Event Reports » 2009 » Event 7 - Actrix VMCC Rd 5
Prior to Round 5 of the Actrix VMCC Superbike champs Moto Academy NZ was fortunate enough to be able to welcome on-board The Interislander. We are grateful for the support they have offered us and will be looking forward to travelling overseas (if you call Cook Strait overseas) with them this summer.
Round 5 was held over two days at Manfeild. We chose to make use of the Friday by setting up the garage and organising a couple of things on the bikes. The Friday weather was not all that conducive to racing motorbikes, so it was good that we decided to not ride. Also, the boys would be riding two classes over two days, so the number of kms that they would put on the bikes was going to be high anyway.
That Friday afternoon we took the riders, Avalon Biddle and the two Vic Club scholarship riders out onto the circuit to 'walk the track', so that they could get a really good look at the circuit close up and maybe find out something about how to ride around it.
The weather for the weekend ended up being very good, so a whole weekend of racing in the dry was possible, which was a welcome relief. All of the riders seemed to improve their riding significantly with one or two milestones in terms of laptimes being achieved. Glen was able to break into the 1m:19 bracket and Will was able to break into the 1m:29 bracket. Both of these brackets represent a step in achievement as Manfeild seems to be one of those circuits at which riders, at least in the early stages, take steps rather than small incremental improvments. Kyle showed again that he is capable of running with the front runners, but he fell off early on the Saturday which slowed him down a touch.
By the time Sunday rolled around, the boys were getting tired, but also were amp'd to be racing for a second day. Kyle had thought about why he crashed and set about again, running with the fastest riders and indeed, it was clear that he was 'playing' a few psychological games. Unfortunately near the end of the day the ignition coil on his bike packed in and he had to pull out of the race. Nevertheless, he showed what speed he has. We just need to find out how to stop him falling down! Early in the day Will also slipped off in the same corner as Kyle where there was a wet patch of track. Not much damage luckily, so no slowing him down!
Glen and Will also were very consistent and were finding other riders to race with during the weekend. Walter continued to try his best, but was the recipient of mechanical gremlins when his exhaust pipe broke prior to one race, and then his engine locked up, in the paddock area luckily, due to the primary drive gear bolt coming loose. This is a very rear occurence, but was not very welcome as it did some damage to the engine.
Sunday lunchtime we had a tutorial with Robert Taylor of Crown Kiwi Technical about suspension and shockabsorber design. This was very well received by the riders.
Overall we had a very successful weekend with Glen running over 300 km, Kyle and Will nearly the same, but Walter only half of that due to his mechanical issues. These two day meetings are a ton of fun and allow riders to really get into a groove and consolidate on the lessons and thoughts they had the previous day.
Thanks to everyone again.
