Event Reports » 2011 » NZSBK Rd 1 Timaru
Moto Academy NZ and Amirul Hafiq Azmi rolled into Christchurch on Thursday 27 Jan and headed to Ruapuna circuit under beautiful sunny skies for the afternoon to test and give Hafiq a taste of this technical circuit. We started out on the ‘B’ circuit as the ‘A’ circuit was being used by the car racing school. But after we had been there only an hour or so, on our own, we were joined by a guest ‘coach’, Andrew Stroud. Hafiq and Andrew had the circuit entirely to themselves for the whole afternoon. Later on we moved to the full circuit for the remainder of the afternoon and Andrew spent some time showing Hafiq the way around the circuit and gave him some pointers about how to ride this particularly technical track. Once again, it was clear that Hafiq was able to learn his way around the circuit very quickly and certainly Andrew expressed some admiration of this skill.
We then headed off to Timaru to open our challenge on the NZSBK 125GP title for real. Friday practice went very well with Hafiq getting three good sessions on the tight and short, but lots of fun, Levels Raceway. While this circuit is not as technical as Ruapuna it still has plenty of hidden gems, but it was clear again, that Hafiq had no trouble figuring out which way the track went and how to get around it quickly. He spent plenty of time riding with the other riders in order to see where he or they might be stronger or weaker. While we did not have any track timing on the Friday, our impression was that Hafiq was as fast as the main pace setters. So after a successful practice we headed back to the motel for dinner and an early night.
Saturday dawned fine but cloudy with a possibility of rain, but the rain did not eventuate. Mel Jackson had joined us for the weekend and we were all pretty excited about getting started into the Free Practice. Unfortunately our race weekend lasted for one and a half laps, when Hafiq ran straight on at the hairpin corner and the bike hit the tyre wall and sent Hafiq over the top of the wall. Sadly Hafiq hurt his arm a bit, ruling him out of competition for that weekend and the bike was quite badly damaged.
While Hafiq and Dato Azmi went to the hospital for a check up Mel and I set about repairing the race bike with our spare parts. We succeeded in getting the bike back together and ready to race another day. It turned out that Hafiq’s arm was not so badly damaged so we obtained a medical clearance for him to continue racing at Round 2 with a light brace on the arm. The weather forecast for Round 2 at Teretonga Circuit was not fantastic, but Hafiq had never raced on a wet circuit, so if there was to be rain it would be a good learning experience for him.
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