Race Reports


	Race Reports
26/4/00	Practice Mallory Park - Took the KR and RS 125 to Mallory to set up the suspension on the KR and set up the 125. However, the weather conspired against us, it poured. So other than just trying out the KR364's in the wet I wasn't able to do a lot with the KR. I asked Dave Page, last years EMRA 125 champion, if he could set up the 125 for me. So while I splashed around on the KR Dave set up the 125. We then swopped bikes so Dave could try the KR, he had started his racing on a KR. After a few laps he came in saying the KR was ace but he couldn't ride it as his right arm had pumped up and he was struggling to hold the throttle open. I had suffered from this for the past few seasons and have always put it down to my fitness. Dave thinks it is down to a very heavy throttle? I disconnect the oil pump (which I am not using anyway) and I shorten the throttle springs by 2 cm. Dave has set up the 125 with a 1267 needle which I find difficult to ride in the wet, the throttle is very on/off with nothing in between. Dave finds it ok - I find it almost unrideable - the difference between somebody that can ride a 125 and a wimp. On the way down to buy a TZ250G we discuss the relative merits of the two needles 1267 v 1268 - it suprised me how different the bikes characteristics are between the two needles. I have a chat with Graham File and though he favours the 1267 he says it is ok to use a 1268 if the pressure is not to high and the temperature is not to low, i.e. the bike will detonate on part throttle using a 1268 in the wrong conditions.
30/4/00	Mallory- The forecast is good, we arive at the circuit at 7:45 and the place is packed (There are 95 road stock entries on top of the usual grids). Fran has come up with her friend so they take the 125 up for scruitineering and Craig who is helping today takes the KR. I head for the cafe and a bacon buttie and a mug of tea. The KR has developed a leak on the right fork seal which I didn't get a chance to fix so I hope it will be ok. The RS 125 has a leak on the front which loses 5 psi in about 1/2 hour. So much for preparation before hand. The weather is 1010mb, 61% humidity and 15° C. I decide to leave both bikes as they are KR on 145 main jets needles up on 4th clip and RS on 195 main with 1268 needles on 3rd clip. Practice is uneventful - the organisers put something out over the tannoy about if you fall off in practice or on the warm up lap thats your lot for the day (harsh but they have a lot of races to get through). Rich Davies, who hopes to start racing his KR1S later this year turns up. Four KRs at this meeting Team Big Girlie - Paul Kidd and Tom Ely from Swindon (Its Toms first race) and Phil Earlson. Race 1 125 - I have a row 6 start which I am not to bothered about as this is the first time I will have ridden the RS in anger ( so far I have had one running in session and one very wet practice). I bog down on the start and end up third from last in to Gerrards. I eventually end up 9th with a 7 lap race time of 6'50.9" an average of 58.7 per lap. I am quite pleased as apart from the first three who disappeared in to the distance the rest were only a few seconds ahead. Race 2 F400 - Row 1 start, I make sure I am first on the grid and get pole position. Adam Greenwood ZXR400 and Ritchie Webb RVF400 are along side (1st and 4th in the championship - I am nowhere a 9th and a DNS don't get a lot of points). I get a good launch and arrive at Gerrards just behind Adam. Push hard around Gerrards and find Adam is getting in the way. Decide to stick behind him and get towed around. Easily follow him up to the hairpin and out to the bus stop. Adam pulls a way a little out of the elbow. Stick with him down the start finish straight get to Gerrards and Andy Sprake ZXR400 cuts up my inside (I have got a lovely picture of this) goes off line and slows me down. I lose drive and Eliot Forsey ZXR400 nips past. Next lap Darren North Aprillia and LLoyd Cripps NSR250 get past and I am down to sixth - any body else want to get by? Shouldn't have asked that as Steve Dennahey gets past FZR400 and I nearly fall of at the hairpin as I clip his back wheel this allows Spencer Steele Aprillia gets past and to add insult to injury Simon hedges just pips me on the line. 8th - should have been better but I have lapped at 55.4 (a second better than before) and the race time of 5'41.8"; is 8 seconds better than my previous best and only 4 seconds behind the leader (Andy Sprake slowed when his gear change broke and he had to ride the rest of the race in sixth - still finished 12th). Unlike last season the KR is not losing anything to any of the other bikes. It is now down to handling and the rider. Race 3 125 - Row 2 start, this time I make sure that I don't bog down and get to Gerrads around 8th go around the outside of a couple of bikes, get passed by Matt Jackson and Craig Currie pass a few more bikes and end up in sixth place. Craig Currie is a few seconds ahead and it takes a couple of laps to catch up. We bang fairings going into the hairpin. Craig wins that encounter next time around Gerrards I get better drive out and get past him on the approach to the Esses. Last lap flag comes out, on the run up to the hairpin I look back and see Craig is a safe distance behind and take it easy through the hairpin and bus stop and cross the line in 5th place 0.4 seconds ahead of Craig. I am happy with the result as apart from Matt Jackson I have beaten all the regular EMRA runners. Matt Jackson, Howard Mainwaring and Phil Ridgeway are in a different class finishing 10 seconds ahead of the next man and 14 seconds ahead of me. My best lap was 56.3 (theirs was 54.0)race time 6'43" a 57.6 average lap. I am quite happy as I know I will get quicker and the 125 was going well. I just need to get this leak on the front tyre sorted. Race 4 F400 - Row 7 start with a whole bunch of bikes in front. Get a reasonable start but still have a load of bikes in front of me as we approach Gerrards. I ride around the outside of a load but it it is quite busy. Arrive at the hairpin in 8th place with (I think)Richard Jarrold ZXR400 just ahead. Richard loses the front end in the hairpin almost collecting me. However it allows the bunch in front to get away and almost allows Spencer Steele and Simon Hedges toget past. I then spend the rest of the race scrapping with those two on their Aprillias. They are quicker in Gerrards and out of the Elbow but the KR is faster down the straights so the battle is quite even. Simon gets past once but I take him back at the Hairpin. He then takes me on the last lap on the start finish straight and I follow him into Gerrards. He defends the hairpin well so I have to settle for 8th but only just as Spencer Steele was 0.2 seconds behind. The race was won by Adam Greenwood, who is now running away with the championship. My race time was 5'47" and the best lap was 55.7'. Summary - Not a bad days racing. I really enjoyed the riding the RS125 and quite fancy my chances of getting a reasonable finish in the championship. Though the finishes on the KR were 8th I am not disappointed as the Bike held together, it is on the pace and I finished within a few seconds of the leader which is much better than last season. Apart from Adam Greenwood this is the closest I have seen the F400 series. I need to sort the handling as the KR was tying itself in knots on the exit of the Elbow, Gerrards and the Esses. If anybody knows why it does this I would like to know? Team Big Girlie had a disasterous day. Paul Kidd's KR detonated on the right cylinder. The alloy off the piston got into the crankcases and seized the crank and cracked the barrel. Paul was running 26J pistons with what looks like a modified head. If you go down this route check your squish (0.85 minimum) and the combustion chamber volume. If you increase the compression over stock run pro boost or Av gas. Tom Ely had problems with his wiring. The bike would run for a couple of laps then stop. I have heard of this problem and when I confirm the cause and cure will post the fix (I think it is in the wiring loom) Thanks to Rich Davies for helping out and being time keeper for the day..
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