Australasian Formula Extreme Championships – 125gp

This past weekend was the 2010 Australasian Formula Extreme Championships, held at Winton raceway in Victoria, Australia, a meeting I had been looking forward to all year.

My mum and I picked up my bike from the BikeCorp warehouse on Thursday in time for practice on Friday. The day went reasonably well, although the surface at winton was really different to anything I had ever experienced and hard to get used to. I had a small front end crash in the middle of the day which knocked my confidence a little as it happened without any warning what-so-ever.. Big thanks to everyone who helped get my bike back together and cleaned after the accident.  We spent the afternoon making some suspension changes in order to get better grip out of my bridgestone tires.

Throughout qualifying on Saturday the track started a little so I scrubbed in some wets and then went out on slicks and posted 4^th fastest time – just squeezing on the front row.

I was pretty excited by the time race 1 rolled around, I got off like a gun and lead the first lap which probably surprised everyone a bit! Al Phillis and Peter Galvin got past on the 2^nd lap, leaving me in 3^rd place where I finished – a great result as I also managed to drop my lap times a fair bit.

Race 2 saw me lower my lap times a little more and finish in 2^nd position as Peter Galvin wasn’t able to start the race. I was struggling a lot with rear grip by the end.

Uncharacteristically, I got an absolutely terrible start in race 3 and struggled with tire grip especially from the front, right from the beginning of the race. I slid around for the rest of the race and finished in 4^th. When I had a look at the tires it was obvious where the traction problems were coming from as they were torn badly right on the part of the tire needed for drive. We swapped tires and put some more pressure in for the 4^th and final race and I was able to do some better lap times again and finish 2^nd.

These results left me the winner of the 125gp sport class, and would have also placed me 2^nd outright in the production class. It was a good feeling to come away with the satisfaction of some good results and knowing I rode the bike well but also unveiling specifically a few areas I can really work on to improve my racing.

It was also great to be pitted with Robbie Philis, who was a real laugh, and told me he won his first world superbike race at  one of my favourite tracks, Manfield, along with his son Al and a few others who made the weekend really enjoyable.

I want to say a huge thank you Uncle Geoff/BikeCorp for looking after us all weekend and somewhere to store the bike etc, and also Mal Metcher for his work on the spanners and teaching myself and dad some new things.

Big thank you to my sponsors as well; Honda NZ, Race Supplies, Car colors North Shore, HJC helmets, Sidi, NGK, DID, Baywatch Motor Lodge, RacePace trainers, CRC, BikeRider Magazine, Deepweb web design.

And finally thanks Mum and Dad for an awesome weekend and all your time and effort!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Avalon

Philip Island Support Races – 125gp

My dad and I just returned from Melbourne, where I raced my Honda rs125 at the support races for the Bel Ray 6 hour at Phillip Island. The weather was superb and we had a great weekend!

After some hiccups with customs and freighting of my bike to Australia (where it even got sent to the wrong state) we eventually picked it up on Thursday and prepared it for the weekend ahead. My bike is set up for the Australasian formula extreme championships in Victoria in 2 weeks time where I am racing the ‘stock’ class, so it was in completely standard form, which we knew was going to be a challenge at the fast, flowing Phillip Island circuit.

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Friday morning was practice and qualifying which I used to find reference points and tune the engine to get the most out of my bike. I qualified 10^th in the grand prix class, which consisted of 250gp, 125gp and 250 mono bikes. We also had a race Friday afternoon where I finished 6^th; 4^th 125.

The first race on Saturday was my favourite of the weekend. I didn’t get a very good start but was able to get into a good rhythm and keep the momentum going through the fast corners to make my way up to 2^nd! I was so excited after that race and had dropped 5 seconds off my fastest lap time from the previous day. Dad said I looked like a different person on the bike and it certainly felt like it.

Race 3 saw me with a blistering start, and locked it some good battles with other 125’s and 250 monos. It has been a while since I’ve had close racing with similar bikes so I really enjoyed these battles.. Until I out-braked myself while passing someone going into the Honda hairpin and overshot the corner! I lost a few places after that and wasn’t able to make the time back up, finishing in 5^th position and 3^rd 125. By now my bike was sliding around a lot in the heat and I was struggling to get accustomed to the feeling of the rear stepping out so much through some 5^th gear corners.

By the 4^th and final race of the weekend the wind had picked up and I got a terrible start. However, I concentrated hard on riding my own lines and a style that suited my bike and managed to pass most the bikes back but unfortunately it was a bit too late as I didn’t quite catch the two 250 monos that I wanted to beat. I still managed to finish first 125 as one of the fast guys crashed ahead of me.

Overall, I feel I certainly tweaked my riding techniques and managed to score the most points for the weekend out of the 125gp’s. This leaves me in good stead for the upcoming races, including the tri-series at Hampton Downs this weekend, Formula extreme in Australia the following weekend and of course, the New Zealand Championships starting late January. 

Finally, thanks to my sponsors notably Geoff and Gay Ward who made this trip possible and thoroughly enjoyable.