Wanneroo debut

Yesterday I made my debut on Wanneroo Raceway (commonly known as Barbagallo Raceway) for a TrakDayz advanced rider training course.

In the pits
Photo by Julian

The track day was absolutely fantastic. I have learnt so much in the last 24 hours. I’ve really scrubbed my tyres down nicely, a little too far (at first I wasn’t getting enough weight over the side of the bike), but towards the end of the day, you could see that I had bought the scrub line back a little cos Macka (one of the instructors) kept reminding me to keep down and over to the side. I got a poofteenth of a knee down on the only left hander on the track. I LOVE that corner. The basin is pretty cool too, when you get it right.

Lovin' that left hander
Photo by Robin

Best part of the day was knowing that the 1000cc bikes in my beginners group would hurtle past me at Mach 10, then I’d out-corner them around the outside. GO THE 400!

I rode to about 80% of my ability, but nowhere in there did I think "oooh, that’s a bit hairy" etc or feel uncomfortable. I got to a point where I’d nail a corner, have all my weight off my outer thigh (to the point where my grip on the handlebars was like feathers) and think, THAT is how they explained it in the class, and I got it right. Woohoo!

In all, had a great day, it wasn’t too hot and there was a nice breeze all day. I was a little nervous on Friday, but got there and was absolutely fine. After the first session I got “the buzz” and realised I had just done laps of Wanneroo Raceway! YEY!

Julz, Matt, Robin and Ryan were there yesterday for support and they all took a few photos (EDIT: woops, Ryan didn't take photos, but bought me a bottle of water. Thanks waterboy!) I was all like “Did you see me? Did you see me?" :P

I'm looking forward to booking into more courses during the year, not only at Wanneroo but the AHG track too.

Fun in the sun
Photo by Matt