Team Spawn Race Report

It was a happy sight on Thursday afternoon, pulling into Pat's Acres and seeing lots
of bikes and people setting up for the weekend to come! Later, Team 6-7 showed
up at Chez Havoc to spend the nite before camping at the track the rest of the weekend.

Friday practice started at 10am, and I went out on the RM to try out the new track
extension - the old Turn Three now is a rise leading into a big lefthand sweeper, which
narrows down to a tight 90 degree lefthand followed by a tight right, off-camber back
onto the old course, very tricky with uneven surfaces! As I was pulling in to the pits
at the end of my session the bike lost power and died - examination showed a broken
piston skirt, so that bike was done for the weekend, though we'd planned to use it in
the endurance, o well!
I went out on the Moriwaki and promptly crashed - I lost the rear in the last corner, caught
it, and washed out the front. No damage other than a broken clutch lever and a bashed elbow
so I've finally got that first crash on this bike behind me!

Steve & Patrick, my endurance team partners, came out and practiced on the 50, and
we decided to use it come the Sunday event in lieu of anything else...

Saturday sprints got underway early, and I was at the back of the grid for my events,
having signed up late in the day. I raced the 50 in Vets Modified and 80 Stock - neither
heat was remarkable and I decided to drop the 80 Stock and race in Mod50 for the main,
so I could play more in traffic. In both Mains I pulled my first-turn go-wide trick and
each time made up about half the field! The rest of each race was a lot of good dicing,
passing and being passed, I don't know how I finished, somewhere in the middle.

I entered Formula80 and Extreme YSR with the Moriwaki, but at the start of the first heat
my clutch started cooking on the start grid and plagued me throughout the rest of the day,
becoming grabby and not amenable to slipping, very essential on this track. So I had fun
dicing at the start of each race but fell to the rear each time by the finish. I was hoping to
race harder with the big boys but such was not to be the case, but it was still fun, though
frustrating to have to nurse the bike through...

Sunday we set up the 50 for the endurance and got a great start in the wheelbarrow race,
one of the first few bikes on the track!

My first session went without a hitch, and had a great battle with Chris on his Aprilia...
Patrick then had a good session but Steve crashed in Two, then, not realizing until
the end of the sweeper that the brake lever had broken off, oopsed there too!
That plus throttle which was sticking open from the bent bar, ouch! So we had to do
a frenzied repair in the pits, (thanks Cindy for the brake lever!) and get back out!
We switched riders just before the rain started and Patrick discovered how it's like
throwing a switch when the  traction disappears in the rain, and crashed the same lap
the race was red flagged, so there you go!
Amazingly, it was good enough for 3rd place in Superbike, wowee!

Following the endurance race was a full SuperTT program, it was great to see that
whole crew and their madcap racing, it made a fantastic finale to a great weekend of
racing! Kudos to Carl Blake and crew for a wild show!

Thanks to everyone involved in making this the funnest racing event of the season!
Next NMRA race is 17-18 August, see you there!

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