victorian road race series rd 2 broadford.

[SJTFZR1000]

Victorian road race titles round 2, Broadford.

Hi all, been a while.

The weather for the week prior to the race weekend was terrible so I was hoping for a sunny weekend and we got it. The temperature was not too warm but no rain.
We drove down on Friday and arrived mid-afternoon. After reacquainting ourselves with old race friends we unloaded and waited for the scrutineering people to come around. After watching some of the practice days I was noticing that there were a lot of people with cold torn tyres. This happens when the track or tyre or both don’t have enough heat in them and will degrade the tyres rapidly. This was going to be a real hastle all weekend for everybody.
Saturday morning came around and the temperature was about -1 and the track was icy. By the time we all got ready and the morning riders briefing finished the track was still very cold by dry. There were two qualifying runs so most took the first run as a warm-up and a quicker lap or two to finish this session so times were slow. The second qualifying session came around and it was time to get down to business and open the throttle. I was still a bit of where I wanted to be but that was all I could manage in the cold slippery conditions. I qualified in 5th position or second in my class.
We had our first race mid-afternoon and the track temp was better but still cold. I had a good start and was leading the pack into turn one but I ran wide mid corner and two shot up the inside of me. I was now running in 3rd overall and 2nd in my class. I managed to stay with the leading group for a while and the leading period 6 bike started to slow. I picked up the pace a bit and began gaining ground on him. With two corners to go I went for a pass under brakes but had to pull out as I was too far back to pass safely. We crossed the finish line with about 200ths of a second between us. This is as close to passing the leading p6 bike all year so my spirits were high for the next 2 races.
This ended our Saturday for races and I eagerly awaited Sunday.
Sunday morning was a brilliant sunny morning but still cold and icy. We had a warm-up run on the track and my bike had developed a fairly major engine noise. I hoped it would hold out for the two races that we had for the day. The first race rolled around and I lined up on the 5th grid spot again. The light went red and we were racing. I was second into the first corner but the front tyre started to slide and I found myself running wide halfway through the corner again and 3 bikes slipped up the inside of me again. I tried to stick with them but my tyres weren’t gripping very well so I was dropping back another couple of bikes got by but I still finished second in my class. The motor knock was getting very bad and I hoped I could finish the last race and hold 2nd spot in the championship.
We rolled out for the 3rd race of the weekend and did our customary warm-up lap before returning to the grid for a start. The bike was still producing good power but lots of engine noise. I got a good start again and set off after the lead riders. In the third lap the motor expired so I shut it down and watched the race from one of the flag point around the track. I waited till the race was over and rolled back to the pits. This was the end of the weekends racing and because of not finishing the last race I have dropped to 3rd overall in the series points.
I am hoping I can have the bike ready for Phillip Island in early October for the third round of this series but at this stage things are not looking good as I may not have the finances to complete the motor in time. I will be trying everything to get the bike running as I was planning on defending my title at my home track the prestigious MASTERS OF MACK PARK which I have won two years running, this is held at the end of September.
Thank you all for your support and help…Steven

[spook]

While I understand everyone wants to race and have fun, I'm surprised you kept your bike on track as the mechanical issues worsened. I recall a couple of meets ago it started to break, and you kept riding it. There are two things here, one you have probably stuffed your engine by persevering with it, and secondly, when it failed it could have gone a number of ways.

I could have opened up and spilt oil, hurting or killing yourself or worse, your fellow riders, and have made a mess of the track, or it could have locked and spat you off. The safety of yourself and others in my opinion is more important than a plastic cup...

Just my

[SJTFZR1000]

thanks spook for the reply.i pulled over before i felt it was too late m8. the bike was still running as i pulled over.in p6 we have a catch tray for just such an occasion but your still right about the things that could have gone wrong.i am yet to pull the motor down to inspect the damage.i was hoping to be able to get a second hand motor somewhere so i had some time to play around with my current motor and try to squeeze out some more hp. the noise at the last race meet turned out to be a worn cam chain and tensioner.i replaced both and all was going great until i chased some faster bikes.