Monday August 2, 2010 2010 Canadian National Mini Roadracing Championship Series – Round #3 (July 30 – August 1, 2010) Prepared by: Jana Ham On July 30 – August 1, 2010 round 3 of the CMA sanctioned Canadian National Mini Roadracing Championship Series was held in Chilliwack, BC. About a week prior to the race event, I was offered the chance to be a guest rider on the Thunder City Mini Roadracing Team. I was very excited about the opportunity and at the same time, somewhat apprehensive, as I had never ridden the Thunder City race bike or competed in the “Thunder” class. But I decided to give it my best shot and accepted Al Elmer’s generous offer. Here’s an overview of the weekend event highlights. Friday July 30, 2010 – Practice/Qualifying This was my very first time riding at the Greg Moore Raceway in Chilliwack. This highly technical track has 12 turns over a 1.2 km length. It was a challenge to figure out the best racing and passing lines. I found that compared to my NSR50, the Thunder City Kawasaki KLX 125 was faster on the straights and gave better drives out of the turns. The KLX 125 was a ‘small wheel’ model, which provided some extra agility and nicely suited my height and would be a good fit for anyone under about 1.5 m tall. After several practice sessions, I registered a 1:16 qualifying lap. With my limited time to practice, I was confident that I would be able to improve on this when it came time to race. Saturday July 31, 2010 – Race Day For the “Thunder” class races, I qualified with grid position #15. It would be a challenge to move up in the field, but during the first race, I made some adjustments to my riding lines and gear shifting that really paid off. In race #2, I was able to move up through the field and found myself in an epic battle with four other racers. Over the last half of the race our group traded positions several times, but no one was able to break away from the group. Rounding turn #10 (an insanely tight right hairpin), the rider immediately in front of me low-sided. While in a full out lean, I was able to adjust my line enough to miss the fallen bike and rider and managed to maintain my cornering speed. This allowed me to break away from the group and charge to the finish line in 8th place. I was really pleased with my race and was thrilled with the exciting battle and the improvement in my lap time to a 1:11 . Sunday August 1, 2010 – Endurance Race An endurance race is a three hour race, where a team of riders uses the same bike to complete as many laps as possible within the allotted time. This race is a test of endurance for both riders and bike. Our team of four riders (Brooke Ham, Robyn Ham, Sam McManus, and myself) shared the KLX 125. We were the only women’s team in the field of 15 teams. I was picked to be the first rider on our team. We drew a decent grid position of #6, but a slip up on the “LeMans” style start put me in last place at turn one. I did not want to let my team mates down, so I kicked the KLX into high gear and put my head down to make up the lost time and try to work through the pack. I really enjoyed racing on the KLX 125 so much that I continued racing for 58 minutes before heading into the pits for a rider change. Robyn Ham was next to take a turn in the race. This was her very first time on the bike. She quickly figured out the bike and began to put in some fast laps. It was not long before she was scraping her knee-pucks on most of the turns. After 50 minutes she made her way in to switch riders. She had three words to say when she got off the bike, “That was awesome!” she exclaimed. Rider #3 was Brooke Ham. She had competed on a “Thunder” class bike before, but this was also here first outing on the KLX 125. As the race progressed she found herself in some tight battles. She made the best pass of the weekend on “Gentleman” Rob Haynes. Brooke and Haynes were side-by-side on the long straight and lined up to enter turn #1 (a tight right hairpin with a chicane on the exit). Haynes broke late on the inside to take a lead into the turn, but Brooke would not yield the position for long. In mid-corner, she dove underneath Haynes and stole the inside line and accelerated out of the turn with the lead. Their battle continued for several more laps. Rider #4 was Sam McManus. As a veteran mini roadracer, she anchored the team and put in some quick laps during her session on the bike and improved our standing by one position. She brought the team home in 7th place (only one lap out of a two-way tie for 5th place). It was a excellent result for our team and the KLX 125 proved it’s reliability under extreme racing conditions for three hours. Sam liked the bike so much that after the race, she took it out for some extra practice time. As a final review of my race weekend with the KLX 125, I would have to say that I really enjoyed riding the bike. It was perfect for my first entry in the “Thunder” class race and was very competitive and fun to ride. My team mates in the endurance race also really liked the bike and we were pleased with our race result. Thanks to Al and everyone at Thunder City for giving me this great opportunity to race the KLX 125. |