After some down time in a cast and then a moon boot I was so happy to put my Tech 7 boots on today. It rained on the drive to Tokoroa early this morning but nothing was going to stop me getting some gate drops. The rain ended up just being misty all day which was good for the track as it formed up some good lines. My starts were off and so was my speed but with so much time away from moto I didn’t beat myself up too much and had a good day catching up with people.
I was looking forward to doing the next schools event at Patetonga especially with how I was feeling on the bike. Practice went well. I had a good start in race one and was making gains when I hooked my left foot in a deep rut and felt a sharp snap. I didn’t crash and was able to pull off the track where the medic came and collected me. The medics at the track were great. Spending hours and hours waiting at the hospital in pain sucked and I’m in a cast for a few weeks now while my fib heals. Not a bad injury but I have to take a break and repair – got to look after your bones.
After a great day on Sunday out here at Pate we got to do it all again for the last Twilights of the season. The track was mint, the weather was perfect, the sun stayed up long enough for us to get 2 proper races in instead of the usual 3 sprints. I am really enjoying my riding again and my bike set up is exactly how I like it so I’m back to pushing my own limits again. I finished 4th in Jnr 125/250 overall for the series even though I missed a round. As always, massive thanks to the club for running these days and giving up their Tuesdays for us.
Today was awesome at Patetonga. After finally getting a lot of stuff off my chest and out of my head with Dad last week I feel like myself again and I rode how I ride. Race 1 I got a sneaky holeshot from the far outside gate showing it can be done if you commit to it. I pushed hard today in all my races and made an effort to improve each lap by picking better lines and better gears. I went 2-2-3 in 125s and 2-1 in Junior Open. Then once my day was done I got to sweep ride for the Minis on Mike’s 250. It was so cool and I stayed out fun riding with the boys after racing finished.
This weekend is my first schools event as part of a team. I’ve done some of these as a solo primary rider but now that I am at Hauraki Plains College I am part of a bigger team of novices and amateurs. My starts were still off so I didn’t give myself the best race flow although North King Country always forms lots of nice deep ruts to give you many lines to get around riders. There was a pretty epic mid afternoon downpour which washed out parts of the track so we had to ride a cut down track and I had a great wet ride. Our school finished 3rd overall for the day. Not sure where I ranked but it was way off where I know I can be.
We are making the most of the sunshine and getting out to the tracks when we have the opportunity. I slid out during practice and got stuck in the clay so got my token tumble for the day out of the way early. My starts were lacking so I was in mid pack around holeshot corner each race and had to choose better lines to move up. I finished 4th overall for the day, I enjoyed myself and really need to work on my fitness before Nationals.
I had most of the summer off moto since we had family here from Aussie so after a lot of travelling and sight seeing it was time to get back to work at Patetonga’s Valley Champs. The 125s were put on the senior day and nearly every year the senior day is a total mudder and this weekend was no different. The rain came in hard and it was awesome. I had so much fun, trusting the process and riding it like it was dry. I managed to keep it on two wheels all day and take the top step of the podium, some holeshot cash and a chocolate bar for staying the cleanest.
I was looking forward to Summercross this year as the junior 125 class were going to be having a go at the senior race format – Race 1 and 2 back to back with a 5 minute break between and a joker lane in Race 3. I unfortunately was caught up in a holeshot pile up in race 1 with someone else’s bike on top of mine so I had to work my way up from dead last. Then as I was making good progress I highsided after hitting a hidden braking bump. I finished the race and went back to the start for race 2 but called the day off early as I was feeling a bit banged up. It was not my best day but I got to stick around to watch racing and catch up with people.
The rain finally stopped fir the second day of Waikato Champs at North King Country. After a pretty successful first round I was looking forward to today. My starts were way off, I had to work to get through the field each time and with two laps to go in race 2 I lost my seat which was a strange issue to deal with. I stayed out and kept circulating because some points are better than a DNF. I finished 7th overall today which put me back to 4th overall for this year.
After a few years of this event not running it was cool to see it back on the moto calendar again as Pukekohe always puts on a good event. Like all race days lately it rained right before practice which made it really challenging, the clay stuck to everything and was so slippery. Once the sun came and the track started to get tacky it was much more fun. My starts were good, I loved being able to send it over #1 again and mum did a good job of being my mechanic. The showers affected different parts of the track at different times so I had to work on consistency, finding the better lines and staying on my bike. I was aiming for top 3 and while I’m annoyed that simple mistakes put me in 4th overall (3-5-4) I was happy to be out there riding.
Soren Staudinger 