Had a week off from racing to recover from the trip, back into it on Saturday night.  First race got a fairly good gate and managed to get in front by first corner and won.  Second race didn’t gate very well so had some ground to make up, Mike & Poo (1NZ) and Steve and Sam got caught up together coming down grandstand straight, handbag shot up the outside of them making tony suck it in (he become one with the bike otherwise he would have been one with the other bikes) and they shot pass like a bullet, what a great pass the best race all night just awesome to watch and they won that race.  The final race and they didn’t gate well at all, pulling a wheelstand which made them in forth, they battled with Mike & Poo and managed to pass them only for Mike to get him back on the last lap so congrads to Matt & Nandor for the win.

Well, what a drive for the boys, they left Palmerston North 10th Feb 5.30am and made it to Ashburton around 6.00pm thanks heaps to  Murray & Marie (Champs Aunt and Uncle) for putting the boys up for the night and organising a great BBQ it was really appreciated. Onto invercargill in the morning, arriving around 3.30pm off to the pub.

Qualifiying on Friday the 12th.  Had a practice everything was all good.  Running 19″ tyres managed to get 2nd in the first heat, 3rd in the second heat, 2nd in the third heat finding no grip with the 19″ tyres put a 17″ tyre on the back for the last heat and won that heat so qualifying over.

New Zealand Finals Saturday had long discussions with the team as to what tyres too run, decided to go with the 17″ tyres.  Got a 1st in the first heat, 3rd in the second heat, 1st in the third heat, after this heat put a brand new tyre on to finish 2nd in the fourth heat and in the running for a podium finish.  After the fourth heat damm near wrecked a $300 tyre struggling for traction.  Final heat got 3rd to finish 4th equal.  Big Up’s to Tony as it was only 4 1/2 weeks before that he lost his finger.

Thanks to Ray & Dawn at the Tower Motor Lodge for putting up with the noise and also giving us the use of their shed it was much appreciated.

Left Monday morning 7 of us (Handbag, Rowena, Jaxon, Champ, Tony, Debs and the Blow up Doll called Cuzin curtousy of Phil Kirk and Stu Priest) to go to Catlins to have a look, wow very pretty scenery and we found a place called Jacks Blowhole so of course it was a must see.

Onto Balclutha for the night where we found an old lady with a doll sort of like ours – very weird hers wasn’t a blow up but it looked like a real person and she was all buckled into the seat and everything – dada lang dang dang dang hee hee.

From Balclutha we passed through Clinton then onto Gorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre had to get cuzin to have a photo of course.  Then onto Te Anau, what a stunning place, had fish & chips for tea (yuck there was only 1 place to get fish and chips and they only could do 1 scoop at a time)

We went to Manapouri Power station which was great, ferry ride to the station then a 2k\m bus ride underground which was very cool.

Off to Queenstown for a couple of days to stay with Champs cousins Kath and Steve, great people they live in Glenorchy such a beautifull place.  They were great hosts and awesome people and thank you guys so much for letting us stay.  John,Jaxon and me decided to do the Gondola and then Jaxon and John Went down the luge together (Jaxon did want to go by himself but dad would’nt let him lol).  The next morning before we left Queenstown for cromwell Kath organised us to all go on the shotover river, what a rush, great fun with Jaxon judging which was the better 360.

After that we went off to Arrowtown to have a look around, very quaint little place.  We also stopped at Kingston before getting to cromwell.  Got to Cromwell and met up with Spud & Phillippa 39p and all went out to tea and a really nice pub with excellent food and good humour.

Saturday morning of the racing at cromwell we decided to go to Wanaka to The aviation muesum and also Puzzle world.  Highly recommend puzzle world, heaps of fun to be had.

Well finally racing for the GP at Cromwell. John and Tony won 4 out of 5 races easily then they had the finals, what a dust ball, as spectators we couldn’t see the bikes until they were pretty much in front of us as the track didn’t get watered and the dust was horrendous.  So obviously if we couldn’t see much you can guess the guys in the final’s didn’t see much either so John and Tony were a consistant 4th for the GP’s as well.

Just as a matter of interest total travel K\m 3750.

Written by Rowena

Tony still on the mend so asked Sam Carter to Swing.  Unfortunatly there were only 4 bikes racing, pretty poor really, Handbag and Sam, Cudge and Aaron Rose (first timer), Dilligaf boys and 25p.  Track was pretty rough but they went out and did there 3 races, handbag and Sam winning all three.  Thanks Sam!!.  Roll on Invercargill!!!

 

Well with Tony still on the mend and Les & Kerv’s bike getting ready for the New Zealand’s Kervin Jumped on the back with John for the North Islands.  Had to adjust the bar on the seat for Kerv and his reach is not quite as long as Tony’s lol.  Qualifying on Friday was all good with John & Kerv qualifying with top points along with Mike Zachan & Paul Humphrey. 

Saturday the main event and it was raining off and on all day, amazingly enough it stopped around 6 ish and we were able to race.

John & Kerv managed a second in the first heat after this heat changed gearing then posted a 16.125 lap to win that heat and the next one, by that stage John & Kerv, Spud & Philippa, Steve & Shaun and Mike & Paul were all on same points – very exciting.  The 4th heat was going to be interesting with, Pitty & Sally, John & Kerv, Spud & Philipa and Steve & Shaun drawn together for the same heat.  John was trying to be careful and not buzz up but instead pulled a wheel stand (John’s still gutted now he won’t make the same mistake at the NZ’s) which meant he was coming last, he managed to get round steve & shaun to get 1 point.  The final heat they won and the final results were Mike Zachan & Paul Humphrey 1st, Pitty & Sally 2nd and John & Kervin 3rd.  Well done to everyone!!!!  Thanks to all the Team and supporters and the most courageous supporter Tony who hated being on the sideline.

Well after racing off to Forest Elbow for a few hours then home where we had a house full, 5am finish then off to bed.

Must say, Thanks to Cameron (Aussie) for cooking us breakfast 4 hours after we went to bed lol, it was awesome and you make the best french toast, hope you and Robbie enjoyed your stay and look forward to seeing you again.

Written by Rowena

What a great night, very impressed with all the hard work Mick, Denise and Phil did as the night was a great success.  The racing was also great with John and Tony winning the first 3 races out of 5, unfortunately in the third heat in the first corner there was a coming together with Russell & Andrew on Pole,  Spud & Phillippa beside them and John & Tony going round the outside.  After about the 3rd lap the race got stopped.  Once everything got sorted off they went again and reran the race which John & Tony won.  When the boys got to the pits Tony took off his glove and found his finger had been squeezed off in the coming together and was just hanging there by a tenden.  Off to hospital he went only to come back a couple of hours to the clubrooms, to make sure he got his trophy,with his cut off finger in a jar showing everyone, what a guy!!.  Thanks to Kervin for jumping on for the last two races (Les & Kerv’s bike wasn’t running well so they pulled out) and hanging on (just) to help New Zealand take out this meeting against the Aussies and John and Tony and Kervin getting top points for the night.

Written by Rowena

New Zealand vs Australia International Sidecar Series

1st   84 Darren Treloar & Justin Plaisted – Australia
2nd  75 Mark Plaisted & Sam Harrison – Australia
3rd   2NZ Russell Stuart & Andrew Parker
4th   35 Mark Mitchell & Tom Golding – Australia

Third round of the series – Very close to not happening with the weather packing up.  The first heat had Mark Mitchell, Mark Plaisted and Sefton we were in second place coming out of corner got sand blasted by Mark Mitchell lost all sight dropped to fourth .  The rest of the day rained off and on, made the B final to finish 6th overall for the day.  Ran 19″ solo tyres for this track just a little bit behind on our gating but had good pace once we got going.  The final’s were run in drizzle and everyone left extremely muddy to carry onto invercargill.  We decided not to do that round so we left to go to brother Michael’s local pub in Rangiora and got inebriated.

The pictures are what the bike and leathers looked like when they got home.  Took 2 1/2 hours to clean the bike and 2 hours to clean the leathers, inside of helmets, goggles and all the other gear which was covered in mud.

Written by Handbag and Rowena

Second round of the Aussie series 1st heat against Darren Treloar and Mark Mitchell and Sefton & Honk not a bad start finished 3rd the two Aussie’s not far in front very satisfying.  2nd heat had Mark Plaisted & Robbie Wilson had a great battle with Mark, he took the win and we got a 2nd.  3rd, 4th & 5th rounds won each race John Warward, Tomcat, Lionel Green been some of the opposition in some of these rounds.  No slugs on their home track these guys.  1st race of second round Darren Treloar set a new 4 lap record, next race we bet his time, a race or two later DAMM!! Russell Stuart & Andrew Parker bet the record.  To make the four bike final the top 3 points scorer’s qualified straight through the next four points scorer’s had a B final with the winner joining the top 3.  We were 3rd equal with Mark Plaisted but as he bet us in the heat he went straight through to the final.  We had the B final after 2 starts we were the only ones to finish.  To the A final having not had the chance to take our helmets off from the B final we were straight into the Main Final.  The 3 Aussies had first pick for grid we were left the outside grid.  We near had them all at the completion of the first corner but run out of room with Mark Plaisted taking the lead.  The next two laps we hounded them to finally take the lead and went on to win.  The surprising part being we never saw the other two Aussie bikes during the 4 laps.  A Huge win with the opposition we had in the final the crowd were awesome cheering us on and showing there appreciation of the race when we won.

Written by Handbag

First round of the Aussie series John and Tony couldn’t nail the track, changed gearing every heat except the last one.  A couple of the rounds they set the fastest laps but overall they came about 7th.  Unfortunately Mick & Blink had a bad crash which saw them taken to hospital, Mick ended up with bad smack on the head and blink with bruised Kidneys and lungs. Then Mick  Headland and Paul Waters went into the corner to fast and hit the wall resulting in Paul breaking his leg in 3 places and Mick with a broken ankle.  Not a good start to the first round.

Well travelled up to Rotorua in the pooring rain hoping and praying the rain will stop.  Got to the Motel and it had cleared up so off we went to the track. 

Had the first heat and John & Tony gated really well and was about 5 bikes ahead of everyone by the first corner, won that race comfortably.  Third heat and unfortunately Les & Kerv came off and couldn’t continue, Kev thinks he may have broken a couple of ribs and Les has hurt his elbow, hopefully they will be all good for the Aussie series.  Once the bikes had run their first heat the rain started, just a slight mist then a lot of rain so the meeting was called off.

I must say I love the layout of the seating at Paradise Valley, what a great setting just a shame it rained.

Next race is 1st January 2010 at Palmy.

Written by Rowena – no help from Jaxon he is playing Demolition Derby on the Computer

Jaxon with Ribbon and Trophy

Bike all going good finally – major MSD problems so a new one was fitted and Champ gave the bike a good going over and everything great. 

Qualifying was 2 races and the bikes who got first in their heat went through to Final six.  John and Tony’s first race had to be restarted unfortunately Deane and Rob had a big accident and Rob got seriously hurt (hope y0u are better soon).  So they restarted the race and John and Tony spent a lot of time trying to go round the outside and it wasn’t working so Mike & Paul (97p) won.  The second qualifying race they got a good gate and won which put them in the final.  Bit of a concern to see the Fire extinguisher been used on the bike thankfully it was only the stuff John had wrapped around the pipes got a bit hot and smoking.

The final bikes were:

97p, 11p, 3nz, 19v, 34v, 59g

First race 97p came first , John & Tony came second

Second Race John got some bad advice from Grunter (lol) changed side wheel so ended up getting last for that race which meant if they were to get a podium finish they needed a first in the final race. 

Final race they were on grid 2 and managed to get to the corner first and have a great ride to win the final making the results a 3 way tie with 97p, 3nz and 19v. 

Then they had the run off and got a good gate and keeped the lead for all 4 laps.  Final results John & Tony Manawatu Champs, 97p Second and 3nz Third.  Great racing by everyone and congratulations to the top 3.  We have one very happy Handbag, and a extremely happy Tony as this was the first time he had ever had the checker flag in Palmy a great start to the season.

Written by Rowena and Jaxon