Grant Ferrier Reports on the Clubmens class at the final round of the North Island cup.

It was a fine day at the first round of the nth island cup, for my debut into the world of road racing, after many years on the road plugging around.

Having gotten the bug for motarding and it was time to give this new craze a go.
With advice from Brendon Stephenson (many thanks for your time in replying to my emails), and help from Neil Bush at AFC motorcycles and many emails later I had my bike built, a 2003 KTM525sx, starting off with the 17inch factory motard wheels and a bigger front disc, STD 4 speed.

My debut was to be in the clubman’s class as I got a feel for the bike and a racing line. The Taupo track being well suited to the power delivery of the KTM, I managed to rack up 3 wins from 3 starts, with opposition coming from an aprillia RS250, and a number of larger capacity machines.

I didn’t make the second round and as it happened neither did any of the other clubman racers, due to in part no doubt the weather was lousy that weekend, and the 4 speed would have been stretched on the long straights.

Before round three at Manfeild I decided a 6 speed would be in order for the long straights and to help against the larger machines in the class.
With 6 speed in I ventured off to manfeild, to enjoy the wet track. This time there where 15 entries in the class with bikes ranging from an RS125 up to a GSX1100 and TL1000R. After a rather slow qualifying (I thought) I still managed 3rd on the grid!

The first race was exciting as I tried to mate with another bike on the exit of the first turn, with me having to drop back to avoid crashing! I came back to pass a number of bikes and put myself into 3rd where I stayed for the race closely tailed by a big 1100.

Second race was a no-go, bike didn’t want to start, after draining the race fuel and going back to 96, it fired into life but to late for that race.

With only a small number of points between myself and the RS250, it was all on for the third race, the track had dried out and slotting myself into fourth position where I comfortably stayed for the race, with the RS in front and a couple of larger bikes also.

Overall against the larger bikes the KTM did well down on power in the straights it made up for it in braking and corner speed, I was hooked!

A bit of a wait after the race and with the points totalled, a series win for me in the class with only 5 points between 1st and 2nd.

For anyone interested in this sport I say give it a go, the fantastic help I have received with advice etc, and the support all the riders give (at least till the flag goes down) is like no sport I have been involved in, come along have a look and talk to the people involved then come have a go!

North Island Cup Clubman Class Overall Results

Well done Grant, Thanks for the report! (Anthony, Webmaster www.supermotard.co.nz)

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