got to Motegi on friday for an practice day, to have it piss down all day. i hung around, didnt bother going out as the next day was forecast to be sunny and i didnt want to upset my concept of what is possible by running rainy laps….

stayed at a hotel up there. got up the next morning to meet fastbike and head to the pits. i had set up and signed up the day before. we shakenned the bike and i went to the briefing. they had the kindness to show us (on video) what happens when the fulcrum pin on your brembo falls out at the end of the straight :crazyeyes: ie this guy went accross the gravel and into the wall at 270km/hr. apparantly he didnt die or suffer any long term injuries… anyway we all went and checked our brakes…

qualifying rolled around after 4 trips to the toilet. i went out, and went for it. the bike was feeling good, a few nasty landings and near tank slappers after picking up and landing the front with the bike still leaned over.. anyway ran the ten laps, with a best (a new PB of 2.00.58) and qualified 7th of the 17 entrants

race time rolled around, and out we went for the sighting lap, warm up lap, i got another great start on the warm up lap and figured id do the same when it was for real. i did, and went into the first corner in 3rd, i had to SLAM the gate on 2 guys who were trying to muscle there way up the inside :badgrin: . my mate was in front and i was determined not to let him go, and i didnt sticking on his tail for the first 3 laps, then one guy got by me, after id shut the gate on him half a lap earlier . then it happenned, i see my number on the board with the word “STOP” on it.. i got off the race line, eased up, and thought my race was over for some reason…. i saw the front 6 bikes sail off all tightly grouped…

damn i was pissed and confused, then i realised, after half a lap of touring :bad-words: . it was a drive through penalty. looking back the bike had twitched as i engaged the clutch after the red had come on. i had jump started… so i go in and the whole thing has cost me around 35 seconds and a whole lot of mixed emotions, what to do??? drive out the race and dont crash…. finnish right there…. anyway i saw a group up ahead and the fight rose in me again, i wouldnt get beaten by them at least!! so i picked it up dropping into the 2.00s again and hauled them in, passing them one by one all in one lap :badgrin:

gapped them a bit and then eased off, finishing in 7th place with a best (new PB) of 2.00.55 which i set on the 4th lap. its a shame because i was set to sail with the pack into the low 59s where they ended up and where i was determined to go….

a step towards next year all japan races and my interantional liscence with my first points in JSB despite more dramas. i cant seem to escape them… gotta get my shit better organised…

I was thinking of you Jim when i noticed i had dropped my best by 0.0000230233 seconds from the qualifying to the race

anyway a semi succesful/disapointing race day. i know now i can hang with the front pack at this level. im going to keep working on it and soon im going to beat them :bday:

next race is on the weekend of the 12th/13th at tsukuba!! if anyone wants to come along let me know..

the pirelli rep gave me a set of slicks to test, ive just got to write a report on them and give them back after use. so ill be testing them on the 19th….

big thanks to fastbike who came along, gave moral support and plenty of help with the logistics!! thanks a million bro!!

…..

bikes are 3 across, spaced offset so you have a relatively clear shot. there is a painted half box you must be behind. but just like motogp. as soon as the red light is on if you move you have jump started. its on for only a few seconds, it goes out you go, and go like the clappers, scramble push and force your way into the first corner, with heavier grids you’ll go in and around a few bikes abreast. that gets sorted out on the sweeping exit, as people drift to the outside of the track and head for turn 3 which is a real stop corner. its great for picking up places up the inside, you just have to time it right so your wheel remains level or a bit in front of the guy on the outside.

this last race i didnt have to try my usual kamikaze approach into three as i was in 3rd and as i had sawed the line off from the two fellas going into one i figured (rightly) that they wouldnt have got the drive i did and i should be ok!

that second corner is such a great corner with new rubber, you wind it on from way back and exit with the throttle pinned in second, the rear crabbing its way across as you power out!!!! awesome!!

that was the beauty of the dunlops, really tall profile the rear is a 200/70 and the front a 125/80, and the rubber is sticky with plenty of feel. there were a few corners when the back just hung out, i knew it was sliding but it felt so controlled i could keep the throttle pinned and just wait for it to hook up. When the BS went they really let you know about it!!!

17-07-06
Mot Things never go as they are planned…

FRIDAY
on the first qualifying practice of friday my bike developed serious 2nd gear problems resulting it not being able to downshift without the the gearbox catching and causing the rear wheel to skip. i had dynod the bike just before we went and wasnt suprised to see i had lost about 15 HP from my beloved 164 horses. i managed to run a 2.07 without using second gear and figured with buying a new sprocket and changing the gearing i would grab a few seconds from that. then next session my friend from Aus went out and high sided in his first lap coming onto victory. right in front of us. i still have the mental image of him and the bike about 6 feet in the air both upside down. not pretty.

damage report.
a sore back and hip, and rash on the arse region.
both wheels bent beyond repair
swing arm and subframe bent.
rear set done in
fairing stay and fairings destroyed
frame bent
tank badly dented (but still usable)
steering dampner bracket snapped
brembo master internals popped out.
triples and forks???

we got to the repair job and swapped all we could, i have a lot of spares so we ended up 10 minutes before the end of the days practice with my other australian friend heading out for a few laps to test. the daignosis was very bad. things badly bent and the bike rearing strangly on exit uncontrollable front end wobbles. bad chattering under brakes from the front end.

but it went….

SATURDAY

qualifying started early, we had been up late changing the swing arm and getting things ready for tech which we passed.
i went out for qualifying, things were bad, so i came in a few times to try and dial out some of the stability issues and chattering. it kinda worked i ran a 2.09 with squishy brakes (ie the lever hitting the bar) and chattering, and wobbling and no 2nd gear.. ho ho ho things were looking good!!

rich then went out and valiantly did the same time. so we were hopeful of qualifying but not really looking forward to running the bike for 7 hours, especially if it was raining!! anyway we missed out by one place, i grovelled up in the control tower to no avail.

we still didnt have and wheels but Neil had pulled out all the stoppers and went further out of his way than you could ever expect anyone to go and picked up a set off yahoo auction for us. a million thanks neil.

SUNDAY

scott and neil arrived early with the wheels and fire extinguisher. mike arrived a bit later(i had brought one from my house that was a little out of date, it was made in 1971 )

we got things sorted, went through pit procedures, changed the tyres repeatedly as it started to rain and then stopped, then started….

we were in pole position and Karl got off to a good start from the Le mans style start. he was third after the first lap. by the end of his 50 minutes and several safety car moments he was in 5th.

next was rich, who ran consistant 8s and 9s and looked smooth as ever. when he came in after about an hour we were in second.

i headed out to bring it home, the track was a little wet and i had a new rear tyre on so the first few laps were an exercise in defensive riding. lots of accelerating and late braking then parking it in the corner and leaving no room for the guy trying to pass me to do it it worked, i got the tyre warm and the next time i saw him he was on the podium in third!!! :badgrin:
anyway the clutch was already on its way out when i got on the bike, i ran down to a 2.08 and then got the message from the side to slow down, conserve fuel, i was watching the clock, the clutch was disintegrating rapidly leaving me with no power. i rode defensivly and as smoothly as i could. the fuel light came on with about 3 laps to go, the clutch was going but the gap to the next bike was staying at about 38 seconds. my last lap was a 2.24 anyway i came around the corner to see our spot on the wall going crazy, and in the distance a small checkered thing. it got bigger as the bike revved wildly and i attemped to make it look like it could actually go fast.
it couldnt anymore and now it needs some serious well deserved attention. we had the champagne fight, photos with race queens, a few interviews and handshakes. it was quite hilarious to see my wreck of a suzuki with its miss matching fairing, taped on seat, caved in tank being poured over by the mass of honda employed photographers

i tell you its a feeling i could get used to!!

there are many people to thank…

to yasuyo who stepped into the team and took charge of all the bureocratic stuff, who got us to where we needed to be, arranged and organsied us, to make what could have been a nightmare a seemingly simple affair.

i cant express enough thanks to neil and scott, who went so far out of their way and without their thoughtfulness and help we could never have got near the podium.

to mike who came pitted for us.

and of course to my team mates who got through disapointment, pain, danger, rain, an unwilling bike, and kept going and in the end got all of us something we can be proud of.

thanks again and sorry to rich, the dude, and friends who offered your services and suddenly found yourselves without anything to do on monday

we’ll be back next year in some form. to give it another shot and hopefully get ourselves up there on the monday podium.

we’ll be out tomorrow night in roppongi celebrating if anyone would like to join us for a beer or 2

15-10-06
MOTEGI OPEN CHALLENGE
INTRO

well it started badly, crashing on wednesday at tsukuba, the on thursday not being able to run any faster than 2.07 in my three sessions. experiencing gearbox troubles. actually (i found out later!!) i had snapped the lug off holding the throttle in place and thus couldnt open the throttle properly. so i fixed it and cut and rejoined my chain to run the proper gearing for motegi.

QUALIFYING

i had arrived early at motegi to re-fit the chain and get things sorted. shaken happened, time rolled around and i headed out for qualifying. ran a 2.05 then a 6, 7 and a 2.04.8 and decided to end it there. the bike was feeling good and i was happy with that time. it gridded me 22 in a field of 32.

RACE

sighting lap, warm up lap and the grid, i was phsyched to let rip. and from the start i did, i got an average start, picked up a few, lost a few, but coming out of 2 i nailed the exit and sailed into 3 almost colliding with a dude as i over braked but got 4 places back. there was loads of bikes in front of me and i was determined to not let any of them get away.
unfortunately lots did but i slipped under one on brakes at the end of the main straight. i had a group of 4 bikes up ahead and they were my target, i slowly gained on them, picked an R1 off coming into 5, then a CBR954 ran wide and i snuck under him. then i late braked past another GSX-R (so late it was almost a collision) and then the last R1 in the pack….. he had been moving up as i did, i knew my corner speed was better but he walked me in the straights, so i waited and after the esses on lap 8 i made my move i was right on his ass as we came out and i sailed up the inside, fucked the corner but kept him on the outside of me and was clear i was now in 13th position.

i knew he was going to try and take me back at the end of the straight and sure enough as i sailed past a guy i was lapping so he appeared trying my move up the inside, but he fucked it ran wide and i snuck through again, i looked over at my pit board and saw it was lap 9 i just had to hold him out for one lap, i made some ground and checking before the final hairpin i saw he was about 30 meters behind me… not enough to keep him out down that back straight…… i nailed the exit and was going to brake as late as i could, at about the 160m i nailed the brakes the back reared up…i was out of sorts, couldnt turn in, ran wide, he appeared on the inside and lost the rear, almost threw him off but he saved it, style had gone to the wind, it was time for the kill…but i was in the wrong gear and he snuck past that was that, we sailed home to the checkered flag…..

i came in

14th over all

5th in Open challenge (another plastic momento to take home)

with a new PB of 2.02.8

very happy with my riding, there wasnt a lot of drifting, i got out of sorts on the brakes but it got me past people who i couldnt out power. so you do what you can!!!

the bike is up for sale now. its done and i wont be riding until january next year when i pick up the new Gixxer….

special thanks to my buddy who pitted and was invaluable. sorry to rowshi who got stranded on the highway… but that is his story to tell. god knows where Dr Phil was….

results page

race

http://www.twinring.jp/result/2006/2wheel/1015_12f.html

qualifying

http://www.twinring.jp/result/2006/2wheel/1015_11p.html

Mot OC 21-05-06

scott (throttle) and i headed out from kawasaki at 4.30 am on the jaunt to motegi. i had been prepping the bike for a day or so, new pads, tyres, oil, paint job (4000y worth of spray cans!!). we got to motegi and it was a fine day.

qualifying was at 11.30 and i was phsyched with me new clutch fitted that i was going to have gobs more power to play with. and that was the case my first recorded lap was a 2.05 then 2.04 and a couple of 2.03s. i eased off after that and ran a couple off the line, got back on the pace then came in after 8 laps. with a qualifying time of 2.03.3
i was stocked, the bike was moving really well, a lot of sliding but the power was good and i felt i could go faster.

i qualified 12th on the grid of 31 bikes.

it was then a long break until my race which was at 5pm. scott and i watched the various races from different parts of the track.
my time rolled around and out i went for the sighting lap, warm-up lap, and then on the grid.
i knew it was going to be hard during my warm up lap, the long shadows on 5 reflected my tired and unfocussd state….

anyway, ive never got a good start in a race, and i was a bit scared with the new clutch and the power and all, but the light went out and i nailed it, made it into the next row, had a guy try and sneak up the inside of me and i shuttled across closing the door on him. there was no outbraking anyone!! and no outpowering them either, i ran with the guy in front of me, until someone came past then i ran with them, then another…and another…

well enough is enough and i stuck on those 2 guys tails, getting one back under brakes and then the other, i bombed it in 5 about 3 times running to the edge of the track under brakes, and saw the guy behind me closing again. i knew we had only 1 lap left so i shut the gate and rode defensively i was out braking them and i knew i had to because they both had better straight line speed than me, so i went hard in that last lap and rode to the chequer flag ahead of the 2 of them

the guy was directing me to the shaken tent so it seems id got a place, and i had…. 5th in the open challenge race!!!
and 12th overall!!!

i was very happy with the result and the days riding but a little disapointed that i couldnt remain focussed in the race but i guess it understandable…

i ran 7 of the 10 laps in the 2.05s with a best of 2,05.0.

it was great to hang out with you scott, and your help, and good vibes made the day all the more fun, thanks again for coming along and helping out, it was invaluable!

well i guess i reached my goal for motetai, perhaps ill change it to a 2.01

cheers

tB

oh heres a photo of the newly painted gixxa, (great fom a distance, not so great up close!)