NZSBK Rnd 5 - Manfeild

After the disasters of the last two rounds I really wanted to end the season on a high. Where better than my home track at Manfeild!

Things had started well with some good pace during the test day and I tried out a few settings that worked well. Unfortunately we also had a lot of random problems with the bike, which wasted a lot of practice time. During the last session I struggled to match the times I had set earlier in the day and suddenly I crashed at turn three. I was a bit surprised but was probably just trying too hard. The problem now was that the rear subframe was damaged so we had to revert to the stock seat aka 'the couch'.

Qualifying
The next morning I knew that we were in trouble when I took the bike out for practice. It felt terrible and I changed a number of settings to try and get back the feeling of the previous day. I had put the change down to the new weight distribution because of the different sub-frame but when suspension guru Kerry Dukic had a push on the forks he knew something was not right. We took the emulators out and he found that a small fragment of cloth was stuck leaving the shim permanently open. Oops! By that stage I had already had my qualifying session and although I had qualified second my time was over a second slower than my time from last year when I was on pole.

Race 1
With the suspension problem solved, I just wanted to get out and have a fun race and see what happened. I got a good start and although I still couldn't go as quick as the previous day I was in with the leading bunch of riders after the first lap. Going through the last turn I noticed the brake lever move slightly as I let off the brakes. Coming down the front straight I considered that there may be a problem and I thought about how bad that would be for the championship. I decided to brake early for turn one and assess whether I needed to pull into the pits over the lap. I never got a chance however as when I pulled in the front brakes there was absolutely nothing at all and the lever came straight back to the bar. Shit!

I stamped on the rear brake and left a big black line before running straight on at turn one through the gravel and into the tyre wall. Normally it is possible to drop the bike before hitting something to lessen the impact but without any brakes I had to leap off at the last minute. I never lost consciousness but I hit the tyres hard with my neck and right wrist. I just lay there for a bit to check my self out and make sure that I hadn't broken my neck or anything major. Eventually I staggered up and headed off back towards the pits. By this stage the race had been red flagged and I was encouraged to take a ride back in the ambulance.

While lying on a stretcher with neck immobilised on my way to hospital (a bit over the top!), I did a few calculations in my head and determined that in order to finish second or third in the championship I would have to rely on two other riders crashing the next day. Although my friends worked hard to get my bike ready for the next day, taking into account my injuries and the fact that I was lucky to come away in one piece, I decided that would be the end of the series for me.

As it turned out, one of the brake line bolts had come loose and was the cause for the crash but it is still a mystery as to why so many things went wrong on the bike over those two weeks.

So I ended up 4th in the championship, which was really disappointing but it can't be changed and I am already concentrating on moving onto a 600 for the rest of the year to prepare for the next national series (so long as the finances will allow it).