easter cup, mac park, s.a.++ race footage++

[SJTFZR1000]

Easter cup race report, mac park, S.A. ++ race footage+++

Hi everyone,hope you enjoy.....

Easter weekend had been building for a while and now it was finally here. From all reports the weekend was going to be big and reports were not wrong with around 180 entries for the 50th Anniversary for the McNamara park race track. Well the weekend weather was looking a bit touch and go and turned out to be a pivotal factor in the way the races turned out.

Because of the fantastic turnout and big number of riders the weekend started early with qualifying starting on Friday afternoon, so it was a bit of a rush to get the bike and gear unpacked and down to the scrutineering shed to be checked and marked of by the track officials. All was good so I got ready for my practice session. Friday afternoon was turning out to be very difficult because of the strong wind and dust but I survived the first session. The second session was very much the same so times were very slow. As I finished the last practice session and cruised into the exit road from the track the bike developed a violent knock so I pulled to the side of the track and shut the bike down. I decided to try a restart and the noise continued loader. This was not the start to the weekend I was hoping for. I wheeled the bike up hill and back to the pit tent I was in. a few of my competitors came to see what the problem was. It was very windy and dusty by now and a was not ideal conditions for dismantling a motor. I decided that I had to try to find the problem so set about dismantling the motor. I removed all the components I could without needing new gaskets and turned the key to start the motor. To my amazement all looked good and sounded fine. I had a mechanic mate come and have a look, he couldn’t see anything out of place either so I reassembled the motor or restarted it. The noise was still there, I called my mechanic mate back over and started the bike so he could hear the noise and hopefully diagnose it but as soon as I started the motor the noise stopped. We tested the motor by putting it in gear and loading the motor up, but still nothing. We all agreed it would be ok to do the qualifying run.
After all the engine dramas I had to get my head back onto the track and try for a quick lap to get a good grid position. We got held up at the dummy grid position before we went onto the track because there was a bike down on the track so my tires were cooling down very quickly. When I finally rolled out onto the track the wind was so strong, it was going to push the bike all over the track. This was going to be a very difficult qualifying session. Because of the time the tires had to cool down I decided to try to warm them up on a slow/medium lap, as I came around for the second lap and was about to try to go a bit faster the rain hit with a very heavy blast. This turned the track into a big slippery river, as everyone had slicks on there were bikes off the track everywhere. I pulled into the exit of the track and waited a couple of minutes for the heaviest rain to pass. I went back onto the track for some wet track practice and soon found it was too wet to continue so i came back in and parked the bike. The grid position times were quickly put up so we could find out where we were on the grid…..disappointingly I had qualified in 6th position, from here this was going to make for a difficult weekend. This was the end of riding for me until Saturday.
Because of the number of bikes my class only had 2 races for the weekend so it was going to be a while between races. A practice session came around on Saturday morning and the weather had calmed down and there was only a few wet patches on the track, so by the time I got onto the race track it was nearly completely dry. I took it easy and was hearing every noise the bike made but when I returned to the tent all was good, with the motor developing good power everywhere on the track. A few hours later and it was time for my first race, because of the two race format for my class it was going to be a bit more difficult to work the other rider’s habits out. I usually take the first race to study the other riders habits but on this occasion it wasn’t going to be possible because I would have to knuckle down and try to get to the front as quick as possible from my 6th grid position, on the up side the races were a little longer and I had 6 laps to get to the front. We all cruised around the track and lined up for a race start. As all the bikes got ready I noticed that a bike had not turned up, he was off the grid position in front of me which meant I had a clear run to the first corner. I got a great start and by turn 11 was on the back wheel of the leader. I stuck with the leader for about 3 laps before I had a rear wheel slide from the double apex sweeper coming onto the back straight, I tried to hang onto the leader but just didn’t have the grip and settles for 2nd place. After my race I went to have a look at the display of older bikes the club had organised. One of my mates dads was there with his old sidecar, he asked me if I would like to have a ride as a passenger, I had never been in a sidecar and jumped at the chance to go for a ride in these high powered rockets. It was an awesome ride and I have a new respect for these guys, after only two slow laps I was sweating heaps and had very tired arms. There were two sessions and I got to ride I both.
I awoke to an overcast slightly rainy day on Sunday morning, we were all hoping for no rain. Everything was wet from the rain over night, so I set about cleaning up all the mess. We had another practice in the morning an all went well. It was time for my racing for the day to begin. I had to get a better start and I had to win this race to pick up an overall first place. There had been patchy rain all morning and two races before I was due to race the rain came down. It takes about 15-20 minutes for me to change wheels from slicks to wets so I decided to stay on slicks. As my race got closer I noticed a dry line starting to appear on some of the corners so my confidence grew. We rolled around the track for the warm-up lap and formed up into the grid, I noticed two things, the bike that was missing from the first race in front of me was back and it was a slower bike off the line, so I would have to watch I didn’t hit him on take-off and the other interesting view was the pole sitter was running wet race tyres. These tyres were full wet tires and will only last about 2 laps on the coarse mac park surface if not run in the wet. If the track wasn’t wet enough, which it wasn’t, he would have a hard time trying to keep the bike on track as the tires shredded with heat. We were set for a start as the flaggy walked of the circuit and the red lights came on. I got a good start and was in third into turn 1, the 1st place rider started to pull away a bit so I pushed the second place rider harder and overtook him under brakes at turn 2. I set of after the 1st place rider knowing that he had wet weather tires on and he was soon going to start to get very loose, I followed him for a lap or two and his bike was all over the place with the tires getting very hot and greasy. I passed him going into the corner at the end of the back straight, all the other riders had dropped off by now and I had a clear run to the finish line.
The next race coming up was the prestigious Easter cup. Because I had had a wet qualifying session I was placed into the second division of three full grids. This put me in last grid position on position 20. I had to get a good start if I was going to catch the fast first grid position rider. I got a good start and was slowed by the riders in front of me; I was stuck in the middle of all the slower riders. By turn 2 I had passed a slower rider and the rest were starting to spread out, I passed another at the end of the back straight and was progressing well. With three laps to go I got passed the 2nd place rider with a cheeky move which he didn’t like at all. This caused me to get a slower run out of the corner and he passed me straight back, I managed to stick with him for the next lap and passed him at the end of the back straight under brakes, as I came around to the start /finish line the last lap board came out, I was getting very tired and was glad to see that yellow board, I hung on after passing 19 riders to take second place.
So I ended up with a 1st place overall in my class and a 2nd place with all different types and powered bikes.

Sjtfzr1000 #36

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QacJut06 ... e=youtu.be

[Big Jon]

Great race report and Congrats on some fantastic finishes. We also have a very abrasive track surface, combined with the fickle Alberta weather, where I've seen rain one one corner only, and that makes slick vs wets a huge gamble. For those at the front of the pack the decision is tough and a game changer either way, for us schmoes in the middle of the pack, far less so. I've even found that Pilot Powers make a fantastic intermediate tire, where there is standing water, and dry lines appearing. The kind of conditions that scare the crap outta me on slicks, but as you say, wets degrade so fast, you end up going backwards. The good street tires last well enough, handle the varied conditions well, and don't melt if it dries quickly. They don't quite handle frontrunner speed however, so it's always fun to watch the fast guys struggle with that one. One good thing about being slow! Waiting for your next report eagerly. Our season begins in a month, so my big experiment for the season is under construction in the garage, with a plan b, not to be tested until the next track days available.

[Mike_SS]

Yet another great read Steve and congrats. I'm not sure I would even go out in iffy conditions. Full dry or maybe full wet if I was feeling OK, none of this patchy in between stuff for me Well done!

[spook]

I'm not sure I would even go out in iffy conditions.

You're a fair weather rider for the time being Mike... Listen to uncle spook.

Well done Steve, once again I enjoyed the read over a coffee, when I went to get my second cup I used a texta-pen to mark my spot in that paragraph so I could find my place when I came back... now it just looks like a fly has landed on my monitor.

Did you work out what the noise was? Well done.