1701 RF final

36 RIDEFAST MAGAZINE JANUARY 2017
the front end. We had a spare 2016 Kawasaki ZX10R
bike in the pits, kindly supplied by Raymond Keel, so
we decided that after the C session we would pit and
change the front forks. By that time we were up into 3rd
spot after myself and Martinus had done our B and C
sessions, despite Martinus picking up 2 penalty laps for
breaking out of the set 2,10 lap time.
It took the team 9 minutes to change front forks. It
was time for our D rider Mike Powell to head out on
track. He did a great job at maintaining a good pace
under the 2,20 mark set for D group riders.
By the time Ricky Morais was sent out for the second
A session and his first, we were down in 15th place. Rick
put in some really fast times and pushed us up into 8th
spot after his 30-minute stint. Bad news though as he
came in, he said the front was still not feeling great and
the bad knock was still there. The only thing we thought
it could be was headstock bearings so we decided to
carry on racing despite the bad feeling at the front.
After the 3-hour mark, Team RSR stars were
comfortably out in front, after Team IUM and Team 74
Forever suffered crashes. We had clawed our way back
up into 5th position overall on track, behind Team Honey
Lotus, Team LLL & Q and Team Riot, but 3rd overall in
the endurance class.
Just like in 2015, relay teams, where up to 6 riders can
use their own individual machines to race, were allowed
to enter and mix it up with the endurance teams. It was
tough to get ahead of the relay teams as they never had
to do tyre changes or fuel stops, so never wasted as
much time in the pits as the endurance teams.