Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

2nd update, and unfortunately this one isn't so good.

I just plain didn't go well today, lost half a second on yesterdays times, and qualified way back in bloody 16th. Worse still is that we only get 8 lap races (2 each day) and you have to start from the same grid position in each race, so it is going to be real hard to get near the top ten.

Anyway I will still go out and have some fun, and my bike is still shiny!


hemiduty = Drmsby Middleton

HemiDuty wrote:Anyway I will still go out and have some fun, and my bike is still shiny!hemiduty = Drmsby Middleton

Sorry to hear today was not as good as yesterday.

I just had to say, I luurrvve the tude !

AND

GOOD LUCK for the remainder of the weekend! !

16 out of 100 ????
you dun good Hemi

Well I went even further backwards today, with more of the same gear selection problems that plagued me in qualifying. I also had a brake lever adjust come loose right from the start of race 1, which totally wrecked my 1st ever national race as the lever would be in a different position every time I went to brake.... Race 2 went a little better but still had trouble changing down gears, often going into corners one gear too high which would lose me a second each time it happened.

Anyway I do have some good news. The bike won the Best Presented trophy! Very cool, it will get a pic in AMCN and also on the website apparently.

Hopefully I can improve a little tomorrow, but my expectations have certainly been lowered. I would now just like to try to get back to the times I was doing in Thursday practice. Still at least I did get into the 16s on the R6, which is quicker than I ever went on the old R1.


hemiduty = Drmsby Middleton

Good luck tomorrow Hemi. I was watching the times come thru on computime.com.au today and cheering you on..
Will do the same tomorrow...

I can't make it out, but will still be cheering you on

Mate, I'm sure I got a couple of pic's of you yesterday. I haven't looked through them all yet, but will do this arvo. Was cheering for you from Turn 3.

Sorry to hear of your dramas. It's the 20c part that'll ruin your day, hey?

I cant beleive you still havent posted any pics yet (or Ponti)...
Adds new meaning to keeping he shiney side up.

Well this race meeting turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Will do a report later I guess but here are the basics:

Everything went well Thursday, albeit all in a bit of a last minute rush with all the usual logistical problems threatening to sour proceedings. I was in the top 5 in the time sheets all day, and got into the 1:16s in the last session, which I hoped to keep improving on throughout the weekend.

Then on Friday morning I went to qualify and found that the bike was very hard to downshift into corners. Whenever the back wheel was in the air or had little load the bike would not shift gear consistently. So I ended up being a gear too tall all the time, and I was unable to get a good lap out of it. The second qualifying session was not much better. I thought I could ride around the gear shift problem, but was still getting it a bit, and managed to wreck my only good lap on the last corner with another 4th gear exit.

I was hoping to turn it around on Saturday and Sunday in racing, but the problem was there all the time. I would change the angle of the shifter linkages hoping it would be sorted, only to find out it was still happening when I went out to race. I also had the brake lever adjuster come loose in the first race, further wrecking the race. Sunday was more of the same in the morning - in fact worse than ever - so for the final race on Sunday arvo I converted the bike back to street shift. This finally fixed the downshift problem, but with a short 6 lap race and a cold tyre start after a big turn 1 crash I didn't have enough time to get used to the change and still finished back in 13th.

One good thing however was winning the Best Presented trophy. The bike literally attracted crowds of people and was very popular despite being buried in the middle of the pack on track. Another positive was at least knowing I could run 1:16s in a practice session, and should be able to go quicker in a race if I can get everything to work for me.

I don't know when I will be racing next, there is the small issue of many thousands of dollars in credit card debt to attend to first, but I am certainly keen to make up for this year's QLD round next year.

Will post some amature pics up shortly.


hemiduty = Drmsby Middleton

Couple of pics. Some courtesy of motoaus.com

Go you good thing!

The bike looks definately "pro" mate, but yeah, the bad luck with the levers and whatever didnt make a great weekend for you. However if 1:16's are ordinary, then you know where to aim for
Didnt we on the forum talk about having a donation based fund some years ago for good causes or to sponsor someone?
All donations can be sent where?

I didnt make it out this time, next time let me know early if you can?

(edited to be more helpful)

FUCK ME Hemi
That bike looks SUPER slick, you are going to have to get done up like a Cylon to do it justice