New Era Racing

Phew, back in one piece. That makes it a good weekends racing. It was a pretty steady weekend from the Pit Garage of Che' Strika


Here's how it looked from the pilots seat of an ageing ZX6

Friday Practice- Did three sessions on old tyres and couldn't manage to break the 1,50' mark

Put some new rubber on For last Practice and scrubbed them in ready for saturday. Managed a low 1.49'

Saturday- Race one- As it was my first Hartwell meet they hadn't recorded any previous results so I was put well down the grid in 18th Place

The Flag dropped and I got off the line OK, without losing any places. Turn one arrived, and for some reason everyone slowed down So i ran up the inside of about ten bikes thru turn one and rounded up another few around southern loop Thats were the best part of this race finished for me....... no I didn't crash, but i did start to ...fade. Lap times were as follows-
Standing start-1'55".8, 1'49".5, 1'49".7, 1'50".6. Finished 7th

Race two Saturday- From 19th on the grid once again got another good start, and did a repeat of race 1, ending the first lap in around 5th or 6th then I started coming back to the field again Lap times as follows-
Standing start- 1'55".6, 1'48".7, 1'49".3, 1'49".3. Finished 8th

Sunday
Did not bother with morning practice, as it was 6 minutes long. Why bother. Plus I thought I may waste my best laps As i had reasonable results Saturday I was placed a little closer to the front of the grid today. 9th.

Race 1- Got an absolute cracker of a start, and hammered right round the outside of all bar four bikes thru turn 1, and then rounded up a couple more through southern loop, and here I was third coming out of southern, with a red ZX6 just in front of me and another guy on a honda. We maintained these postions thru Honda corner and Into Siberia. However A certain red bike didn't make it out the other side The rider slid off unhurt . Thus I found myself with my 40 seconds of fame over the weekend, in 2nd place I Held this position from Siberia, all the way back around to Honda, and then they started mugging me one by one, and sometimes two by two Held position and came home. I was knackered Lap times as follows-
Standing start- 1'52".4, 1'49".2, 1'49".1, 1'48".4 Finished 4th.

Race two Sunday- Off 9th on the grid again, but this time didn't get away as well and had to battle with traffic, and cover my lines under brakes, as my brakes have been found a little wanting. Another rider pulled a nice move on me as i tipped it into Lukey Heights for the second time. He stuffed it up the inside of me then proceeded to run wide. His bike bashed into me first. I had to sit back up on top of it while it was still fully leant over. then our fairngs and bars came together, both still fully cranked, with neither wanting to really back off.i saw me heading towards the edge of the track still fully cranked trying to make both our bikes turn the corner Lucky for me he got it together and tightened his line and we both made it round. That was probably the best bit of the weekend to be honest Thanks no4, I was giggling in my Helmet after that . Lap times as follows.
Standing start- 1'57".04, 1'50".5, 1"49".06, 1'50".2, 1'49".6 Finished 8th.


All in all I had a magic weekend of riding muddaboiks Although I didn't achieve my personal goals as far as lap times are concerned, I was still happy with how I rode. It has been a long time in between competitive outtings and I am still trying to get my race legs back. It still doesn't feel how it used to, but each time I ride, I gain a little more confidence. Am looking forward to the next round.

that sounds like a great weekend of racing
got some good placings
get any pic's
wheres the next round?

that sounds like a great weekend of racing
got some good placings
get any pic's
wheres the next round?

If you check out the sdpics.com website later in the week you may find some. look for an old 1995 ZX6RF1 painted black/silver/white with #32 on it

Next round I am doing will be The next Round 4 of the Interclub Road Race series at Winton on Sept 25th. Should be fun, I have not ridden Winton since they extended the track, so I will have some new turns to learn

Onya Champ.
Cheers Brett

That sounds like a heap of fun, I guess once you get used to it banging in to one another can be alot of FUN as long as you don't crash.
I don't think you did too bad, i'd be happy with your placings & you had FUN, which is the main reason we ride.

I remember racing MX a few years ago with mates & we used to bang into one another all the time, we would get back to the pits & find rubber tyre marks all over our bikes & think how cool is that & we never crashed doing it & like you said giggling about it as well.

Damn I miss racing, but not the HURT.
I just need to win the damn Lotto & then I will be right.

Thanks guys, I was happy with my results. After a 9 year break it's pretty cool being back out there. Sure not at the pace i used to run at, but these things are better bitten off in small bites i find That way it bites back a lot less.

I still reckon it's a pretty good showing considering the bike is a 1995 ZX6 F1 and the oldest bike in front of me was a 2001

Has anyone heard of any of the following mods to an 1995 ZX6R F1?

1. Late model calipers

2. Larger 5.5" rear wheel?

I have some ideas, but if there is someone who has done this any of your experience would be appreciated.
Cheers

Here's the old dinosaur in action during one of the saturday races

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Awsome report Strika, keep em coming please mate. Looks like you had an absolute ball, really makes me want to get out and give it a go.

Just how expensive is racing anyway? Can it be done at all on a low budget?

Awsome report Strika, keep em coming please mate. Looks like you had an absolute ball, really makes me want to get out and give it a go.

Just how expensive is racing anyway? Can it be done at all on a low budget?

It really depends on what class you run and how serious about winning you get.

Let's say you wanted to be middle level competitive. Ie- a good C grade club racer (that means you could be doing as low as a 1'45" around the island, or a low 62" around Broadford, not sure about the creek or others.) and you wanted to run a 600. let's use mine as an example as it is probably the sort of thing you could expect. I will run thru set up and running costs.

Friday Practice- use old tyres from last race meet.
Saturday New tyres. $370.00 Use same tyres Sunday
fuel car n bike $100
Accomm $260
Food $150
Entry fee $180
Practice fee $100
Garage $100

Total for the weekend $1260

So does the entry fee cover any practice time at all, or does everyone pay for practice?

And do you have to rent a garage, or can you just use a pit bay somewhere at no extra charge?

Thanks mate.

You get a morning warm-up or practice, of between 6-20 mins. then it's racing. The $100 fee was for friday practice, seperate to the $180 entry fee.

Tripped over a brand new set of Valter Moto rearsets for my ZX6 race bike today. And cheap they were. I bought a whole heap of other stuff with them so not sure zackary what they cost, but working out some savings on the other stuff still gives me a figure somewhere around $300 Wrapped I was. The ones that were on it, were my originals that were made for the bike at the start of 1995 for Bayliss to race. They are ones that Gavin Cosway made by hand from solid sheets of alloy So I was going to get them copied so if i break em racing I got a spare set. I never really liked the location of these rearsets. I always felt they were too far foward for me, forcing me into an uncomfortable position mid turn. I thought back then, if it's good enough for Bayliss to chuck a lap record on, then it should be good enough for me

Now however, I feel A little differently about the whole racing deal, and am all up for anything that will make me more comfy on the bike.

Here is a pic of the rearsets. It was taken with my mobile phone so apologies for pic quality ladies and gents And the lighting isn't exactly bright in the toy box at work

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Strika is that a braided line from the rear brake reservoir to the master cylinder? Or is it a weirdly-in-focus remote shock canister or something?

Yeah got it in one. It is an out of focus remote reservoir for that lurvly WP rear shock.mmmmm