> T E A M V B R A C I N G N E W Z E A L A N D

NZSBK 2011 round 2 Newsletter: Teretonga, Invercargill, 5th and 6th February

> C O N T E N T S

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CAPTAIN’S LOG

JOSH McGRATH

KENNETH JONES

MAKING TRACKS

TRACK PREVIEW: TERETONGA

SAM BAKER

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS

16 HOTSHOT

Stu Holdaway’s update from round 2 at Teretonga

With engine issues sorted, Josh wasn’t

going to let anyone hold him back at Teretonga!

The Team vb Racing calendar has more dates this summer than Paris

Hilton!

Which way does the track go, and what’s the

lap record…?

Atrocious weather and a setback during qualifying

hasn’t dulled Sam’s enjoyment of racing

HGS and Global Motorsports are the

perfect support partner to Team vB Racing

Josh takes the chequered flag in race two, cheered on by a

soaking wet Stu, Maarty and Ken.

Ken continues to raise his game in Superlite

with more personal best times at Teretonga

> C A P T A I N ’ S L O G

Stu Holdaway’s update from round 2 at Teretonga.

With Maarty having to fly back home for work,

he has delegated the Manager’s report to me.

As chief mechanic and co-manager Maarty and

I work very hard together to make the vB

Racing team a success and an enjoyable, fun

environment to go racing in.

After the first round at Timaru and some time

at Dynoworx in Ashburton, it was on the road

again to Invercargill. An overnight stop saw us

arrive around lunchtime on Wednesday and

time to relax a bit. With the strong wind it was

decided to give riding a miss for the day. We

went back into town and showed our Aussie

riders The Burt Munro bikes and all the other

great stuff in at E. Hayes & Sons.

Thursday saw us at the track getting bikes

ready and our pit marquee set up. This was

Josh’s first opportunity to ride the track, while

Sam and Ken got down to the job of

reacquainting themselves with the layout.

Friday morning we woke to rain, but it had

stopped and the track was starting to dry off by

the time we arrived. This was an unofficial

practice day spent trying to find a good setup

for the bikes and for the riders to get on the

pace. At Teretonga, a fair bit of time is taken up

with keeping an eye on the weather and

making adjustments to suit the conditions.

Saturday was fine to begin with and is the day

we find out if all the good work from the

previous two days would pay dividends. We had

a practice and qualifying, and the first race of

the weekend as well. This proved to be a test

of our mettle as we had a few technical issues

with the 125’s, but it also showed how well

Maarty and I are able to work as a team to

overcome obstacles, and we made some good

gains in bike performance through it.

Through all this Ken soldered on looking after

himself with a little bit of input from Maarty and

I. He did an excellent job and is learning a lot

in the process.

The first 125 race saw Sam and Josh in the

heat of battle in worsening conditions that were

almost too wet to be racing on slicks. Both boys

did a commendable job by staying on and

bringing themselves home with Josh in fourth

and Sam fifth.

Sunday saw an overcast cool day greet us,and

by the time the 125’s went out for their scrub

session it was raining. This was to be the order

of the day and with the wind coming up it

made for some very treacherous conditions.

Ken had the best of the bad conditions as his

race was up first, but that’s not saying they

weren’t a test of skill with the wind and rain. By

the time Maarty and I had braved standing on

the pit wall doing a lap board for a fellow

competitor in 600 Supersport class we were

very much wet through to the skin and

conditions were marginal for racing.

After much discussion and an hour break the

125 race was run in very wet and windy

conditions. Josh made a good start while Sam

was last away. The race settled in and Josh

made it to the front and lead for several laps

before being caught by Malaysian rider Amirul

Azmi. Sam rode well and worked his way up

through the field. On the last lap the Malaysian

rider fell and Josh came through for a well

deserved victory, while Sam finished a

creditable sixth. To say the team was happy

would be an understatement!

The meeting was called off after the completion

of the first round of Sunday’s racing, and we

were then left with the task of packing up and

getting very wet in the process.

All in all a full on weekend and one with some

good results with Josh winning the overall for

the weekend in 125’s, and Ken winning the

overall for the 150’s.

So on to Christchurch to do some work on the

bikes and to race this weekend at round three

at Ruapuna.

> H O T S H O T

Meet the team for 2011: Maarty van Booma, Josh McGrath, Stu Holdaway, Sam Baker, Andrew Forward and Ken

Jones

Tucked away at the bottom of the South

Island, Invercargill’s Teretonga Park

Raceway almost qualifies as a fly-away

round. But those who venture south are

rewarded with time at one of the best

tracks in the country.

Team vB Racing’s Josh McGrath takes us

for a lap on his Yamaha TZ125 GP bike.

“As I head down the straight at 200km/h,

I can see the 100m board approaching

pretty quick. Just as I pass that, I sit up,

brake hard and shift down three into third

gear. Running deep and wide into turn

one, I tighten the corner up by winding

the throttle on, and just before I hit the

apex, I’m flat out and letting the bike run

out to the white line on the edge of the

track as I exit.

I click fourth down the short straight

heading to the double apex right hander

(Castrol). I brake at the kink and knock it

down two gears into second, then run out

mid-track and tip into the fast, cambered

right hand corner. As I hit the apex I’m

hard on the gas and keeping as far to the

right of the track as possible for the flick

to the left; getting this right will result in

my Yamaha TZ125 doing a wheelie as I’m

changing sides.

I click third again, keeping as far to the

left of the track through turn four, and

hooking into fourth gear for the next right

which is full throttle and leaned right over.

Again, I’m keeping as far to the right of

the track as possible on the exit to get the

widest and fastest entry in to the left

hander hairpin (turn six).

As I tip in, I brake fairly hard and knock it

back two gears. I run my knee over the

ripple strip, and as I exit I’m at full gas

and running right out to the white line on

the edge of the track.

From there, it’s a head down run to the

inside edge of the track, clicking fourth for

the kink (Brickyard) and back to the

outside of the track braking fairly late (but

not too late like Sam did! Ha Ha!) to get

on the gas early through the GWD elbow

(turn eight), and finding as much speed as

possible down the straight.”

> T R A C K P R E V I E W : T E R E T O N G A

Which way does the track go, and what’s the lap record…?

125CC GRAND PRIX LAP RECORD:

1:04.959

600CC SUPERSPORT LAP RECORD:

0:59.949

PROD. SUPERBIKE LAP RECORD:

0:57.604

TOP SPEED

205 km/h

TURN 1

140 km/h

TURN 4

110 km/h

TURN 6

85 km/h

TURN 8

60 km/h

START/FINISH

180 km/h

> J O S H M c G R A T H

With engine issues sorted after Timaru, Josh wasn’t going to let anyone hold him back at Teretonga!

On the Tuesday before Invercargill we

were at Ashburton dyno testing, looking

for the missing power from Levels. We

were able to gain nine horsepower which

was great. Ken, Sam and I left at 6pm in

the van and started driving,

while Maarty and Stu

followed in the Global

Motorsports bus.

It was a long drive and we

talked about the Teretonga

circuit and occasionally paid

out our chauffeur Ken. We

made it to Dunedin that

night and left early

Wednesday morning for the

two and a half hour drive to

Invercargill.

After we arrived we

checked into our motel and headed out to

the track for a look. Jaden Hassen was

practising on his Yamaha R6 and I could

see the track was fast. All I could think

about that night was riding there.

We headed out to the track on Thursday

morning to set up. It was overcast and a

bit windy but I was keen to get out on the

track. That day I got down to a 1.08.94

which I was happy with. The bike wasn’t

running quite as good as we planned, (it

turned out to be a broken HT lead) but I

could definitely feel the difference and I

was feeling confident about the weekend

with a bit more speed.

Friday morning we were at

the track and ready to go.

It was again overcast but

wasn’t too windy. First

session out I instantly

dropped a second off my

time from the day before

and still had plenty more

left in the tank. At the end

of the three sessions I did a

1.07.23 which was 1.7

seconds faster than my

time the previous day and I

was stoked!

Saturday came and I knew I had to get a

good position in qualifying. I pushed and

pushed and ended up doing a 1.06.9 for

Lap two, and Josh (M) is poised to take the lead as James Jarman crashes out at the last turn.

seventh on the grid. I was happy with my

time but not so much with my position.

When the race came, I found that the

rows are fairly close together which was

good for me. The red lights went out and

I stuffed the start, ending up third last

into the first corner. My team-mate Sam

went around the outside of me and I

followed him through the

pack. Sam gapped me when

I got held up by one of the

riders, but when I got past

him I started to catch Sam

again.

Halfway through the race it

started raining and got very slippery on

the slicks. Sam was in third and I was in

fourth. I got passed and was pushed back

down into fifth on the second to last lap

so I tagged on to him because he was

carrying a little bit more pace than me and

we started to catch Sam. On the last

corner of the last lap Sam ran wide so I

passed him and ended up fourth and Sam

fifth.

On Sunday it was raining and windy, but it

didn’t faze me; I like the wet conditions.

On the warm up lap I was following Jake

Lewis. He was going a bit fast and didn’t

see a puddle half way around one of the

corners and crashed, so I was aware of

that puddle for the race.

The race started and I got a good start

but the guy in front of me didn’t so I had

to back off and otherwise I would have hit

him. I went from eighth to third in the first

corner, and on the last corner the lead

rider highsided and I went into second

place. The next corner I went around the

outside of the new leader and put the

pedal down. I got up to a three second

lead then I saw that gap start to drop.

In the next few laps Amirul Azmi passed

me. I tried to go with him, but he is a lot

lighter than me and was able to push

harder through the corners.

He got a two second lead on

me in the next six laps but

then he hit a puddle on the

last lap and crashed in the

same corner Jake Lewis

crashed in during the warm

up. This meant I got my first

ever national win and I also won that

round. I was absolutely stoked, and so

was the team. That moved me up into

third overall, so I’m in with a chance of

winning the championship. Big thanks to

Maarty and Stu for helping me out and

working on my bikes.

“ I got my first ever national win, and I also won that

round. I was absolutely stoked, and so was the team”

> S A M B A K E R

Atrocious weather and a setback during qualifying hasn’t dulled Sam’s enjoyment of racing

After round one of the 2011 New Zealand

nationals at Timaru all done and dusted, I

was looking forward to getting down to

the Teretonga circuit at Invercargill. I had

been here previously last year for the Burt

Munro Classic and loved the

fast and flowing style of the

circuit. Being the

southernmost race track in

the world is always going to

provide some wild weather,

and this, round two of the

New Zealand Nationals was

no exception.

We arrived at Invercargill

on Wednesday and after

checking into the motel we

went straight to the circuit.

I was keen to get back

there and have a look

before riding to refresh my

memory of the track. My young team-

mate Josh was also anxious to have a look

at the track, which we had talked about

on the long seven hour drive from

Christchurch, (in between the usual Aussie

vs. Kiwi banter, which Ken loses every

time).

The forecast was for high winds, and rain

was always a chance over the weekend. A

couple of laps around the track in the van

jogged my memory a bit, and Josh was

taking in as much as he could about the

track. We had a test day booked for the

Thursday which is something that doesn’t

happen at home in Australia as you are

not allowed onto a circuit a week before

any national event.

The Thursday was a nice

relaxed start to the

weekend and with only two

sessions on the 125 I could

feel I had a good lap time

in me and could also see

Josh picking up early pace.

Friday practice and we still

had dry conditions, freezing

cold and windy but dry

nonetheless. I got onto the

back of the local riders and

picked up some good lines

around the track. My pace

was a little off what I

wanted so qualifying was on

my mind Friday night and knew I had to

pull out better lap.

Sam sets after the leading bunch during race one

Saturday morning and once again the

clouds were holding out, and practice and

qualifying would both be dry sessions. The

top six were running at a fast pace and I

knew in qualifying I had to do a solid lap.

This wouldn’t go to plan as my session

ended on the fast first left hand turn on

my second lap. My little rocket Yamaha TZ

lost some water and I ended

up watching qualifying from

the tyre wall. Even though it

was a very good spectator

spot, I wasn’t thrilled as I

knew I’d be starting off the

back of the grid.

With a couple drops on my

visor (but still a dry track), we headed out

on slicks for the nine lap race one.

Starting from the back of the grid I got a

good launch and pushed from the start as

I knew the front runners would push early.

Four laps in, I got to sixth position, and

then the rain started. Riders were

dropping like flies around the fast first

corner and I found myself in third

position. Then on the last corner on the

last lap, I ran wide letting in two riders,

putting Josh in fourth and me in fifth. Not

a bad result from 12th on the but a top

three finish would have been nice.

This was my first time on a new set of

wets and after taking a couple laps to get

a feel for them I started picking up

positions. To finish the shortened eight lap

race was a feat in itself and I finished

sixth.

Josh must’ve used all my super coaching

advice all at once as he won the race and

ended up with the overall

win for the round. A massive

result for Josh and he

couldn’t get the grin off his

face.

Developing young riders is

one of Maarty’s main goals

and having his 14 year old

rider win a national round at a track he’d

had never seen before was a unreal result.

Big thanks to Maarty and Stu, Andrew

from HGS/Global Motorsport and the rest

of the sponsors who helped us get

through one wild weekend of racing.

“I got a good launch and pushed from the start as I

knew the front runners would push early. Four laps in, I

got to sixth position, and then the rain started….”

All the rain that had held out the previous

three days hit Sunday; easily the wettest

conditions I have ever ridden in. It was so

wet that the meeting was almost

cancelled, but one round of racing would

go ahead.

> K E N N E T H J O N E S

Ken continues to raise his game in Superlite with more personal best times at Teretonga

We rolled up to the track in Invercargill

early Thursday morning feeling ready for

whatever the weekend had to throw our

way. The weather was fine but cold, and it

looked very threatening and

wet for the days ahead.

With the day underway I

managed to get three

sessions in on the Yamaha

YZF450. We made several

changes to suspension,

looking for a better solution

to the handling of our 450

machine, before reverting

to the original settings. In

doing so, I lowered my

best time of the day down

to 1.08.1.

Feeling a lot more confident with the

handling of the bike we rolled out to the

track early on Friday for yet another day

of testing, again trying some different

suspension solutions but ultimately going

back to our settings from round one at

Timaru. We did however opt for a harder

rear tyre which seemed to cure any

lingering issues we had, as well as putting

an end to the “cold tearing” we were

experiencing. By the end of the day I

managed to get more

familiar with the track and

lower my personal best

down to 1.06.7.

Feeling rather chuffed with

myself I felt more than

ready for the Saturday

action ahead and sure

enough, before I knew it I

was up and ready for the

first session. Easing my way

into the first session, I

soon found myself having

equalled my personal best

time of the weekend so far.

Ken battles with Tim Gray during Sunday morning’s race, both riding the modified/custom build bikes that Superlite rules allow.

Before the next session I had a talk with

Robert from CKT Technical (Öhlins) and

discussed what we could do to improve

the handling of the bike. With my faster

pace now I was starting to get some

unwanted feedback from my machine.

With a couple of changes made, qualifying

was up and I was keen to

see how these changes

would feel. I instantly found

the bike to be handling great

and in the first few laps I

was already within 0.5 of a

second of my personal best.

I was feeling great, and with the changes

making the bike much more compliant I

was able to qualify 11th on the grid with a

new personal best of 1.06.5.

Race one was soon upon us and I was

ready to go out and have fun and see how

much more I could improve.

During the race I managed to not only to

beat my personal best by 0.5 a second,

but I was doing so consistently with my

new personal best now being a 1.06.0 and

sitting within 0.3 of a second every lap.

Sunday arrived and the weather looked

very average. Sure enough, before too

long it was wet, however, it was a quick

change of tyres and out we went.

I was keen to see how the Bridgestone

wets handled in the rain, and I have only

good news: they handle great and even

after a slight mechanical glitch (our

lanyard kill switch developed a momentary

short) mid-race I managed to secure a

tenth place finish overall.

The weekend rounded out

with a race on our Global

Motorsports 150’s, in

probably the worst

conditions of the weekend

but man it was a fun race,

only getting pipped at the

line for the race win but still taking the

overall for the 150cc class for the

weekend! What a hoot!

ROLL ON RUAPUNA!!!!!!!!!!!

“ During the race I managed to not only to beat my

personal best by 0.5 a second, but I was doing so

consistently”

Andrew Forward is Director of HGS Ltd

and Global Motorsports and a major

supporter of Team vB racing.

Andrew served his apprenticeship as a

motorcycle mechanic in

Hawkes Bay and spent six

years in the industry before

he starting racing

motocross at the ripe old

age of 17, then moving to

sealed hill climbs and road

sprints.

At the time he worked with

Phil [Piglet] Payne who was

the NZ 125 Road Race

champion, and encouraged

Andrew to give road racing

a go. Starting on a RD250,

Andrew rode in club days

at Manfeild and the old

Taupo circuits, and in 1981

Andrew won the NZ sealed

hill climb championship,

and competed at national level

in both the 550cc and 750cc production

championships in 1981 and 1982, and the

1982 and 1983 Castrol six hour races.

After a long break from racing in 1983

with a young family, he ventured back into

racing in 2002 riding a GSX-R1000 in the

National Superbike Championship and

continued racing in this class until 2006.

In 1983 Andrew changed careers, moving

into the Horticultural industry

and by 1986 had

established his own 8

hectare pip fruit orchard. By

1989 he had expanded into

a further 25 hectares of

export apples in the

Hawkes Bay region.

Havenleigh Global Services

Ltd [HGS Ltd] is one of New

Zealand’s largest

Horticultural Contracting

companies employing

approximately 300 staff,

supplying labour to the

Horticulture and Viticulture

industries in Hawkes Bay,

Marlborough and Central

Otago. With an

administration office based in

With their involvement ranging from support of 150cc Streetstock racing in New Zealand to MotoGP at Sepang, Andrew Forward and Global Motorsport are a valued asset to Team vB Racing

> A W O R D F R O M O U R S P O N S O R S

With a background in racing and current involvement in racing on a National and International level, Andrew

Christchurch, the company was

established in 2001.

Global Motorsports Ltd. was established in

2007 and is the sole ticket agent in New

Zealand for the MotoGP and Formula One

races at Sepang International circuit in

Malaysia. They run annual trips for fans to

both the Malaysian and Australian MotoGP

races, and this year they have added the

USGP round at Laguna Seca

round to their tour plans.

As a competitor Andrew

learned the highs and lows

that this sport can deliver.

He also learned that, given

the right sort of help,

anything is achievable. It is

with this knowledge that Global

Motorsports Ltd and HGS Ltd have

committed to supporting Ken Jones this

year, with Ken progressing from a 125GP

machine of the past 3 years, to the

Superlite class, riding a Greg Percival

YZF450R machine.

In helping Ken further is road racing

career, Andrew is seeing the benefits of

his imparted wisdom to young Ken (19)

with his results steadily improving as he

continues to build his skill level on the

larger machine.

Global Motorsports also have a passion in

developing new and young riders into the

NZ road racing scene, and they currently

have a plan to introduce riders to road

racing on 150cc four stroke road machines

in their own racing series while also

providing rider and racecraft training along

with the opportunity to progress through

the ranks of both the domestic and

international road racing classes.

Global Motorsports currently have five

150cc Streetstock racing machines, three

of which are being raced by Ken Jones,

Sam Baker and Josh McGrath in an effort

to prove that the machines are capable of

competing with the long standing 150cc

two stroke machines currently raced in

this class. They feel that their race

prepared machines, and professionally

presented and run series will be the future

of junior road racing in New

Zealand.

Global Motorsports are

currently looking to expand

their fleet and discussions

are underway to bring a

major marque into the

Junior Trophy Series, a move

that Global Motorsports truly believe will

bring junior road racing the presence and

support it yearns for. They are extremely

excited to be part of the future of New

Zealand road racing!

For more information on Global

Motorsports Ltd., please visit the website:

www.globalmotorsports.co.nz

“...given the right sort of help, anything is achievable.

It is with this knowledge that Global Motorsports Ltd

and HGS Ltd have committed to supporting Ken Jones

this year...”

Forward, HGS and Global Motorsports are the perfect partners to Team vB Racing

> M A K I N G T R A C K S

The Team vB Racing calendar has more dates this summer than Paris Hilton! Catch us in action soon!

Teretonga

5-6 February

ROUND TWO

Levels

29-30 January

ROUND ONE

Ruapuna

12-13 February

ROUND THREE

Manfeild

2-3 April

ROUND FIVE

Hampton Downs

26-27 March

ROUND FOUR

> H O T S H O T

Josh takes the chequered flag in race two, cheered on by a soaking wet Stu, Maarty and Ken.

T E A M V B R A C I N G N E W Z E A L A N D

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