I am very proud to announce that I am the
Winner of the 2011 NSW Post Classic period 6 Formula750 series!
after battling it out at the last round at Broadford, by 6 points over 200!
I am very chuffed. Racing for the last 20 years, while I have certainly had some great results, it's not often that I have competed in all rounds of a series. This year's late night efforts on the back porch have proven worthwhile, and it has been a pleasure to do it on a fairly newly prepped bike with only 2 meetings to set up for the series, taking trophies in both events, then winning 2011's first F750 event with a 4-1-1 result, gaining trophies at all events entered including some in the F1 class - on the 750.
Great thanks go to Pirtek Newcastle for their help and co-sponsorship with Vanessa's Hourglass Photography, to Sienna my Darlingest daughter and Vanessa, my darling Wife for their patience and encouragement, letting me use the porch to build bikes; to Emtek Racing Accesories for the Emtek Tyre Warmers; to my mates in Team Cooranbong for their help and support; Richard Nineham particularly; Steve Butler (750gsxrT+L) , Martin, Bones Dunn, Graham and Dunno Dunn all on 750Ts; to my fellow racers, especially Rob Cole for making me work so hard both on and off the track; and to Danny Deste for his help.
The last round at Broadford:
Well, what a trip! I wanted to to it on the cheap, so off I went in Vanessa's 4wd, planning to sleep in it. Not a bad fit, just had to remember to move the tiedown straps from under the blankets next time. Broadford has some fair showers and camping areas, and it will be on the cards again next year hopefully.
Thanks to Team Cooranbong member Martin Ball who towed his trailer with both our bikes, seeing originally I was going to travel with him until the Club asked me to tow their trailer down, which then got canned anyway leaving me with no seat as Martin had by then organised Olly, his youngest son, to go along. Olly was a great help and I trust he enjoyed his first away meeting with his Dad! We won't mention the topless waitress in the pub in town shall we?!
I walked the track at 6 am with the wallabies and roos, seeing I haven't been here for 15 years. It reminded me how steep and undulation, cambered both on and off, with blind crests and blind turns, the place is. This really adds character and ranks the track in my top 5 for sure.
A dry sunny day awaited on friday for open practice. I setlled in to find my lines while having a chat with some locals, including one chap who had prepper a forgotten era z1100 Kwaka over the last 3 years or so, punting it around a track for the first time; until he crashed at the end of the straight when his front sprocket came off and locked the chain locking the back wheel of course, resulting in a trip to hospital for observation and a return to bike prep presumably.
On saturday, after raining most of the night, we were greeted with a drizzle in the morning which had everyone either discussing tyre options or ripping wheels out only to put treads or slicks back on again later, as the drizzle eased, only to put wets back on again in a frenzy when the drizle returned! I sat it out with friday's slicks, forcing myself to be patient, seeing that while water was pooling in the pits, there seemed to be not much pooling water on the track; I also listened to the sidecars; their limited wheelspin out of corners suggested a reasonable amount of traction. I went out on slicks as did many, while a some had treads on and a few went to wets. I qualified 3rd in the F750 grid and 8th in the F1/Premodern (aka PM) grid. I was impressed, almost amazed, how much traction the track had! It has excellent drainage, unlike poor old wakefield park, which is a duckpond for a day after the rain stops; yet here while constant drizzle fell, no water pooled as it all ran off on the cambered hillside track!
The racing went well, with mostly 3rds and a 2nd place in the F750 fields: my laptimes fell and fell with each race, as did those of my coompetitors. While not too many made the trip from NSW, my nemesis Rob Cole was here on his gsxr750 and kept me at bay for all but 1 F750 race, while I made no reserves in the F1 grid gaining the upper hand in 5 races. Steve Anderson, on his gsxr750rr was a little sick and couldn't get the flow to give credit to his chances of winning the series, though any of 3 of us could have won it this weekend! Local jason light has moved from an 89 model FZR1000 to a VFR750 and riding this smooth Viffer certainly suits him as he held us all off in both F750 and the F1 class in all races, giving the more modern PM zx7rs, 750T Suzukis etc a hiding, with only Nige Taylor on the ex-Doohan FZR1000 keeping him honest in all races of the F1+Premodern events. Ah, except the ones where the FZR's spark failed; to be tracked to a faulty brainbox (the bike's, not Nige's). This was promptly remedied using one borrowed from me, but launching off the rear of the grid and being a little overenthusiastic with those 150 horses, Nige found the next weak point in the bike: the rear wheel sprocket carrier! By the end of lap 1 he had broken it and the slightly damaged swingarm had to be filed clean of damaged aluminium for the last heat!
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| Martin's 750T |
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| Graham Campbell's zx7r |
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| Wetty's zx7rrrrr |
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| one of the Premodern / F1 races, Stu Lomax 860ccYZF_SP, me on the fz750, jason Light on the VFR750, Rob Cole on the gsxr750 and Graham on his zx7r |
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| Jason giving wetty a good run. He did in fact beat Wetty! |
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| #94=Troy Galvin on his FZR600, #70 Roger Quinlan on his Crosby Moriwaki 1100 FE bike. |
I put another (used) slick on the back for some of Sunday's races as the old one was slipping around now. I wore out the almost new backbrake pads diving into turns and using that disc to control wheelspin on saturday's damp corners. Of course I do wish for more speed, and have since broadford begun building an fzr1000 to take on the F1 class in 2012.
A huge applause MUST go to the officials and helpers, both of the NSW PCRA club and the locals, who braved the miserable saturday elements and the sunday sun to keep us going! Thanks!
There were so many other stories too: like watching sidecars spin around at various corners, with only a few stiches needed here and there; having a genuine GP TR500 burn down; like novice racer Lee Allen winning the F3 PM class on his first meeting wearing an orange novice vest!; listening to guys ribbing each other about who passed who; going to town and having great meals at the local pubs; getting a tour of the sidacar teams' various trasnporter camperbuses and the list goes on!
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