Event Reports » 2011 » NZSBK Rd 3 Ruapuna
The Moto Academy NZ team rolled into Ruapuna raceway on a sunny and warm Thursday to complete bike repairs after the last round and to get in an afternoon of testing for Hafiq. With the repairs completed and Hafiq having studied the circuit a bit from the good vantage points we rolled out for a couple of sessions.
For these sessions we were aiming to get Hafiq back up to speed, after a pretty draining weekend at Teretonga, and feeling good about riding in the sunshine, and to of course, get some more laps around this technical but fast circuit.
We ran two long sessions on the back up bike with Hafiq running very comfortably in the 1:42s bracket (lap record is 1:38.0s), so we were confident that Hafiq would be able to run at that sort of race pace during the weekend and we decided that we could save the tyres and engine for the next day.
That evening we took time to discuss the circuit and various ways to go around it quickly, areas for heavy braking, light braking, high corner speed, lower speed but more control etc.
We arrived at the track on Friday morning to fair weather with a stiff breeze blowing across the track. We sat out the first session getting prepared for the later session given that we had no need to ride around and around and wear out everything.
Hafiq headed out onto the circuit for his first session of the day and started to run some very conservative lap times to get up to speed and slot in behind various other riders (when they would let him as some of them had gotten wise to this tactic) to see where their strengths and weaknesses were. Again, this is an indication on one of the mature aspects of Hafiqs riding. When he can he slots in behind more experienced riders to learn what he can from them and learn their weeknesess.
However, on nearly the last lap of the session disaster struck the Moto Academy NZ team. Hafiq went down in the right-hand Casino corner and slid into the tyrewall. This might not have been too much drama, but the impact with either the ground or the wall was sufficient to break Hafiq's left ankle quite badly (as it turned out).
So unfortunately this would put an end to our efforts to provide 125GP racing experience for Hafiq prior to his embarkation into the MotoGP Rookies Cup this year. The Azmis decided to head home as quickly as possible to get treatment for Hafiq so they hopped on the next flight back to Malaysia. The remainder of the Moto Academy NZ team (Steve and Mel) tidied up all the bikes and sat back to watch the racing for the weekend and get home a bit earlier than planned.
So this was a very unfortunate way for our campaign to end and even more unfortunate for young Hafiq and we most certainly wish him well with his recovery before heading off to Portugal for Rookies Cup testing.
We learned a lot about where Hafiq needs to improve his riding and his understanding of what is happening while riding the bike and racing around a race track. In our opinion Hafiq is an exceptional talent at learning the fast lines around a new racetrack. His visit to four circuits in New Zealand seeing him up to top club level race pace after only a handful of laps. Indeed, at Manfield in very blustery conditions, he was running at top club, mid-national speed after only 6-10 laps and at Ruapuna he was running only 4 sec off lap record speed after only 10 laps (in a 90-100 sec lap). He has superb braking control and was regularly able to out-brake other riders in heavy braking situations, and he is certainly unafraid of riding a very high speeds both in the straights and around corners. However, of course, we have identified weaknesses, some significant, with his riding which left him lying on the ground far too often. Hafiq was here for us to find these weeknesses and to gain experience on the 125GP bike, and we certainly hope that he will be able to apply these lessons going forward.
Steve, Mel, Margo and, I am sure, all of the Moto Academy NZ supporters and his competitors wish Hafiq (and his dad Dato) all the best for his recovery and his future racing and we will be looking for his name in results for 2011.
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