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race
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Top
Bike - Quicksilver II
1
September 2007 - East Coast Nationals - WSID
26-27
December 2006 – USA Top Fuel Demonstration -
WSID
Quicksilver
I
2006/2007 Sports
Compact Group Drag Racing Series
3 November 2007 - Castrol EDGE Jamboree, Willowbank
Raceway
19 May 2007 - Toyo Typres Compak Attack - WSID
31 March 2007 - Toyo Tyres Mini-Jam -
Willowbank Raceway
13 January 2007 - Toyo Tyres Summer Slam - Heathcote Park Raceway
23 - 24 September 2006 - Fast Fours Jamboree - Willowbank Raceway
1
September 2007 - East Coast Nationals - WSID
My
first experience in the most exciting motorcycle drag racing class,
Top Bike!
Well,
I hadn't slept much in the week leading up to the event,
with 12 entries signed up and only 8 positions available, qualifying
was going to be tough. The bike had gone through an almost complete
tear down and re-assembly in the weeks
leading up to the event, new tyre, belts, clutch and
a various consumable also replaced in anticipation for the big
day. In reality I had 2 goals that I was trying to achieve,
one was to qualify and the next was a 6sec pass, I actually thought
that the two would go hand in hand, a 6 was needed
to qualify! With the level of racers that had entered.
Qualifying against Athol Williams started of quite poorly with a
very early shutoff due to a center line headed run at 10.8
sec.
2nd Qualifier again against Athol was better, still only managing
7.8sec. This placed me in 5 th position. The only problem was there
were a lot of faster riders beneath me with one qualifier to go
, the pace was about to heat up!
3rd Qualifier had me paired up with Phil Parker, Phil had Qualified
3 rd at that stage and wanted to run as the last pair. By the time
we lined up I was in 8 th position and Phil was in 6 th, Phil opted
not to run and I had a solo, which I promptly stuffed up with an 8.2
pass!.
Anyway
after qualifying one thing we did learn was with 60’s
in the 1.08 area and .089 reaction times they would be the things
I would use to my advantage the next day in eliminations.
1st
eliminations had me paired up with top qualifier Athol
Williams at 6.6, Athol just kept getting quicker and quicker through
qualifying so I knew this would be very challenging. Athol picking
the Left lane and this put me into the “Head for the center
line” lane
in the case of my riding experience.
We
took up our positions on the start line after a couple
of smoky burnouts, I put the bike into low gear then crept forward
into the pre-stage beam, took a couple of deep breaths, this is it
I thought, only one chance, put my visor down, flicked the data logger
on and crept into stage, eye’s fixed straight ahead with the
tree in my peripheral vision, Yellow flash, BAMM goes the throttle,
we’re
off to a really good start 0.143 with a 1.07 60’,
can’t
see Athol yet, 330 flashes by in 2.7sec, but we’re
headed for the center line “Damm” (actual
words said would be unprintable, you get the idea)
Shut off try to correct and stay off the line and
try to peddle the throttle all at the same time
as still no Athol! By this time were closing in
on the 1000’ mark.
Then
I heard it, the sound I won’t forget in a hurry, Imagine
the sound of a jet going passed that was the sound of the induction
roar of Athol’s bike as he whooshed passed at 200+ mph only inches
away, (more unprintable words came out), then all of a sudden bits
of timing block filled the sky as Athol smashed through crossing into
my lane. I relaxed my grip on the bike and allowed it to merge into
Athol’s lane.
What a rush, as you can imagine! Athol informed
me that I had won but I didn’t believe it until it was officially
decided. Then reality hit, I am in the semi-finals to Meet up
with Brett Stevens in my first Top bike event!.
The
team was pumped and the bike got turned around in record time, all
checks done and with a quick fire up in the pits for the fans and
crew, we were ready. Nerves
of the previous days runs had now subsided somewhat and anticipation
had grown.
It was time to meet “the Boss”. We were given the
left lane…excellent!
We fired first and preformed
a short quick burn out, Brett was ready to stage once I was pushed
back, Low gear, into Pre stage, anticipation was high as I knew Brett
and crew would have been “keeping an
eye” on the “opposition”. Visor down, logger on,
full stage, yellow flash, were both out of the hole and headed down
the track, fast! All the candles lit, a couple of seconds, shift into
top gear keeping Brett at bay, then just as the 660’ comes up
the bike starts to wobble around a bit it gets worse, I ease off the
throttle still no good, I shut off …Brett sails passed and gets
the win with a 6.6.
I find out I ran 6.9 as
my crew Steve, picks me up for the tow back, I’m more than happy with that result, my first 6sec pass. There’s
more good news to come, the 660’ et was 4.1sec which equal’s
a possible 6.3 to 6.4sec pass !!!
On checking the data logger it is discovered
the bike had overpowered the track and wheel spin was causing the wobbling,
and I had indeed held the throttle wide open to that point!!! The
happiest loser! I finished equal 3rd in my first national meet in
Top Bike!
I learnt a lot
that weekend, racing at this level is very serious stuff, the competition
is out there to win, they don’t give up,
even if you are in front, they know your riding, strength’s and
weaknesses. I think I’ll like
it here !!!!
I would truly like to thank
my crew, Steve & Ben
Dunn, Steve Tobin, and Wayne Smith. Also all the friends and well
wishers that believed in me and came to watch my debut. A
big thanks must also go to ANDRA and WSID and staff for a wonderful
event and for all the help I received leading up to this event.
Oleon has helped me along the way by suppling an Australian oil
that keeps the high demands of a nitro engine running like clockwork.
Thankyou!
Most thanks go to my wife Deanne who without her support none of
this would have happened.
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26-27
December 2006 – USA
Top Fuel
I would like to thank Tony Thornton and
ANDRA for organizing a Licence for Roel Koedam, so he could
come over from Holland and Pilot our New Fuel Bike for its
first run in Aus. Also big thanks must go to WSID staff for
allowing us to run our bike at the USA vs Aust. Boxing Day
Meeting. All of the staff and officials could not have been
more helpful. Thanks must also go to Roel and his team for
coming out and putting on a Great Show for our New Bikes
first outing in Australia .
Our team did an excellent Job of turning "Quick
Silver II" around
between runs, considering none of them had picked up a remote starter
let alone turning around a 6 second fuel bike in an allotted time
frame. Full credit must go to them all. We had 4 complete passes
with times ranging from 6.44 to 6.26 and the best MPH being 222.99.
All four passes went without a hitch. Unfortunately on the 5 th
run it was not meant to be. On start up there was a backfire, everything
seemed ok so Roel went on and did the burnout but whilst staging
he heard something was not quite right so he quickly shut it off.
After further examination the supercharger was badly damaged. So
on the trailer it went.
At this
point Leonard turned to me and said, "Welcome
to Top Fuel". It was a huge learning curve for all of our team but
they all seamed to cope wonderfully with the jobs at hand. Everything
went exceptionally smooth for our teams first experience with Top Fuel.
We are now bringing "Quick Silver II" up to
current Australian Rules so Leonard can get out and do his Licence
passes as soon as possible. I would like to say thanks to Oleon for the
superior products and support for both "Quick Silver" and "Quick Silver
II".
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31
March 2007 - Toyo Tyres Mini-Jam - Willowbank Raceway, QLD
First
up I would just like to say a big Thanks to the Sport Compact Group
for putting on yet another great event.
Our first qualifier was 9.77 @ 165.32 MPH and after looking at the data we established
that there was a problem. The turbo appeared to be over boosting and over-powering
the track. After spending some time trying to find what was happening (to no
avail) we dropped a couple of PSI out of the tyre and went back out for the 2nd
qualifier.
2nd qualifier was 8.32 @ 178.50 again over boosting and over-powering the track.
3rd qualifier was 7.754 @ 190.27, which, if we could back it up now, would be
both a new MPH and ET record. Again time was spent looking at why the over boosting
was happening, to no avail once more, so we resigned ourselves to the fact that
we would just have to run it how it was and hope for the best.
1st Elimination round now and all we could hope it that the track would hold
whatever the boost controller threw at it. The bike shot out like a bullet. Our
team was standing on the line holding our breath as this run looked to be really
quick. 7.587 @ 195.06 MPH. As you can imagine, the excitement was so overwhelming.
After looking at the data, Leonard had clicked it off early, which in turn comfirmed
to us that with the right conditions and working out the problem with the boost
controller, this bike has so much more left in it.
2nd Elimination round and still no joy with finding the problem, Bruce Patterson
- in the lane before us, had launched with a wheel stand, came down and hit the
sump, opening it up and oiling the track, so we had to wait about 20 minutes
while this was all cleaned up. The temp had now dropped somewhat, so what was
going to happen next was anyone's guess. 8.1 @ 185.26 MPH with wheel stands and
sheel spin - again clicking it off very early.
3rd Elimination and this would be the decider to see who gets into the final.
8.741 @ 138.67 MPH, shut off just at the 1000ft as it again had over boosted
and blew the clutch! Although I will say - not bad as this is still the same
clutch that we ran Australis's first 7 second pass on 12 months ago. This of
course put us out of the final.
The final was now to be Jamie Bezzina and Alex Miller, with Jamie taking the
win and Alex taking runner up.
After arriving home and further inspections on the bike the boost problem was
found. One of the wires that goes to the boost controller was broken in the heat
shrink so intermittently, it would make contact. Just goes to show how one little
wire can create such a huge problem.
It was great to see PB's from most of the riders falling left, right and centre.
In conclusion a huge Thank You must go to OLEON for their continuing support
and superior products.
See you all back out at the track real soon.
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13
January 2007 - Toyo Tyres Summer Slam - Heathcote Park Raceway
After watching but not participating
in the TNT the night before the thoughts were that this track was going
to be very interesting to run on. Fortunately due to entry
numbers we were able to have a couple of TNT runs before qualifying
started. The first run was Left Lane 9.4 @118.42 leaving a black
line from one end to the other. Second run was Right Lane 9.6 @
157.18 again leaving his mark that he had been there. Confirming
our thoughts, the track was certainly going to level the playing
field somewhat. After making some changes to the set up, it was now
time for Qualifying.
The first qualifier was 9.5 @ 161.70 - again his
calling card was left so now we had to change a few more things with
the setup. Second qualifier was 8.2 @ 168.04 and the third was 8.3
@171.04. This gave us top qualifier position. Elimination time now
and my nails were getting shorter by the minute. Our first run was
up against Alex Borg. Unfortunately Alex had problems with his bike
so his run was not on the money. We ran 8.3 @ 168.60. Second run was
against Dave Cassin. This run was the best of the day for us at 8.17
@ 171.04.
Just before the last Elimination one of the Officials
came around and told us that Outlaw Sports Bike was now the Main Feature
as all the Pro Cars had broken or were knocked out. So our final would
be the last event of the Day. Now, our last chance to be in the final
was up against Bruce Patterson with his new Combo. They are both in
stage ready to go. The lights flash and what do you know, Leonard's
bike jumps forward and stalls. He gets it going again in a split second
and off he goes. Running 11.1 @ 163.28 which was not good enough to
take the win light. Our hopes to be in the final are gone.
The final race was between Neville Langley and Greg
Watters and what a great race it was to watch, with Neville winning
and Greg getting runner up. Congrats must go to both of these guys.
In conclusion I would like to thank the Sports Compact Group for another
great event. Also a big thank you must go to Ray from Easy Rider Imports
and Oleon for there superior products and support.
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