Race Report, Barry Sheene Memorial meeting

Chuck41 · 03-26-2008, 12:16 AM

Team Witness Protection Racing Press Release.

Team Witness Protection Racing kicked of the first meeting for 2008 last weekend at the Barry Sheene Memorial race meeting at Eastern Creek. I was racing in Post Classic 250cc class on my 1970 Suzuki T250, and in Motolites on my Moriwaki 80. A mate of mine, Martin, was having his first race meeting, in fact his first time ever on a track, on his RZ250, and on my Cagiva Mito125.

Friday practice was dismal. what started as a slight drizzle soon turned to a steady downpour. The teams newest acquisition, Martin, had his first ever track day, except unlike most track days, there were none of the niceties of "no close passing, no inside passing"etc. No, Martin was surrounded by A and B grade riders on very fast machinery. Add this to the dubious traction, and it's a fairly commendable effort.

Saturday started out no better. Absolutely pissing down. The first qualifying session went out, and lasted about 5 minutes before the session was stopped due to an oil spill that seemed to cover the racing line nearly the whole way around the track. After a little over an hour later, the next session went out. I went out in session 3, and was concerned because the T250 hadn't been running that well. First time down the straight, she ran strong to redline, and I thought all was well. It was still pissing down, so as I gently rounded turn 1, and I saw a bike in front of me, I thought "I'm not going to try and pass him, I'll let him get through first", so I rolled off the throttle, gently touched the brake, and before I knew it, I was sliding along the road next to the bike. I had barely touched the brake lever, and the front just shot out from under me. The damage was thankfully minor, and with the help of Marty and Suzii (Martys other half and outstanding pit manager), We got it going again before the first race.

Marty went out for his qualifying sessions, and did pretty well to keep it upright. His first run was on the RZ, and it was jetted too rich, so it wouldn't rev out past 8K. Marty was reluctant to fuck with the jetting, as it was more important to get a race meeting under the belt, than trying to set land speed records at this stage. No such hassles with the Mighty Mito though, and martys lap times were constantly quicker on the cleaner running bike. To his credit, despite less than favorable conditions, Martin bettered his own PB every session.

We got the first round of races in on Saturday arvo, and conditions actually seemed to improve. I DNF'd on the T250 due to the Gearshift lever falling off before I made it out of pit lane exit road. (I started from dummy grid, after trying to fix the fucking thing the first time). Martin went out on the RZ, and by virtue of staying upright where others failed, scored an 11th out of 23 F3 entries, and 22nd on the track out of 39 entrants. After 1 race break, Martin went out again, this time on the Cagiva. Once again did well to stay upright where others failed.

The track was drying by now, so the first Motolite race was a ripper. Some of the faster riders were still cautious at first, but that soon gave way to the red mist. I was running 9th for most of the race, but got taken in the last lap by one of the "Fast but Cautious" riders. I scored a best lap of 2.07.4, a tenth of a second outside my best lap time for the weekend

Sunday was fantastic, Warm and dry. Marty had some good races, but the fast guys were getting faster and closer in the conditions. Marty was still a bit unsure due to the lack of dry practice, and was still learning the track, as well as the bike. I got one decent race (Race 13) out of the Suzuki, 3rd in my class, with a best time of 2.11.3. The last race I got 2 laps out before my gear shift lever somehow managed to shorten the linkage until the lever was raised up to the point where it was hitting the linkage. I could change up, but not down.

All in all a great weekend. I felt like I'd gone 3 rounds with Danny Green on Monday. I need a long weekend to recover from my long weekend.

Photos at http://dksphotography.smugmug.com/Ba...20Creek%202008

RESULTS AT http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...23/03/2008.RRT

03-26-2008, 12:16 AM	#1
Chuck41 Squid Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Moto: Which one? Posts: 6	Race Report, Barry Sheene Memorial meeting Team Witness Protection Racing Press Release. Team Witness Protection Racing kicked of the first meeting for 2008 last weekend at the Barry Sheene Memorial race meeting at Eastern Creek. I was racing in Post Classic 250cc class on my 1970 Suzuki T250, and in Motolites on my Moriwaki 80. A mate of mine, Martin, was having his first race meeting, in fact his first time ever on a track, on his RZ250, and on my Cagiva Mito125. Friday practice was dismal. what started as a slight drizzle soon turned to a steady downpour. The teams newest acquisition, Martin, had his first ever track day, except unlike most track days, there were none of the niceties of "no close passing, no inside passing"etc. No, Martin was surrounded by A and B grade riders on very fast machinery. Add this to the dubious traction, and it's a fairly commendable effort. Saturday started out no better. Absolutely pissing down. The first qualifying session went out, and lasted about 5 minutes before the session was stopped due to an oil spill that seemed to cover the racing line nearly the whole way around the track. After a little over an hour later, the next session went out. I went out in session 3, and was concerned because the T250 hadn't been running that well. First time down the straight, she ran strong to redline, and I thought all was well. It was still pissing down, so as I gently rounded turn 1, and I saw a bike in front of me, I thought "I'm not going to try and pass him, I'll let him get through first", so I rolled off the throttle, gently touched the brake, and before I knew it, I was sliding along the road next to the bike. I had barely touched the brake lever, and the front just shot out from under me. The damage was thankfully minor, and with the help of Marty and Suzii (Martys other half and outstanding pit manager), We got it going again before the first race. Marty went out for his qualifying sessions, and did pretty well to keep it upright. His first run was on the RZ, and it was jetted too rich, so it wouldn't rev out past 8K. Marty was reluctant to fuck with the jetting, as it was more important to get a race meeting under the belt, than trying to set land speed records at this stage. No such hassles with the Mighty Mito though, and martys lap times were constantly quicker on the cleaner running bike. To his credit, despite less than favorable conditions, Martin bettered his own PB every session. We got the first round of races in on Saturday arvo, and conditions actually seemed to improve. I DNF'd on the T250 due to the Gearshift lever falling off before I made it out of pit lane exit road. (I started from dummy grid, after trying to fix the fucking thing the first time). Martin went out on the RZ, and by virtue of staying upright where others failed, scored an 11th out of 23 F3 entries, and 22nd on the track out of 39 entrants. After 1 race break, Martin went out again, this time on the Cagiva. Once again did well to stay upright where others failed. The track was drying by now, so the first Motolite race was a ripper. Some of the faster riders were still cautious at first, but that soon gave way to the red mist. I was running 9th for most of the race, but got taken in the last lap by one of the "Fast but Cautious" riders. I scored a best lap of 2.07.4, a tenth of a second outside my best lap time for the weekend Sunday was fantastic, Warm and dry. Marty had some good races, but the fast guys were getting faster and closer in the conditions. Marty was still a bit unsure due to the lack of dry practice, and was still learning the track, as well as the bike. I got one decent race (Race 13) out of the Suzuki, 3rd in my class, with a best time of 2.11.3. The last race I got 2 laps out before my gear shift lever somehow managed to shorten the linkage until the lever was raised up to the point where it was hitting the linkage. I could change up, but not down. All in all a great weekend. I felt like I'd gone 3 rounds with Danny Green on Monday. I need a long weekend to recover from my long weekend. Photos at http://dksphotography.smugmug.com/Ba...20Creek%202008 RESULTS AT http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...23/03/2008.RRT