After a half day at work and then a spirited competition with some work mates at the local go kart place, I hooked up the trailer, picked up my mate and his wife (G&T) and we headed off into the night. Another mate of ours who was entered in the same class as me was having carby issues with his Fireblade so we were also on a rescue mission to deliver a set of carbies to him in time to get his bike ready. We drove through the night and arrived at his place at 7:00 am on Good Friday. A big feed of bacon and eggs first then we got his bike sorted, had a few cold drinks, and headed off for the final two hours drive to the track. We checked into the hotel and had a little rest waiting for the track gates to open at 6:00 pm to allow people to unload the bikes before the morning rush. Then back to hotel for food and drinks
Saturday/Sunday
Formalities out of the way I headed out for my first practice session. I had only ridden this track once before when I raced the 'PJ' bike (Steve Butler's old FZR1000.) there a couple of years ago. The first session was very much about feeling my way around the track and seeing how I felt about it all physically and mentally. I have just recovered from a snapped collar bone and six broken ribs I got in a start line incident seven weeks ago. Apart from being unfit through lack of exercise the body didn't feel too bad and the voices in my head were not taking over too much.
Qualifying was next and I ended up third in my class behind my mate G on his Ducati 916 and a local lad on a Suzuki. My time wasn't fast but it was a few seconds quicker than my last visit to this track. The organisers had a handful of classes gridded up together so there was 40 something bikes on the grid and I was in position 30 overall. To be honest starting that first race from 30 and being in the middle of a pack of 40+ bikes barrelling into Turn 2 at Eastern Creek wasn't actually that much fun. The rest of it however was a hoot.
The racing results for the five races over the weekend went 3-2-2-3-2 for an overall 2nd place for the weekend. Progressive grids were used and my grid positions went 30-28-24-30-29. It's good when you go forward but not so good when you go backward.
Anyhow, the 92 FZR1000 engined, 95 YZF750 framed, WP suspended, Brembo braked, Marvic wheeled Yamaha went well and it was all good enough to bring home a shiny bit of plastic
MM
P.S. It was good to catch up with Steve Butler who was prowling the pits on Saturday
Ohhh forgot about your ribs, ahh what the heck