Event Reports » 2009 » Events 1 and 2 - Test days
The 2009 Moto Academy NZ students all had their first outings on the bikes at Manfeild on the weekend. The day was an absolute stunner with clear fine weather, no wind and warm temperatures. This, the second of the annual Central Districts Touring clubs’ fund-raising trackdays was extremely busy with over 150 riders in attendance.
Initially the three new students; Glen, Walter and Will slotted into the Medium pace group, with Kyle in the Racebike group. However, owing to the large numbers of bikes in the dummy grid area, we missed out on the first session, so we made sure that the boys waited in line for the second session.
After getting the bikes running and warmed up the riders headed out onto the track for their first laps. It was quite obvious that riding a 125GP bike was foreign for all of them and that some adjustment of riding style, bodies, muscles and fitness is going to be required. But all of the riders circulated well and all seemed to make progress as the sessions went on. We observed early on that Glen was taking to it like a duck to water. His speed and smoothness on the bike were quite surprising, and very intriguing.
Meanwhile in the racebike group, Kyle was rediscovering his form from last year and was circulating very quickly and making short work of any bike he needed to overtake to continue his progress. This was perhaps a weakness in Kyles skills last year, so it looks like he has been working on his approach to racing and overtaking during the summer. Kyle was also able to identify shortcomings with the bike so that we could make changes. These changes all improved the way the bike was going.
By the end of the day we had progressed all three riders into the race bike group so that they could get more space on the circuit and all were travelling well, not getting in anyones way or indeed, going very quickly.
So, at the end of the day we had four nicely tired riders and four bikes all still in one piece . Everyone had a successful first outing on the circuit, the riders all got acquainted to some degree with their bikes and gear, the new mechanics all got to learn a few more things about 125GP bike tuning and we all got to know one another that much more.
The next event for Moto Academy NZ in 2009 will be our first race meeting at Taupo Circuit on 16 May. We would love to see you there to say Hi.
Greetings to all of our official supporters, families and the wider supporter community. It was my pleasure to open proceedings on the second year of operations of Moto Academy NZ at Taupo Motorsports Park.
After a summer of repairs, rejigging and purchasing a new bikes we have found 4 really keen students who want to learn the art of motorcycle racing, and three mechanics who really want to be involved in a motorcycle racing team. We now have 5 Honda RS125 motorcycles ready to go, with the latest addition being a really mint condition 2000 model bike.
Our first event was designed to serve as a day for getting to know each other day where we all met up for the first time, introduced the riders to the bikes and to their racing gear. All of the riders and mechanics spent some time learning about tyrewarmer fitting, wheel changing, fueling and other more mundane aspects of the game of motorcycle racing.
Moto Academy NZ team trying on their new racing gear.
