Event Reports » 2011 » NZSBK Rd 2 Teretonga
The Moto Academy NZ crew arrived in Invercargill on Thursday morning ready to get into a weekend of full-on racing at the southern-most race circuit in the world. After setting up we had a good look around the circuit so that Hafiq could work out which directions the corners went and where all the amenties are. We set up the bike ready for Hafiq to have a few sessions during the afternoon. The weather was fine but windy and a bit cool, which Hafiq and his Dad are certainly feeling! Hafiq was running well for a couple of sessions, showing that he has raw pace at this rather rapid circuit. However, during his third session he ran off the track at the Hairpin T5 and put the bike down in the grass and broke the fairing and a couple of small pieces. After cleaning the bike and repairing the fairing that night we were all ready for action on Friday.
Friday went very well for the team with us deciding to move in to the pit-garage at the circuit so we would be out of the cold wind and impending rain over the weekend. This proved to be a great decision as the wind on Friday continued to be strong and cold and the weather for the remainder of the weekend just went downhill from there.
During the day we worked on suspension and engine set-up with different gearing, jetting and the like. Unfortunately we did not really have the right tyre compound to make great progress, as the long T1 at Teretonga really heats up the left side of the softer tyres, but we were able to find some solutions to some of the handling issues and Hafiq seemed really comfortable on the bike even in the windy cool conditions.
Friday night Mel and I cleaned and checked over the bike to get it ready for Qualifying and Racing on Saturday.
Saturday morning dawned overcast but somewhat warmer than Friday, so we were comfortable that we would see some good conditions for racing. Free practice went well with Hafiq running second fastest for the session approximately 0.3 sec off the lead pace, but it was clear that he was not really pushing on during the practice and that he is much more comfortable racing. This would be confirmed later on in the day.
We made a few small changes to the bike in order to get a bit more power and make the machine handle slightly better for the qualifying practice that afternoon and then for the race. For the Qualifying Practice the bike ran well and Hafiq was running at leading pace. The qualifying session ended with Hafiq in 3rd place behind Jake Lewis and Avalon Biddle, but by only 0.23 seconds! Clearly these three riders are a step or so ahead of the others, but it was also obvious that they had all paced themselves in the trying conditions as the first 7 riders were separated by only 1 sec.
So we were all set for Race 1 of three for round 2 of the 125GP championship, but the weather was threatening rain and a few drops had started falling. The start went well with Hafiq making his first start on the 125, and while he lost some places from the line, he was quickly able to make it up in the first lap. Hafiq ran in the lead bunch of three (Lewis, Biddle, Azmi) for the first few laps, managing to get into second place on lap 4. But at that stage a bit of rain started to fall at the southern end in T1 making the track a bit slick and unfortunately for us and the other teams Hafiq fell and was followed in quick succession by 4 other riders at exactly the same place!!!! Hafiq clearly had the pace around the circuit, but the superior set-up of the Team RaceSupplies.co.nz bikes (magic wand or something like that) allowed them to take 10-15m on Hafiq at the very end of the straight. The Moto Academy NZ bike was capable of sticking with them for most of the remainder of the lap and for all but this last bit of the over 1km long front straight and to prove it Hafiq set the fastest lap of the race!! So we were very happy with the pace of the bike and that of Hafiq the crash can be put down to some inexperience and very tricky weather conditions that managed to claim some very experienced riders, not just Hafiq. Luckily for us this crash only bent a handlebar, scratched the fairing a little and spread sand around the bike. So after a clean, bar replacement and some 100 mph tape, the bike was ready to go for Sundays races. We thought that we would try a taller gearing now that the engine was making slightly more power to see if we could stick with the two leading riders. But this plan was thwarted by the weather which turned to total poos on Sunday.
We all got to the circuit on Sunday morning confronted by overcast, humid and very warm weather that was threatening rain bucketloads at any minute. Indeed by the time our Warm Up session arrived the rain had started slowly, so we were forced to send Hafiq out on the rain bike. We were a little apprehensive as Hafiq had never previoulsy raced in the rain. However, he took to it like a proverbial duck to water and came in with a big smile on his face, really enjoying his first laps in the rain.
The rain then really set in and got heavier and heavier throughout the day. By the time our race 2 came around the meeting had been delayed, restarted, delayed and restarted again. The conditions for our race were not actually all that bad, I have raced in worse at Teretonga, but there were some puddles forming on the track. The 125 class went out for the race only to see Jake Lewis crash in a puddle on the sighting lap. Luckily for him, but not everyone else, he was able to get his bike running and rejoin the warm up lap. From the start all we could see was a great cloud of spray, but all the riders came out of it and Hafiq from 3rd at the start was in 5th or 6th place. Moto Academy NZ graduate James Jarman was leading the pack, but he must have gotten a bit ahead of himself as he opened the gas a bit hard exiting the last corner of the first lap and the bike spun up and threw him into the mud! A real shame as James works tirelessly on his racing, preparation and presentation!
Hafiq however quickly picked his way through the other riders and made his way into 3rd and then 2nd place by lap 4 of 9. By lap 6 he had pushed his way into the lead over Josh McGrath from Australia (also 14 years old, but has been riding 125GP for over 6 months) on the VB Racing TZ125 Yamaha. Hafiq them managed the gap to Josh for the remainder of the laps and we were all excited that he would take his first victory in New Zealand. However, that excitement was short-lived as Hafiq had lost concentration and hit the same puddle that claimed Jake and fell just 3 corners from the chequered flag. Again though, Hafiq set the fastest lap of the race by over 1 second
The weather then just set right in and the remainder of the event was cancelled so that we only got the two races.
So while the weekend was pretty trying in terms of crashes and weather, we demonstrated that Hafiq has raw bike speed but that he needs to learn the lessons about finishing over pushing when a victory is just not likely, to take heed of the weather and to continue pushing when leading, not to slow down and lose concentration and run off line.
We are all now looking forward to Round 3 of NZSBK at Ruapuna Raceway and whatever the weather conditions will be we are sure that Hafiq will race well.
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