Hi FTWco,
Thought
you guys might like to hear my race report for yesterday, after doing a
few handfuls of track days & testing we bit the bullet & put in
a last minute entry for the last round of the Interclub Road Racing
Series Victoria. It was my first race & filled with drama!
I
was nervous as hell after getting to the track, & even being on the
bike during qualifying found that I wasn't being as smooth as usual
& making a few small mistakes. I qualified 8th for the novice race,
but totally screwed up my starting position. I asked a wandering marshal
to confirm but he looked at his clipboard & then walked off
(WTF??), by that stage the starting lights were on & I hadn't even
had time to shut my visor before everyone was off. I was 10 positions
behind where I needed to be, I ended up stalling it on take off, I
quickly put up my hand but another rider ran up the back of my bike
& we fell in a tangled mess.. Shit but true.
The
Triumph only suffered a few scratches from the whole thing but I
decided to sit out the restart to get my head together & check over
the bike. Next up was the Formula 1B race, this time I managed to sort
out the correct starting position but when I was waiting there looking
at the dash I realised I must have subconsciously reverted back to road
pattern changing down gears & it was actually in 4th.. So I'm madly
trying to change gears being stationary, I managed to get it into 3rd
when the starting lights went out, everyone had taken off so I had to
wing it & do a slow controlled start at high rpm. Everyone was going
through turn one by the time I managed to get off the grid, I hunted
them down & caught up to the pack on the first lap & even passed
some riders which I think helped to redeem myself a bit after that
first incident.
The other race starts were
better but not perfect so will have to spend a bit of time out on the
back roads perfecting that. I managed to pass a few riders over the day,
dealt with the nerves better & become smoother on the bike which
was good. Fastest time in the first race was 1:05.323 and by the last
race I finished 7th with a 1:04.392 & a new PB so I was happy with
that & wrapped it up on a much better note!
Taking
the Triumph to Phillip Island for some more testing this week so will
keep you posted how that goes. I have cut back on work so I can get
fitter (and therefore faster haha) & next years focus will be race
events & testing at some tracks we haven't been yet to mix things up
a bit. Cam has been doing an awesome job as race engineer & pit
crew, and has decided to focus mainly on that for now but in his spare
time has been out on the Supermoto, dirtbike or Buell with the odd track
day here & there too. I have attached some low res samples of some
recent pics, but will get some better ones from the weekend as they
become available.
Thanks Jeff & Brad for
your continued support, you guys are super cool & we are proud to be
a part of FTWco racing team :-)
Simone Winks