Wonthaggi 2009

[Khye]

Locals were horrible, i had a couple walk on my tent and one actully fell ontop of me when i was trying to sleep, after being woken up by the security guard screaming at them " do you want to be locked up!", he stayed next to my tent and chatted with his mate about those " F*&king idiot teenagers "

Race was great tho, good to see some serious competition between expats and tru blu, and triseld were amazingly fast for a while there, it was weird seeing this white sled being thrown around corners so fast, rider must have weighed 5 kilo haha.

I got a bottle thrown at me from a passing car i think, which landed infront of me, i blew a tyre, had to get out, took my shoes off to run the trike back, cut my foot and my arm was bleeding for some reason. other than that, good race.

[Finno]

Well done Tru Blu, fantastic effort and great to see you guys continue the winning streak.

Unlucky Expats but it was a great performance though, especially during the first half of the race.

I'll post our race report later, although there isnt really much to say. We grabbed 5th early in the race and never looked like losing it.

The timing system was terrific, showed who was doing what and exactly how the race was shaping up so we thought that was pretty good, even though we hear it's been around for a couple of years now.

Speaking with my event management uni student hat on, the toilets were horrific. Poor effort on the event organisers behalf, I dont care what problems they had it's a bit unprofessional. And by a bit, I mean a lot.

Tim, I share your pain, those yobs on the oval simply wouldn't shut up and go away which made trying to get a bit of a rest somewhat difficult. More security and police presence is needed to prevent incidents such as tyres and debris being hurled onto the track. An increase in race fees would probably be worth it to cover expenses there.

Not much more I want to say here, just well done to all the teams on a good, clean race .

[kelham123]

It's very dissapointing that the local drunks in Wonthaggi once agian caused the usual trouble, but I agree with Slugger that it's not fair to judge a town based on that. . As for the policing issue Saturday apparently there was a riot other the other side of town, which 5 police cars had to attend, not good.

I also helped with registeration Friday and we soon found out that many schools were coming asking for more camping space, which was really limited.

Don't we just wish all the drunks could read this forum and realise how many people's emotions they have got boiling

[Slugger]

I just want to make it clear that I was not sticking up for the idiots that decided to get drunk and act like dickheads. We, being the local team had a few issues with them deciding that it was ok to stop by our pit tent. I heard about the tire being thrown on the track, absolute stupidity. If that tire had of bounced in front of an open top vehicle there could have been an ambulance involved. It is hard for the organisers to get enough security and police officers but hopefully they can get some more next year. But I can assure you there is a list of people that were caught drunk and/or being stupid, including the idiot who threw glass on the track and they will all be followed up. Apart from that it was a great race by all teams and great weather too, if anything it was too hot rather than too wet.

[kelham123]

I agree with Slugger, neither of us are sticking up for drunks. Yes I do remember one of the officials telling me he had a long list of names.

[jazzyjeff]

Speaking with my event management uni student hat on, the toilets were horrific. Poor effort on the event organisers behalf, I dont care what problems they had it's a bit unprofessional. And by a bit, I mean a lot.

ahh did you read the sign which said due to the circumstances which have happened early in the year toilet factilites have been used their

ie 7000 residents without homes sleeping like we did on the weekend hmmm i think i can understand that

anyway geoff's car made for a nice place to take a leak during the night he parked nice and close to a trailer so perfect cover was given sorry geoff!

and triseld were amazingly fast, it was weird seeing this white sled being thrown around corners so fast, rider must have weighed 5 kilo haha.

wish i weighed that but doesn't mean you can't corner fast just got to know what your doing and know the lines, with the corner leading into the start/finish line theres one real sweet spot and if theres no other bike there you can get through super quick.

[kelham123]

Ok lets be a bit more positive. People should actually appreciate what the officials do do. Isn't it better to have a race then no race at all.

[Slugger]

The officials have a huge job on their hands and it will never run to plan no matter how hard they try. It was great to see some competition in the race leaders. The top 4 were all close to eachother the whole race which is better than having one team in control from the start.

[Finno]

Speaking with my event management uni student hat on, the toilets were horrific. Poor effort on the event organisers behalf, I dont care what problems they had it's a bit unprofessional. And by a bit, I mean a lot.

ahh did you read the sign which said due to the circumstances which have happened early in the year toilet factilites have been used their

ie 7000 residents without homes sleeping like we did on the weekend hmmm i think i can understand that

Ahh ok. Lets leave it there then.

[geoff]

Well overall a weekend of mixed results.

Kojaks suck, Marshalling discrepitency still an issue which is frustrationg.

However on a whole i was quite proud of my team an how they handled the weekend was quite pleasing, was even pleased with my own performance altho working 160hrs in teh fortnight leading up to thaggi was not good prep

anyway geoff's car made for a nice place to take a leak during the night he parked nice and close to a trailer so perfect cover was given sorry geoff!

Dont worry i dont think you were the only one there who was doing that

[geoff]

Funniest event of the weekend....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ucYjXhCeI

Watching a guy having his legs waxed over 18hrs and walkign around half done

[The Duckmeister]

OK, my turn to put fingers to keyboard....

A great weekend was had; I always look forward to coming to my favourite track - the extra twists make for a very fun & interesting time. Of course I enjoy all the races, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this, but the smaller field has me a lot more relaxed leading into it.

So, the race.

Rhys took his usual starting stint, quickly slotting into a narrow lead, with ExPats in hot pursuit. "Hot" being the operative word. Our usual plan of aiming for hour stints went out the window, with the primary focus being rider preservation in the early phase. So after about 35 mins, Rhys signalled that he was quite roasted enough for now, & pitted. The earlier stop set the pattern for the next few hours - we slipped off the lead and ever so gently back a bit, at worst having a deficit of three laps. We ran smoothly through Paul, Nathan, Dean (Mr. Blueshift - or should that now be "Blushift"!? ) & myself. After my 30 minutes of hell, I pitted just as the legs began to turn to jelly, but before the times fell off too badly, and we sent Steele out.

A lap later we found our only real problem for the race - our trike had developed a voracious appetite for front tyres, and Steele pitted with a shredded right one. At least we now knew how long they'd last and were prepared for more changes.

By the time the second rotation rolled around, the temperature was gradually returning to more comfortable levels, and we could get back to something resembling our proper stints. Tyre wear improved as well, although we were still only getting 4.5 hours out of a right front.

Finally, during my second stint some ten hours into the race, we hit the turning point: I spied ExPats parked at the side of the track with what (I'm told) turned out to be a jammed chain roller. The Gremlins began to nibble, and we began the comeback. By the time I left the pit for bed, nearly an hour into Steele's run, we had just regained the lead, and the race was well & truly on!

When I returned some five hours later, a quick update gave a very inspiring picture - for us at least! The Gremlins had bitten harder (as previously noted) and it appeared that perhaps the early pace in the heat might be causing engine troubles. As it turned out, we too were suffering a bit to varying degrees. Cramping was the main problem. I escaped that particular issue, but my knee which gave me big problems a few moths ago started to go off again, and it became increasingly more uncomfortable to get the power onto the road, and while everytheng else felt good, that cut my third stint to 40 mins. I still needed to have something left for later.....

A slightly longer stop ensued just before daybreak to attach the spare horn, as the original one had packed up some hours before, and we figured that we'd need it when a) the primary kids came back out, and b) when the officials woke up & would start telling us off otherwise!

Into the final few hours, Paul pitted halfway through his final stint with a disintegrating front wheel, then Inside the last hour Dean pitted with a deflating relatively new front right tyre. I suspect some glass courtesy of the local riff-raff was to blame there....

40 minutes to go, I was sent out for a quick 20 minute blast, giving all & to hell with the knee, before handing over to Brenton for the last run to the flag.

Well done to all for the generally clean racing - just a shame some of the locals didn't quite appreciate the efforts being put in by all of us out there.

And Tim, thanks for the Team Shot, as always, look forward to seeing the rest of the gallery.

And the Report!

[Tim]

Damn, I overlooked the jammed roller issue (grip from steering arm had unravelled and got trapped in the chain & rollers), shouldn't have given I was the one that had to run off and find the trike and then run it back to the pits - not that easy for me given my worn out old body!

And the Report!

Oh yeah... well... I, er, um... I refuse to do another gallery or report until we win another race, yeah that's the ticket

[The Duckmeister]

....discrepitency ...

What kind of word do you call that? A blend of "discrepancy" and "decrepitude"?

[dan]

geoff has his own rules - leave him be.