KIWI RIDER 07 2018 VOL.2 | Page 79

“ I just sat in behind in 5th for most of the race saving my energy and thinking what the best strategy for the final lap might be HAMPTON DOWNS ROUND six We had over a month’s break before the next round at Hampton Downs. Even though we had a pretty bad round at Timaru, we were still right in the points so we organised to go to a practice day at Hampton Downs to get some track time. As I live about 15 minutes away we got up the morning of the practice day and headed to the track. This was the first time we’ve ever used tyre warmers, so it was a good time to experiment with them. Everyone else in the top five runs tyre warmers, so they definitely had the edge on me on the first lap and a half before my tyres warmed up. The practice day went really well, cutting around 15 seconds off my lap time and getting my lines all dialled in for race day. Round 6 of the Gixxer Cup ran alongside Round 3 of the NZSBK Nationals, and when it came around I was feeling well prepared both mentally and physically. It all started off with another practice day on the Friday, which went well, so all was looking good for race day. Race day morning I