With the Sydney basin having experienced its wettest July since 1951 so far this month, it hasn’t exactly been paradise, or even close actually. Throw in the notorious westerly winds that plague Wollongong every July/August and the recipe hasn’t been a stellar one.
However, the last couple of days have been beautiful and I’m grateful for the chance to get out and about a bit. Yesterday I went into town to the famous Z-Power motorcycles and made my first major purchase of parts for the Kawasaki. New fork tubes, a set of progressive springs and a set of tapered roller steering head bearings. I am starting to realise that this restoration business is not cheap.
But, since the bike is going to be ridden rather than just looked at, it needs proper gear.
The WSBK circus has already rolled in to Silverstone for round 9 of their championship. Once again it looks like a 3-way between Carlos Checa on the underpowered Ducati and the Italian duo of Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (Yamaha). The weekend hasn’t started all that well for MM33, however, copping a 100 pound fine for parking his motorhome in the paddock overnight contrary to regulations. Somehow I don’t think he’s going to be letting that weigh too heavily on his mind this weekend. For those of you lucky enough to have SPEED channel, telecast is on Sunday night. And, speaking of WSBK, Karl Muggeridge’s recall to the Ten Kate squad this weekend to replace the injured Rueben Xaus has faltered with the popular Aussie himself having to withdraw after a cycling accident left him with a damaged (but not broken) wrist. His place will now be taken by Ten Kate test rider, ex-GP rider, Fabrizio Lai. So they team will go into the round with TWO replacement riders, the injured Johnny Rae having already been replaced by young British rider, Alex Lowes.
Not much happening on the local racing front, but next weekend (6th and 7th August) sees a great double-header at Wakefield Park as St George Motorcycle Club run the 3rd round of their popular sprint race series on the Saturday and the always-popular 4 Hour teams race on the Sunday. I’m going down for both days, and I WILL be taking my winter woolies!
Finally, for your cheap thrills today, German rider Tim Rothig does a sub-8 minute lap of the famous Nurburgring on a Kawasaki ZX10R. What makes this a special video is that the bike is equipped with a MotoGp-style gyroscopic camera. Enjoy.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCOt78MB5vM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]