Suzuki International Tri Series - Round 1, Manfeild Raceway
2009-12-24

Suzuki Tri Series Round 1: Manfeild Raceway.

The first of the 3 Round series has come and gone, it was a fantastic weekend with some excellent racing to be seen in all classes. It was absolutely fantastic to have a few of the International riders attend the meeting, I wish more of the Internationals would come over!

This weekend was to be a pretty special weekend for me. It was going to be the first time I would race the 2009 Museum Hotel Suzuki GSX-R600, so was bound to be a very exciting one for me and the team.

Andrew, Leigh and I waited anxiously on Thursday night for a box of fairings to arrive before we could head off on our trip from Wellington to Fielding. Fortunately the fairings arrived just in the nick of time and we could head off on our journey. I must say a thank you to Billy at Auto-cycle Refinishers for his great work on the fairings and getting them to us despite giving him very short notice! We arrived to Fielding where we meet with Chris from Ozzy Performance and set about the final details of the bikes, after which we headed back to Chris' for a good night sleep.

Friday

We awoke to a good looking day, if a tad windy. The most important factor was that it was dry! We got to the track at around 8am to see an already filling pit area and set about getting the pits set up.
After signing in and fueling and pressuring the bike it was time to head out on the K9 for the first session of the day. We started the morning sessions with some older tyres from a previous test day, just until I got into the rhythm of it all and got closer to the pace I was aiming for. I did a few more runs on the K9 GSX-R, then we decided to give the K6 GSX-R a run to make sure it was ready to go for the Saturday races. I thought that it would be a struggle to jump from one bike to another as even though they are very close to the same bike, each have their own personality, so it was good to feel comfortable to adapt to different bikes in the same day.
The wind during the Friday test was very challenging through some parts of the track, turn 3 (known as 'Splash) was particularly bad for getting a sideways gust of wind as I was trying to turn into the corner. The wind got to the point that it tried to blow the Ezy-up away and we were forced to hire a pit shed for Saturday, which was far more suitable for those conditions. The wind did highlight to me how important it is to feel comfortable with the situation off the track, as the wind was being quite frustrating and I felt it could have an effect on my mental preparation for racing, so the pit shed was a real positive on for resolving that.

Saturday

Having already set up the pit shed the night before it was quite relaxed in the morning. I went and signed in and attended riders briefing.

First class up was the Superbike class so I geared up and got on the K6. We decided to split the two bikes into the two classes to try even up the amount of mileage that would be put on both bikes over the season to keep the both fresh for the Nationals season.

Superbike Qualifying

The track was dry and at a good temperature and the bike was feeling good. I like being able to have a test day before a race meeting it helps immensely getting comfortable on the bike and getting my mind prepared for racing.
I got a few reasonably clear laps in and qualified 2nd with a 1:08.761 which was my personal best in the first session of the day! A very good start.

600 Supers Qualifying

This time I was out on the K9, the first time I would need to ride the bike in a manner to secure a good position. I was also feeling very comfortable on board this bike and was very happy to see a 1:08.753 on the timing sheets after the session. This was enough to secure pole position, but mainly I was very happy to have the new bike set up well enough to match the pace I had set on the K6 which I have already had a bit of experience on.

Superbike Race 1

The start was rather interesting. I got a reasonable initial launch but ruined that by far to much throttle opening which resulted in a very big wheel stand and not a huge amount of forward propulsion. Coming out of turn one I was in about 7th place behind a the group of Superbikes. It was a very exciting race for me having some great battles with the Superbikes. I managed to pass and hold off Peter Tanner on the Aprillia RSV and latch onto Ray Clee and Sloan Frost. I passed Ray a couple of times, only to be passed back down the straights and Sloan and I had a couple of good passes. In the end the Superbikes pulled away and left me in 5th place after Andrew Stroud had to retire from the race.
My best lap for the race was a 1:08.411 which again was a new personal best so I was very happy with that.

600 Supers Race 1

I got a good start, only to be passed under brakes by Jimmy Smith going into the first turn. I have learnt that I need to improve my braking off the start as it is a weak point of mine. I passed Jimmy back going into turn 2 to take back the lead. From there it became a relatively quite and uneventful race for me. I tried to keep my lap times consistent and be smooth with the bike without excessively pushing the limit. I won the first race I ever entered on the 2009 Museum Hotel Suzuki and set a new F2 lap record in the process with a 1:08.573

Superbike Race 2

I got a much better start this time not letting the bike do big wheel stands and was second into turn one. I held this position all the way through to the middle straight where the power of the Superbikes quickly dispatched the 600cc machine. I ended up having another great dice with Ray Clee and Sloan Frost with them both on Suzuki GSX-R 1000's. It certainly was close racing, maybe a bit to close as Sloan and I made contact down the middle straight. I was very lucky stay on the bike as my front wheel and fairing was hit quite hard at the middle straight. As the race went on Ray and Sloan managed to pull away slightly but I managed to hang on only losing a small amount of time per lap. This was good for me as it helped me push hard to keep with them and I was still making use of the slipstream the Superbikes gave me. I finished 6th place but again had set a new personal best with a 1:08.017. I was very very happy with this time, I certainly was not expecting to get to that pace.

600 Supers Race 2

I got another good start but this time it was Sam Love who lead me out of turn one. I followed him for the opening lap, but passed him quickly. Again I ended up alone for the remainder of the race but it was a highlight to take the win and set another F2 lap record improving slightly to a 1:08.499

That was the end of the points races but because the meeting ran quickly the organisers ran a couple of 'fun' races at the end of the day, I entered both but pulled out of the superbike race with a problematic foot peg however I did complete the 600 Supers race taking another win.

Overall it was absolutely fantastic weekend and would really love to thank all my amazing sponsors and supporters which make it all possible for me to go racing

Museum Hotel Wellington – For their amazing support and dedication to motorcycle racing

Suzuki NZ – For the fantastic 2009 GSX-R600. The bike showed it's capabilities with solid results and lap times.

Ozzy Performance – The bikes both ran fanatic all weekend and the performance of the “F2 spec” bike really surprised a few of the superbike guys which is a testament to the engine builder and tuner Chris Osborne.

Continental Tyres – The Conti Race Attacks work so well all weekend, I had a lot of confidence in them and received a lot of grip.

CKT and Ohlins – For making the bike handle how it should. The bike was handling excellently all weekend and will only get better with a bit of time and setup.

Skunkworks – Andrew and Leigh, thank you for your ongoing commitment to help me in so many aspects of my racing, I am so fortunate to have such great people backing me

And a big thank you to all my other product and services sponsors:

Wynns Performance Products
Spectro Oils
HJC Helmets
Berik Leathers
Wellington Motorcycles
DID Chains
Sidi Motorcycle Gear
Vesrah Brakes

It was a real honour to have a so many of my friends, family and supporters there to encourage me. I hope all that attended enjoyed themselves and I can't wait for the second round, the Wanganui street race. It will be my first outing on the infamous street circuit so will be a very interesting weekend.

Thank you for taking the time to read my race report I hope you enjoyed it.

Cheers,

-Glen