6-7 Sept 2003 中國珠海摩托車賽第4場 趣味花邊

Text: Team Dunlop / Rene Tan
Open Class CL1 NO. 21
It was not an eventful weekend, although there were some spectacular moments. The weather was again the main culprit. It was 'Six of one and half a dozen of the other' so to speak.  The attendance was noticeably down and the mood in the pits were very much a reflection of the ominous clouds over head. For the riders, it was a very difficult choice at times to pick the right tyre.  An intermediate tyre would probably have been the perfect choice. However the rules (at least the FIM Asia Road Racing 2002 version I have in hand) stipulate 'E' mark or 'DOT', so an intermediate tyre was not an option. It was noticed nonetheless that a certain team did use a 'Not for Highway Use' tyre in the 600 Superstock. The results probably would not have been so different. Enough said.
Cheong and I spent Friday dialling in our bikes. I had dropped my forks through by another 5 mm and had to adjust my riding and damping to suit. The fuel injection was left alone.

Talking of crashes, Jimbo must have broken the current 'record' but thankfully not any more bones, by sending his bike OVER the boundary fence at Turn 1. The previous 'record' was a bike that was left lodged on the fence at Turn 6.

Any hope for Saturday's mood to pick up during qualifying was evaporated. Times were down for everyone by around 2-5%. The game was really to stay rubber-side down as far as possible. Because of the rain, some people took a gamble not to attend the first qualifying. However, in the end, the rain kept coming down and everyone was forced to go out for the last qualifying session in order to gain a position on the grid.
During Sunday's warm up, it was absolutely raining cats and dogs. I was kind of hoping it would stay that way. Not that I am a demon in the wet, but I know for sure there were more than a few who were even less comfortable than me riding in the wet.
Open Class was first out at 10 am. The track was drying but no one was prepared to use dry tyres. I had an OK start but was always prepared for the thousands to make it to Turn 1 ahead of me. Steady-as-she-goes was the name of the game. The race soon panned out into several groups and I was following #230 and #313 in sixth. #230 had a very fast get-off in Turn 3 which was soon followed by #313 in Turn 14. When I realised that the rider behind me was a fair bit back, I just told myself to take it easy with 4 laps to go. After all, the idea is the win with the slowest time possible!  So 4th it was in the first leg.

The track had more or less dried out for the second leg by 1 pm. The difference in the approaches to the corners was night and day. Having ridden around in the wet earlier, I now felt like Superman in the dry. Still, 6th was the best I could manage.

　
Even though Cheong's R6 wasn't on form the entire weekend, Cheong wasn't about to let that bother him. He fought valiantly in both heats and was grass tracking on the exits on several turns. He was definitely using all the track and more.
Cheong's R6 had a poor mid-range and the mechanics were trying to eliminate this problem. The R6 also had a weave when lent over, which was partly solved by tightening the steering head bearings. Perhaps the frame was slightly out of line from previous crashes?

Credit is given where credit is due. For the first time this season, Cheung Wai On, also on Dunlop tyres, was showing his true potential. There was that fighting spirit in him this weekend that has been sorely missed so far this year.

Cheong and On fought each other hard in both legs. Although in the end, On's better handling Kawasaki was always going to come out on top, especially in the wet. This showed in the results. On came 3rd in a wet leg 1, 30 seconds ahead of Cheong, in 5th. In a dry leg 2, On was again 3rd, but just over 7 seconds ahead of Cheong in 5th.
　


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