Event Reports » 2010 » Actrix Victoria Motorcycle Club Round 4
Wow, what a weekend!! Aside from the poor weather on Saturday Moto Academy NZ had an almost perfect weekend this time round. It is these days that make one want to get into this game in the first place.
Friday Testday
James and his Dad, and Glen and his mate Mike and Steve arrived at Manfield on Friday 13th for our normal pre-racing test day. Owing to study and work committments Kyle and Ben were again unable to attend. This was a shame though, as we proceeded to have a fantastic day. The weather was warm and dry although overcast, and the track was in perfect condition. A good number of riders and drivers turned up, but not so many as to be problematic, so even that side of the equation was good. This month we decided that we would continue to work on suspension, but this time springs and also on gearing, looking at seeing if the riders could carry longer, hence faster, gearing just as Kyle does. If they can then they should be able to run faster and therefore get a lower laptime.
As soon as we got out on track we noticed that both riders had bought their mojo with them and especially Glen was really getting into his work. This time round, now that the riders were becoming more comfortable and experienced on the bikes I had fitted laptimers. This would allow the riders to check their own progress as we made changes and progressed through the day.
The riders both managed 5 sessions of about 8 laps each during the day and were clearly pretty tired, but really happy by the end of the day. Both riders pushed down to their best laptimes of the season (1:19.2 for Glen and 1:20.3 for James). Given that the conditions are not great for fast laptimes, it is testing not racing and the riders are still learning the changes we are making, these are pretty respectable laptimes.
We all then headed back to the Feilding Motel for dinner and Part 2 of our Suspension by Robert tutorials, this month focussing on Front Fork design and function.
Saturday Raceday
Saturday morning dawned wet and very humid, but not all that cold, as expected but we had all hoped that it would stay dry. So the first job was to change wheels over to rain tyres and get the bikes set up for wet weather, which would end up hanging around all day long.
Ben Taylor. WF Photography
Qualifying practice
Again we would be racing at the same time as the Superlite class, so the riders headed out for QP with nearly 35 other riders. Luckily on the long circuit the riders quickly get spread out, so that gives opportunity for clear track. As expected Kyle headed off into the distance and set the best qualifying time, and happily Glen was not so far behind, followed by Daniel Mettam then only 0.5 seconds to Ben and then James who unfortunately was both a bit tight and sore from the previous days work, and not totally getting into the flow of the wet weather racing.
Race 1
The riders formed up with a 50m gap to the rear of the Superlite field for this 12 minute race. All the riders got away with good/fair starts with Ben being last away and Glen doing a sweeeet wheelie off the line. However, the only thing that the larger gap provided was extra speed for the 125GP riders at Turn 1 over the Superlite riders. This caused a few issues as the riders came up on some of the slower riders, but all made it through safely with Glen out front, followed by Kyle, James, Ben and Dan. This first race was pretty exciting with plenty of overtaking and close racing. In the end Kyle was able to exploit his superior pace to come home in first place and well up the Superlite field, Glen in second, Ben in third after having dealt with the attentions of Daniel, and James at the back of the field. While it gives the riders plenty of racing and overtaking practice, the flipside of racing with the Superlite class is getting held up by slower riders and having to get past riders who have similar pace. Some of the Superlite riders and bikes become very large when one is trying to overtake them.
Race 2
The weather had come in a bit more with some more rain, which was good as the track had developed some drier parts and it is best to be either wet or dry, not in between. This time the riders would be lined up right at the rear of the Superlite field in order to not have the speed differential at T1. Again, Kyle and Glen got great starts as did everyone really. They all headed into T1 in the middle of the Superlite field and weaved their way around the slower starters. Kyle and Glen headed off at the lead while Ben and Dan began a good battle for the next few laps. As mentioned, by now James was really starting to tighten up and was not able to ride at an optimal level. This was a real shame and I was unaware of it as there might have been ways to mitigate the problem.
At about 2/3 distance of this 15 min race Ben was forced to back off his battle with Dan due to being unable to see clearly through the spray and mist on track. Glen was making good time and Kyle was looking to be racey with one of the quicker Superlite riders. So the weekend was going really well for everyone, until halfway through the last lap when Kyle put his bike down at T6 into the mud!! Luckily there was no more damage than a scrape on the fairing and broken brake lever, but it meant a DNF and no more points for Kyle. So as a result of this crash Glen went on to take his first victory of the season, first place for the weekend and now leads the championship.
So overall, I believe that this was our best weekend of the year by some distance and after last months difficulties it was very pleasing to me to be able to bring home 5 bikes that were, more or less, in one piece with the only work needing to be done was some cleaning and general maintenance. It was also very pleasing to see and facilitate Glen to be able to push on and start to find his mojo again. It was good to see James find some speed on the Friday and was really smiling. It was a shame that Saturday turned wet and he was not comfortable, but I guess that is part of the game. Kyle was as quick as he always is and this is good especially considering he had had the Swine Flu since the last round and was still not 100%. We had made a change to his bike which seemed to work well and aside from the last lap crash (which he does have a history of doing)he would have had another perfect meeting. Ben is missing out on the testdays, but it does not seem to affect him so much as his racing pace continues to be good. There are details around his riding which clearly need work, as would of course be expected as it is his first year doing this, but overall he really is showing his abilities to all who care to watch.
Standings after Round 4:
Glen Orwin 174 points
James Jarman 164
Kyle Hammond 150
Ben Taylor 122
Daniel Mettam 106
Kyle Hammond VMCC Round 4
I apologies for being a bit slack this year with my race reports. This is my first one this year. So a quick explanation of how the series has gone so far is in order.
So far this year in the 125GP class, up to last weekend, I have won every race I have entered this year. Unfortunately with missing round 2 this still meant I was a couple of points behind the leaders. To regain the lead in the championship I had to win both races of the weekend.
This weekend was going to be different for me. Usually on the Friday I have a test day to get to grips with the bike again, however due to work commitment, I had to drive up early on Saturday morning and jump straight into it. I haven’t done this yet this year so it was going to be interesting. The race format was one 12 minute qualifying session and two 12 minute races. The last race was however extended to 15 minutes due to the VMCC running ahead of time. The track was soaking wet and seemed to stay like this all day, with a marginal dry line during race 1.
Qualifying
The plan was to take it easy then speed up a little. I went out with Glen following me for a couple laps. I found my groove in the wet rather quickly, and wasn’t too bothered about going extremely fast. I watched my lap timer over the finish line every lap. It is a fantastic tool, and I watched my lap times go plummeting down quite quickly as I pushed a little bit. The end result was a qualifying time of 2:15, which put me in 1st place for my class and 9th on the whole F3/Protwins grid. (However we start from the back). I noticed that I had to slip the clutch a bit out of the corners. A quick talk to Steve, and a decision of going 1 tooth larger on the rear sprocket was made. All and all I was reasonably happy.
Race 1
The 125GP Class runs off the back of the F3 grid. We lined up off the back F3 grid, twenty meters or so back. I’ve finally got the hang of getting one of these 125's off the line. I quickly approached the back of the F3 pack and had to roll off a little bit to avoid rear ending an RS250 so Glen managed to get past me through the first corner or two. I managed to quickly get past him and took off after some more F3 bikes. I kept a tidy race and managed to come first in my class for this race and 9th in Formula 3 from the back of the pack. During this race I noticed a dry line forming and felt the rear coming around once and a while, but nothing too bad. Once I got back to the pits I put my hand on my tire, which was dead cold. Steve and I talked about how to get a little bit more heat into the tires, and we decided to drop a couple of psi and add some preload. Best time was a 2:13.
Race 2
We lined up on the grid again, however this time Deano (my arch lap time nemesis) lined up just in front of me due to his bike misfiring and him not wanting to get in the way (good call). I managed to get a pretty decent jump off the line, in fact coming up next to him, however coming into the first turn my visor instantly fogged up and I couldn’t see a thing. I went carefully through the first couple of corners only over taking a few of the slower bikes. I eventually got the visor to clear just before the hairpin. By this time Deano had a couple of bikes ahead between him and me. I proceeded to put my head down and start riding pretty quickly. I managed to catch up to him and followed him around closely, for the majority of the race. I planned to pass him on the last lap through the left hander’s coming back on to the main track, as I noted he was very careful through this section. I was riding pretty hard, getting my knee down a lot more than I had ever in the wet. This was a great learning experience and there really was a shit load more grip than I ever realised.
Kyle right behind Deano. Photo courtesy of Murray Woolcock Photography.
During the last lap though my plan didn’t quite go to plan, as I made a tiny wee mistake and overloaded the front end coming into Higgins. She pretty much said no thank you and instantly tucked, and I had a nice and gentle low slide into the mud.
Broken brake lever/ego and a tiny amount of scratching was the only damage.
Thankfully this weekend made me figure out that I really need to learn a lot more about my riding. Especially reference points and so forth as I seemed to be able to follow really quickly. But when I am on my own, I seemed to go slower than I could. The new lap timers which Steve has installed on the bikes should help as well for motivation.
Kyle Hammond #13
Glen Orwin VMCC Round 4
Test Day
The test day went really well, we had very little rain and there seemed to be a good amount of grip. I finally started to get my mojo back and go a bit faster. I worked through the track corner by corner, getting faster every session and also worked a few riding drills. Although I was going slower than my personal best, I think I managed to get some parts of the track faster than I had ever been before.
That night we had another tutorial from Robert Taylor from Crown Kiwi Technical, but this time focused more on the front end of the bike. Thanks again Robert.
Race day
It rained pretty hard over night and was still going in the morning. Rolled out for qualifying with the wets on. Things wet pretty well, just had to remember which way the long track went and then it was down to business. I kept moving on from the test day and tried to give it a good shot. I even got my knee down in the wet! It was the first time I have done that and I was pretty happy. I was second on the grid.
Race one
I got a really good start, but there was a pretty big gap between us and the back of the F3 grid, so by the time I started braking I was in top gear and getting really close to running up the back of some of the F3 bikes as they bottle-necked for Turn one. I was the first 125 into Turn one and then tried to get through the slower bikes as fast as I could, so that way I can get clear track. I even managed to hold Kyle off until Higgins. After a couple of laps I was pretty much on my own. I did find that I got a bit tired towards the end of the race, I haven’t been training much since the last round, as I have been really sick. So that is something to work on before the next round!
Race two
I got another pretty good start, I even did a huge wheelie! We started right behind the F3 bikes this time, so we wouldn’t catch the pack at such high speed under brakes into Turn one. I got a bit messed up with traffic in turn one this time. After a lap I was stuck behind a fast SV, but couldn’t quite get past him. Next thing I was trying to get past him and at the same time Dan Mettem tried to get past me! He squeezed past me in the next straight and got stuck behind the SV. I was trying to work out how to get passed both of them, when Dan tried to out break the SV but ran wide and let it through, and then I managed to get up really close in Higgins, out drive, and then go around the SV and pull a gap on him and Dan. From then on not much happened, except for a lot of rain!
Over all I had a really good weekend. It was the best time I’ve had on the bike in a while. I have things I can work on and will hopefully be going faster for the next round.
FRIDAY PRACTICE:
The test day turned out to be fine despite the weather forecast. We were using lap timers for the first time which I was excited about, and once I had ridden with it I felt that it helped me out heaps. My first session went well and I felt good and comfortable on the bike so was hopeful for the following sessions and felt that I could push harder. The next session was not so good as I struggled with the wind pushing me around and my times got slower and slower so came in early. After this I struggled with getting myself focussed on the task and had trouble getting my mind positive for the next sessions. I felt really good that I could overcome this during the day and push myself harder and harder getting faster in every session. It seemed that the harder I went the smoother I rode and I could see everything that I wasn’t doing right, but my lap times were still getting much better. The last session was used to try out taller gearing to try and improve my lap times and try something new before racing on Saturday.
POSITIVES: I got my knee scraping on the ground and did a front end slide out of Dunlop for the first time ever and most importantly I got a personal best laptime around the track!
SATURDAY RACING:
This would be on the long track where the day turned out to be wet and it stuck around all day. This did not bother me as usually I am pretty good in the wet so was looking forward to the racing. During qualifying I did not feel comfortable on the bike and really struggled to come to grips with the long track. I qualified in 5th place which meant I would have to get a good start to keep up with the others.
Race one
My start was OK and went into T1 right behind Glen and Kyle but had trouble getting out of the corner because of the F3 bikes which were slow in the corner. There was a bit of a gap between Glen and Kyle to me but still felt strong until I got stuck behind a 650 where I couldn’t seem to find a way past. I tried a manouver at the hairpin which did not work and allowed Dan to pass me and pull a bit of a gap. Not long after, Ben passed me and the rest of the race I did not keep up with their pace. This was a real shame as I did not come to terms with the wet conditions which may have been due to my harder riding on the test day, so I was unsure how hard I could go. I would work on this before the next race.
James Jarman. WF Photography
Race two
Start was as usual and went into T1 right beside Glen and Kyle but got closed off by a motard type bike. The rest of the race I was struggling with a sore body and a tired mind. It seemed that I could not even get to a comfortable race pace which allowed F3 bikes to lap me.
This days riding was a real disappointment for me and I did not feel good about my poor riding. I do not know why I was so slow and had trouble in the rain where usually I perform well. So before the next round I will look into this and try to find out the problem.
As for the test day, well I couldn’t ask for much better as I was really happy with my riding and would like to see this sort of thing continue during the season to improve my riding and feel for the bike.
Thanks Steve, Vic Club, Mum, Dad and everyone else involved.
James #14