Next stop Phillip Island

[spook]

So... we are just waiting to hear from Jason now...

Good to meet you Duke, it was very disappointing to witness yourself and steve in the last race fall off the timing radar.

I will be interested to hear what caused the engine to die? I'm sure you will get the 990 sorted. It's a lonely road that of developing something outside of the square, but do persist

[JasonL]

Hearing from Jason now!

Where to start.....Friday comprised of 2 practice sessions and 1st qualifying. I ran times that were w-a-a-y off my previous best and whilst a bit baffled, put it down to a couple of main things: plenty of oil being dumped, hot and windy, and trialing a 180 on the back which wasn't doing it for me. Looking at the times of everyone else, we were all slower. I had put on a 180 NTEC but it was rubbing on the chain pretty badly and a stanley knife wasn't cutting it, so to speak, so Spook + angle grinder + bike on stand running in 1st created some entertainment, annoyance and laughs for those around. Smokin' !! Got the first qualifying out of the way and headed home. Unfortunately Jaffa had crashed his GSXR750 in the second practice session on some of this oil and has a broken forearm just above the wrist and a collarbone - spoke to him this evening after the collarbone op, he was pretty well all things considered and they have both been successful ops.

I'd decided to switch back to a 165 rear and spent 2nd qualifying scrubbing it in and more fiddling with suspension settings, so the time from Q1 stood, I was 7th on the grid. The two races on Saturday went off without a hitch, times were still slow though and I was trying to figure out what to do all that evening.

Sunday morning I picked Jaffa's wife up from the hospital and run her back to the Island to their hotel to pick up all their belongings and then take her to the track to get their car and the trailer with bike. Sunday felt even hotter than the previous 2 days, but I felt better and more switched on, so in the first race I just managed to get under 1.50, better but still a second off my best times, set before I did a bit of work to the bike so in theory should be better again but it doesn't always work like that! I had thought I could possibly get into the 47's even 46's way too optimistic and I'm going to stop forecasting lap times! The last race was just to bring it home, and to get 1st in P6 750, so still a great weekend and it was great to have all the P6 guys there at such an event and to meet Duke and his mate Pete Smith. Next year I'm sure will see many more P6 entries.

[spook]

Congratulation Jason on your P6 750 class win. And in decisive fashion as well. Correct me if I'm wrong but you won all four races. Excellent!

[Mike_SS]

Good reports guys Not so good to hear about Duke's mechanical woes and jaffa'a injuries

Some friends of mine were down there and have been telling me about how good the weekend was. Sounds like Period 6 was a success and it should just get bigger.

[JasonL]

Spook, yes it was all four. The ante will be upped very soon though - for example I understand a Sydney A grader will have an OW01 at the Barry Sheene and knowing his previous bikes and efforts, it will be a very well put together, strong bike. On a worked premodern he was running flat 40's at EC, so I'd expect him to do mid to low 40's on the OW - well outside what I'll manage. And although I can enter the 750 up a class and run in the 1000's aswell, I would not expect to get near that top 3, there will be too many fast 1000's for sure. If I get the 250 ready in time, who knows for that class, there might not be a strong field but it also depends how quickly I can adapt to it - will be a huge difference to the 750. Planning on a track day on the 250 end Feb/early March.

[duke22]

I will be interested to hear what caused the engine to die?

I was at a customer's shop this morning and found myself chatting to a customer of said customer, a guy who builds race car engines. So I told him what had happened and he straight away said "valve springs" - weak or even broken. I checked the spring lengths when I put the motor together and all was good, but possibly the poundage is down? Something to check when everything gets back to NZ.

[JasonL]

Duke, some Kawa triple stuff on Ebay here, guy has a crank etc aswell

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Kawasaki-H2R ... 3a6fecd4e1

[SJTFZR1000]

International Phillip Island Classic 2012 Race report




Hi everyone for the start of my 2012 season

My pit crew and I were packed and on our way by lunch Wednesday 25th, with a few stops out of the way we arrived at Phillip Island about 6.30pm,we found our accommodation and proceeded to settle in and meet the other period 6 guys from the house.
We arrived at the track the next morning for the Thursday practice day. I was pretty nervous as I had to pick up 4 or 5 seconds from my last race there to be competitive in the period 6 class (bikes from 1984 to 1990) and I had also not raced for 2.5 months and would be a bit rusty.
The first run on the track came around fairly quickly and with old tyres on I pulled a 1.54 to be 1 second from my last year’s best time. With the guys competing in my class all being good riders I knew with a bit more track time the times would be coming down. The second and third runs on their track produced better times to make a new best time of 1.52.with two sessions left I decided to chuck a new set of tyres on. I missed the next session as the new tyres were still a bit cold as I went and got scrutineered after changing the tyres. I hit the track for the last session and scrubbed the new tyres in.they felt great and I started to push the edges of the tyres a bit and came out with another Pb, 1.51.6
We got to the track early Friday morning for a quick check of the bike for loose bits but all was good. Friday was scheduled to have some short practice sessions and then the first qualifying runs. All went smooth but the session was cut short and we only did 5 laps. I got another Pb of 1.50.2
I was getting so every time I went onto the track I would come back with another best time. The first qualifying session came along and I wanted to post as stronger time as I could to make the other guys get a bit nervous, so I went out hard from the beginning but could only manage a 1.50.5.it was not the time I was hoping for but it put me on the front row position 3(3rd fastest).this was the end of the days riding.
Saturday morning’s weather was fantastic as was all the four days of racing with the weather temp ranging from a beautiful 24 to a high of 30 something. The crew and I checked the bike out and refuelled ready for the last qualifying session. I had to go out and set a better time as the other guys in my class would surely do better times this time around. The bike was working fantastically and with 7 laps I managed to break the 1.50 second barrier for the first time with a 1.48.9 on my second last lap. This put me back into 3rd spot on the grid again.
The next session was the start of the racing. I was very nervous for race one as I had only just met the rest of the period 6 riders let alone raced with them. I got off to a great start and we were 3 deep into the first turn, doohan corner at about 200kph I backed of slightly to make the turn and 3 bikes got past me.i was running 4th and was gaining on 3rd place. I found I was better under brakes than 3rd place but he was better around the back of the circuit. We stayed the same distance from each other and I finished 1 second behind in 4th place. The bike was handling great and wasn’t sliding at all.so I would try and push a bit hardened the next time out. I also posted another Pb of 1.48.2…this would prove to be my best time of the meeting. A big 5 seconds from my previous best time.
Race 2 came around and I was adamant I was going to get third place back. The lights on the start went out to start the race, I let the clutch out and half way through 1st gear I lost power, after the rest of the field roaring past very close I managed to get the bike started again. With the bike spluttering with an intermittent ignition problem I managed to get a 7th place in the over 1000cc period 6 class.
This brought Saturday to a close. The Phillip Island organises close the track and grounds at about 6pm, so we hurried and stripped the bike to find the problem as we would have little time to do it in the morning. I found the problem to be a faulty $2.00 toggle switch I was using as a lanyard kill switch. We jumped the wires to the switch but were not allowed to start the bike because it was after 6pm.
We got to the track early on Sunday morning but still couldn’t start the bike until 9.00am.this is because of a curfew the track has on it(quiet from 6pm to 9am).we finally got to start the bike and it once again ran sweet. I quickly got my race gear on and went for a blast around the track.we seemed to have fixed the ignition problem.The first event for me was the 3rd race of the event. I had to get third or better in both the next races to get a placing. I had a great start but so did the other two beside me, we all went into turn 1, 3 wide again. On the way out of the turn I was running in third place. The two a grade riders in front of me started to pull away. I tried everything to keep with them but I got very untidy (trying too hard)and was not as smooth as I wanted to be and lost contact with them. I finished in 3rd place, my highest for the weekend.
Next up was the 4th race. I was all revved up to do an assault on the 1min47 second barrier all I had to finish was 3rd and I would get a placing. The 30 second board came out for our group to do the warm up lap before gridding up.as we all took off from the dummy grid something went band and wrapped around my left arm.it was the drive chain. I had thrown a chain. This was the end of my racing for the weekend as this was the last race. I got an overall placing in period 6 of 5th.
The weekend apart from the problems was a fantastic event. I will be definitely be back for more.

Steven Taylor. #36

[JasonL]

Very good times on that bike Steve, and I'm glad your chain came off where it did and not full pelt down the straight with someone behind you.........

[spook]

Well done Steve, they are brilliant times around there. When the circuit is in better shape I bet you will be even faster! Can't afford to have chains coming off...(Hope you where riveting the chain and not quick-linking it?).

I said to Jason the other day that the pricks who dump oil should be charged for it by the metre, on a two penalty rate scale. (1) the highest rate for for crap maintenance, or something that could have been avoidable. (2) a lessor rate or an unforeseen letting such as an engine blow up.

I also think that circuits have a duty of care to do more than just throw some dust on the leaks. There are machines out there that scrub, wash, rinse, and then heat to dry and re-rubber the section.

At the price we pay for the use of the tracks, especially a international circuit like Philip Island, why don't we have such a machine available to us? People like jaffa who came off after sliding on a patched up spill, pay the price, with their bones or their lives. And the racing suffers because everyone one is wobbling around worried about hurting themselves.

[duke22]

Duke, some Kawa triple stuff on Ebay here, guy has a crank etc aswell

Cheers Jason, I'll keep an eye on it. If it is what it claims to be it will probably go for serious money. I bid for some H1R bits recently, with a minute to go I had the lead bid - expensive but manageable. Over the next 60 seconds about 20 bids were placed and the price almost doubled - I felt like I'd been mugged. These guys are serious...

[kiwi60]

I said to Jason the other day that the pricks who dump oil should be charged for it by the metre, on a two penalty rate scale. (1) the highest rate for for crap maintenance, or something that could have been avoidable. (2) a lessor rate or an unforeseen letting such as an engine blow up.

They have a fine in place if you dump oil on the circuit at Hampton Downs, if it's not an engine failure then is $3000 thank you very much.

[Big Jon]

No enclosed belly pans required? We have those, engine guards, and frame savers all required in our rulebook. No fines for oil as of yet, but the wierdest oil dump was when an oil sight glass simply fell out The rider had no idea the whole left side of his bike was oiled unitl he leant into the hard left and couldn't find his bike. It was hiding in the gravel before he knew he was down.

[spook]

They have a fine in place if you dump oil on the circuit at Hampton Downs, if it's not an engine failure then is $3000 thank you very much.

I'm all for it.

[sickle44]

Over the next 60 seconds about 20 bids were placed and the price almost doubled - I felt like I'd been mugged. These guys are serious...

That's how the guys who've been doing eBay for a while, myself included, do eBay Duke. It ensures you don't get mad at all as you don't get into a pissing contest as there simply isn't time. I usually place my bid within the last 10 seconds, to tell you the truth. Hard core as it may seem, it kind of makes sure that the guy's who really willing to bid the most for the item actually gets it and keeps me from making an emotional bid. What really sucks though is being the number 2 bid where you usually get beat by $1 or just cents, that blows for sure, but that's the game.

[FZRDude]

...... What really sucks though is being the number 2 bid where you usually get beat by $1 or just cents, that blows for sure, but that's the game.......

Sorry, but you do not know how much the other buyer had/was bidding, just that you were not the winner by at least one dollar. Could have been one, could have been a hundred, but doesn't matter, you still don't have the item.

[ThomVis]

Hard core as it may seem, it kind of makes sure that the guy's who really willing to bid the most for the item actually gets it and keeps me from making an emotional bid. What really sucks though is being the number 2 bid where you usually get beat by $1 or just cents, that blows for sure, but that's the game.

That's why I take the emotion out of ebay bidding. I value the part when I see it, determine how much I want to pay for it, and place my bid, which is automatically my maximum. Is there someone willing to pay more? Congrats, he's got it. Next. And it doesn't matter if he placed his bid before or after me or 10 sec before closing.
And being beat by $1 means the other guy has a higher bid, what FZRdude said.