Jay Lawrence

We are proud to announce that Jay will be competing in two classes at the 2010 New Zealand Championships.

Hyosung New Zealand have generously provided a brand new GT650R EFi for Jay to race in the Pro Twins class.  The bike has not yet seen a race track as it is still being prepared, but we are looking to get it on the track and testing as soon as possible.  This bike has been greatly updated from the outgoing model with fuel injection, a new braking system, and cartridge forks - all features that should give us the advantage over the Suzuki SV650 which has dominated the class in previous years.  Jay is excited about riding in ProTwins as it is something new and different for him and the Hyosung offers an affordable yet competitive package.  Hyosung New Zealand are as excited about this campaign as we are, and we thank them for their support. 

In addition, Jay will once again compete in the 600 Sports Production class; this year on a 2006 Yamaha R6.  He is looking forward to being back in the thick of it after a long winter of recovery from his crash at the third round of the 2009 championship.

We are looking forward to the season, particularly with the opportunity to compete in two classes.  We’ll be at the track as often as we can so if you see us there please feel free to visit our pits, we will always have a spare minute to chat.

Cheers
Jay and Rache

Hi there

The crash at Ruapuna was over a month ago now and I am recovering nicely.  In that time I have gone from almost completely immobile to being able to drive a car.  I’m hanging out to give riding a shot again but the doctors say I’m not allowed to even glance at a bike for another couple of months. 

The collarbone is bonding well and if that was my only injury I’d already be back on the bike.  The wound under my arm where the footpeg pierced is just a scar now and is no longer a problem at all.  The thing holding me back is the break to the humerus as it is hindering my movement substantially.  I can’t hold any weight with it nor lift it above the level of my hip.  It will take a few more months of healing to determine whether the blood supply to the shoulder joint has stopped.  The worst case scenario is I may have to have the joint replaced in the future.

Rachelle and I have been going out of our heads with boredom, stuck at home, but our upcoming move to Christchurch is certainly giving us reason to be excited.

Thank you all for your support.

Cheers,
Jay

Hey guys

As many of you will know the third round of the national series didn’t quite go as we planned last weekend.  I am not going to do a full race report, like usual, because I have to dictate this to Rachelle.

During the second race at Ruapuna I was fourth and chasing very hard for third.  I made a mistake on the fastest corner of the track and was high-sided in front of the bike at the top of third gear.  The bike chased me through the gravel and ran me over.  I have sustained only two broken bones but both of these injuries have been described as shattered or ‘mushed’ by doctors examining the xrays.  They also relate to both shoulders, meaning I have little to no use of either arm for the next month or two.  Life with no arms is already frustrating on just day three (for Rachelle and I).  I have a six-inch deep and two-inch diameter hole in my armpit where the footpeg pierced as the bike ran over me.

I have discharged myself from Christchurch Hospital and am flying home to Wellington tomorrow with the intent of healing properly before taking to the bike again.

Thank you for all of your support, but unless a miracle occurs, that will be the end of the 2009 National series for us. 

Cheers

Jay

   

Gidday again, after round two at Levels in Timaru.

We have now moved up the island again, based at the North South Holiday Park in Christchurch.  Levels was an interesting weekend.  Before you read on I’ll just give you this little fact to show how fast the pace is this year; my race time in race two on Sunday would have won me last year’s fastest race with about an 8 second lead…

We tested on Wednesday at Levels and had a good look around.  The track had been resealed in the first corner the night before so it had had 9 hours to set when we got on it… you could smell the new tarmac and there was very little grip.  We decided that we needed to try lighter springs in the front, but didn’t have Robert Taylor from Ohlins until Friday so persevered as we were for the day.  We used the last two sessions trying out different compound tyres to see how they lasted and how the lap times looked.

For Friday we got the springs we were after, which of course changed the behaviour of the bike.  We tried a different shock setup and then changed it completely for something with different dampening features to try and make the bike turn better in the middle of the corners.  The day started late and finished early so we only got three runs on the track, leaving us wanting more.

After talking overnight the decision was made to try a completely different shock again.  For the first session this felt fairly good but the bike still wasn’t as fast in the middle of the corner as I wanted.  We then raised the bike’s ride height overall to make the centre of gravity higher so it would turn a tighter line once it was passed 45 degree lean angle.  The trade off would be that whenever it was above 45 degrees it would turn slower, but this was already our strong point so we made the change.  This worked well but the increased weight transfer was overcoming the dampening and pushing the front end.  We changed the damping spec of the front end which really helped.

During qualifying I came into the pits once to change the shock compression damping clicker as the extra damping in the front was making the rear end lose traction on drive which was really hurting the lap time because of the long straight after the most difficult exit on the track.  We improved this a bit but not enough and I qualified fifth, on the inside of the second row.  This was disappointing as I was really hoping to get on the front row as the start is so important at Levels because of the tight little turn one.  After qualifying we had a really long talk and decided to change a number of things in both ends of the suspension.  Putting all our information together we changed almost everything on the bike just before racing.

Race One
I tried the new bike in the three lap scrub and it felt good so we raced on it.  We missed the calls for our class and missed the gate for entering the track for the first race.  This meant I would need to start from pitlane, however the clerk of course let me out for the second warm-up lap, so I joined the start without disturbing anyone.  My start was not that great, I got elbowed and then blocked by Dennis Charlett into turn one, and then John Ross passed me when Dennis broke early and in front of me.  I got back past John on the first lap and chased Dennis, Nick Cole and Sam Smith who were battling in front of me.  I stayed close but made a few mistakes and still didn’t have the drive grip I needed, so while I kept the gap consistent I couldn’t catch Sam, ending the race in sixth place.  After the race the steward of the meeting came over and advised we would be given a 20 second penalty for missing the gate.  This was later amended to a ten second penalty after I argued his clerk of course had okayed me to join the course and I hadn’t disturbed anyone by doing just one warm up lap, and also that a pit lane start loses you perhaps five seconds, so a 20 second penalty isn’t representative.  I believe I was seventh for this race, although I’m not certain.  We always seem to end up on the wrong side of the officials for stupid reasons, often through their own mistakes!

Race Two
I was a bit amped up after the penalty and we had changed the ride height and preload on the shock to try and get more grip.  I got a good start and this time and was determined to beat Dennis to turn one, which I managed.  Unfortunately, I made a little mistake halfway round the lap and let him past.  He got past Sam and Nick quickly in this race, but this time I was right there as he did.  Nick got past Sam and I was keen to chase him so after a couple of laps and a near highside at the back of the track I had a little opportunity to pass him so I dove for it.  It was a fairly late pass in the corner and we both ran a bit wide but I had to do it or be stuck behind him.  Later in the same lap I was presented with a chance to lap a backmarker, again very late in the corner, but in a spot that meant Sam wouldn’t be able to get through for a couple of corners.  This gave me the gap I needed and on my lap board I could see that Sam was dropping back.  I put my head down and was catching Nick slowly, but on the second to last lap I hit some gravel and ran very wide at the hairpin, increasing the gap to more than I could catch.  I took it easy on the last lap and came home fifth… without a penalty!!!  Whooohoooo!

Well that’s that.  Although we are much faster than last year, everyone else is a bit faster again.  This gives us something to aim for this weekend at Ruapuna in Christchurch, so we still have our chins up and are looking to improve.

Bye for now, talk to you in a week!

Jay #3

 

Hello again to you all,

We are all done with weekend number one of the nationals.  We are now in Timaru at the Top Ten Holiday Park feeling a bit tired because yesterday we did the trip up from Invercargill via Queenstown, but after taking a bit too long in the stop there we didn’t get here until almost midnight. 

The first few days in the South Island didn’t really go as planned.  We were counting on testing at Ruapuna on the way south on the Tuesday, but they had had some flooding in a storm a few days prior, meaning the track was dirty with lots of silt and crap across it, almost like riding on oil and talcum powder, I reckon.  Because of this we only did two sessions so I could ‘wear in’ some new gear and have a quick play with control heights and positions.  After this we stayed another night in Christchurch and drove down to Invercargill on the Wednesday.

Again, we were thinking we were going to get to test at Teretonga on Thursday, but there was a real doozy (well, for a North Islander anyway) of a storm going on so the track was never opened. Instead, while setting up the Ezi-up, a bolt of lightning struck the building beside us, coming within a few feet of Mishy and scaring the beejeesus out of all of us.  We proceeded to finish setting up in the driving rain and then promptly got out of there off into town, when of course the sun came out.  Bugger it.

On Friday we finally managed to get some testing in.  The first session was wet, but was a good chance to have a go on the bike and have a look around the track as it had been a while since we were there last.  The rest of the day was fairly dry although a little cold, and we made some progress with bike feel, particularly with a new dampening setup in the forks from Robert Taylor of Ohlins.

Qualifying
Saturday dawned similar to Friday for the first official day of the 2009 nationals.  Although it was damp early on, the track was mostly dry by the time we got on it and I bettered our time from Friday straight away.  Times again came down in the second session, leaving us in eigth prior to qualifying. 

After a little bit of thinking about the track, and a few setup tweaks, qualifying went fairly well for us.  I progressed time-wise throughout the session putting in my best lap right at the end to secured fifth on the grid.  This was not quite where we had wanted to be a week before, but not too bad considering the limited bike time we’d had before the trip south.

Sunday, for the first time since arriving in Invercargill, was beautifully sunny and warm right from the first moment.  We tried another bike change in the three lap scrub (considering the day finished at 3:00 pm but could have run till 5:30 pm, three laps seemed a bit stingy) but the verdict was out on whether it was an improvement.  We decided to leave one part of the change in and remove another.

Race One
I got a fairly good launch and tucked in behind Sam Smith for the run to turn one.  He broke earlier than I would have liked, and there wasn’t room to move around him so I had to sit and watch as a few people came around the outside of us.  After making a pass or two and losing a place to the storming Nick Cole in the opening laps, my head was down chasing Nick, Sam, and Jared Love.  The gap was growing a little lap by lap, as I just couldn’t seem to hold as tighter line as the others.  On about lap seven Sam ran off at the final turn, rejoining just in front of me and letting me go past with more speed down the front straight.  I held him off for five or so laps, when I saw Dennis Charlett off the track at turn two.  Dennis came back on track right in the middle of turn three just ahead of me.  I sat up to go around the outside of him when he looked over his shoulder at me then sat up into my path doing a whole lot less than race pace.  I made some ‘avoiding’ moves and got round him, though it was closer than I would have liked.  Sam came back past after this, and the next lap we hit a backmarker in a bad spot letting Dennis past both of us.  We managed to draft past him that same straight, with me in behind Sam.  I was looking to make a pass on Sam into turn two but Dennis passed me through turn one so I didn’t get the chance.  This was the last lap, but unfortunately I didn’t get close enough, meaning I finished seventh.

Race Two
In race two my initial launch was better but I put myself in the wrong spot for turn one and got squeezed out wide.  We had made a big change to the bike’s geometry between races to try and even out where I was losing time to others.  This really worked and I tucked in behind Nick Cole again, but this time being able to pace him well.  On about lap six Dennis had the most spectacular crash at a fast piece of track, and in the following corner Sam ran off again, this time apparently after being struck with a piece of Dennis’s flailing bike.  This left Nick and I in third and fourth place.  I made a pass at the end of the straight but Nick went right back by me when I ran a little wide.  I was really surprised he was able to make the bike move there, he did really well and wasn’t where I was expecting him at all.  I made a few mistakes in the next laps and lost the tow from Nick when Jared Love started to catch me.  I tried to keep my head down but the gap got smaller, right down to what I was being told was one second with four laps to go.  Fortunately, Jared’s tyre went off or he gave up, I’m not sure, but the gap was out to three seconds the next lap, and got bigger to the finish.  By the end I was almost a second behind Nick, still hoping for him to make a mistake but it didn’t happen, leaving me to finish fourth, and much happier than after race one.

Although we had hoped to be higher up the order after round one, we are pleased considering our limited testing beforehand.  We’re also stoked with the rapid way in which the bike is improving and I’m really glad at how I’m getting on with it more and more.  We are now looking forward to this weekend at Timaru, at one of my favourite tracks.

Talk to you all again in a week,

Jay #3.

My kingdom for a mince and cheese pie

The Museum Hotel Racing team arrived in Invercargill late yesterday after a long drive and booked into a nice wee cabin at the Top 10 Holiday Park.   The plan for Thursday was to set up our pits and get some testing done.  Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans.

We awoke to a wet, grey morning and the distant roar of thunder.  Arriving at the track the storm was directly overhead… directly over Mishy’s head in fact; he came within an arm’s length of being struck by a massive bolt of lightning!  It is lucky that Mishy is not taller and that the lightning chose to strike the building he was standing beside.  Others at the track can vouch for the HUGE crack of thunder that accompanied the lightning, and the chaos it caused (i.e. turning on the grid lights, blowing telephone lines, etc).

As nothing was happening at the track due to the unfortunate weather we went in search of a hot mince and cheese pie.  If anyone can tell us where to buy a decent pie in Invercargill after 12 noon can you please let us know!  After our fifth unsuccessful attempt we gave up all hope and ended up buying a ‘mutton pie’ which looked highly suspect.  We realised our folly and settled for a soggy ham roll at the track.

We ended the day early with Jay getting no time on the track.  We are currently relaxing at the cabin celebrating Mishy’s birthday and hoping for better weather tomorrow.

- Rachelle

Hi guys,

The team travelled to the South Island yesterday and headed straight to Christchurch after a windy ferry crossing.  Today we planned to utilise Ruapuna’s Tuesday test days, however the region endured heavy rain last weekend which flooded a good portion of the track.  Although it had dried off, a lot of dirt and dust was left on the track after the puddles evaporated, so the track was almost gripless.  We used a couple of sessions to run in some brakepads and to try out some other gear that is new to us this year.  So, although we didn’t get to do any work on setup, the day wasn’t wasted.  I will update you again later this week after day one in Invercargill.  Until then!

Cheers, Jay.

Hi all,

It’s been a long time coming but we are now all set to go for the 2009 NZ national series. This is a quick write up to cover the events we have been through since you last heard from us.

We had an entertaining winter of punting the borrowed GSXR810 around but were pleased to take delivery of the new 2009 Yamaha R6.  The R6 was assembled and I quickly put in 1,000 kms on the road to run in. The bike was then stripped back entirely and the motor sent off to be balanced and checked, and to put a new set of piston rings in.  We received the Yoshimura exhaust, Ohlins Shock, and the forks were sent to Robert Taylor of Crown Kiwi Technical for the Ohlins fork cartridges to be installed.  While the motor was out the gearbox was checked and machined to the correct tolerances.  The fairings went to paint and then quickly to Henshaw signs for the graphic designs that Dad had in mind to be confirmed and applied.  Everything was returned in record time and the bike was put back together and in race trim in time to go the the dyno in the evening of Friday 12 December to get run in.  From there it was straight into the waiting van and up to Pukekohe, Auckland for a test day on the Saturday and round two of the Auckland club champs on the Sunday.

PUKEKOHE 13-14 December

Saturday 13 December- Test Day
We spent a long night and early morning driving up to Pukekohe to do the test day on Saturday.  We arrived just before the start and got on track around lunch time.  This was my first ride on the bike on track, so most of the day was spent adjusting control positions with the final part of the afternoon used to start fiddling with suspension.  We changed dampening in the rear shock trying to give the bike more control over Pukekohe’s notorious high-speed bumps.  Although we were using old tyres (the same ones that were used before I did the 1,000 road kilometres) lap times got better and better through the day with high 61’s at the end of the day a good starting point for a new bike.

Sunday 14 December – Race Day
Like the previous day, times got better and better while we made fairly tame suspension changes to give the bike more control.  Everything felt good bar the ability over the bumps, but the more we improved this the harder the bike got to hold in a corner, running wide and not turning as quickly as other bikes around me.  We kept the same tyre on the front as Saturday, but put in a new rear.  By the end of the day it was almost bald on the right hand side where the bike was spinning, but was still fast enough for me to be just into the 60’s and to win the final 600 SuperSport race of the day.  We left the weekend with a clear idea of where we needed to go suspension wise, with some internal changes to both ends on the cards.

MANFEILD 19-20 December

Friday 20 December – Test Day
After Auckland we made several changes to the bike, and we also had Mishy on hand so could be a bit more adventurous with setup changes.  The surface of the circuit at Manfeild had undergone extensive resealing since the last time I had been at the track a few months prior.  It’s funny how a track can be completely changed by a difference surface, whether it is because it is smoother, or the bumps are in different places, or whether a new seal doesn’t have quite the same amount of grip.  Anyway, to me the new surface made quite a bit of difference and I took a couple of sessions to get my head around it.  The bike didn’t feel like it had at Pukekohe, it wasn’t as strong on the brakes as it had been up there and was a bit vague in feel in the middle of the corner.  We worked on this feel throughout the day making improvements but coming to the decision that we needed something different from the front forks.  The bike felt oversprung and underdamped and is something that will be changed before we ride the bike again on 6 January at Ruapuna, Christchurch.  At Manfeild however, we didn’t have that option at the time so decided to ride around that feeling and work on different aspects of the bike on Saturday.

Saturday 20 December – Race Day
The day dawned a little overcast but still dry and fairly warm.  We picked up where we had left off and tried a new development of tyre, which really seemed to work well with the bike.  The lap times improved a bit along with my confidence in what I was feeling.  We had a couple more sessions trying some back and forward changes, then the rain came.  This wasn’t so bad as it gave a chance to have a go on the bike in the wet.  There had been quite a lot of oil spilt earlier so the track was a bit slipperier than I had expected, but lap times were not too bad for the wet.  We will need to improve it before we go national racing in the wet but for a first go it was acceptable.  Unfortunately after this race, the weather half recovered making the track patchy damp, patchy oily, so we parked it for the last race.
Shortly the team (Andrew, Mishy, Rachelle and myself) will be heading to Christchurch for the test day prior to the first nationals round.  We have got the new fork setup ready to try and the bike has had a good working on the dyno and is now making a significant amount more peak power with a nice fat midrange.  I’m looking forward even more to riding the bike again, and on one of my favourite tracks, one that rewards good setup but can punish easily if the bike isn’t right.  After testing at Ruapuna we move all the way down to Teretonga in Invercargill, for round one.  Bring it on!

Cheers,

Jay #3

Cliffhanger website

Footage of Jay’s first Sunday run

Report by Jay Lawrence

Saturday:
We had a lazy start to the weekend with a relaxed departure time from home of 8.30 am (Dad, with the trailer and bikes in tow, was not going to be leaving the Hutt till 11am). After hearing stories about the gravel on the course I was unruffled, thinking “Not to worry, it will all have been rubbed off before my bike shows up.” Mum, Dad and the bikes arrived at midday and surprisingly the gravel was still an issue.

We had decided to make this meeting an easy one by doing no work on the bike. We left it exactly as it was at Pukekohe a week earlier, down to suspension setup and even tyres, we used the same pre-raced tyres that were on the bike after Pukekohe all weekend. There was just enough time for me to slip my leathers on and tag on for the second run of the day. A couple of surprises awaited me, including gravel on the lower parts of the course, and the high speed of the top sweepers, which I had never seen at race pace before. The time was completely unremarkable, but the Sunday was the timed race day anyway.

A couple more runs of thinking “I should have been faster through there!” ended the day with a 2.13.3, 0.1 seconds off what I believe to be the previous course record.  This was the best time of the day, but with Drew Mair’s own admission of “still looking around and getting ready for tomorrow” and his extra 400cc I was still very nervous of what he may be able to achieve the next day. My feeling was that my bike and I would be capable of a 2.09, and I said so to a couple of people who asked, but it seemed my estimate had been wildly circulated by the time we got to the rally site! Unfortunately, in the last run I caught a stone with my radiator, and this meant Dad finished the day completely breaking the no maintenance promise, changing the radiator and sneaking an underhand gearing change in there as well! So as the rally party started Dad toiled away.

Sunday:
A sleep in (till almost 9am!) gave me a head start on the competition. After a gruelling 30 second drive down to the race course, and a never-ending 2 minute pit setup, we were exhausted, but prepared.

With the weather (and some people) looking much seedier than Saturday I was aware of the need to get a good run in first-off, in case the weather took a bad turn. Unfortunately, upon returning from the first run I learnt that Drew had gone a whole poofteenth of a second faster than me! Now it was my turn to sweat about what the weather might do…

Fortunately it held off and in the next run I put it together a bit better, recording a 2.11.0 to Drew’s 2.12.6. As we were coming back down there were spots of rain on the visor and Drew was quickly lining up to try and squeeze a quick dry run in. It didn’t work for him though, as it was raining down the bottom before he got even a minute up the hill, though he still did a very respectable 2.13. I waited and wasn’t going to run, before the weather did a complete about face, with the sun even making an appearance. I lined up right at the back, and the course was looking good, allowing me to put in a 2.10.19.

Back down the bottom and I was in two minds about whether to run again. I decided to after seeing the determination in Drew’s eyes, and knowing there were still quite a few areas I could make up time (particularly the starts, I hadn’t done one I was proud of so far all day). I listened in to hear Drew had done 2.11.9, and I was a little surprised, I thought he may have improved a little more than that (I heard from him later that he really struggled with traction in this run). Anyway, I lined up and really felt like I had nailed the start, cementing the run up the hill with a wide open turn one, for the first time that weekend. I held a gear higher in a few turns, and this seemed to make a big difference. I had a bit of a moment over bumps in the first right hander after the bridge and the long left, but the run still came together with the kind of time I was hoping for – a 2.09.68.

After this I decided to stay down the bottom and see if Drew could better it. After it was confirmed that this indeed would be the last run of the day, I waited near the timing caravan. Watching Drew’s beautiful start and seeing the big Duke boom up the hill and round turn one put the nerves back into me again, as I wasn’t sure there was much left after I put that time in; maybe a high 2.08, riding a little bit crazy… but I certainly didn’t want to put it to the test. After a little wait it came through – Drew’s final time was a 2.10.1, amazing with a very nearly 2 second improvement on his previous best, but still 0.4 seconds away from me. My emotions were a bit mixed, gutted for Drew because he is a good mate and an even better competitor and I knew the effort he was putting in, but also stoked that I had won one of the events I had been looking forward to all year!!

I want to thank Museum Hotel, Continental Tyres, Kawasaki and Ohlins for their support.

But mostly I want to thank the organisers for a fantastic meeting, and my darling girl Rache for being her smiley fun self all through the weekend. Cheers to my parents; Dad who took tyre warmers on and off, and changed a radiator (I hope the weekend was still a relax for him after the long and arduous Nationals) and to Mum who was happy and always ready in the pits, and even gave up her and Dad’s tent to Rache and I when I forgot to include ours in our preparations….thanks!!

And lastly, to Drew, who is a demon rider, awesome mate, and brilliant Ozzy Osbourne impersonator…and a bloody great competitor. When he came down from that last sterling run, although he must have been a little disappointed, the first thing he did was come over and shake my hand and congratulate me…what a flaming champion.

And to you, who may have bothered to read this whole report, but I understand if you didn’t…

Jay #37

   
Photos by BRB Shots

Report by Jay Lawrence

Sorry about the long gap between this report and that of Manfeild.  There was an event at Pukekohe that has taken a lot of time to come to terms with, and although many other people have commented on the accident I won’t be, as I don’t think that my input is necessary.

We arrived at Pukekohe on Thursday evening after the long drive, to set the pits up so we could get straight on with bike preparation on Friday morning.  After a quick chat and look around we went back to the caravans to retire for the evening.

Friday:
After the usual Auckland delay (no motors on before 10:00 am, compounded by late running organisation) we got out on track a little bit after noon, or closer to 1pm.  Sessions then became short and rushed, with barely ten minutes apiece.  We got three ‘full’ sessions in and were really progressing with bike setup, but had many more things to we wanted to try on the bike.  The organisers squeezed in a last session each for the Superbikes and 600 SportsProduction at the end of the day, with the Superbikes going first.  At the start of this final session I got out quickly, as we were told that this would be a very shortcut session anyway.  I got on the back straight and clicked up through the gears, nice low revs to get into the session.  At the kink I held the bike wide open in top and let it pull out to within around 3000 rpm of its redline.  As I got to my brake point I shut the throttle, a little bit early for the oil we had been warned about on the exit of the harpin.  Just as I got completely off the gas and hard on the brake the bike leapt underneath me and started a horrible vibration.  My first assumption was that it had shattered a rear brake disk, and I got hard on the brake to make the back wheel light, not touching the ground much if it did lock up.  I had grabbed the clutch when it jumped, as a reaction from my two stroke days.  As I slowed I heard a knocking coming from the motor.  Once I realised it had slowed I switched it off and got it off the track before the hairpin.  I looked behind me and there was a little smoke and oil on my boot so I called for an oil flag.  Unfortunately, though spillage was minimal they cancelled the session because of it.  The bike (our newer, lo-kms bike, The Grinch) had had an ‘oil-tightness’ issue.  We haven’t yet determined what caused the problem.  This put what was our number one choice out for the rest of the weekend, but as our bikes are evenly matched this wasn’t a problem after swapping the number one suspension across bikes.

Saturday:
We spent the first session just riding Humpty-Dumpty, to see if there were any differences between him and The Grinch.  I came in mid session and we had a few adjustments.  We ended the session in third place behind James Smith and Midge Smart.  The rest of the day continued like this, up until qualifying, where it went like that too.  Unfortunately, at no point during the day were we able to beat the 60 second lap mark, not getting anywhere near our 59.01 of last year.

Sunday:
More minor changes to the bike in the scrub session gave me the best bike we had had all weekend, thanks to Hamish and Dad’s tireless work in the pits.  I lined up for the first race and the lights came on.  They were held for a long, long time and after my (in my belief) unfair jump start penalty last year I was wary about going early.  My start wasn’t terrible, but I was fourth into turn one.  I held this place for three or four laps then James Smith came back past me, strange as he had been fastest all weekend.  I held my pace and challenged Dennis Charlett for second for four or five laps in a row under brakes at the harpin, but I couldn’t pull it off.  A slide and a little loss of time onto the back straight made me miss the draft, and I quickly fell back just far enough to not be able to make a pass.  I began to ride home for third.  The only moment was on the brakes into the harpin on the last lap where a very slow bike was rolling up the racing line.  I missed him at around 260km/h, but a following rider wasn’t so lucky, and both were killed in the crash.  This, along with the 600 riders collective agreement, meant the 2008 600 SportsProduction TT title wouldn’t be held, and made this our only race of the weekend.

SEASON CONCLUSION:
After a long year, with plenty of ups but also the downs to match, we ended the season within our initial goal of a top three placing overall, with third.  First of all thanks for this accomplishment must go to the people involved, Andrew (Dad), who was always on hand for whatever task needed doing and organising the title assault; Hamish, for his work on the bikes at all rounds of the championship and for countless hours of scheming and action with Robert and Dennis from Ohlins for fitting our sometimes superficially mad cap adjustments into their already over subscribed schedule.  The Bridge family for their support and encouragement with products and ideas from Darbi Accessories; Rachelle, for her work on the organisation side of things, and her personal support of me during the harder times and for being right there to share the fun and excitement with us when things went right.  Thanks also to Tina (Mum), for making time in her schedule to come to the tracks and support, and to Museum Hotel owner Chris Parkin, for also clearing his timetable to come to the tracks and see what was going on first hand.  Thanks to Anthony M and Anthony P, who were there to work on the bikes as required, at the majority of meetings; your help was invaluable.

Thanks go to our financial backers, first and foremost Museum Hotel Wellington.  For the fourth year in a row they have been involved heavily in my racing, and continue to make this a reality, rather than a possibility.  To Andreas Faulstish of Continental Tyres in Germany, who continually improves their product, making me and the team faster and faster on track; to Darbi Accessories for everything from shelter to parts cleaner and to Kawasaki New Zealand for their initial help with the purchase of the bikes, parts and their technical input throughout the year.

Thanks also to all of you who are reading this, in some way you are involved in making this year live up to the goals we had set, may we make the next bigger and better again!

Cheers, Jay #37 (NZ 600SP #3)