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Senior race…..
The race was eventually run on Saturday afternoon, after being postponed due to the weather from Friday and Saturday morning.
It was also reduced from 6 laps down to 4 as more bad weather was forcast to be on its way. The weather has been a major factor this year and races get delayed on safety grounds. The riders don’t mind the wet as they all have access to rain tyres etc, but the safety helicopter needs to be able to take off and land on the mountain section of circuit. Often it was nice and sunny at sea level, but really misty over the mountain, so no racing could take place due to the helicopter not being able to land on the mountain section.
Anyway back to the senior race. Dave was out on the 750 production bike due to the handling problems on the 1000 F1 bike. We put the OZ wheels in and had planned on running the 24 litre carbon tank on a 1 stop strategy as everyone else would be on a 2 stop basis. This would save a minute in not needing to pit twice. However as the race was reduced to 4 laps, everyone only needed to do 1 stop, so we reverted back to the standard 18 litre tank. With the potential prospect of the race being shortened again after 2 laps Dave went out on a mission to get a good first lap in. His time was 19.57 mins at an average of over 113 mph from a standing start, an excellent first lap.
In for a fuel stop after lap 2, and he was in 25th place, making up 9 places from where he started. Pit stop went very well, then he was out for the 3rd and 4th laps. The senior race is open to any bikes under 1000 cc. So we anticipated being in the running for the 750 class honours again, before I found out that Mark Parrot was riding his super trick ZX-7RR, rumoured to be from the AMA from last year. Through the grapevine, I understand his sponsor paid $650,000 for the bike plus all the spare parts and 3 engines etc. They even had a really nice technician from Japan I think, who was their mechanic for practice week and most of race week. Almost a factory team then ! Anyway, our production GSXR 750 was no match for the Kawasaki, which probably had over 50 more BHP than ours. So we aimed for 2nd place 750, assuming Parrots bike didn’t break down.
The winner of the race was Adrian Archibald on the TAS Suzuki, which was a fantastic double for him and the team, as he won the F1 race the week before. Yet again it shows that the big GSXR is the fastest bike round the Island. Archibald averaged 124.53 mph, a stunning time. Our rider Dave, road his socks off, and finished in 23rd place at an average speed of 112.43 mph. The bronze replicas for finishing within 110% of the winners time, went down to 21st place so Dave just missed out on his 4th replica for the week. We were also just pipped to the 2nd 750 position and we actually finished 4th placed 750. The 2 riders in 21st and 22nd place were also on 750’s and just beat Dave. 21st place averaged 113.33 mph, 22nd 112.76 and Dave as previously mentioned was 112.43, so we missed being the second 750 home by 0.9 mph. Mark Parrot finished in 9th place on his ZX-7RR, averaging 120.33 mph.
It was then a mad rush around to get everything packed up as Dave was booked on the 8pm ferry with the van. We were on the 9am ferry the following morning.
Before you know it, it’s all over for another year. Still a great result for Suzuki, winning all the major races, the F1, Senior, 1000 production (and 750 production) and the 600 production. The 400 cc race went to Honda I think and Triumph won the Junior TT with Bruce Anstey on the 600 Daytona. A great result for us, the Gixxer.com team, with 3 bronze replicas for the week.
Roll on next year when we hope for bigger and better things. My GSXR 1000 F1 bike will be stripped down this week and sent for checking to find out if the frame and or swingarm are bent and then they will be straightened/modified to suit. The 750 goes back to my wife, who has her first track day on it in a weeks time.
If you are interested in supporting us and even attending next years racing, see Jeff W’s post and give as some feedback
http://www.gixxer.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=IOMTT&Number=492283&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1&PHPSESSID=
Thanks to everyone for your support and donations, which totalled about $1200 in the end, I cannot mention you all, but you know who you are. I will get Dave to draw out the name of the winner of the team shirt from everyone who made a donation later this week and I will post their name on the site
Eric
Ps I will post more pics when my digital camera is repaired, hopefully later in the week
The race was eventually run on Saturday afternoon, after being postponed due to the weather from Friday and Saturday morning.
It was also reduced from 6 laps down to 4 as more bad weather was forcast to be on its way. The weather has been a major factor this year and races get delayed on safety grounds. The riders don’t mind the wet as they all have access to rain tyres etc, but the safety helicopter needs to be able to take off and land on the mountain section of circuit. Often it was nice and sunny at sea level, but really misty over the mountain, so no racing could take place due to the helicopter not being able to land on the mountain section.
Anyway back to the senior race. Dave was out on the 750 production bike due to the handling problems on the 1000 F1 bike. We put the OZ wheels in and had planned on running the 24 litre carbon tank on a 1 stop strategy as everyone else would be on a 2 stop basis. This would save a minute in not needing to pit twice. However as the race was reduced to 4 laps, everyone only needed to do 1 stop, so we reverted back to the standard 18 litre tank. With the potential prospect of the race being shortened again after 2 laps Dave went out on a mission to get a good first lap in. His time was 19.57 mins at an average of over 113 mph from a standing start, an excellent first lap.
In for a fuel stop after lap 2, and he was in 25th place, making up 9 places from where he started. Pit stop went very well, then he was out for the 3rd and 4th laps. The senior race is open to any bikes under 1000 cc. So we anticipated being in the running for the 750 class honours again, before I found out that Mark Parrot was riding his super trick ZX-7RR, rumoured to be from the AMA from last year. Through the grapevine, I understand his sponsor paid $650,000 for the bike plus all the spare parts and 3 engines etc. They even had a really nice technician from Japan I think, who was their mechanic for practice week and most of race week. Almost a factory team then ! Anyway, our production GSXR 750 was no match for the Kawasaki, which probably had over 50 more BHP than ours. So we aimed for 2nd place 750, assuming Parrots bike didn’t break down.
The winner of the race was Adrian Archibald on the TAS Suzuki, which was a fantastic double for him and the team, as he won the F1 race the week before. Yet again it shows that the big GSXR is the fastest bike round the Island. Archibald averaged 124.53 mph, a stunning time. Our rider Dave, road his socks off, and finished in 23rd place at an average speed of 112.43 mph. The bronze replicas for finishing within 110% of the winners time, went down to 21st place so Dave just missed out on his 4th replica for the week. We were also just pipped to the 2nd 750 position and we actually finished 4th placed 750. The 2 riders in 21st and 22nd place were also on 750’s and just beat Dave. 21st place averaged 113.33 mph, 22nd 112.76 and Dave as previously mentioned was 112.43, so we missed being the second 750 home by 0.9 mph. Mark Parrot finished in 9th place on his ZX-7RR, averaging 120.33 mph.
It was then a mad rush around to get everything packed up as Dave was booked on the 8pm ferry with the van. We were on the 9am ferry the following morning.
Before you know it, it’s all over for another year. Still a great result for Suzuki, winning all the major races, the F1, Senior, 1000 production (and 750 production) and the 600 production. The 400 cc race went to Honda I think and Triumph won the Junior TT with Bruce Anstey on the 600 Daytona. A great result for us, the Gixxer.com team, with 3 bronze replicas for the week.
Roll on next year when we hope for bigger and better things. My GSXR 1000 F1 bike will be stripped down this week and sent for checking to find out if the frame and or swingarm are bent and then they will be straightened/modified to suit. The 750 goes back to my wife, who has her first track day on it in a weeks time.
If you are interested in supporting us and even attending next years racing, see Jeff W’s post and give as some feedback
http://www.gixxer.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=IOMTT&Number=492283&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1&PHPSESSID=
Thanks to everyone for your support and donations, which totalled about $1200 in the end, I cannot mention you all, but you know who you are. I will get Dave to draw out the name of the winner of the team shirt from everyone who made a donation later this week and I will post their name on the site
Eric
Ps I will post more pics when my digital camera is repaired, hopefully later in the week
