Family and funding constraints kept me from the CRC (damn!) but to make up for it I got to race at the ACT club day on Sunday. Only a few classics turned up - me on the RM125M, Gezza on the 86 CR250, Simon on the CR480, Krafty and his trusty YZ250, Eric and another YZ250 and Andrew with a nice 83 CR250. I knew I was gonna be outgunned but I wanted to test the new clutch and my setup for the shocks before the HEAVEN meet there soon.
The forecast looked a bit average, but on the day it turned out brilliant - well, for the morning anyway. Cold, but clear, and the track simply brilliant. Lovely and loamy and no skatey bits at all. We spent a little while standing around feeling the cold cos of a nasty crash in one of the senior classes, but eventually Gezza and me found ourselves on the startline for the Over 35s. Hmmm... me on a 33 year old 125 with 7" of travel, everyone else on YZF450s and KTM535s...
The race went great though, the RM was really singing and for a lap or so I was ahead of two of em! But inevitably everyone passed me and it was a fairly lonely ride for the last lap. Still, I WAS having a ball. Next up was the old bikes, and this was hopefully going to be better. We ride along with the ladies, but man those girls hammer. Again, lotsa 250s and 450s. I got a lousy start but managed to keep everyone in sight for a fair bit of the race. And that was the tone for the day - well blown off along the start straight and then slowly falling behind.
But the RM was flying. At least, it felt like it. Maybe it wasn't at all? I guess considering I finished well back from the slowest person in every race it wasn't going real quick at all, but it sure felt like it. The clutch was working fine, and the shocks working to perfection. I was seriously impressed - with the YSS PD valves and shocks, the suspension is brilliant for a Pre 78 bike.
I thought to myself that just maybe giving away 20 HP, 5" of travel and lots of braking power might be a sufficient excuse for being dead last in every race, but I think it might be that I need to learn how to jump too. Thank God they won't include the whoops at HEAVEN's race there. I was just rolling them...
Meanwhile, Gezza was flying, actually beating Krafty twice. Krafty used to be the gun man to beat in our class, and although Simon on the 480 is a bit quicker, he's still a formidable opponent. Gezza was rewarded with a second overall for his efforts. Pretty cool I thought.
The highlight of my day was keeping Andrew's CR250 and one of the girls YZF250s behind me for 2 or 3 laps, that felt so good. I think it was mostly creative line choice (read blocking) but hey! I'll take it. I could hear that YZF thumping away and once I picked which side it was coming up on, that was the line I took for the corner. hehehe... Mind you, is it cool to do that to a cute 17 year old girl?
The funniest part of the day was getting caught up in a turn one pileup and being pinned under every other bike. Once they dug me out neither me nor the RM suffered even a graze. Weird!
But by the end of the day, I was buggered. Trying to ride a buzzy little old 125 at speed is bloody hard work. I was simply knackered, and once it started raining I didn't feel at all bad sitting out the last race. It did look like fun out there (no, it didn't!), but the amount of mud on Gezza's bike showed me that I made the right choice. After CD5 I never want to clean a muddy bike again.
So, that was the day. I love that little RM. I wish it had an extra 10 horses, but it really is fun to ride. I thought it went unbelieveably well for what it is, and now I can't wait for HEAVEN. So, while I didn't get to the CRC, I did find myself feeling pretty good on the drive home. Well, right up until some clot lost it at the roundabout and T-boned my trailer, that is...
