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MOTETAI 07-07-06

Written by Anthony faulkner

Monday, 22 February 2010 06:43

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 :razz: 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 8) 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

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