Event Reports » 2010 » Motorcycling Canterbury King of Ruapuna Rd 2
Moto Academy NZ headed down to Christchurch for our annual visit to Ruapuna circuit. This year all four riders were able to make the trip which was excellent. Following the fantastic weather we experienced at this time last year and the shocking weather we have endured this past winter, we were all anticipating a great dry weekend of racing. Well, the drive down for Steve and Ben in the new Moto Academy NZ Ford Transit van on the Thursday was in wonderful sunny and warm weather, so our hopes were up. Kyle had arrived in Chch earlier in the day and James and Glen flew in later in the day.
The Moto Academy NZ class of 2010. Clearly anticipating the weather!!
Left to right: James Jarman, Kyle Hammond, Ben Taylor, Glen Orwin.
After a bit of schooling up on the new circuit and an early night we all awoke to a cold grey day brewing. Still hopeful we headed out to the circuit, signed on, organised a garage, took some more photos and got ready to head out. Then the rain came in! A cold southerly was blowing and the rain just started, became steady and continued unabated all day long. So we changed to rain tyres, again (we can almost do it with our eyes closed now) and the boys headed out. Glen and Kyle have raced at this circuit last year and at NZSBK for Glen, so they knew which way to go. It was first time round for James and Ben and Ben was clearly showing his weariness with the wet and cold weather, and who can blame him!
So fundamentally with the weather so bad and could all we could do was to ride around and around trying to get the circuit organised in the riders heads. Kyle and Ben called it quits early in the afternoon, while Glen and James put in a few more laps. But eventually the heavy rain got the best of them too and the circuit started to flood in parts so they called it quits too.
After more discussions about the track and how to ride it and another early night we awoke with fingers crossed. But luck was not with us and the rain still was, although a bit off and on. We arrived at the track somewhat later than would have been ideal and organised a garage and signed-on, got the bikes and stuff organised and got ready for practice. Motorcycling Canterbury run slightly different to Victoria Club, but not significantly so.
Our QP was wet and in a feild of nine 125GP bikes, the Moto Academy NZ riders acquitted themselves well, qualifying in 3rd (Glen), 4th (Kyle), 6th (James) and 8th places (Ben). All the bikes were running well, with only James wanting to make a change to lower gearing to allow harder acceleration out of the corners.
The rain came in even harder for our first race and unbelievably, even harder during the race!! It was a pretty good race with Kyle getting the holeshot over Jake Lewis and Glen. As the race progressed these three duked it out with Kyle getting the lead and then Glen working up to take over. It looked very much like he was going to take the race win, but on the penultimate lap he lost control on the exit of the last turn and ended up having a pretty heavy coming together with the tyre wall. He banged his head a bit and was pretty winded, but otherwise there was no damaged done to either him or the bike. Kyle went on to take the race win with James in 5th and Ben in 6th.
Race 2 was no better on the weather front and this time Glen got the holeshot and held the lead for several laps. But eventually his crash got the best of him and he had to slow down a bit. Unfortunately a small problem we had been chasing on Kyles bike came back to haunt us and his bike failed after a lap and a half!
By the time Race 3 came round the weather had disappeared and the sun had come out to make a dry track in pleasant conditons. So once again we changed the wheels and got set to race in the dry. Unfortunately it was clear that the winter of racing in the rain has done little to increase our riders speed in the dry and the local riders clearly had more speed around what is a very technical circuit once it dried out. Kyle was of course out front at the start, but the gremlin that we thought we had fixed came back, this time after 2 and a half laps!! (Examination at home narrowed it down to a dodgey coil plug on the wiring loom). Glen started to go downhill quickly in this race and pulled out after a couple of laps in order to have a rest. Ben got the better of James in this race probably due to the gearing on James' bike being a bit low for the dry track. As the riders were coming off the track at the end of the race Bens bike coughed and stopped. (Turned out to be a cracked cylinder head leading to a light overheating siezure).
So in the end, in the final "All in" race at the end of the day, only James was up for it and headed out to get in some more practice.
All in all, it was another successful meeting for Moto Academy NZ. While Kyle only finished the one race due to bike failure, it was clear that he remembered his way around Ruapuna and was fast from the off. Glen also showed that he has moved from learning mode to racing mode, and even though he still has to figure the new clutch, he was able to get into the first turn in the lead and to push on into the lead of the race. James maintained his steady approach and Ben while enjoying the dry race, was clearly well over racing in the rain, just as I am well over preparaing and cleaning bikes after racing in the rain!!
Once again, our huge thanks to our supporters and special thanks to The Interislander for their generous support to get Moto Academy NZ across Cook Strait. Support of this kind makes it possible for our young riders to gain experience in their sport.
Our next events are the Suzuki International Tri-Series at Hampton Downs on 10/11 Dec and the Taupo Roadrace Spectacular 27/28 Dec.
Glen Orwin
I had been looking forward to this trip for a while for two reasons, obviously to ride at Ruapuna again, but it was also my first trip in an aeroplane! The flight was fun, but not as fun as riding.
Test day
I woke up to an overcast sky with a little bit of drizzle, but that didn’t last. By the time we were heading out on track the rain had set in. At least we have had a bit of practice this year with putting rain wheels on.
It didn’t take much to remember where the track went, but I did notice a few bumps that might cause some issues when the pace comes up. I also remembered how important it is to link corners at this track, the corners are not just one at a time, but a series which need to be put together. The track did feel a little greasy in the first session, but I’m guessing this is due to the rain lifting the crap off the track. Later on there was plenty of grip with the wets on. The rain stayed all day, and by the last couple of sessions the track was very flooded in places. There was only about a metre of track left on the entry of the last turn to play with.
Race day
We hoped the front would pass over night, but we were out of luck. The rain was still there in the morning, at least we didn’t need to change wheels again!
Qualifying
We rode out on a wet track, but the flooding from the day before had passed. Ruapuna is quite a long track, so we didn’t get many laps in our 10 minute practice. I qualified in 3rd place giving me a front row position on the starting grid.
Race One
Starts were pretty hard on the weekend because they have a different system with the lights to what we use in the north island. All the lights come on and flick off in a pretty short period of time, which doesn’t give long to get ready and prepare for the off. I’m also having trouble getting a good clean launch with the new clutch, I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time. My initial jump off the line was pretty good, but I bogged a little while trying to get off the clutch. I still managed to hold onto my 3rd place into turn one. From there I just tried to get into my grove and keep up with the other guys. I lost a bit of time on Kyle and Jake Lewis and then the rain really came down hard a couple of laps into the race, making it really hard to see. I’m not sure if the those two slowed down or I sped up in the rain, but I reeled them back in an managed to ride around Jake in the last turn and keep in front of him into turn one. I slipped past Kyle into the first left into the dipper and managed to hold him off till the last turn where I got on the gas a little too hard the back end came around and I fell off. Making the mistake is bad enough, but I also chose a really bad place to do it. When I hit the ground I looked to where I was heading and had a brief moment before hitting pit wall pretty hard with my head and back. I was stunned and winded, which didn’t help much when I tried to stand up, because I just fell straight back down. I was quite surprised to loose it the way I did because I felt really good and in control before that. There was loads of grip in the other parts of the track, I even had my knee on the ground in the pouring rain in a lot of corners! But that’s the way it goes, when trying to find the edge, sometimes you end up passing it.
Race Two
I still went out in the second race even though in hind sight I probably shouldn’t have. Although I didn’t think I was concussed at that point. I got the hole shot this time and managed to hold the lead for a lap before people started to come passed me. I was pretty happy to hold onto third place even though I was well off the pace after my crash.
Race Three
By the time the third race came around I was feeling pretty second hand, I just went out to practice my start, and then I pulled in after a few laps because I started to feel really bad and didn’t feel safe.
All in all it was a pretty good weekend. I came away with a concussion and a lot to think about.
Thanks to Steve and all of the Moto Academy sponsors. And a special thanks to Melentino for letting us stay at his place and The Interislander for getting us there. Without your support we would not have made it.
Glen #7