced in after refuelling and checking tyre pressures was the over 600 exp/non expert class. I wasn’t sure how i was going to go so i decided to try and just hold my grid spot for the race if i could. I got a good start from an unfamiliar 8th grid spot. There were lots of bikes in front of me and i felt a little closed in. I didn’t know which way i was going to go of the line so i decided to go straight up the middle and see what happened at turn 1.the grid was set after a warm-up lap. The red light lit up and then went out, the race was underway. Bikes were going everywhere but i stuck to the middle of the track.as we got to turn one doing about 140kph they all converged as we rounded turn one. I managed to hook onto a rider close to the curb and followed him through. I managed to stick with this rider for most of the race. I found out later in the day that this was the winner of the 2011 over 600 non expert classes. I finished 2nd behind him in my first ever non expert class in race. I thought how easy this was!!!
I had no pit crew for this race meet and was doing everything myself, i was so busy i was forgetting to eat and drink. This was to prove my downfall later in the day.
The next race was another historic/thunder bike race. I had another good start and was 2nd to the corner behind an older Kawasaki who was in a different class.so i led my class from start to finish to record my second class win. I was starting to get tired as i hadn’t done two classes in one race meet before but i wanted to get as much race track time as possible to prepare me for Easter and the rest of the year. The heat was also starting to ware me down.
The next and last race for the day was the expert/non expert class. I thought being this close to the front runner i may be able to get a run on him this time and pass him in my favourite spot at the end of the straight. I started the race with a great start but the rider in front of me had a poor start and instead of me moving over to be behind the faster rider i had to swerve the other way au avoid him and was stuck in the middle of the track again. I then got stuck on the outside of the track and lost ground rapidly. I managed to pass a rider at the end of the straight and gain a position back, i felt i could start moving through the field and catch back up. I came down the back straight on the second lap and as i went for the front brakes i discovered that my right throttle/front brake hand had cramped onto the throttle and i was unable to reach the front brake. I managed to get my foot to the rear brake and lightly touched it.This caused the back wheel to lock and for an instance i was a bit sideways. I let the brake of and made it around the corner. I rode to the next corner a bit slower and thought to myself if i can’t get to the front brake in this corner i would pull in so i wasn’t dangerous to others on the track.so when i couldn’t brake i pulled in.this was the end of the days racing for Saturday and i was stuffed.
The next morning was just as spectacular as the day before, although it was a little frosty. We started with a warm-up on the track for most classes then got into the racing.
the first class for me was the historic/thunderbikes,the warm-up lap was done and we lined up for a start, as the light went red my m8 on a gpz900 rolled up and passed me.as we all raced to the first corner i thought wow that was a brilliant start he had got of too. Later i found he had jumped the start by quite a bit and was penalised 10 seconds for the infringment.i passed him on the second lap at the end of the straight and claimed my 3rd period 6 victory as well.
It was time for the over 600 experts/non experts to have a run. I was very nervous and really wanted to do well as i was feeling much more refreshed that the previous arfternoon.I got a shocker of a start and nearly flipped the bike on take-off. After trying the start again when the bike finally came down from the mono i was being passed by most of the riders. I eventually got to the first turn and found i had a bit of work to do.as hard as i tried i just couldn’t catch the other riders in front of me, i only managed to finish 9th overall in our group and 3rd in my class.
After lunch next was the historic and thunderbikes.i got a decent start and lead the group into turn one and two. Missing a gear out of turn two i was passed by the old Kawasaki z1000 who on the next lap i had noticed had incurred a 10 second penalty for a jump start which by the end of the race had put me first in our group and first in my class. I was starting to feel tired again some went for the sports drinks and salty chips.
I was told that i only had to finish in front of the purple Honda who was currently running in third place to take that spot and get a traphy.so it was on. I got a great start and was amongst the expert riders into turn one. I was feeling good and my hands were going ok so i stepped up the pressure on some other riders in front of me and caught one and passed him with not too much trouble. I was gaining on another rider and was turning right at the end of the straight. I was so far leaned over that the foot peg started to touch the surface of the track and dig in.this caused the rear wheel to become light and spin. I felt the bike start to slide out and quickly before the bike went into a high side i picked the bike up and ran off the track into the runoff area.as i was bringing the bike to a halt i had a quick look over my shoulder and saw the 3rd place runner coming up to the end of the straight. I turned to get the bike back onto the track and as i did the front wheel washed out in the deep sand and i dropped it picked the bike back up and continued back onto the track but it was too late and with a lap and a half to go i couldn’t catch the third place bike he had too much lead. I finished the weekend with 4 first period 6 race wins and a 2nd,dnf,3rd and a 4th to be 6th overall in the over 600 non expert class.
I hope you enjoyed this long winded report. The next race meet for me is the start of the three round ieg Victorian road race championship series at Broadford on the 24th and 25th march.
thanks steven #36
.lol)and just wont stop wheelying in front of the cameras.people must think i....i mean the bike does this all the time as most of my pics are monos.
