Masters of mac park race report 1st and 2nd of October 2011

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SJTFZR1000
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Masters of mac park race report 1st and 2nd of October 2011

Post by SJTFZR1000 »

Since the last round at Broadford I have been a bit busy fitting another second hand rear shock from a later model Yamaha. The rear shock was from an yzf750 1998 model and has a few more dials for me to play with. Fitment of the new shock was a little bit difficult as I had to remove and modify the rear swing arm slightly. But enough of the boring stuff….
The weekend started off with me traveling to mount Gambier after work on Friday night. The weather forecast was looking very bleak and as I got closer to mount Gambier the heavier the rain got.
I woke the next morning to a cold dark rainy morning and I was not looking forward to the first warm-up/qualifying run. We unloaded the bike and got all the usual paperwork and scrutineering done as soon as we could. This took a little while as it was still poring with rain.it was finally my classes (20th century aka pre modern in Victoria) turn to go out for the first look at the wet track. I took a punt and went out on the grooved slicks I had on as I had not used my wets before and had set the bike up for the tyres I had on. The session went smoothly if not a little slowly as everyone was just feeling the track out for grip. The next qualifying session was on a drying track so I set a reasonable time of about 1.19.this gave me second on the grid in my class. The pole sitter was the same guy that beat me at the Easter cup back in April.
Soon it was time for the first race and the track had a dry line on it. I think the whole grid (all the racers) must have got a terrible start, as I did, because I didn’t get passed into turn one. With front wheel in the air I got to turn one first. As I approached turn two the pole sitter shot up on the inside of me to take the lead(as he did in every race at Easter and I thought here we go again)as we were on our way up to the top of the circuit it started to rain. The bike in front of me started to slow as it looked as it was going to get a little slippery. I watched his bikes reaction to the wet surface for a corner or two but he had no sign of rear wheel movement so I took the bull by the horns and out broke him at the end of the straight. The rain continued for about the next minute and only at the end of the main straight area.so I tried to pull a lead on the next bike. Through the next couple of laps the track was bathed in sunshine so soon there was a dry line again and full pace was back on. I managed to pull a little gap on 2nd place and kept that gap until the end of the race which I won...
In the afternoon the weather started to clear up and the track became a bit faster. I was looking forward to going for another race but the officials had other plans for us, they finished the races early for some reason and so finished my race day. There was a few murmurs around the pits that the days weather was at its best and that they finished the day too early as it was only 3.00pm.this left 2 races for tomorrow as well as the big 15 laps of the feature race “the masters of mac park”.so tomorrow was going to be a big day and it was going to be tough to hang onto the bike for 15 laps after doing two points races before hand.
The day drew to a close, camp fires got lit and the Barbies got cooking.it was a pretty still night and was going to get cold. Some campers went over to the club room for a tea that was put on by the club for a fee.so after tea it was time for a catch up with all the other races and listen to all the bull talked around the fire.
We woke to a less cloudy day and hopefully no rain. We all went for a warm-up run to check the track condition, it felt great as it was dry. The first race of the day came upfor me and the c20 group got ready for a good race. Most of us wanted to get a better start than the day before. The start of the race was a good one for me but I was not good enough as the pole sitter just beat me into turn one. After that corner he pulled a gap of about 20meters so I had my work cut out. I started to pull some ground back and was making some good times. This race is where I did my new personal best time of 1.17.77 seconds. With three laps to go I got very close to pulling of an out braking manoeuvre at the end of the straight, but pulled out at the last minute as I wasn’t close enough to make a clean pass. I worked on pulling back just a little more ground on the next lap and was aiming to do another out braking manoeuvre at the end of the straight as he hadn’t seen my attempt the previous lap. I nearly stuffed the whole lap at one corner where I missed a gear and dropped back a little.so I tried a little harder for the next 3 corners before I came into the straight. I went for the pass at the end of the straight and finally made it stick with the last lap board showing, I held him out to take my second victory for the meeting.

This was by far my best race to date as it showed me that I could if I worked on it pull ground back on a rider of simular speed and make a pass stick and hold them off for the lap and victory.
All the riders and the 2nd place getter came over and told me that this was a great race and I should be proud of how I ran my race. Sorry for that bit of dribble there I am still exited at how far I’ve come and learnt this year.
Our third and final point’s race came up and all I had to do was finish in second at the least. I got off to a flyer of a start and led everyone into turn one; I thought this race was going great until about the 4th lap. I missed a gear change and had gone into a corner in too higher gear, on the exit of the corner I couldn’t get back into the power range quick enough and the second place bike became the leader. I was getting tired quickly so settled for 2nd as the other riders had fallen back a little way.so I finished the weekend points races with 2 firsts and one second which gave me back to back titles for the c20 class.
The next race was the all-important 15 lap masters of Mac Park. This race is held for the (in this case because there was so many riders there was three separate races. The masters then two consolation races, all decided by times throughout the weekend).top 32 racers (race 1) were put up on the scrutineering shed wall and I got such a good time I was in the 21 grid position of 32.so roughly worked out I was 21st fastest for the whole weekend out of all classes.
The race started and I got an ok start, the lead bikes in front of me all bunched up into turn one so I backed off early as I wasn’t about to get in a tangle if someone went down. I rode the full 15 laps at or close to full pace and finished a credible 25th which isn’t too bad considering my bike was the oldest one in that group.
So all in all I put this weekend down as one of my best meets and I know that more is to come...

Thanks
Steven Taylor #36
1990 RACING FZR1040 & BROKEN 2001 YZF R1

gtlewis
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Post by gtlewis »

Well done Steve. V.good write up.

You must be well chuffed!

Regards
Tony

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FZRDude
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Post by FZRDude »

Aye, I second that. Well done sir, well done.
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spook
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Post by spook »

Congrats... Most important thing is that you are having fun!

Mike_SS
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Post by Mike_SS »

:) Great write up Steve and congrats...might have to talk to our local club about the c20 concept to get more bikes on grid up here.
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JasonL
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Post by JasonL »

Steve, nice work and well done. What are the plans for next year??

Will the SA Historic titles run P6 and wouls it be held at Mac Park or Malalla??

SJTFZR1000
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Post by SJTFZR1000 »

thanks everyone for the congrats.the new s/hand rear shock gave me the confidence to really tear into and through the corners.and yes i still have a big grin on my face...lol.

mike the c20 concept is pretty much the same as pre modern in vic.with the only difference being that the bikes are only upto 1999 intead of 2000.its a strange cut off but hey thats south australians for you.....

jason, just gonna finish this last round of the hartwell series at mac park and hopefully i can clinch the series .chris has been in fine form trying to get me worried by telling me his bike has no more handling bug...so watch out...lol
will be good if he can push me a little harder.i havnt heard what is goin on with the s.a historic titles yet jas but im sure i will in time.
dunno what to do next year,my m8 who has done the whole series with me on his 1995 cbr600 in pre modern recons that i would learn more and be pushed more up in his class ,then on the other hand if you guys come back to the hartwell series i would be pushed anyway.dunno m8 tuff call at this time of year.
asked the missus about the bsfos at eastern creek,she said i should fly my bike and me up there.so i will have to work on the sponsors a bit harder next year if im going to do it...do you know what you are doin next year yet m8,hartwell or presston or none?
1990 RACING FZR1040 & BROKEN 2001 YZF R1

JasonL
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Post by JasonL »

After doing a series every year for the past 5 years I think I'll have a rest and just concentrate on a couple of big events, Barry Sheene, titles in Nov, maybe a state historics meet if someone puts P6 on. PCRA 1 hour probably.
I may do the odd club round especially Phillip Island just to have a run there. Might do that on the 250 because then I can run in P6 and the 250's.

You're right about benefiting from being pushed, pre modern is an ok class - note, Vic titles run P6 and pre modern off the same grid and you are eligible for both classes. Hartwell used to run separate historic and pre mod classes which was good, gave more rides.

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