Dragbikenz.com thanks go to Richard Ramsay for this report, including photos.
Century Batteries 38th Nationals Champion Dragway, Meremere 25th March 2006
Motorcycle Classes
by Richard Ramsay
The Century Batteries 38th Nationals was postponed until the 9th of April because of remnants of Tropical Cyclone Wati that brought constant rain to the track on the Finals day. But we did get in a full day of qualifying the previous day.
The first day of the Century Batteries 38th Nationals was for compulsory qualifying and the day stated out slightly overcast and with a cool breeze. This is big change from other Nationals that usually have the riders melting in their leathers in the heat. So it was a pleasant change.
A good field of ten Competition bikes fronted up for qualifying and some very fast qualifying times were set.
Four bikes ran under their class index's with the Kawasaki ZX10 drag bike, ridden by Peter Smith of Hamilton, running a 9.985 against his B/DB index of 10.45.That gave him the top qualifying spot 0.465 sec’s faster than his class index. This bike runs a handmade air clutch and some very nice gear shift/ignition kill ideas.
Ian Hilder’s freshly rebuilt “Rice Rocket” 1568cc Suzuki came out and ran a blistering 8.366 on his first run of the day. That gave him the second qualifying spot
Tristan Scalmer ran a personal best of 9.199 on his 1327cc Suzuki. This was under the National record but Tristan was unable to backup the time with a second run to take the record. The guts falling out of his shift solenoid on his third run sure didn't help matters. But his 9.199 was good enough for the third qualifying spot.
Tristan is also leading the NZDRA points series and has built up an unassailable lead. By attending more events than any other rider and getting firsts and seconds he is now 67 points in front of his nearest competition.
Dean Vale also ran under his National record with a 9.348.But was unable to back it up with another quick run. His time was still good enough to put his 1300cc Suzuki into forth qualifying spot. Dean has been getting lots of practice racing in the Champion Night Speed Drag Wars were he is leading the points chase in the bike class. Fast times for a street legal bike. His Suzuki 1300 Hayabusa would currently be the quickest street legal bike in NZ.
Ian Wilkins had his 1437cc Kosman Suzuki running much better with a qualifying pass of 9.72. A good show after having an up and down season so far.
Ian Taylor's Methanol burning Supercharged 1000cc Kawasaki was another to have a few technical problems. A dragging clutch prevented his first run but after getting down the track on his third run he "felt that the rear tire was not feeling right”. Well he discovered that he had snapped the rear sprocket carrier!!!
Better to find out on the return road rather than the track I suppose! It was being rewelded by a fellow competitor this morning when the finals got postponed.
Chris Mackrell ran 9.152 but was then seen to have his 1498cc Suzuki lying on it's side in the pits having it's gearbox seen to. A 2-dollar detent spring was found loose in the sump. Well he must have fixed it well because he went on to post an 8.491 on his second run and a super quick 8.300 on his last run.
Only Athol Williams on his 1327cc Nitro Top fuel bike was able to post a faster time with an 8.220.
Mark Bouzaid was the winner of the Masterton Motoplex points series and has his 900cc Kawasaki running close to his index all day and would have definitely been there chasing hard in the finals if it had not been rained out.
Once again there was a large compliment of bike lined up for the Screaming Eagles class.
Eight bikes fronted up for their qualifying runs and Barry Sproule from Hamilton was the quickest qualifier on his 113 ci Harley. Ray Pratt qualified second on another Harley. Trina Hilton was as consistent as always and is currently second in the Screaming Eagles point’s series. Jim Wells from Waiuku is leading the point’s series and qualified third on his Buell.
The Modified bike class only had three bikes up for qualifying on the day.
Steve Taylor came up from the Mainland to take top qualifier spot on his 1260cc Suzuki. He is also the current National record holder in this class.
Richard Ramsay from Auckland qualified second on his 1200cc Suzuki with a personal best 11.524. Richard and Steve are fighting it out for the NZDRA point’s series win as well. With only 16 points separating them the winner would have been decided at the finals if it had not been rained off.
John Watson rode up from Taupo and took the third qualifiers spot.
It is expected that Paul Juricevich will bring his Suzuki 1300 to the finals in April as he has been competing all season and is sure to be there for the finals.
So it was a good start to the 38th Nationals with nice and comfortable weather and plenty of fast bikes. Lots of competitors and very close racing. The Finals day would have been well worth coming down for. But the weather didn’t play the game and so we all had to wait until the 9th of April to find our new National champions.
Century Batteries 38th Nationals
Well once again the weather was to play a major part in the running of the Century Batteries 38th Nationals.
The track opened and the first rounds of eliminations started at 9.30am on April 9th.
But the rain set in by 11.00am and all racing was halted. The meeting was finally stopped at 1.00pm as the rain had set in for the day. But despite the rain we still had a few interesting runs by the Competition bikes.
Pete Smith from Hamilton on the Kawasaki 1000cc and Dean Veale from Kaukapakapa on his Suzuki 1300 both had bye runs due to no shows by some of the more southern competitors. This was just as well because they both red lighted. Another rider to have a bye run was Chris Mackrell. But his 1500cc Suzuki had traction problems on the cold track. He only managed 10.067 at 127.81 mph but had one of the best reaction times of the day with 0.093.
Another rider who cut a great light was Ian Wilkin from Glenfield. He had a 0.062 reaction time and his 1437cc Kosman framed Suzuki stopped the timer at 9.568 at 121.59 mph. But this was still not quick enough to beat Tristan Scalmer on his 1327cc Suzuki.
Tristan returned all the way from Nelson and he must have found a dry line on the track as he powered his Suzuki to stunning 9.040 at 148.77 mph. This was below the current record for the AA/PRO class that he runs in. But, just as happened on the qualifying day, the rain prevented Tristan from completing a second backup run that was needed to set the new record. We are expecting big things, next season, from this racer from the Mainland.
Ray Pratt from Papakura lined up his Harley Vrod against Ian Hilder from Westharbour.
Ray had a nice clean run going 9.903 at 123.47 but Ian’s run on the “Rice Rocket” was far from clean or “nice”. He lost his grip on the foot pegs at takeoff and as the bike launched forward he slid back out off the seat and onto the rear bodywork of the bike. Hanging on to the handgrips by his fingertips he managed to stay on the bike but then the bike started to head for the wall. It was a close call but he was able to steer the bike away from the wall and get back in control. A heart stopping moment for all who saw it and a great show bike handling skills by Ian.
In the Screaming Eagles class all of the competitors from the qualifying day returned but only one round of eliminations was held before the rain stopped the racing. These competitors would have advanced to the next round if the rain had stayed away.
| Geoff Bond | Pukekohe | 06 Buell |
| Trevor Fellows | Upper Hutt | Harley |
| Trina Hilton | Pukekohe | Harley |
| Terry Cooper | Papakura | Harley 1200 |
| Barry Sproule | Hamilton | Harley |
But as we all know the rain put an early end to the Screaming Eagle’s racing.
In the Modified Bike class there were unfortunately only 2 competitors. Steve Taylor was unable to return from the south for the Finals rain date. So that left Laurie Vercoe from Papakura on his 1000cc Aprilia and Richard Ramsay from Auckland on his 1200cc Suzuki. As the Modified bike class was scheduled to run another qualifying run at 9.00am and then start their Elimination runs at 9.30am they were the only class to run their finals before the rain stopped racing.
Laurie had a dial in of 11.700 and he ran an 11.701. You don’t get much closer than that. Richard’s dial in was also 11.700 and he ran an 11.735.The win went to Richard by 0.0676 because his reaction time was 0.107 versus 0.208 for Laurie.
To date we have not heard what the official outcome of the 38th Nationals is. It is believed that the meeting will be called cancelled and the final run by the Modified Bike class will not recognized.
Here are the official results for NZDRA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS SERIES.
Winner Tristan Scalmer Nelson 79 Suzuki GS 1327cc 395
Runner-up Dean Veale Kaukapakapa Suzuki Hayabusa 1300cc 327
Winner Richard Ramsay Auckland 04 Suzuki GS1200SS 328
Runner-up Steve Taylor Christchurch Suzuki 1260cc 321
Thanks to all those competitors who have raced this season. It was a pity that our Nationals were rained off as we were all hoping it would be a great end to the season.
Hope to see you all next season.
Richard Ramsay
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dragbikenz.com thanks go to Richard Ramsay for this report, including photos. |