24 May 2010
Bryce gets a Personal Best at Victorian Titles Round 2 at Phillip Island with a time of 1:41.450.
WOW WHAT A WEEKEND!
Who would have thought with Saturday’s problems that I would have ended up with a Personal best time by over 1.5 seconds!
Saturday I had a lot of hassles trying to get the bike set up and tyres to last race distances, 2 rear tyres later I qualified 7th in Superstock and 5th in Supersport, a second off my normal pace. The Supersport race was chaos as my rear tyre decided to give up the ghost halfway through the race and I was left sliding all over the track and losing places like no tomorrow, where I ended up in 6th place and 2 seconds off my best time.
In a mad rush before the Superstock race (only 1 race between the 2 classes) we swapped tyres, with barely any warmth in the tyres and a rear tyre that was 3 years old I set out to race, it took two laps for the tyre to stop sliding and to get warm, I lost too much time in those two laps to the front pack, I was in an awesome battle with James Beck, which we swapped places numerous times, I lost out in this race to James by .4 second, but I was back down to my normal times.
Sunday I was eager to improve my results and hoping my tyres would last the 4 races I had for the day. First Race up was Supersport, I got a reasonable start then got locked in a battle with 2 other riders for 2nd position, we traded places numerous times, I ended up in 3rd place as one of the riders went down on the last lap and I had to avoid him, I Recorded a Personal best time in this race of 1.42.6 which I was happy with along with a better result.
Next race was Superstock where I was hoping for a good start to run with the front runners, I got an average start and had to battle my way passed a few bikes and lost touch to the front group, again I was in a battle With James Beck where we traded places again, this time I won out and placed 4th, also doing an identical time to the Supersport race.
The last Supersport race was next and I was super keen to podium again, I got an amazing start and was running 3rd after the first lap, I moved into 2nd on the 2nd lap where I battled with Super Daz (Darren Sciberras) for the next few laps, the last lap came around and I had my eyes set on a pass at the 3rd last corner but I had a change of plans as I lost a place into turn 4 only to re-take the position back on the exit, but I had lost some ground to super Daz, I tried to get on to the back of him hoping for a slingshot to the finish line, but I lost out by .4second on winning my first Supersport race, I placed 2nd in the race which I was super happy with only.5sec between 1st and 3rd place. I got back to the pits to see that I had done a 1.41.4 sec lap time, which was a whole second quicker than the races before and 1.5 seconds quicker than I had ever been, I was consistently doing these times in the race.
The last race of the day was Superstock and I was still on cloud 9 after my Supersport race, I got an average start and lost a few places into turn 1, I made a few passes into turn 2 and turn 4 and was on the back of the lead group, I was engaged in a enthralling battle with young gun Adrian Nestrovic for the remainder of this race, I made a move on him at turn 10 and held my place for the last lap which I placed 3rd in Superstock 600 for the race, which was a lot better than I thought I would be after Saturdays Problems. I only Beat Adrian by .05 sec, and I managed consistent 1.42s all race.
Overall for the weekend I placed 3rd in Supersport and 2nd C Grade, and also placed 4th in Superstock 600. I am Now 3rd in the Supersport Championship and 2nd in the C grade for the Championship and also extended my lead in the Superstock 600 Championship.
I have to say a massive Thank you to my parents for all their efforts and for never doubting my ability, my family, Girlfriend and friends for all their support and encouragement.
Thanks also to all of my sponsors.
Hoofy #43
