hartwell rd 4 at broadford,victoria,australia

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SJTFZR1000
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hartwell rd 4 at broadford,victoria,australia

Post by SJTFZR1000 »

HATWELL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 RACE REPORT
Broadford road race circuit.
Hi all
I hope everyone is enjoying the weather over the last couple of days we just had.
The weekend started on a Friday for me with a 4 hour drive in the rain to Broadford, north of Melbourne.victoria,australia. This in also known as the state motorcycle race centre. We arrived at the track at about 8am and were greeted with a clearing sky. The first practice session got underway on a damp track. I elected to not have a practice as I had done a coaching/track day there about a month before. A few mates went out for a spin and reported the track was fairly grippy, so all should be great for the next day as there was no rain forecast.
I awoke the next morning to a foggy but clear sky; all was looking good for racing on this 2.16klm undulating 12 turn course.
I went out for the first run which was a practice/warm-up, the bike felt very good and the track was warming up nicely. This was just a slow run or feel out session it went for about 6 minutes or about 4 laps so times weren’t crucial.
Soon after we were called up for qualifying. I decided to go out pretty hard as there had already been some incidents that had cut short some other classes qualifying time. The first lap was a bit scary with semi warm tyres trying to hang on to a cool track but as I got into a rhythm the tyres began to warm up and hang on. Before long it was our turn to return to the pits, I felt pretty pleased with the session, I later went to have a look where I had qualified and found I was 1st in my class and 4th on the grid in the three other classes we were running with.so I was off to a reasonable start.
There was a fair few guys going down in the races before me so it took forever to get our first race, finally it came to my turn for the first race, I was feeling a bit nervous but as feeling better after a quick warm-up lap. I went to line up at the 4th grid position but there was some other guy there so I signalled to the marshals and I was moved to the pole position on the other side of the track, I was told later that the pole position guy was in the 4th grid position I was supposed to be in.all a bit confusing for me.after all that tension I got a half descent start and was second into the first turn I held that position for the first lap where a Ducati 1198 passed me under brakes followed by a supermotard I could get the motard on the straights but then he would get me in the corners. I finished up catching and passing the Ducati to get 3rd in the group and 1st in my class.
The 2nd race started without the grid position dramas of the first race. I got a terrible start and was about 4th to the first corner, but to my amazement the other guys out braked themselves and over shot the corner turn in point so I was back into 2nd spot. I was trying to push hard as I could to try to pull a gap on the Ducati but the harder I tried the looser the bike felt and in the end the rear wheel was just spinning coming out of corners, the Ducati and supermotard both went by me with ease and I finished 4th in the group and I got another 1st in my class, the nearest rival was some 9 seconds back, this is probably why my pit crew were franticly waving at me to slow down a bit.
During the race I had a misfire on one of the corners so after this race we had to do some inspection to see if we could find any loose wires, with everything checked I found nothing wrong.so I went back to camp. I Tried not to stay up too late Saturday night around the camp fire, but was talking so much bullshit I lost track of time. The night was getting very cold and the fire in the drum was smoking us out so I took off to bed. We awoke to another clear crisp day at Broadford with a temperature of -1 at 7am so it was a very quick run to the dunnies.(toilet)
I got my call up for the first session of the day, a warm-up run lasting about 6 minutes or so.this was a run to see how the bike was going because of the unexplained misfire/backfire twice in the last race of the day. The bike did the same backfire at the same spot on the track so it was time to scratch our heads and look for some more answers. I removed the only other bit I had grafted onto the wiring system of the bike and tested it; all was ok.i then got the modified ignition switch and taped it to the bike, instead of where it was screwed.
I went into race 3 not knowing if I would finish because of the backfire problem. I started out of 4th grid position again and was into 2nd again by the first corner. The guy that kept beating me to the first corner was a grader so he should be getting better starts. Well that’s my excuse anyway. On about the 3rd lap the Ducati 1198 got me under brakes again so I tried to stick with him but he just pulled away. On the next lap the supermotard passed me nearly taking my front wheel out as he went by on the outside of my bike, I of course was not going to watch him pull away like the Ducati did so I tried to go a little faster, I caught and passed him and held him of to get a 3rd in our group and another 1st place in my class. The bike had no misfire so I recon it might just be the position of the switch in the dash. I also did my fastest time for the meeting of a 1.04.5. (Just to put this time into perspective the lap record is .57 seconds)
The final points race for the weekend got off to a shocker, one of the riders a fair way behind me on the first lap must of grabbed a handful of front brake and found himself eating gravel on the side of the track which brought the red flag out and we had to go tho the pits for a restart. On the return to the start grid there were a couple of bikes missing notably the a grader that was beating me to the first corner.it was the guy that he was riding for that had gone down .so the first corner was all mine and I didn’t stuff the start up so I was leading the whole group for the first time but it didn’t last long as the Ducati and the supermotard went past. I ended up coming 3rd in the group and 1st for my class. This now gives me a series lead in p6 of 42 points going into the last round of this series in October at mac park s.a.
The last race is becoming a bit of a tradition for me as I started from the rear of the grid again to get a bit of a practice at passing bikes. I got a decent start and followed the other guy in my class through the field at the end of turn 1 I was running in 5th with a couple of motads in front of me.the back straight saw them fall behind and I was up to a aprillia 1000cc which is a 2010 model bike some 20 years younger than mine, I was having a little bit of trouble passing him and stayed behind him for a couple of laps. Finally passing him under brakes at crash corner, a 90 degree blind corner at the end of the back straight. Then I was off after the gpz900 of another guy in my class. I passed him under brakes with a lap to go and took the win for the group.
Well that’s it till October where I may be doing two meets, an interclub at Mac Park and the last round of this Hartwell series at the end of the month.
just a quick thanks to jason l for dropping in for a chat,it was great to catch up after chatting on these forums and fb for so long.hope next time it will be on a grid somewhere.

Steven #36
1990 RACING FZR1040 & BROKEN 2001 YZF R1

JasonL
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Post by JasonL »

Steve,

Top report and yes it was good to finally catch up, maybe next time it can be on the grid!! Just think how much quicker you'll be when the suspension is sorted and if it had lighter wheels. A 104.5 first time there is very respectable, B grader for sure!

JasonL
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Post by JasonL »

PS - I'd better change my pic now I've sold the FZR.....

SJTFZR1000
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Post by SJTFZR1000 »

thx jason,was agreat catch up,dont know what grade they will give me at the end of the year,think a b grader is a bit of a stretch.
1990 RACING FZR1040 & BROKEN 2001 YZF R1

spook
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Post by spook »

Well done with your 104. Very respectable first time at the track.

SJTFZR1000
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Post by SJTFZR1000 »

thanks spook,what times and bike do you run at broady.
1990 RACING FZR1040 & BROKEN 2001 YZF R1

spook
Dolphin-headed purple plasma TLR thing?
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:12 pm
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Post by spook »

It will be an 88 FZR1000, and I will let you know when I get it there. :)

Mike_SS
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Post by Mike_SS »

Good read and congrats on the results. :)

Queensland Championships up here this weekend but I am still sitting at home licking my wounds :(
_________________________

1994 YZF750R Race/Track Bike
1992 FZR1000 Race/Track Bike

hotcam
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Post by hotcam »

Great to hear of your exploits, sounds like you're giving them all a good serve! Well done.
As a reference, I've been to Broadford only twice, and only for track days. My mildly worked '95 fzr1000 has carried me to a best of 1.08.something. You're 4 seconds a lap faster and have competition to deal with, so I reckon you're doing something right!
-------
'95 FZR1040 '09 FZ1-S
"And they had a machine, a dream of a machine, with wheels and gears and perfect in every respect, and they lived on it..." -Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"

SJTFZR1000
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Post by SJTFZR1000 »

thanks hotcam and mikess

that was my second run orn the track(1 x track day and 1 x race meet) so i think there would be another second or two i could extract from the track.hope you get better soon and back on to the bike real soon mike.just found another adjustable rear shock to try to put on the old fzr as its still got the old 20 something years old std shock,this new shock may partly stop the back end from wandering a bit.will have to find out when all the melbourne riders are doin a race at broady so i can come and meet everyone.
1990 RACING FZR1040 & BROKEN 2001 YZF R1

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