WORDS: Zak Fuller
PHOTOS: Andy McGechan
LIVIN LA VIDA
LOCA GIXXER
The second instalment of our season
racing the Gixxer Cup with Zak Fuller.
LEVELS, TIMARU
ROUND FIVE
nly a week after Round 4 we
found ourselves at Levels
Raceway, Timaru for Round 5
of the Gixxer Cup and Round 2
of the NZSBK Nationals. Practice went
well on Friday, my lap times coming
down by about 10 seconds overall.
Qualifying went really well with good
4th position getting me on the front
row. The first four of us were all within
0.2 seconds of each other, meaning
there was going to be a lot of close
racing.
Race 1 didn’t go well at all with my
visor fogging up on the start line.
Because of my inexperience I thought
it was water on the outside of the visor;
to be honest, I didn’t think of flicking it
up a tad to let air in to defog it. Lesson
learnt. I still did pretty good running
third, but got pushed off on the final
lap onto the wet grass and almost
lost it. I just about held it together
and came in 6th.
Race 2 was OK, having
some really good
battles which came
down to the final
few corners,
where I came
76 KIWI RIDER
out with a 3rd place. Race 3 was such
an awesome race while it lasted, I
took the lead several times for the
first time in the series. As I was
going for the lead on the final lap,
the two just in front of me stood
each other up. I tried tucking by
on the inside, but because I was
pushing so hard my back tyre slid
out, dumping me on the ground
in the dirt which was extremely
frustrating. I wasn’t patient
enough and had jumped at
trying to get that first win, but
it’ll come in time – I could feel I
was going to be even faster for
the round at Hampton Downs.
Thanks to my cousin Nathan
and his partner for having us
in Timaru for the weekend.
After a disappointing
end to our South
Island adventure
we had the long
drive home with us
making it to Picton
after the race and
sleeping in the van
with the bike... it wasn’t
the best sleep.
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