BORIS: Is there even a podium at Hidden Valley or do they make you stand in the car-park? But how would you know? Maybe I should ask Bayliss, huh?
SLOAN: Hahaha! I honestly don’ t even know where the podium is! I know they have one because I have seen photos, but I’ m not joking, I have no idea where it is.
BORIS: So we come to Race Two. Hooray! You beat Glenn Scott. But Phillis pasted you. On a positive note, you were only 31 seconds off first place. That’ s a big improvement. Maybe if there were 16 races each round you would win the last one?
SLOAN: It was close but like I say, it’ s bloody hard to finish 30-odd seconds behind! I surprised myself a little in the second race; I didn’ t get tired, the bike went well, I didn’ t crash, my times improved and I could see the top 10.
BORIS: You could see the Top 10? Fantastic. I’ ll bet they looked great. Do you think one of your issues was the fact your bike was new and you hadn’ t had time to sort it?
SLOAN: It certainly wasn’ t a weekend without its issues, but the bike being new didn’ t actually cause any problems. I was short-shifting early in the weekend until the kms on the engine got into the triple digits, but aside from that it was old parts that had been re-fitted that caused problems. The bike lost all its power three laps into the very first session of the weekend. Walking away from the bike leaning up against the track wall could have very easily been the last straw. Turned out to be a broken wire in the old, aftermarket ignition switch. It’ s not a common or major problem, but the odds of coming up zero six times in a row? The other problems were just set-up issues, new software and some suspension-related stuff you would expect on any other weekend. They just seem exaggerated when you are at your wit’ s end.
SLOAN: Everything is good, the bike is good, the tyres are good, the suspension works well. We do have some set-up issues around the electronics but to bridge the gap to an honest top 10 will only come from me. I just need to do laps, I need to continue to develop my confidence in the bike and improving my lap times.
BORIS: So we are going to see you at the next round and you’ re going to bring your A-game, right?
SLOAN: I am a sucker for punishment so I’ ll be there! Coming into the next round with a healthy bike in one piece is a very good start. I am flirting with the idea of doing a track day at Morgan Park sometime this month to get reacquainted with the place. It’ s actually quite difficult for me to try new settings on race weekend because if you do something that slows the pace too much on the track when you are sharing it with the level of riders in the ASBK it can be dangerous and annoying so I think a track day for me would be quite beneficial.
Photo: Ben Wilkins
BORIS: So what’ s the vibe going forward?
80 KIWI RIDER