Hi guys,

Three weeks down in the South Island has been and gone like a whirlwind and I am now back home getting ready for more busy weeks ahead!

The past weekend, round 3 of the NZSBK championships, began dramatically as we discovered on Thursday morning that my gear bag was missing from the van in our hotel car park in central Christchurch. After a few trips to police stations and trading shops we had no luck in locating the bag or any of my gear, so a huge thank-you to Darbi for sorting me out with a helmet, Midge Smart for the loan of gloves, boots and a back protector and MNZ for sending me down a replacement license that made it possible for me to race. The team trailer on its way up from Dunedin also had a puncture so it wasn’t a good day all round for the team!

Friday practice went all good, getting a bit more performance out of my Jager engine with a new reed block & splitter.

On Saturday I managed to qualify on pole with a 1.39.8 lap time, 0.4 secs ahead of p2, but feeling a bit dismayed as I felt I could have made better use of the session but got caught up in traffic.

Race one saw me out front and a lot faster than everyone through the first sector of the track, but Jake Lewis would made it all up again through the infield, where he eventually made a pass on the penultimate lap and put a lapped rider between him and myself to pull away for the win. I was a bit annoyed to finish 2^nd and therefore eager for the next day’s racing to arrive.

Sunday morning was fine and I got a flyer of a start from pole and managed to pull about a 3second lead before throwing it down the road entering the sweeper on the 2^nd lap. I remounted to finish 10^th.

The final race of the day was the NZ 125 Grand Prix, and in true fashion, the weather decided to pack it in right before the 125 race. We all went out on slicks, and unfortunatley for me it turns out brand new slicks in the wet don’t hold up too well as I managed to crash for the 2^nd time in one day.. on the warm-up lap. I got back on and started the race, where I was running around 3^rd/4^th till it was red flagged due to the conditions. Big thank you to Dad, Tim and Kev for re-prepping my bike before the race was restarted. I rode the best I could in the damp conditions to finish 2^nd.

Overall results were:

2nd in NZ 125cc GP

3^rd overall for the weekend

2^nd in the championship points

My next event is Round 4 in five weeks time at Hampton Downs.

Thanks everyone,
Avalon.

Hi everyone

Wow, Invercargill greeted us with very different weather over the weekend to what  most of you would have experienced elsewhere in the country. The conditions weren’t ideal for motorcycle racing but unfortunately that is the way it often goes at the southern-most racetrack in the world – Teretonga park Raceway.

As usual we had practice on Friday which went very well in dry conditions.

Saturday then brought practice and qualifying where I was surprised how quick I managed to get down to some decent lap times, a testimony to how well my team this year has managed to get a good base setup for the bike. This was proved again as my teammate Jake and I qualified in p1 and p2 on the grid respectively.

Race 1 I lead for the 1^st half putting down some consistent lap times until it started raining which slowed the pace down and I was passed and brought it home a bit conservatively in 2^nd place.

Race 2 on Sunday was held in pouring rain with large puddles on the track to avoid. It was the first time in over a year I had raced on wets so I was happy to be battling for 2^nd place, but didn’t manage to find a safe way past on the last lap and finished 3^rd.

The final scheduled race was cancelled due to the atrocious conditions sweeping through Invercargill – a fair call – but a bit of a shame for me as I was now much feeling more confident on the wet weather bridgestone tires.

My placings left me with 3^rd overall for the weekend and moved me up to 2^nd in the championship standings. Another thanks to all my sponsors Blue Wing Honda, Race Supplies, HJC, NGK, DID chain, Carcolors North Shore, CRC lubricants, Deepweb web design, Baywatch Motor Lodge and celtic leathers and my team for their support.  I am now really looking forward to the rest of the season as I feel we are making some real improvements on my riding and the bike so it can only go up from here!

Thanks for reading and supporting my racing efforts. 

Stay tuned for more from this coming weekend!

Avalon