Team vB Racing NZ Newsletter 2011 - issue 2
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Transcript of Team vB Racing NZ Newsletter 2011 - issue 2
> T E A M V B R A C I N G N E W Z E A L A N D
NZSBK 2011 round 2 Newsletter: Teretonga, Invercargill, 5th and 6th February
> C O N T E N T S
03
04
06
08
10
12
14
CAPTAIN’S LOG
JOSH McGRATH
KENNETH JONES
MAKING TRACKS
TRACK PREVIEW: TERETONGA
SAM BAKER
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS
16 HOTSHOT
Stu Holdaway’s update from round 2 at Teretonga
With engine issues sorted, Josh wasn’t
going to let anyone hold him back at Teretonga!
The Team vb Racing calendar has more dates this summer than Paris
Hilton!
Which way does the track go, and what’s the
lap record…?
Atrocious weather and a setback during qualifying
hasn’t dulled Sam’s enjoyment of racing
HGS and Global Motorsports are the
perfect support partner to Team vB Racing
Josh takes the chequered flag in race two, cheered on by a
soaking wet Stu, Maarty and Ken.
Ken continues to raise his game in Superlite
with more personal best times at Teretonga
> C A P T A I N ’ S L O G
Stu Holdaway’s update from round 2 at Teretonga.
With Maarty having to fly back home for work,
he has delegated the Manager’s report to me.
As chief mechanic and co-manager Maarty and
I work very hard together to make the vB
Racing team a success and an enjoyable, fun
environment to go racing in.
After the first round at Timaru and some time
at Dynoworx in Ashburton, it was on the road
again to Invercargill. An overnight stop saw us
arrive around lunchtime on Wednesday and
time to relax a bit. With the strong wind it was
decided to give riding a miss for the day. We
went back into town and showed our Aussie
riders The Burt Munro bikes and all the other
great stuff in at E. Hayes & Sons.
Thursday saw us at the track getting bikes
ready and our pit marquee set up. This was
Josh’s first opportunity to ride the track, while
Sam and Ken got down to the job of
reacquainting themselves with the layout.
Friday morning we woke to rain, but it had
stopped and the track was starting to dry off by
the time we arrived. This was an unofficial
practice day spent trying to find a good setup
for the bikes and for the riders to get on the
pace. At Teretonga, a fair bit of time is taken up
with keeping an eye on the weather and
making adjustments to suit the conditions.
Saturday was fine to begin with and is the day
we find out if all the good work from the
previous two days would pay dividends. We had
a practice and qualifying, and the first race of
the weekend as well. This proved to be a test
of our mettle as we had a few technical issues
with the 125’s, but it also showed how well
Maarty and I are able to work as a team to
overcome obstacles, and we made some good
gains in bike performance through it.
Through all this Ken soldered on looking after
himself with a little bit of input from Maarty and
I. He did an excellent job and is learning a lot
in the process.
The first 125 race saw Sam and Josh in the
heat of battle in worsening conditions that were
almost too wet to be racing on slicks. Both boys
did a commendable job by staying on and
bringing themselves home with Josh in fourth
and Sam fifth.
Sunday saw an overcast cool day greet us,and
by the time the 125’s went out for their scrub
session it was raining. This was to be the order
of the day and with the wind coming up it
made for some very treacherous conditions.
Ken had the best of the bad conditions as his
race was up first, but that’s not saying they
weren’t a test of skill with the wind and rain. By
the time Maarty and I had braved standing on
the pit wall doing a lap board for a fellow
competitor in 600 Supersport class we were
very much wet through to the skin and
conditions were marginal for racing.
After much discussion and an hour break the
125 race was run in very wet and windy
conditions. Josh made a good start while Sam
was last away. The race settled in and Josh
made it to the front and lead for several laps
before being caught by Malaysian rider Amirul
Azmi. Sam rode well and worked his way up
through the field. On the last lap the Malaysian
rider fell and Josh came through for a well
deserved victory, while Sam finished a
creditable sixth. To say the team was happy
would be an understatement!
The meeting was called off after the completion
of the first round of Sunday’s racing, and we
were then left with the task of packing up and
getting very wet in the process.
All in all a full on weekend and one with some
good results with Josh winning the overall for
the weekend in 125’s, and Ken winning the
overall for the 150’s.
So on to Christchurch to do some work on the
bikes and to race this weekend at round three
at Ruapuna.
> H O T S H O T
Meet the team for 2011: Maarty van Booma, Josh McGrath, Stu Holdaway, Sam Baker, Andrew Forward and Ken
Jones
Tucked away at the bottom of the South
Island, Invercargill’s Teretonga Park
Raceway almost qualifies as a fly-away
round. But those who venture south are
rewarded with time at one of the best
tracks in the country.
Team vB Racing’s Josh McGrath takes us
for a lap on his Yamaha TZ125 GP bike.
“As I head down the straight at 200km/h,
I can see the 100m board approaching
pretty quick. Just as I pass that, I sit up,
brake hard and shift down three into third
gear. Running deep and wide into turn
one, I tighten the corner up by winding
the throttle on, and just before I hit the
apex, I’m flat out and letting the bike run
out to the white line on the edge of the
track as I exit.
I click fourth down the short straight
heading to the double apex right hander
(Castrol). I brake at the kink and knock it
down two gears into second, then run out
mid-track and tip into the fast, cambered
right hand corner. As I hit the apex I’m
hard on the gas and keeping as far to the
right of the track as possible for the flick
to the left; getting this right will result in
my Yamaha TZ125 doing a wheelie as I’m
changing sides.
I click third again, keeping as far to the
left of the track through turn four, and
hooking into fourth gear for the next right
which is full throttle and leaned right over.
Again, I’m keeping as far to the right of
the track as possible on the exit to get the
widest and fastest entry in to the left
hander hairpin (turn six).
As I tip in, I brake fairly hard and knock it
back two gears. I run my knee over the
ripple strip, and as I exit I’m at full gas
and running right out to the white line on
the edge of the track.
From there, it’s a head down run to the
inside edge of the track, clicking fourth for
the kink (Brickyard) and back to the
outside of the track braking fairly late (but
not too late like Sam did! Ha Ha!) to get
on the gas early through the GWD elbow
(turn eight), and finding as much speed as
possible down the straight.”
> T R A C K P R E V I E W : T E R E T O N G A
Which way does the track go, and what’s the lap record…?
125CC GRAND PRIX LAP RECORD:
1:04.959
600CC SUPERSPORT LAP RECORD:
0:59.949
PROD. SUPERBIKE LAP RECORD:
0:57.604
TOP SPEED
205 km/h
TURN 1
140 km/h
TURN 4
110 km/h
TURN 6
85 km/h
TURN 8
60 km/h
START/FINISH
180 km/h
> J O S H M c G R A T H
With engine issues sorted after Timaru, Josh wasn’t going to let anyone hold him back at Teretonga!
On the Tuesday before Invercargill we
were at Ashburton dyno testing, looking
for the missing power from Levels. We
were able to gain nine horsepower which
was great. Ken, Sam and I left at 6pm in
the van and started driving,
while Maarty and Stu
followed in the Global
Motorsports bus.
It was a long drive and we
talked about the Teretonga
circuit and occasionally paid
out our chauffeur Ken. We
made it to Dunedin that
night and left early
Wednesday morning for the
two and a half hour drive to
Invercargill.
After we arrived we
checked into our motel and headed out to
the track for a look. Jaden Hassen was
practising on his Yamaha R6 and I could
see the track was fast. All I could think
about that night was riding there.
We headed out to the track on Thursday
morning to set up. It was overcast and a
bit windy but I was keen to get out on the
track. That day I got down to a 1.08.94
which I was happy with. The bike wasn’t
running quite as good as we planned, (it
turned out to be a broken HT lead) but I
could definitely feel the difference and I
was feeling confident about the weekend
with a bit more speed.
Friday morning we were at
the track and ready to go.
It was again overcast but
wasn’t too windy. First
session out I instantly
dropped a second off my
time from the day before
and still had plenty more
left in the tank. At the end
of the three sessions I did a
1.07.23 which was 1.7
seconds faster than my
time the previous day and I
was stoked!
Saturday came and I knew I had to get a
good position in qualifying. I pushed and
pushed and ended up doing a 1.06.9 for
Lap two, and Josh (M) is poised to take the lead as James Jarman crashes out at the last turn.
seventh on the grid. I was happy with my
time but not so much with my position.
When the race came, I found that the
rows are fairly close together which was
good for me. The red lights went out and
I stuffed the start, ending up third last
into the first corner. My team-mate Sam
went around the outside of me and I
followed him through the
pack. Sam gapped me when
I got held up by one of the
riders, but when I got past
him I started to catch Sam
again.
Halfway through the race it
started raining and got very slippery on
the slicks. Sam was in third and I was in
fourth. I got passed and was pushed back
down into fifth on the second to last lap
so I tagged on to him because he was
carrying a little bit more pace than me and
we started to catch Sam. On the last
corner of the last lap Sam ran wide so I
passed him and ended up fourth and Sam
fifth.
On Sunday it was raining and windy, but it
didn’t faze me; I like the wet conditions.
On the warm up lap I was following Jake
Lewis. He was going a bit fast and didn’t
see a puddle half way around one of the
corners and crashed, so I was aware of
that puddle for the race.
The race started and I got a good start
but the guy in front of me didn’t so I had
to back off and otherwise I would have hit
him. I went from eighth to third in the first
corner, and on the last corner the lead
rider highsided and I went into second
place. The next corner I went around the
outside of the new leader and put the
pedal down. I got up to a three second
lead then I saw that gap start to drop.
In the next few laps Amirul Azmi passed
me. I tried to go with him, but he is a lot
lighter than me and was able to push
harder through the corners.
He got a two second lead on
me in the next six laps but
then he hit a puddle on the
last lap and crashed in the
same corner Jake Lewis
crashed in during the warm
up. This meant I got my first
ever national win and I also won that
round. I was absolutely stoked, and so
was the team. That moved me up into
third overall, so I’m in with a chance of
winning the championship. Big thanks to
Maarty and Stu for helping me out and
working on my bikes.
“ I got my first ever national win, and I also won that
round. I was absolutely stoked, and so was the team”
> S A M B A K E R
Atrocious weather and a setback during qualifying hasn’t dulled Sam’s enjoyment of racing
After round one of the 2011 New Zealand
nationals at Timaru all done and dusted, I
was looking forward to getting down to
the Teretonga circuit at Invercargill. I had
been here previously last year for the Burt
Munro Classic and loved the
fast and flowing style of the
circuit. Being the
southernmost race track in
the world is always going to
provide some wild weather,
and this, round two of the
New Zealand Nationals was
no exception.
We arrived at Invercargill
on Wednesday and after
checking into the motel we
went straight to the circuit.
I was keen to get back
there and have a look
before riding to refresh my
memory of the track. My young team-
mate Josh was also anxious to have a look
at the track, which we had talked about
on the long seven hour drive from
Christchurch, (in between the usual Aussie
vs. Kiwi banter, which Ken loses every
time).
The forecast was for high winds, and rain
was always a chance over the weekend. A
couple of laps around the track in the van
jogged my memory a bit, and Josh was
taking in as much as he could about the
track. We had a test day booked for the
Thursday which is something that doesn’t
happen at home in Australia as you are
not allowed onto a circuit a week before
any national event.
The Thursday was a nice
relaxed start to the
weekend and with only two
sessions on the 125 I could
feel I had a good lap time
in me and could also see
Josh picking up early pace.
Friday practice and we still
had dry conditions, freezing
cold and windy but dry
nonetheless. I got onto the
back of the local riders and
picked up some good lines
around the track. My pace
was a little off what I
wanted so qualifying was on
my mind Friday night and knew I had to
pull out better lap.
Sam sets after the leading bunch during race one
Saturday morning and once again the
clouds were holding out, and practice and
qualifying would both be dry sessions. The
top six were running at a fast pace and I
knew in qualifying I had to do a solid lap.
This wouldn’t go to plan as my session
ended on the fast first left hand turn on
my second lap. My little rocket Yamaha TZ
lost some water and I ended
up watching qualifying from
the tyre wall. Even though it
was a very good spectator
spot, I wasn’t thrilled as I
knew I’d be starting off the
back of the grid.
With a couple drops on my
visor (but still a dry track), we headed out
on slicks for the nine lap race one.
Starting from the back of the grid I got a
good launch and pushed from the start as
I knew the front runners would push early.
Four laps in, I got to sixth position, and
then the rain started. Riders were
dropping like flies around the fast first
corner and I found myself in third
position. Then on the last corner on the
last lap, I ran wide letting in two riders,
putting Josh in fourth and me in fifth. Not
a bad result from 12th on the but a top
three finish would have been nice.
This was my first time on a new set of
wets and after taking a couple laps to get
a feel for them I started picking up
positions. To finish the shortened eight lap
race was a feat in itself and I finished
sixth.
Josh must’ve used all my super coaching
advice all at once as he won the race and
ended up with the overall
win for the round. A massive
result for Josh and he
couldn’t get the grin off his
face.
Developing young riders is
one of Maarty’s main goals
and having his 14 year old
rider win a national round at a track he’d
had never seen before was a unreal result.
Big thanks to Maarty and Stu, Andrew
from HGS/Global Motorsport and the rest
of the sponsors who helped us get
through one wild weekend of racing.
“I got a good launch and pushed from the start as I
knew the front runners would push early. Four laps in, I
got to sixth position, and then the rain started….”
All the rain that had held out the previous
three days hit Sunday; easily the wettest
conditions I have ever ridden in. It was so
wet that the meeting was almost
cancelled, but one round of racing would
go ahead.
> K E N N E T H J O N E S
Ken continues to raise his game in Superlite with more personal best times at Teretonga
We rolled up to the track in Invercargill
early Thursday morning feeling ready for
whatever the weekend had to throw our
way. The weather was fine but cold, and it
looked very threatening and
wet for the days ahead.
With the day underway I
managed to get three
sessions in on the Yamaha
YZF450. We made several
changes to suspension,
looking for a better solution
to the handling of our 450
machine, before reverting
to the original settings. In
doing so, I lowered my
best time of the day down
to 1.08.1.
Feeling a lot more confident with the
handling of the bike we rolled out to the
track early on Friday for yet another day
of testing, again trying some different
suspension solutions but ultimately going
back to our settings from round one at
Timaru. We did however opt for a harder
rear tyre which seemed to cure any
lingering issues we had, as well as putting
an end to the “cold tearing” we were
experiencing. By the end of the day I
managed to get more
familiar with the track and
lower my personal best
down to 1.06.7.
Feeling rather chuffed with
myself I felt more than
ready for the Saturday
action ahead and sure
enough, before I knew it I
was up and ready for the
first session. Easing my way
into the first session, I
soon found myself having
equalled my personal best
time of the weekend so far.
Ken battles with Tim Gray during Sunday morning’s race, both riding the modified/custom build bikes that Superlite rules allow.
Before the next session I had a talk with
Robert from CKT Technical (Öhlins) and
discussed what we could do to improve
the handling of the bike. With my faster
pace now I was starting to get some
unwanted feedback from my machine.
With a couple of changes made, qualifying
was up and I was keen to
see how these changes
would feel. I instantly found
the bike to be handling great
and in the first few laps I
was already within 0.5 of a
second of my personal best.
I was feeling great, and with the changes
making the bike much more compliant I
was able to qualify 11th on the grid with a
new personal best of 1.06.5.
Race one was soon upon us and I was
ready to go out and have fun and see how
much more I could improve.
During the race I managed to not only to
beat my personal best by 0.5 a second,
but I was doing so consistently with my
new personal best now being a 1.06.0 and
sitting within 0.3 of a second every lap.
Sunday arrived and the weather looked
very average. Sure enough, before too
long it was wet, however, it was a quick
change of tyres and out we went.
I was keen to see how the Bridgestone
wets handled in the rain, and I have only
good news: they handle great and even
after a slight mechanical glitch (our
lanyard kill switch developed a momentary
short) mid-race I managed to secure a
tenth place finish overall.
The weekend rounded out
with a race on our Global
Motorsports 150’s, in
probably the worst
conditions of the weekend
but man it was a fun race,
only getting pipped at the
line for the race win but still taking the
overall for the 150cc class for the
weekend! What a hoot!
ROLL ON RUAPUNA!!!!!!!!!!!
“ During the race I managed to not only to beat my
personal best by 0.5 a second, but I was doing so
consistently”
Andrew Forward is Director of HGS Ltd
and Global Motorsports and a major
supporter of Team vB racing.
Andrew served his apprenticeship as a
motorcycle mechanic in
Hawkes Bay and spent six
years in the industry before
he starting racing
motocross at the ripe old
age of 17, then moving to
sealed hill climbs and road
sprints.
At the time he worked with
Phil [Piglet] Payne who was
the NZ 125 Road Race
champion, and encouraged
Andrew to give road racing
a go. Starting on a RD250,
Andrew rode in club days
at Manfeild and the old
Taupo circuits, and in 1981
Andrew won the NZ sealed
hill climb championship,
and competed at national level
in both the 550cc and 750cc production
championships in 1981 and 1982, and the
1982 and 1983 Castrol six hour races.
After a long break from racing in 1983
with a young family, he ventured back into
racing in 2002 riding a GSX-R1000 in the
National Superbike Championship and
continued racing in this class until 2006.
In 1983 Andrew changed careers, moving
into the Horticultural industry
and by 1986 had
established his own 8
hectare pip fruit orchard. By
1989 he had expanded into
a further 25 hectares of
export apples in the
Hawkes Bay region.
Havenleigh Global Services
Ltd [HGS Ltd] is one of New
Zealand’s largest
Horticultural Contracting
companies employing
approximately 300 staff,
supplying labour to the
Horticulture and Viticulture
industries in Hawkes Bay,
Marlborough and Central
Otago. With an
administration office based in
With their involvement ranging from support of 150cc Streetstock racing in New Zealand to MotoGP at Sepang, Andrew Forward and Global Motorsport are a valued asset to Team vB Racing
> A W O R D F R O M O U R S P O N S O R S
With a background in racing and current involvement in racing on a National and International level, Andrew
Christchurch, the company was
established in 2001.
Global Motorsports Ltd. was established in
2007 and is the sole ticket agent in New
Zealand for the MotoGP and Formula One
races at Sepang International circuit in
Malaysia. They run annual trips for fans to
both the Malaysian and Australian MotoGP
races, and this year they have added the
USGP round at Laguna Seca
round to their tour plans.
As a competitor Andrew
learned the highs and lows
that this sport can deliver.
He also learned that, given
the right sort of help,
anything is achievable. It is
with this knowledge that Global
Motorsports Ltd and HGS Ltd have
committed to supporting Ken Jones this
year, with Ken progressing from a 125GP
machine of the past 3 years, to the
Superlite class, riding a Greg Percival
YZF450R machine.
In helping Ken further is road racing
career, Andrew is seeing the benefits of
his imparted wisdom to young Ken (19)
with his results steadily improving as he
continues to build his skill level on the
larger machine.
Global Motorsports also have a passion in
developing new and young riders into the
NZ road racing scene, and they currently
have a plan to introduce riders to road
racing on 150cc four stroke road machines
in their own racing series while also
providing rider and racecraft training along
with the opportunity to progress through
the ranks of both the domestic and
international road racing classes.
Global Motorsports currently have five
150cc Streetstock racing machines, three
of which are being raced by Ken Jones,
Sam Baker and Josh McGrath in an effort
to prove that the machines are capable of
competing with the long standing 150cc
two stroke machines currently raced in
this class. They feel that their race
prepared machines, and professionally
presented and run series will be the future
of junior road racing in New
Zealand.
Global Motorsports are
currently looking to expand
their fleet and discussions
are underway to bring a
major marque into the
Junior Trophy Series, a move
that Global Motorsports truly believe will
bring junior road racing the presence and
support it yearns for. They are extremely
excited to be part of the future of New
Zealand road racing!
For more information on Global
Motorsports Ltd., please visit the website:
www.globalmotorsports.co.nz
“...given the right sort of help, anything is achievable.
It is with this knowledge that Global Motorsports Ltd
and HGS Ltd have committed to supporting Ken Jones
this year...”
Forward, HGS and Global Motorsports are the perfect partners to Team vB Racing
> M A K I N G T R A C K S
The Team vB Racing calendar has more dates this summer than Paris Hilton! Catch us in action soon!
Teretonga
5-6 February
ROUND TWO
Levels
29-30 January
ROUND ONE
Ruapuna
12-13 February
ROUND THREE
Manfeild
2-3 April
ROUND FIVE
Hampton Downs
26-27 March
ROUND FOUR
> H O T S H O T
Josh takes the chequered flag in race two, cheered on by a soaking wet Stu, Maarty and Ken.
T E A M V B R A C I N G N E W Z E A L A N D
P R O D U C E D B Y C H A M P I O N S H I P D I G I T A L . C O M © 2 0 1 1 A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D