My First WSBK This was my first visit to a Motorcycle race having only ever been to Scrambles before. I went as Honda had an open Garage and I wanted to see the WSBK Honda team bikes. I was unable to speak to the mechanics but did speak to Jonathan Rea very briefly and obtained his photo with Super Cub. Race result: Race 1 4th and race 2 9th - Championship position: 5th Jonathan gave a press interview see below. “Race one was just crazy, but I enjoyed because I knew it would be tough to race for a win, but we genuinely had a shot at it there! I got a bit wide a one the first lap and the rear came round when I hit the kerb and I was dead last. But I never gave up and it was nice to be in the hunt for a race win until the last corner, which gave me motivation for race two. That was strange starting on full wets when the track wasn’t completely wet – it was difficult for everyone. I was looking after my tyre at the beginning, which is why I was so far back, but when the monsoon came I started to push a little bit. My crash, like pretty much everybody else’s out there happened on the rear tyre, which has no grip. There have been so many crashes in the wet like that this year - off the gas, at the apex – it’s getting a bit frustrating. Overall, we took points out of the championship leaders, so it’s not been a bad job today. To come out with a fourth and a ninth is better than I expected last night, so we’ll take these results and move on.” I was only following the Honda Team riders and managed to get lots of pictures in the dry and in the wet and will post more as I have time. Hiroshi Aoyama Race result Race 1 13th race 2 14th - Championship position: 17th He also gave a press interview see below. “Both races were very tough because of the conditions and we had two starts to each race. So we had to think a lot which tyre was the right one to choose, and each time I think we made the correct choice. In race one I finished 13th and it was tough because we had rain in the middle of the race, but it had already been declared wet, so we had to keep going. I think my lap times were not too bad; I just lost a bit of time early in the race, which was a pity. Race two was strange because we had to put on a rain tyre without real rain to start, but the last part of the race there was a lot of water and some petrol on the track. I tried to stay on the bike just to finish. I thought I was 12th but the final result is 14th, which was a pity.” Super Cub was following all the action and was allowed where we mere mortals are unable to go and to kiss. Again more pictures when I have time. I had a super time and the Kawasaki Riders Club is very good at playing host at these events enabling you to meet the riders and providing Food and drink all day. Regards, Rob.
Camera Hi Ken, I have a Nikon D7000 and 300mm lens. All images are cropped due to the distance from the stands to the track and as it was very dark I needed to use up to 1000 ISO setting hence the grain. Thanks for the likes etc. Rob.
