Daniel Kempthorne - Race CV

Actrix Winter Series Round 4

2011-09-06T16:03:00.000+12:00

This round had a track day on the Saturday before the racing commenced on the Sunday. Both days started out cold but excellent weather otherwise.

Saturday track day

The track day was a good opportunity for me to make sure the bike was running all good. I used a Pirelli 180 SC1 rear tyre for the whole day and it had already come as a used tyre so god knows how many laps it had done. It was getting a bit ripped up again with the cold track temperature only getting up to 24C at it's peak.

Sunday

Qualifying
I put on a new SC2 190 tyre for the day. Went out for qualifying and set a time (1:13.1) not far off my PB to get 2nd on the F2 grid.

Race 1
I got a mega start to lead out of turn one for the first lap and a half before Jaden Hassen came past. I was having major problems trying to get the bike stopped and also wheel spinning out of every single corner. Eventually I got picked off to finish 4th.

When I got back to the pits I checked out the tyre and it looked like it was wearing well but had a greyish colour instead of a nice black colour. I took the rear tyre pressure down to 24 PSI (hot) to try and get some temperature into it for the next race.

Race 2
Not such a great start but still in the lead bunch over the first lap only to have the same problems as race one - excessive wheel spin and no grip on the left side of the tyre. I ended up getting swamped and finishing 6th.

Again I had to put it down to the tyre as it was only 40C on the left side right after the race. I decided to put the 180 SC1 back on for the last race just to see if it would make a difference. By this stage the SC1 had done two test days and two races since I was given it as a second hand tyre. It had been ripped up by a cold track and flipped over three times!

Race 3
I got an OK start to end the first lap in 3rd but I could finally wind on the throttle with some confidence. I moved into 2nd and set the fastest lap of the race before it was red flagged. As we pulled into pit lane I took stock of the situation and was just happy to have found the cause of the problems I had been having that day.

We managed to restart the race and I got another good start before a false neutral ran me wide at turn one. I was expecting a bunch of riders to come past at that point but I must have blocked them all when I ran wide. Jaden had made a gap by that stage and so for the rest of the race I had to concentrate on holding off Travis Merkel for 2nd. I ended up crossing the line 2nd just ahead of Travis and reduced the gap to Jaden from 25 seconds in race two to 4 seconds in this race. I set a new PB of 1:11.0 about 3 seconds per lap quicker than what I had been doing on the 190.

I am now looking forward to seeing what I can do with a new set of tyres and I also have another couple of tricks up my sleeve that should allow me to find some more speed.

Actrix Winter Series Round 3

2011-09-01T11:20:00.003+12:00

The weather was very cold (the days started at around zero degrees!) but the sun was out for the Friday test day and the races on Saturday.

Since the last round I had sent the forks and shock down to Kerry Dukie at Dukic Performance. We decided not to do too much to the suspension until the new rules for the Super Stock class were unveiled so it was to be a bit of a revalve and refresh only.

For the test day I used a Pirelli SC1 180 Supercorsa that had been sold to me with the R6 and was used by a rider in the Nationals so it had already done a fair bit of work.
I steadily improved my lap times throughout the day and worked on my technique for the 600. Despite the cold temperatures the tyre held up really well with only slight tearing.

For Saturday I put on a new 190 SC2 tyre for the races and it would be better for the cold temperatures anyway.

F2 Qualifying
I got out for the short qualifying session a bit late and missed out on putting in decent lap but qualified 6^th on the combined BEARs / F2 grid.

F2 Race 1
I got a pretty good start but was a bit conservative on the first lap letting a few riders through. By the second lap I got into a good rhythm and was pleased to be keeping up with the top F2 riders so I could gauge my speed against theirs at different parts of the track. I got into 3^rd and thought about having a go at second but decided to sit back and try to learn a thing or two so crossed the line in 3^rd.

F2 Race 2
The first half of this race got red flagged. When it was restarted I got a good launch to sit behind Travis Merkel for a few laps and again got an idea of my strong / weak points on the track. I thought I might be able to make a move for the lead but suddenly I noticed a dramatic loss of grip from the rear tyre, it was like there was a direct connection from the throttle to how far the rear end would slide out. I had to pull over only to see that it had gone completely flat! Afterwards I had a look and there was a big puncture so it was stuffed.

F2 Race 3
For this race I had to go back to the SC1 I had used all through the previous day. I got a good start but lost touch with Travis to eventually finish by myself in 2^nd.

The two days at the track have been valuable and I have a lot of ideas for the bike and my riding style so it has been a very positive weekend.

Actrix Winter Series Round 2

2011-08-31T15:29:00.003+12:00

This would be the first outing on the R6 and indeed the qualifying session was my first ride on a modern 600. Fortunately I had come prepared with wet tyres as the meeting ended up being wet for the most part on the Manfeild long track (two day event). Having claimed the lap record on the SV a year earlier I was happy to make my 600 debut on the long track and I figured the wet conditions would actually help ease me into things at a slower pace.

F2 Qualifying
I was pleased to finally feel the power of a modern sports bike and set about figuring out how much gas I could give it out of the corners. The bikes suspension was completely stock for this round but even so, it felt well balanced and a joy to ride. The qualifying session was only 4 laps long and when I put my head down for a fast lap, the session was cut short with a red flag, leaving me down in 13^th on the mixed F2 / BEARs grid.

F1 Qualifying
A combination of more confidence and clear track allowed me to qualify 2^nd on the F1 grid.

F2 Race 1
Starting from 13^th wasn’t easy but I got a good launch and the R6 powered through the field into turn one. My only real objective in this race was not to crash the new bike. As the race progressed I made my way forwards, getting more confident each lap. Eventually I got past Mark Bennett to take 3^rd place in F2 over the line. I was pretty happy with the result but already I was starting to set myself higher expectations for the next race to close the gap to the leaders.

F1 Race 1
This race was similar to the last one in that I still rode fairly conservatively but learning all the time. Finished 3^rd.

Happy that the first day was over without incident we headed home to get an early night and get ready for the next day.

The next day was wet again so at least we didn’t have to change over to the dry rims!

F2 Race 2
I was having a fair amount of clutch slippage the previous day so with the help of Glen Skatchill, we adjusted the clutch freeplay. It worked a treat but caught me out on the start line for this race and didn’t get a great run into turn one this time. This gave me a bit of work to do for the race but I managed to work my way into 3^rd place before I noticed that my gear change knob was missing half way through the race. It would have been a bit dangerous to circulate around in 4^th gear so I decided to pulled in.

F1 Race 2
I replaced the gear changer knob and got out for this race but it was starting to dry out so I almost pulled in after the sighting lap to conserve my wet tyres. I decided to give it a go anyway and got a great start to lead the first few turns until I had a huge rear slide coming out of the hairpin. I ended up going slightly off track but the mud was so slippery I decided to wait for the field to go past before re-joining. The tyres were full of mud so after sliding around the next corner I decided to save my tyres after all and pulled in.

F2 Race 3
By now the track was almost fully dry so it was time to see what the bike could do on dry tyres. I got an OK start but soon realised I didn't have much rear grip and didn't really get any confidence. I was trying to find the limit when I hit a false neutral (the replacement gear knob was a bit short) and ended up running into the gravel, losing a bunch of places. On the next lap, the heavens opened up with a huge downpour, so the race was red flagged. Finished 9^th.

I examined my tyres after the race and the stock suspension wasn't working the rear tyre properly so I thought I would just call it a day and get the bike sorted before putting in a more serious effort at the next round.

New Bike - New Class

2011-08-31T15:14:00.002+12:00

As planned I will be moving up to one of the 600 classes (Super Sport / Super Stock) for the remainder of the year and the 2012 National series. In preparation for this I have a acquired a 2008 Yamaha R6, which as a proven machine, should be competitive in either class.

The plan is to compete in the Actrix Winter Series to get used to it and have a bit of fun too!

NZSBK Rnd 5 - Manfeild

2011-05-16T14:29:00.002+12:00

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).

NZSBK Rnd 4 - Hampton Downs

2011-05-16T13:42:00.003+12:00

After the Ruapuna round we headed home to assess the situation and also the damage done to the SV's engine. Seemingly, the engine was unrepairable so we had a look for a replacement and settled on getting one in from the U.S. With days to spare a replacement engine was in and we headed off to Hampton Downs.

We were able to test the engine out on the Friday and it ran beautifully without any need to touch the fuelling, which was a relief. The weather was terrible however, and the track never dried.

Qualifying
The weather was the same the next day but for some reason the bike was playing up during the first practice session with the bike intermittently running on one cylinder.

It still wasn't running properly during the qualifying session with it conking out a few times only for me to jump start it again to get going. I was lucky enough for it to behave for exactly one lap which allowed me to get a decent time in to put me 2nd.

Race 1
We worked frantically to try and solve the problems with the bike before the race and it was looking good until the bike died going up the hill to line up on the grid. I tried to push start it again but it was impossible on such a steep incline. Eventually I missed the start and watched from the side of the track. The race was red flagged and I managed to get the bike into pit lane where we found the fuel pump cable had come unplugged under the tank. It was going to be a full race restart but the officials wouldn't allow me to start from pit-lane because I hadn't made the original start!

By now our mission was just to finish 2nd in the championship as the points gap to first was going to be too great. Still in second however, I was confident that we could finish runner up - not too bad considering our run of bad luck.

Race 2
The next day was again wet but not as much as the previous days. That was until there was an oil spill in another class and the solution was to spray more water onto the track!

I felt a sense of achievement just lining up on the grid this time and I got a scorching start. I passed a couple of riders around the outside of turn one and lined up another at the entry to turn two. I decided not to make the pass but at least block anyone else who wanted to pass me up the inside. When I pulled in the front brakes the front wheel immediately locked and it felt like the bike was floating on a pocket of air with no way of slowing down. Somehow I slipped past the other riders ahead of me and ran off the track. As I hadn't scrubbed off any speed I had to drop the bike, which as usual bent enough to make it impossible to carry on.

I was furious with my self as it was the first time I had crashed of my own accord for a while. On reflection I don't know what happened as I was braking at the usual point but that part of the track might have been affected by the oil spill and cleanup.

Race 3 (TT)
After Duncan Coutts very generously lent me some spares and with the help of Paul Buckley for the weekend, we managed to get the bike together for the next race.

The track was drying but our class was suddenly pushed up the running order, which caught everyone by surprise. I made the call to use a wet front and a dry rear for this race as it was the TT and much longer than a normal race. I was stoked to see everyone else on full wets as we lined up on the dummy grid and when we set off for the sighting lap I knew we had made the perfect choice... then it started raining.

The sneaky shower lasted just long enough to wet the track again and I was wondering what I had done to deserve such rotten luck. The track felt very greasy and I had to be extremely careful with the throttle but I felt like I could keep it upright so I lined up on the grid.

I got a good launch into turn one and although I couldn't carry much corner speed, I made sure to ride defensively for the initial laps. Other riders came past one by one but I had to bide my time until the track started to dry again. Slowly but surely my lap times started to drop and towards the end of the race my tyres came into their own. I managed to work my way back up through the field and although I would have been better off on wets from the start, by the end of the race I was the fastest rider on the track. Eventually I caught up to the rider for second in Pro-Twins but as I was passing on the inside he came across and we collided causing me to go down and him to run off track. It was basically a racing incident but I was just so fed up with the way things were going. Once again the bike was too damaged to carry on and pick up any points.

I could never have believed that I would leave Hampton Downs (probably my most successful track and where I got my first national win the previous year) with zero points! What's more I damaged my elbow, resulting in a huge hematoma, in the crash so we were feeling really down.

My only consolation was that my competition for second place in the championship had also gone down during the last race, so I was still confident of being able to finish on a high at my home track and take runner up in the points. With our terrible weekend Johnny was declared Pro-Twin champion with the points gap being insurmountable. I congratulated him and then we headed off for liquid refreshments.

NZSBK Rnd 3 - Ruapuna

2011-05-15T16:14:00.004+12:00

Based on the previous year, I had identified Ruapuna as the most difficult track to learn in NZ and the one that I figured I would need the most practice at. I don't find the track to be very flowing and for the most part, each corner is very different and has it's own little secrets that you need to learn to unlock a good lap time.

After a couple of test days where Kerry and I were finally able to work on the setup of the SV we made some huge steps in terms of feel and speed.

Qualifying
The weather had been kind for the most part and come qualifying I felt like I had a very capable machine under me. As usual, Johnny was up to his usual tricks and so I took a trip through pit lane after the first lap to try and find some clear track. I then put in a long series of laps and got a best time of 1:39.3, which was enough for my first pole of the series and also just a hair under the lap record for Pro-Twins.

Race 1
I didn't get as good a launch from the line as I had hoped for and ended up a bit further back in the pack by turn one. Johnny was just ahead and riding very aggressively with some F3 bikes. On lap three someone crashed just ahead of me in a huge cloud of dust - it turned out it was Johnny. This made my job a lot easier and I backed off to conserve my tyres for the next days races to take my first win of the series and about frickin time! Fortunately for Johnny, he was uninjured and was able to remount to finish 5th.

Race 2
Again I got a bit of a dodgy start and ended up following Johnny into turn one and over the first couple of laps I tucked in behind him. I knew that I needed to make up some points on him and that he was capable of making mistakes so I just put the pressure on. He took a look couple of looks behind to see that I was gaining on him and this gave me a lot of confidence to take another win. Any hopes were quickly dashed on lap three however when I heard something 'snap' on the bike and the engine died, leaving me coasting to a halt on the side of the track. I frantically tried to assess what the problem was but when I saw how much oil was sitting in the belly pan I pretty much knew that the championship lost.

After the race we saw the extent of the damage, which turned out to be a snapped rod essentially writing off the engine. Luckily it didn't spit me off and there wasn't any oil spilt onto the track but we were almost in disbelief at how much bad luck we were having at this point. Pro-Twin bikes are stock so I wasn't expecting such a catastrophic failure but having spoken to a few people since, it is not unheard of for this to happen.

Almost immediately another Pro-Twin competitor, Nick Southerwood, was in our pit offering me his spare bike to use for the last race of the day (the Grand Prix). Thanks to Nick's generosity, and that of a number of my other direct competitors, we were able to transfer the wheels and suspension from my bike to Nick's spare bike in time for the GP race.

At this stage I felt like the pressure was off and I just needed to collect points. Nick had stressed that he didn't care if I crashed his bike but regardless, I didn't want to push my luck. The bike felt very foreign due to a different geometry but it was plenty quick enough to bag some points.

Race 3 (GP)
I got an OK start but by the end of the first lap I realised that I would not be able to run the same pace as what I had done on my bike. One by one, people passed me including Nick who was riding really well. After a few laps I saw that Nick had come off at the hairpin and I felt really bad for him but there was nothing I could do but push on. Robbie Stokes was also riding really well and so I ended up finishing 3rd in Pro-Twins, which by all accounts was an awesome result considering I thought I wasn't going to be able to ride at all.

I have to say a big thanks to everyone who helped me on Sunday, especially considering some of them were my competitors!

Nick Southerwood
Duncan Coutts
Geoff Irving
Peter Rees
Trevor Stokes
Neil Chapell
Pietre
Tony Collins

NZSBK Rnd 2 - Teretonga

2011-05-15T15:21:00.005+12:00

After a somewhat disappointing weekend at Timaru, we decided to have a good think about how we could turn things around at Invercargill. It was decided that we would enlist the help of suspension guru Kerry Dukie from Duckic performance.

So the first day of practice at Teretonga started with a complete overhaul of the Suzuki's front and rear suspension. Kerry had some ideas and things started to make a lot of sense!

Buoyed by a feeling of a fresh start, I went out on the track and immediately shattered my best lap from the previous year. The bike didn't feel foreign but we were essentially starting to set it up from scratch so we didn't get to try everything we wanted over the two days of testing we had. Eventually, we found a good base setting and I was feeling confident lapping almost at lap record pace.

Qualifying
For this session I put on some new tyres but didn't get the most out of them getting stuck in a bit of traffic, while pitting to check tyre wear during the session. Despite this I put in a decent time of 1:05.3 to put me second on the grid with Johnny posting a blistering 1:04.6 to put him on pole.

Race 1
I got a good start for this race but ended up second after the first turn. I was following Kirk Pritchard on a faster bike and I thought this would work to my advantage but instead he was just holding me up. I tried to make a couple of passes but his bike was too fast at all the important passing spots. My pit board was signalling that we were getting caught by the following Pro-Twin bikes and I knew that if I could get past Kirk then I could pull a gap to 3rd. Unfortunately this was my undoing and with a lap to go I hydraulically locked the forks under breaking nearly sending me off track, allowing Robbie Stokes and Nick Southerwood past. I was furious with the situation but thought I could get them back on a last lap push but I was again held up by an F3 bike and lost any opportunity.

I ended up finishing 5th in this race more than a little bit frustrated with the situation! Funnily enough, the previous year had been very similar except that after a frustrating Saturday we had a pretty good Sunday so this cheered me up a bit.

Race 2
The next day started damp and ended up being very wet. The first race was going to be fully wet so I was a bit worried about not having had much success on wet tyres lately. Fortunately with a new set of Pirelli wet tyres I quickly started gaining confidence. This was basically like a test session for me just getting some confidence back in the wet conditions and I ended up finishing a comfortable second in this race.

The weather closed in for the rest of the day and they had to call an early end to the meeting meaning that we didn't get a 3rd race. I wasn't too worried as our pit shelter was about a foot under water and I was soaked all the way through so it was nice to go and have a shower instead.

NZSBK Nationals Rnd 1 - Levels

2011-03-21T14:23:00.003+13:00

Finally, after all the preparation and hard work over the last year, the team and I found our selves at Timaru for the first round of the NZSBK nationals run at Levels raceway. We had high hopes for the coming weeks as we set about our goal of winning the Pro-Twin championship. But with big expectations comes big pressure, something that I had been trying to prepare myself for over the last few months.

Our first day at the track was the Friday official practice day. We had a good pit spot setup in the same place as last year and got the bike ready for a busy day learning the track and setting up the bike. As soon as the bike turned a wheel on the track I knew the Manfeild base setup would not work here as I had a similar feeling to how the old bike felt during the previous visit here last year. I did a few laps to reacquaint myself with the track and pulled in to make some changes to the bike. Over the rest of the day we repeated this process but never really found a setting that promoted confidence in the front tyre, which is critical at any track but especially at Levels.

The next day dawned with the sound of rain on the roof but by the time we reached the track it was starting to clear up. According to the schedule our group would be up early so I opted to use wet tyres for the first practice session but, due to delays, by the time we went out on the track it was almost dry so I only did one lap to get a time just in case the qualifying session was cancelled.

Qualifying
The qualifying session was dry so no problems deciding on which tyres to use. I had a fairly good session this time, equalling my best lap time from the races last year with a 1:10.7 according to my onboard lap timer but I could tell that there were areas that needed improvement and so I would have to keep experimenting with the bike setup. In the end I was disappointed to see that my recorded lap time was only 1:11.0 to put me 2nd Pro-Twin and 8th on the grid. In hindsight, I think there were problems with the timing system as Mylaps shows three laps grouped together.

Race 1
I was not keen to change the bike setup too much without testing it before the race but I knew that local boy Johnny Small would be quick and that I was not going to be able to lap as fast as I would have liked. I decided to run with the same settings as in qualifying and see how it panned out.

I got a fairly decent start but from the back of the second row it was pretty much a case of follow the leader through turns 1 and 2. I was on Johnny's tail going into turn three but he got staggering drive onto the straight. I held my own over the rest of the lap but not really gaining anywhere only for the same thing to happen again at turn 3. I pushed a bit harder here this time but no matter what I did, I would just loose the front and have to back off. By lap 5, I decided that I would not be able to make up the gap and I was risking too much at my current pace so I slowed down a bit to make sure that I got second. Not long after this I saw carnage out of the corner of my eye and I came around the corner to see Terry's bike in the middle of the track. Sure enough the red flag came out not long after and we all filed into pit lane and were then told to return to our pits.

The race was restarted to complete our 9 laps and it played out pretty much the same as the the first part. I pushed at the start and then eased off to finish the race 2nd. I was not too disappointed with the result but I was a bit concerned to be one second per lap down on Johnny. I had set a new PB of 1:10.1 but I needed to be in the low 9s if I wanted to win.

After the race I was surprised to see that I had been classified as finishing second to last on the timing sheet. Up until this point, we had been having a string of problems and mistakes from the organisers, this combined with some appalling attitudes meant we were just about fed up with the whole situation. It was then that we were told that they could not guarantee that my result would be corrected! Fortunately there is such a thing as the Riders Rep at each meeting and he certainly earned his crust that weekend. I was reinstated to second place but informed that my transponder was faulty.

The next day Robert and I decided to change every spring in the bike to a stiffer option. Unfortunately the temperature was low and getting lower (contrary to the weather predictions) and this would not help my tyre wear.

Race 2
With high hopes of a bike transformed I set off into the first corner in a similar fashion to the previous days racing. Once again I was losing precious ground in turn 3 and in fact the bike was feeling worse in some areas! I lost touch with the leaders and had to settle for second place in Pro-Twins again. My lap times were over half a second slower on average compared to the previous day and once again my times were not being recorded correctly due to the transponder problem.

I checked the transponder for any problems but came to the conclusion that the unit must be faulty and there was not much I could do about it. That was the least of my problems however and I decided to pull out my fork internals to check for problems. Eventually we settled for increasing the compression damping on the emulators to see if this could be a cure.

Race 3
I was pretty much resigned to playing it safe in this race, which I really hate doing! As predicted, the bike wasn't great and in fact another step in the wrong direction I suspect with regards to suspension. Although I went slower in this race, so did everyone else for some reason but in the end, it was a fairly boring one to finish 2nd again.

Ready to put the weekend behind us, we headed down to Invercargill for round 2 at Teretonga.

Tri-Series Round 3

2010-12-31T09:02:00.000+13:00

Tri Series Round 3 – Cemetery Circuit

Going into the last round of the series I was level on points with Deano for fourth place in the F3 championship and we both had a shot at 3^rd place depending on what went down (no pun intended). My goal for this round was to basically just have fun and not worry about points too much. I still hold the view that this round should not have any points associated with it to remove some of the pressure from such a risky track.

Anyway, as with most racers, Xmas was a bit of a non-event and I spent the day getting packed and headed up the road to Wanganui to claim a pit spot, get signed in and scrutineered. I made sure to hold back from eating too much for dinner and restrained myself to only one glass of wine.

The next day was an early start so I was glad to have been mostly organised for the day before I had even got to the track. First on my list was to consult the Dr about suspension changes for such an extreme track. We decided to add oil and softer springs and see how it felt for the first session. Having ridden here last year I was not classed as being one of those pesky virgins who were first up.

Not long after, I was out in the F3 class for the first of the combined qualifying sessions. It took me a couple of laps to get back into the groove but by the end of the session I was feeling a lot happier and setting a fairly respectable 56.1 to put me 4^th in the session from memory. I was a bit shocked to see that Deano wasn’t taking prisoners setting a lap time quick enough to put him second. Better pull finger!

The next session I went out hoping to improve my time significantly but I ended up going slower. I was stuck behind a few riders during this session and I didn’t really get any clean laps ending up with a 56.5, which was irrelevant as they would take my time from the previous time to put me 6^th on the grid. I was relieved to be on the second row as a bad grid position could put an end to any high aspirations here.

Race 1

RT worked his magic on the front end to help make it more compliant for this race, which helped a lot in the braking areas.

We lined up for race one and I got a pretty decent launch to put me about 4^th into turn one. Deano got good drive out of turn two to put me back a place going over the rail tracks. Moments later I caught sight of a blue object out of the corner of my eye, Terry squeezing past into the same corner and running both of us very deep but fair enough. I clung on for the next lap but disaster struck when Jason went down just after the tracks and leaving Deano with nowhere to go but up, as he had to run into Jason’s bike. I was extremely lucky to avoid both Jason and all the carnage around me and get through unscathed. It is moments like these that you don’t know what to feel – the racer in me say’s that I just gained two places but I couldn’t help but feel bad that both Jason and especially Deano had gone down and this would probably spell the end of our battle for 4^th in the championship.

Unsurprisingly, the race was red flagged but fortunately both riders appeared fine as we lined back up on the dummy grid. I put all this to the back of my mind as we lined up for the restart and this time I got an even better one thanks to the empty grid spot in front of me. The usual suspects Scott, Glen and Terry got out into the lead and Scott especially was riding it like he stole it to clear off into the distance. I knew that I could hold onto 4^th if I put my head down but made sure not to out brake myself and throw away the gap I had back to 5^th place. Towards the end of the race I was pretty isolated from the other riders so I tried to ride as smooth as possible but as it turns out I was faster at the beginning of the race when I was riding ragged trying to keep up with Glen and Terry so I decided that smooth could kiss my arse for the next race. After the race I was stoked with a 4^th place finish and a PB of 54.7 but it felt a bit hollow considering my main competition was missing.

Race 2

I was glad to hear that Deano was for the most part uninjured and his bike was surprisingly well off considering it had ridden off without him in the first race.

We all lined up the dummy grid for our compulsory tyre cool down period and, after returning back to the pits to do the crossword, we were signalled to start our engines again and head off on the warmup lap.

Darn, no gap in the grid this time so a good launch was important. The first corner is a bit of a blur but I think I was about 4^th again going onto the back straight. This time I held on and stuck to the back of Terry and Glen while Scott checked out. To my surprise, as the laps ticked away, I was still sitting behind Terry and Glen. There were a number of places that they could pull a gap on me but I was more than determined pulling them back on the braking zones, with the bike handling the bumpy corner entries amazingly well. This was the first time in the Tri-Series that we had not made any significant setup changes between the races and it meant that I could bring my riding up to the level of the bike instead of trying to do the opposite.

Just as I was getting ideas of causing an upset and snatching 3^rd, I ran deep on the brakes at turn one and then again on the next lap at the exact same place. Those mistakes put an end to that and meant I had a 2 second gap to third. I was just pushing too hard and this had given me all the warning signs I needed to settle down and take home another 4^th place finish, which was fine with me. The best thing about this race was that I had smashed my PB and set a 53.2 lap.

Robert Holden Memorial

I was on a real high after the last race and was disappointed to have to wait another year to race here again just as I had hit my stride. So when I heard that I had qualified for the invitational race I jumped at the opportunity.

For some reason I had been gridded based on my fastest lap from race one, which was 1.5 seconds slower than race two and put me way back at 30^th on the grid. I wasn’t too fussed however so when the flag dropped and I found myself in the middle of 30 equally mad motorcycle racers heading for a narrow turn one I decided to leave them to it and file in behind. Last place seemed safe enough.

Everyone around me seemed to be running very similar pace with no one really making any passes. A small gap developed in front of the rider ahead of me so I passed him on the brakes and set about chasing down a swarm of 600 riders. I was definitely hauling them in on the brakes but would have to pass from a long way back to get ahead of any of them. Coming into the last lap I was braking as late as possible at the end of the back straight only for the front brake lever to come back to the bar with ZERO resistance. In that moment I was horrified but there was no time to do anything except stamp on the back brake. I effectively came flying into pit lane at top speed with the rear end fishtailing. After a couple of pumps the front brakes returned enough to slow me to a respectable speed. Before I had time to contemplate this life / death experience I was asked if I wanted to have my transponder removed!!! They must have thought I was a reckless lunatic but I was just happy to roll the bike into the pits all in one piece. As it turns out, one of the brake calliper bolts had completely fallen out leaving the brake pads to bite down on nothing but thin air. How this happened I’m not sure but I will now have a new ritual of checking those bolts every time I go out!

So it was a great days racing and the grid call ups aside, I think the organisers put on an excellent event and series. Later that night I picked up my prize money for fourth place in F3 overall but Geoff rode well enough on his first visit to the cemetery circuit to just secure 3^rd and take the weird helmet trophy thing. At least I can say that I did my best and apart from a top 3, I really just wanted to gear up for the nationals next month, which is looking good.

I had lots of supporters turn up to cheer me on so thanks to everyone who came and saw me in the pit to wish me luck. And of course a big thanks to my family for their support at all the rounds.

Obviously with suspension being so important there RT from CKT did an awesome job of getting the most out of the bike and without him I wouldn’t have been able to go fast (and probably would have crashed trying).

Also a big thanks to:

Pirelli tyres, which were insanely grippy and competitive through to the last race of the series

Brent Kennard (Kennard Collision Repairs) for the ‘sun shining out of arse’ paint job, which has made me really stand out

Simon Banks (Banks Engineering) for all his help and bike prep

Tri-Series Round 2

2010-12-20T15:31:00.000+13:00

After seeing the forecast and the fact that I am quite familiar with Manfeild, I decided to miss the Friday test day. In hindsight, maybe this was not such a good idea.

Saturday morning was wet but warm and I had spent the night tossing and turning thinking about what tyres I would use in a multitude of different scenarios but as Qualifying got closer we ended up going with dry tyres, which was the right decision.

Qualifying
The organisers were running a fair bit ahead of schedule so it was a bit of a panic to get out in time and I hate being rushed before going out onto the track. I figured I could make do with a first or second row start so I didn’t push too hard in the dampish track conditions. I noticed that when I started pushing, the bike was not handling particularly well but I had put on a new Supercorsa SC1 rear tyre that felt awesome. To my surprise, I qualified 2^nd on the grid, just behind Jason Easton.

Race 1
We made a couple of small changes to the bike and set off on the sighting lap only to be greeted with spots of rain, often referred to as psychological rain, which didn’t really affect grip too much. The track was so warm it evaporated very quickly. The flag dropped signalling the start and I got a fairly good launch only for the bike to drop out of second gear while I was at full throttle. This killed any drive I had while I tap danced on the shifter to get some speed. Fourth into turn one and I took a couple of corners to get into a groove by which time the first four riders had made a bit of a gap.

I was working hard to pull them in over the initial laps but the bike was still suffering from some setup issues, which meant I was riding my balls off to catch my fellow Pro-Twin competitor in 4^th place. But eventually I did and we had a hard battle to the chequered flag pretty much decided by who could get past the back-markers without losing too much time. This time it turned out that I was able to take 4^th and on the cool down lap I decided that they were the hardest 8 laps of my life!

Race 2
I had learnt my lesson from Hampton Downs not to change too much between races but I knew I couldn’t leave the bike as it was if I wanted to get a good result. Fortunately Robert Taylor from CKT was on hand to tweak the bike and this is when I started wishing I had attended the test day so we could have tried things then. Anyway, we had an idea of what needed to be done so we went a bit stiffer on the front so that it could ride higher in the stroke – sounded good to me!

The weather was fine and this time I got an even better launch but again the bike dropped out of gear (why does this keep happening!!!). So with a very similar start to this race as the previous one I set about catching my Pro-Twin competition. I could feel that the bike was riding higher at the front and this did seem a bit nicer in some areas but again it felt like something was missing and I was not able to apex corners like I normally do. My lap times got quicker as I settled into the new setup and I took 4^th place with about 3 laps to go. Scott Moir had not been too far from me by the end of the first race but this time he was lapping considerably quicker and cleared off to leave us battling for a best of 4^th place.

Unfortunately, I was not able to make a gap on the rider behind me and I missed my lines a few times meaning he managed to get by me again. Now, I like a hard race but this one was getting a bit dirty. We had already been side by side on the straight a few times only for me to have to grab the brakes to avoid being run off the track or into pit wall. Similarly I had put in a couple of hard passes, which he probably wasn’t thrilled about and I admit that. But it all came to an end when I was entering turn one on the brakes up the inside of a back-marker and the other rider tried to make it through a gap between us clipping my left handlebar in the process. As I was trying to turn the bike into the corner, the bike did not like having the wheel facing the wrong way and caused me to have to abort altogether, missing the unsuspecting back-marker by what felt like millimetres. After avoiding a two bike pileup I was facing the familiar situation of kitty litter surfing towards a rapidly approaching tyre wall and yes, I dropped it. Turns out a stone had lodged in the brakes and locked the front wheel so I wasn’t going to make a comeback whether the bike wanted to start or not (and it didn’t).

So, not such a good end to the day and the way the points system is stacked, a DNF really puts a dent in the championship. I haven’t given up on 3^rd place overall however so we will have to see how it all works out at Wanganui.

I’d like to thank the organisers and marshals for putting on a good meeting, which ran just as smoothly as round one. Thanks to my sponsors NWA for providing me with the best Pirelli tyres and Robert from CKT for the best suspension. And especially to my family and supporters for coming to help or watch and giving me a real boost on the track.

#36 - In the Media

2010-12-17T14:02:00.001+13:00

An article from the Manawatu Standard (17/12/10)

Tri-Series Round 1

2010-12-13T14:55:00.000+13:00

With the bike looking like a million bucks thanks to Brent Kennard (UCOL Trade Skills, Kennard Collision Repair) we arrived at the Hampton Downs race track on Friday morning to get ready for an afternoon practice session.

Robert Taylor from CKT had been working on my front forks to improve the front end feel of the bike and I could feel a big improvement straight away. The bike was soaking up the bumps that I recalled from the national round here in March yet still provided good feedback from the front tyre.

My partner Caroline timed me doing a 1:13.0 on old tyres so I was feeling pretty happy with the setup of the bike. Unfortunately I made a small mistake on the slowest corner on the track and lost the front at very low speed resulting in surprisingly little damage to the bike. Although not how I wanted to finish the day, I knew what caused the crash and was otherwise happy with how the bike felt.

The next day we set up the pit and got ready for the Formula 3 qualifying session with an unused set of Pirelli Superbike slicks ready to go. The bike is setup for the ProTwin class but as they don’t run a ProTwin class in the Tri-Series I had to run against much higher spec bikes in the F3 class.

QP
Qualifying went well as I tried to adjust to the grip of the tyres and managed to get a few early laps in without too much traffic to set a 1:12.3, which was enough to give me pole position and a bonus championship point. This was a real boost but the top five riders were very close.

Race 1
The start was being controlled by a flag drop instead of lights and I didn’t get a very good start, which left me in 4^th place after the first turn. I settled into a bit of a rhythm to pick my way past the riders ahead of me until I got in behind Terry Fitzgerald who’s bike was very competive coming up the hill onto the main straight. I managed to stick in behind him and show him a wheel a couple of times but it was difficult to make any passes stick. On the second to last lap I managed to get past and gain an advantage leading into the last lap. I put my head down and held on to take the win by 0.2 of a second over Terry – what a great start to the summer season!

Here's the onboard footage of the race:

Race 2
Although there was nothing wrong with the setup of the bike we decided to make a small change to help turn the bike coming out of the corners, which was one area I thought we could improve on. Unfortunatley, on the warm up lap I noticed that one of the handle bars had moved and my left arm was a bit cramped for space going around some of the corners. This was a bit disconcerting but I knew I could just ignore it. I got a slightly better start this time but over the lap I lost a place and was back in fourth again. The next lap I tried to advance but I could see Terry was setting a blistering lap and was making a big gap to Geoff Booth in second place. I managed to get into second after a couple of laps and set about chasing Terry but the bike was not as good under the brakes, bottoming out the forks, and I made a mistake going into turn two running wide onto the grass. This meant that four riders went straight past and put a 4-5 second gap to me in 5^th place. I tried to make up the gap but I soon realised that I couldn’t go as quick as in race one and decided to settle for 5^th place.

I was pretty disappointed to end the day with a low point but it means that I am sitting in second place in the championship 5 points behind Terry and my goal was to finish in the top three so it is not so bad. I was more disappointed that I had not bettered my personal best lap time from the national round when I was riding my older bike.

Next Saturday (18^th Dec) is round two at Manfeild, which is a much more horse power oriented track so my goal of finishing top 3 will remain the same.

Pacific Club Summer Series Rnd 1

2010-11-04T21:32:00.000+13:00

After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally time to wheel the bike out again and blow away the webs.

I had been toiling away in the garage for a while fitting a new subframe and sexy GSXR600 fairings to make the bike look much better. Unfortunately, they were still unpainted and looked a bit rubbish but I was planning on a low key weekend just making sure that everything was working on the bike.

...only the bike wasn't working.

Saturday Practice Day
I had pretty much given up on the bike after trying the get the bloody thing started and had gone through a number of problems ranging from a faulty battery to the tip over sensor but still it wouldn't fire up. So I decided to go to the track anyway and hopefully someone would shed some light on the situation.

I hadn't been there long before Frenchy very generously decided to give me a hand and didn't give up until we had finally found the culprit. Turns out the crank sensor became unplugged at some point after I replaced the battery, this took all of 5 seconds for Chris Osbourne to fix!

So once the bike was running and the Super Corsas were warmed I went out for my first session of the day. I felt more than a bit rusty, which wasn't helped by the fact that I didn't have any foam on the seat and I was slipping all over the place.

For the next session I solved that problem and added some padding to the tank for extra grip and it made a huge difference. I also had my lap timer on for this session and was pleasantly surprised to see the times coming down into the low 1:14s. I didn't feel like I was pushing very hard so I'm not sure it these times were correct but for the next session I was again in the 14s and more consistently quick.

I called it a day and went home to try and get some sleep as I was knackered.

Sunday Race Day

I awoke feeling relatively fresh and after a bit of a panic about the weather I was heading out to the track from Palmy. I got set up and signed in and waited for qualifying. F3 / Pro-Twin QP was up fairly early and I felt confident of getting back into the 14s during this session. Unfortunately my gear linkage had come loose, which forced me to come in early but I had set an ok time which put me 5th on the grid.

I also went out in the F2 qualifying session but was disappointed to only do a high 1:15 lap time in this session. I felt like I was pushing harder than the previous day but the lap times were not as good, which makes me think there was a problem with my lap timer from the previous day. Anyway, I didn't plan on doing the F2 races so my qualifying time from this session meant nothing.

Pro-Twin Race 1
I lined up on the grid directly behind Nick Cain on Ozzy's 450. I knew that this was his first time starting on this bike so I pointed my nose to the right of him to try and get around if it went pear shaped. It turned out to be a good idea as he nearly looped the thing and I still got a bit of a surprise. After the usual antics into the first corner I ended up sitting behind Scott Moir for the next few laps while Jason Easton buggered off into the distance.
Scott seemed to be doing identical lap times to me and it wasn't until the last lap that he slowed enough for me to get past and finish second overall and first Pro-Twin.
My best lap in this race was a 1:15.0 so not the greatest but was fairly happy considering the age of my tyres.

Pro-Twin Race 2
I managed to get a good launch and out-braked Jason into turn one to lead coming out. Going round turn two Jason passed me back and I noticed how much more settled his bike was than mine (something to work on). It wasn't long before Nick Cain came past after getting a better start than last time. I came back past on the brakes but he was murdering me coming out of Higgins and it soon became apparent that I wouldn't be able to keep up. I eased off for the rest of the race to finish 3rd over the line but picked up another win in the Pro-Twin class.

So a good day out and a successful shakedown before the Tri-Series in December.

Thanks to Robert at CKT for fine tuning the rear shock and allowing me to keep running old tyres that just won't die. Also thanks to NWA for providing me with the excellent Pirelli Super Corsa tyres.

Winter Series Rnd 3

2010-07-26T21:50:00.001+12:00

Round III

I was happy with the new bike but it still didn't feel like MY bike so I made a few changes to the control positions but most importantly Robert from CKT worked with me to set the suspension up to make it a real weapon.

Qualifying
The track was wetish but not too bad so I chanced going out with dry tyres. I thought I did ok but with most other riders on full wets I was disappointed to be 11th on the grid, and even more so when I found out that the races were only 5 laps long.

Race 1
I had a simple plan to 'go hard' and see where I was after the first lap. An OK start but with a very thin turn 1 (due to oil spilage) meant that I got a bit boxed in. Had a bit of trouble trying to pass Paul Duncan with a couple of uncomfortably close calls but all good and put my head down to work my way through the pack. I crossed the line to start the last lap about 2 seconds behind Rob who was in the lead. At that point I thought my chance had gone but braking into turn 1 the gap shrunk noticibly. Robert Taylor had worked his magic on my front forks and I was able to comfortably brake later than I had ever done before. Before I knew it I was going up the inside of Rob at Higgins and possibly caught him out a bit to hold it over the line and win the race. That 5 lap race seemed to be over in seconds but it was loads of fun.

Race 2
This time I got a good start and caught up to Geoff and Rob earlier in the race. I took a bit of a breather as they battled it out for the lead. When I got past them I didn't look back but as I suspected this time they were lapping much quicker than the first race so when Rob come up the inside into Dunlop I adjusted my line to get better drive. Drafting Rob is like riding behing an 18 wheeler truck and I slithered past to take the win by 0.047 seconds. I can't think of anything cooler than racing bikes when you have races like that!

Race 3
I was determined to end the day on a high so made sure I got a good start again and just as in race two, I was following Geoff and Rob by then end of the first lap. I didn't want to have someone following me for too long like in the last race so I left it to the last lap and saw an oppurtunity to get by Geoff and Rob at the same time on the brakes into turn 1. I felt pretty cool when I pulled it off but Rob got a better drive out of the corner and got me back as we tipped into turn 2. Rob was going for it and I didn't get a chance to pass at Higgins so Dunlop it was then. Rob knew I would be there and took a defensive line but I was able to get the drive again and narrowly took the 3rd win for the day.

Thanks to the riders for all the great racing especially Rob Berrington-Smith.

All the races were decided on the last lap. Three different riders got the fastest lap time in each race - this is truly a competitve class this winter.

Thanks to Robert at CKT for getting the bike handling great and bearly wearing the tyres at all despite the cold conditions.

Thanks to Nation Wide Accessories for providing those excellent Pirelli tyres - I'm still using the same tyres that were used at the last round of the Nationals!

Thanks to my support crew and everyone who came to cheer us on.

Vic Club Winter Series Rounds 2 & 3

2010-07-26T21:33:00.000+12:00

Round II

I got a newer SV to replace my trusty carby model and was keen to see what the differences were. Basically, the injected model has a shedload more power in Protwin spec and this would make life much easier on the track. The new bike was also fitted with a TTX shock from CKT with noticible benefits over my standard Ohlins shock.

Qualifying
From memory the track was damp and I never got a good feeling despite having full wet tyres on for the session. The bike was still set up for the previous owner so everything felt a bit wierd. 8th on the grid.

Race 1
Extra power means better starts and I felt much more comfortable on a dry track. The bike still felt foreign but there was plenty of grip and I managed to work my way up through the pack to take the lead on the second lap. I tried to settle into a rythm and stay calm - the last thing I could afford to do was crash. So when new fast man Rob Berrington-Smith came past towards the end of the race I tried to stay calm and not do anything stupid. On the last corner of the last lap I ran a wide line to get better drive over the line but Rob had made a mistake to hand me the win anyway. Rob is a very impressive rider, especially considering this was his first time on the long track, let alone his second time at Manfeild!

A bonus after the race was learning that I had set a new PT lap record on the long track.

Race 2
The next day was wet and I was a bit worried as my crash rate does go up in the wet.

I got a good start but quickly felt a little inadequate as Geoff, Rob, Paul and an impressive Zane Brooks buggered off into the distance. I don't know why but I couldn't get any confidence out of the bike in the wet conditions and my lap times were way off because of it. Finished this race in 4th.

Race 3
We made a couple of small changes to the setup to try and get a better feel but it didn't really make any difference in this race and I finished 4th again. At this point I am thinking maybe a problem with the tyres or just me being to careful but I was happy enough to have stayed upright after a tough time lately.

Congrats to Geoff for two convincing wins.

Nationals 2010

2010-06-18T15:50:00.001+12:00

2010 Nationals Report

2010-04-14T14:06:00.000+12:00

After being encouraged by some people I have a lot of respect for I cobbled together a plan to Race in the Pro-Twin class in the Nats.

My goal was to do everything on a budget and just gain experience on new tracks, of the five rounds, the only track I had seen before was Manfeild. I knew that I would be hard on an older, less competitive bike but the great thing about Pro-Twins is that it doesn’t matter too much.

Round 1 – Ruapuna
This was probably the most technical track that I had to learn but very cool to ride. On my first lap during practice I had to be careful not to take a wrong turn!

Mixed weather conditions made things interesting and the fact that I hadn’t invested in some decent wet tyres meant that I should have taken things easy – I didn’t and followed up a good 4th place with a DNF and then a careful 5th in race 3.

Round 2 – Teretonga
A very fast track that made the SV feel like a pocket bike as I must have been at full throttle for 90% of the lap! I never quite got the bike handling properly here, especially in the most important corner of the track – turn 1. Otherwise a very satisfying track to ride.

The lap times didn’t come until I made some big changes to the bike, but too late for Qualifying. It didn’t help that I was getting a false neutral just about every lap which sent me off the track at the end of the straight in race one but then settled down for the last two races for me to pick up a couple of 3rds and got 3rd overall for the round, which I was very pleased with.

Round 3 – Levels
I decided to do an extra test day here on the Wednesday, which was a real bonus. Again, I had lots of problems setting up the bike however and couldn’t get it to go where I wanted. Crucially, I qualified poorly with the bike jumping out of gear on all of my qualifying laps!

Fortunately, I had some help in the form of Richard Newbury and Eric deBoer who pointed out that my new rearsets might be the cause for my gearbox problems – a simple fix that worked!

All three races were awesome battles but as my lap times indicated, I should have been battling further up the field. I was pretty happy with the results however – 3rd, 4th, 3rd.

Round 4 – Manfeild
Finally a track that I know and (more importantly) have a setup for.

I was able to get up to speed straight away here and even took my first pole position after only doing two flying laps to conserve my tyres.

I got good launches in the first two races but a cursed false neutral and getting blocked out at turn one meant I never lead a race, finishing second behind Geoff Booth both times.

In the third race I jumped the start for some reason – maybe because the lights were held for a long time but I don’t know what I was thinking! I had a feeling that I would get a 20 second penalty so I didn’t push too hard but I ended up following another rider over the line who also got a penalty so wasted points (lesson learnt).

A good weekend with a second place overall and the fastest Pro-Twin lap in every race.

Round 5 – Hampton Downs
Having been up for a test day a couple of weeks earlier I knew that I was going to go well here.
A lowside on some dirty tyre marks in the first session didn’t help matters but thanks to Nick Southerwood for letting me borrow his brake lever for the day.

The next day I put some new Pirellis on and everything felt like it was in fast forward, so much so that my old braking markers were too late causing me to run off into the gravel!

The first race was perfect as I managed to work my way to the front of the Pro-Twin field and take the win by 5 seconds! This was by far the highlight of the whole Nats

Unfortunately, I should have packed up and left on a high as I crashed out of the next race when my forks bottomed out trying to out-brake some one. I managed to get the bike ready for the TT race, which I was leading until I went down again on the infamous concrete dust at turn one. This time my luck ran out and my hand got stuck under the bike giving me some nasty road rash and a very well trimmed thumb nail. With this being the 4th off track excursion of the weekend, the bike knew the drill and carried on without me down the track – hope to get video of this!

So all up I finished 4th in the championship and don’t regret a second of it.

Loads of people helped me with advice, labour, accommodation, petrol vouchers and equipment so thanks to you all.

A special thanks to my sponsors Nation Wide Accessories for providing me with the best tyres you can get.

Also, a big thanks to TC (Tony Collins) not least of all for lending me his van for a few weeks and having to be a plumber out of my station wagon.

Hopefully I can get out for the winter series on a new bike!