posted on December 17, 2011 22:31
This past Saturday Hampton Downs raceway hosted round 1 of the Suzuki Tri Series. Many racers including myself are using this series as a build up to nationals which begin in the south island in January.
This was my first big race meeting on the Wolf Pack Racing Honda CBR600 so I was really looking forward to seeing how close to the pace of the front runners I could get. Practice on Friday didn't go so great as we had a lot of trouble with some shorter rear sets we had put on. Overnight we reverted back to the standard Honda ones, which were far better, and with a fresh set of Metzeler tyres I qualified in 9th position with a 1.09.7.
In the first race I got an awful start and then got overtaken left right and centre into the next few corners leaving me in about 26th position.. Not ideal! I had a great race though, really enjoying finding some good passing places and managed to finish back in my qualifying position. The 2nd race saw me with a cracker start and end up with a 7th place finish. The fastest lap from me was less than 2 seconds off the lap record, so I'm not complaining after only my 4th race meeting on a 600cc.
My riding and confidence with the bigger bike improved 10-fold over the weekend and I am happy to be placed 8th in the series at the moment. I won't be competing in the 3rd round - the Wanganui street races - so the overall placing isn't a big deal, but stay tuned for an update from round 2 of the Suzuki Tri-Series next weekend at Manfeild!
Thanks to Jamie and Wolf Pack Racing for the great bike, and everyone else who came and supported me over the weekend. Much appreciated.
Avalon.
avalonbiddle.com