PROJECT BIKE ME! RACE BIKE PART X

by Dino

The new Toby steering damper from Mat Mladin Imports

Three o'clock Thursday arvo and we finally hit the road to Broadford.

It's not just coppers that are starting to look young these days...

I had been fitting the new Toby steering damper generously supplied by Mat Mladin Imports and was stoked with the fit, feel and look. Just have to try it on the track now, and Broadford is a track that will test the best. More on that later.

We arrived at about one a.m. and threw the swags down in the pit garage and tried to get a bit of sleep before the Friday practice. I felt something crawling around my neck and suddenly remembered my swag has been in my attic for 6 months and I never checked it for creepy crawlies before I jumped in.

I was too bloody tired to do anything about it now as I needed zeds and as many as I could get. I did mention the thought of a redback running around in my swag to Terry Hughes my co driver and pit crew for the weekend.

On the Sunday morning we packed the swags away and bugger me there was a bloody redback living in my swag right next to my head and I had slept with it for three nights. As this made us kind of lovers I let her go without harm as reward for not biting me.

So Friday came and we set up our little pit area, put up the quick shade and got the bike sorted.

The first session I took pretty easy but it was evident from the first few laps that this was one razor sharp racing implement, and I spent my practice sessions pushing harder and harder to find the limits. We played with the suspension and got some help with gearing and suspension settings from my opposition. Such is the nature of BEARS racing.

After getting a decent setting to work from for the races over the next two days I started to relax a bit as I got quite up tight in the lead up the meeting. I haven't raced for 18 months and was a wondering if I still had it.

The Broadford Hilton parking lot

Friday slipped away without incident and I was feeling confident for race days. I was about one second off the pace of my main rival in F2 and about 20 ponies short at the back wheel -- development required.

After the last session we packed away, showered and headed for the Pub. We had a great feed, a few ales and headed back to the track for some serious zeds.

Saturday rolled around quick enough and then began the frantic burst of activity you would normally see at the morning of any race meeting in the world: scrutineering, paperwork, transponders being collected and fitted, last minute adjustments to the bikes and finally the riders briefing and sign on.

Now all I had to do was sit and wait till our first practice and qualifying was called.

Then the second qualifier...

I managed to qualify 4th overall and on the front row of the grid, I was second in F2 and felt pretty pleased. Then came the long wait for our first of four races over the weekend .

Nervous checks and double checks take place at this time, Ian turned up and helped out with some screw turning and advice on how to go fast, this helped keep my mind off the task at hand and we waxed lyrical under the quickshade until my first race was called.

Five minutes for BEARS, all formulae (there was a piss poor turn out so they put all formulae out on the track together).

So I stuck my lid on and fired up the BIKE ME! Triumph 675 race bike while my pit crew pulled my tyre warmers off. I then heard from Terry something no bike racer wants to hear just as he has to grid up: "Shit Dino, your back tyre is stone cold." Somehow someone had stood on the plug and knocked it out, shit shit shit, this means I have to get as much heat into my rear tyre as possible in the one warm up lap, never enough, I knew I needed at least two and a half laps before I could go hard.

We gridded up and sweated out the few seconds until the red light went out and we were away, the first three shot round turn one at a good pace whilst I had to tickle the Triumph round at a very cautious pace conceding two or three positions in the first lap and a half, whilst constantly testing for rear grip, finally the rear started to stick so I got up it and quickly regained all my lost places finishing fourth over all and second in F2.

But mainly, I stayed on.

Race two I had a plan to hole shot turn one from my inside grid position and slow my competitors into the corner, but after cracking the throttle it became pretty obvious I just didn't have the horsepower for such tactics and this backfired giving me a very slow entry angle into turn one loosing speed up the hill and again they got away. I scored another second position in F2 and another 4th overall.

Tomorrow is another day.

The 675 gets around turns OK. Next project: more horsepower.

Once again, thanks to:

Steve Eric Arthur & Roger At Motocycle Weaponry
Geoff Bonfield and all at Mat Mladin Imports
Datalok, whose name I occasionally spell correctly
Ray at Easy Rider Imports

And a big thanks to Ebay.