2019 Jan - Dec MX
Please scroll down to find all entries for January - December 2019
HNHS MX Team at 2019 NZ SS XC Champs in Taikorea 6 September 2019.
Three of the Havelock North MX Team Riders travelled to Taikorea to ride Cross Country. This would be the first time the Team had participated in a non MX event and for all of them it was also the first time racing a XC Championship!
Abe was riding in the Intermediate 12-16yo 85cc - 150cc class on his small wheel Honda XR 100 and did OK by finishing 9'th out of 12 riders and completing two laps of the course in 1h 31m. Jake Holland from New Plymouth Boys High won this class by completing 3 laps in 1h 34m.
Joe and Vinny would ride in the Expert 17-18 Senior Open class. Joe completed 3 laps in 2h 1m to place 13'th from 17 riders. Vinny started well, but then had a couple crashes where one broke his front brake leaver and the last one put a hole in his radiator. With a steaming bike he pulled off just before the finish line of his 2'nd lap and was only given one lap in the results. This gave him 16'th. Tommy Watts from Napier Boys HS won this class by completing 5 laps in 1h 41m.
The HNHS Team placed 33'rd from 57 teams. We made a few mistakes and learned heaps about what to focus on in a XC teams event! But we are OK with that as this was our first XC event.
The overall winning team was Tauranga Boys HS#1 with Brody Connolly 5 laps, Madoc Dixon 5 laps and Sam McLean 4 laps (14 laps) in a total combined time of 5h 20m.
Thanks to Hastings Honda https://www.hastingshonda.co.nz/ for lending us their canopy/tent. Heaps of space!!
The official reasults: http://www.silverbullet.co.nz/news.php?id=5371
Central HB MCC Club Round 3
21 July 2019
Central HB runs all their racing on natural terrain tracks. This time it was a cropped corn field outside Waipawa. Vinny likes these type of tracks and was looking forward to the racing.
We had upgraded the gearbox with a new set of gears and done some other work on the motor. Another day of testing to see if it all would work... But it did! Really well actually!
In Race 1 Vinny allowed most of the others to take off before he got going. But only 2 laps later he had managed to pass all but three of the riders. And one lap later he was past them too. Then he dropped the bike in a turn and he was back in 4'th. By now he had run out of time to catch them all and had to settle for 3'rd.
Vinny took same approach in Race 2. This time he again passed everyone and now kept the bike upright. But the lady with the flags got confused and sent Vinny riding two white flag laps and flagged some other random guy with the chequered. Vinny told her off, but it was actually quite funny!
In Race 3 all went to plan, Vinny passed everyone, finished the race in first and got the chequered flag! The only things that did not work for us was the video camera in Race 3 and our water blaster. So we scraped off as much of the dirt as we could between the races to make the bike lighter!
A good days racing and for once the bike was humming!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iifW4PLLF00&feature=youtu.be
Central Hawke's Bay MCC Club Round 1
Intermediate Class
19 May 2019
We like the Central HB race days. Good numbers in the classes, natural terrain and a friendly atmosphere!
After racing last w/e and having no problems, Vinny was keen to see what the bike had. We entered Vinny in Intermediate making it 15 riders in the class.
In Race 1 he got a good start and after the first corner he was in 3'rd. At 1/2 way of the first lap he was in 2'nd and had a brilliant tussle for the lead for the whole race, but managed to take the win.
Race 2 looked very similar with the difference that Vinny, in his woolly jumper, took the lead faster. It looked all good... untill the gearbox blew.
Once that happened we had no option but to pack up and drive home, as we only have one bike these days.
(Sorry re the long video, I just liked the racing and could not decide what to cut...)
Hawke's Bay MCC Magic Series Round 3
B Grade
12 May 2019
In Round 1 of the series we cracked the motor. And with other things happening, Vinny having the flu for 4 weeks and us being short of funds, It took us some time to get the motor sorted. This was the test to see if we had it all sorted. Vinny had no interest in going "full noise" as he was not sure that all was sorted. So he decided to take it easy for the practice and the two first races, and if the bike behaved it self, then he would give it more throttle in the last race.
In Race 1 he started last and then slowly upped the tempo to finish in 5'th of the 10 riders (as he is not a club member this year, he would not get any points anyhow).
Race 2 was the same. Start last, ride own race and he finished in 5'th.
For Race 3 he had developed a little trust in the bike and we decided it was time to race. He came through the riders at the holeshot in 3'rd and then kept that spot until finish. He recon he could have pushed harder. But as there was no reason he was happy with a 3'rd after Bailey King and Ollie Mackie.
2019 NZ TT, Clubman
4 - 5 May, Taupiri Waikato
Vinny is now a senior rider, so we needed to find a new class for him. With very little riding lately we settled for the Clubman class at the TT. (We had also entered Vinny in the 125 National Championship class, but were told that he could not ride a Championship class and Clubman at the same event... so we dropped the 125 class as there were only 4 riders that had signed up).
With 32 riders entered (3 being in the Enduro class) this was a better class for him as there would be riders to compete with.
We now only have the 2016 125sx bike and feel a little vulnerable when/if we have a bike issue. And that happened here on the first day. Vinny went out for practice/qualifying but only got half a lap in before issues arrived. We got the bike back to the pits and started looking for the problem. We had parked next to the Wairoa crew (that we know well after having been regulars on their tracks for some years) and Murray came over to check what was going on. We explained the situation and straight away he offered his KTM 150sx if Vinny needed a bike... We have actually considered a 150sx as Vinnys next bike, so we took this opportunity to see how a 150 would suit Vinny. As Murray did ride in the Vet class they could both ride his bike! (In the video Vinny is riding Murray's bike that is the one with the day-glow yellow side number plates).
(When back home afterwards we found that the power valve had jammed on Vinnys 125sx)
We found out that there were some very fast riders in the Clubman class!
In Race 1 Vinny was settling in to a new bike plus the riders around him and placed 20'th 1m52sec behind winner Robbie Bolton who beat 2'nd place getter David Furze with 25 seconds!
Race 2 was shortened to only 3 laps so everyone could get 2 races in before it got dark. Robbie again won with David 2'nd. Vinny placed 21'st.
When we arrived for Day 2 the track was blanketed by a thick fog that did not lift enough for racing to start before close to midday. Therefore the event had to be shortened to 4 races/class.
In Race 3 Vinny came out in 20'th and then climbed a few spots to finish in 16'th. Robbie had a crash in Lap 1 and had to come from 13'th to try and catch David who was in the lead, but did not have enough time and had to settle for 2'nd.
Race 4 was Vinny's best of the event. He had now gotten comfortable on the 150sx. He found himself in 14'th after the start but climbed to 9'th at end of the race 53 seconds behind Robbie who restored the order!
Robbie won the Clubman class with 4 wins (as David was riding in the Enduro class that he won). Vinny placed 15'th overall, and we are OK with that as we came here for some good racing and we found just that!
A HUGE THANK YOU to Murray for letting Vinny ride his bike the whole event!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1D94mMoEpE&feature=youtu.be
2019 Tauranga School MX Champs
Competitive 15 - 19yo 125cc
8 March 2019
Vinny had been here twice before. In 2017 he crashed out in practice and did not race. In 2018 our aim was a top ten placing and Vinny managed a 9'th.
This year, Vinny's last school year, we aimed for a top 5 and we sort of got there...
22 riders lined up for Race 1. It would be hard for Vinny to get a top three placing with Jack, Isaac and Sam expected to claim them. But a 4'th was a possibility... On the 2'nd lap Vinny was in 4'th and he held that position until just before the finish when JayRoy passed him. But a 5'th was OK for first race! Jack took top podium.
Race 2 was very similar and Vinny was again passed by JayRoy giving him a second 5'th placing. Jack had another win.
Before the final race the sky opened and the track got wet and slippery. Vinny had his poorest start and was in 10'th. He then started the climb and by the final lap it looked like he would claim 4'th. He passed JayRoy and Ben who were struggling in the wet but was passed by Kaleb (who Vinny had passed in the lap before). This gave him a third 5'th placing and we felt we had just achieved what we came for... that was before we realised that Vinny and Kaleb both now had 48 points, so it went to "countback" where the placing in the final race determines who places higher. So even if Vinny had same points as Kaleb, shared 5'th and had beaten him in 2 of 3 races, officially Kaleb placed 5'th and Vinny 6'th. Jack placed 1'st, Isaac 2'nd and Sam 3'rd with JayRoy claiming 4'th. But considering that Vinny has only been on the bike once this year we feel he did well!
Central HB Club Day 20 Jan 2019
Intermediate Class
After 5 months of no fitness work or any time on the bike we had no idea how Vinny would do. As he is now 17yo he is out of the Juniors and we contemplated to enter him in MX2, but as he has not been a club member this season we went for Intermediate as he would not damage anybody's chances (as Non Club Members are not allocated points).
The Intermediate class had over 30 riders, so it was split in to 2 groups: Club Members (to start first) and Non Club Members (to start second). From about half of the race it got busy for the leaders in the Non Members group as they started to pass the slower riders in the first group.
Vinny was surprisingly one of the top riders of his group and chased Lewis, who won all 3 races in this group. In Race 1 Vinny managed a good 2'nd, in Race 2 a 3'rd and in Race 3 he was leading the group when his gear leaver came loose at close to the end of the last lap and had to settle for 2'nd.
It was a fun day of racing and the club had set up a really cool track that had a Mini TT feel to it. When the new season starts in April we will join the Central HB club! (Vinny was a member last season and to our surprise he won the Junior 125cc class!)
