I learnt a few things from this weekend -
I am not as competitive as I thought I was (I don't mean compared to other peoples lap times, I already knew that. I mean in regard to how driven I am to be better than someone else)
Eastern Creek is a fabulous race track.
Slight gearing changes on a big track makes a big difference.
Rum and beer always seem like a good idea at the time (think I would have learnt that one by now
)Friday Practice
As expected at a new track the first session was spent just finding my way around and trying to remember which way the next corner went. There are few blind entries which took me a few laps to get my head around. The first lap was quite funny. They scrutineered bikes as they went out for the first session so there was a big gap between bikes as they entered the track. I came down the straight for the first time with no other bikes in sight and only vague memories of people telling me "back off here", "drop a gear and turn in here" to guide me through. Got through alright (slowly) and from that lap on through the whole weekend I enjoyed experimenting with the entry to Turn 1.
Before I ran the 1000 at our home track in February I did a 520 chain conversion and dropped the front sprocket by 1 tooth. Just before I headed off to Sydney I put a standard sized front sprocket back on to suit the bigger track. The chain was very tight but I thought I would persevere with it and as it was a fairly new chain I thought it may stretch a bit. After two sessions it hadn't stretched at all and to me the bike felt a bit 'skitterish' in the rear end. So whether it was an actual problem or not I convinced myself that it was and went back to the smaller front sprocket so I had some slack in the chain. This made a fairly big difference to how the bike went and not in a good way. I needed to grab an extra gear between 9 and 10 and then almost immediately change back down again for 11. Also it clearly affected top speed down the straight and I was revving the ring out of thing.
We only had timing for the last two sessions of the day and ended up with 1:53 which I was OK with as I had no idea where I would be and that put me about mid pack (albeit 5 seconds behind the faster guys from Queensland).
Good day followed by beer and rum.
Saturday
Qualifying
It was a busy session with nearly 40 bikes on the track and I spent most of session trying to remember things from my coaching lessons. Ended up with a 1:54 which was slower than Friday but the other guys I was with were a bit slower as well so it was stil OK. There were four classes in the group and I didn’t really know where I was in my class but it put me in 25th on the grid of 39.
Race 1
I got an average start and found out I am a real pussy in traffic.
I was letting people go left right and centre through turns 1 and 2 and just trying to settle in. I ended up having a good battle with one of our pit buddies who was racing in the New Era class on a GSXR 1100. He was struggling to get it turned in the three tightest parts of the track and I could get beside him but then he would out power me to the next corner. Even being right on his tail onto the straight I couldn't get past him down the straight. I ended up doing a slightly quicker lap than him (still in the 1:54s) but he still beat me over the line. Started 25th and finished 26th.Race 2
I got a slightly better start this time but was still getting out of people's way for the first few turns. I had no idea where my NE mate was so I just put my head down and went as best I could. I caught and passed a couple and ended up 23nd with a best time of 1:52. I was pretty happy with that as it was a step in the right direction. (sbutler was further back in the pack than usual on the first lap and I took my only opportunity to go past him. I led him for a total of 2 corners before he blasted past me again. Felt good though
) Good day followed by a couple of rums
Sunday
Race 3
An interesting start to the day with no warm up session. Straight to the grid for the second race of the day. I had put new tyres on Saturday afternoon so I was a little bit nervous about the first lap. Start was a bit better again but once again I was getting walked all over as the pack sorted itself out through the first few turns. The new tyres were soon forgotten about and I latched onto the other slow guy from Queensland
. Got around him and one other and finished 22nd.Race 4
Being the last race of the weekend I fell into my usual mistake of getting a bit too tense about it all. I really thought I could trim some more time off if I got a little more aggressive and went hard. The start was just a repeat of the others and I found myself 'stuck' behind another GSXR 1100. I basically just followed him around for most of the race. I'd run up behind him but couldn't put an effective move on him. I had one big go and was just about rubbing his rear tyre with my front coming onto the straight. He pulled a little on me down the straight but approaching the 100 metre mark I thought I could have a go under him into Turn 1. What I didn't realise was one of the other guys was slip streaming behind me and he pulled out and passed us both while I was still thinking about it
My race ended there. I decided to back off and bring it home in one piece and not risk spoiling what had been a great weekend. I finished 25th with the best lap time slipping back out to 1:54.Time to pack up and have a couple of coldies with the boys. Of the six Queenslanders who entered in Pre-Modern F1, four of them finished in the top ten which was a great effort. I finished 13th and the last Queenslander finished 14th.
It was good to catch up with sbutler, ZoltanP and Jaffa. I think I spent more time in sbutler's shed than mine. (Might have had something to do with his sponsor
). Nice talking to you ZoltanP and look forward to seeing you out on the track again soon. It was good to see Jaffa keeping the rest of the Queenslanders honest on his YZF750. There were a few comments about that "old orange thing" in the bar on Saturday night. I made sure they knew what the "old orange thing" was. If all is right we will definitely be back next year.
Cheers
