Motorsport: Racing hopes slip away

Simon and Garfunkel's song Slip Sliding Away best describes my first race of the Bridgestone Winter Series at Manfeild Raceway near Palmerston North.

I had missed the first two rounds of the 2012 winter series which ran on May 5-6 and June 9, because I hadn't found a bike to race in time.

While the first round was being raced, I was still in Rotorua with no bike but enjoying some quality time with my partner, Sarah. At one point during the weekend Sarah and I were at Central Mall, when I noticed a newspaper article saying "Racing resumes after fatal crash".

The story said the incident was from the first round of the Winter Series and it involved a friend of mine, Mark Brehaut. Mark had collided with another bike during the race and was killed.

In a tragic turn of events, Mark had only just returned from a near-fatal health scare which involved his brain.

His death had a huge impact on the motorcycle racing community because we're like one big family, passionate about the sport and all adrenaline junkies who enjoy living life to its full. Mark devoted his life to fundraising for charity after surviving the health scare.

Local iwi were brought in to bless the track before a lap of honour was held on the Sunday morning. I know Mark will be sadly missed but not forgotten.

I return to racing after Mark's death with a mixture of sadness and excitement, because I had bought my new bike not long after the second round and it was ready for last weekend's round at Manfeild.

My new bike is a 1997 Suzuki GSXR600. It is a 15-year-old bike but it's competitive in a new class in this series organised by the Victoria Motorcycle Club.

I had plenty of confidence, when I arrived at Manfeild for round three. But during qualifying my bottom radiator hose came off and put coolant all over my rear tyre and as I went into a sweeping corner, I felt the back tyre lose traction, which caused the bike to slide away from me under acceleration. I got the bike back to the pits to put the hose back on to the engine and got back out for my first race.

As I exited the first corner my bike started to flat-spot when I applied the throttle, which means it was not responding and died in idle, then all of a sudden the bike comes back to life at full throttle.

I came back in to the pits and that's where I stayed for the rest of the day trying to diagnose the problem.

So pretty much my first race back "slipped away" from me.

The fourth round of the Bridgestone Winter series is at Manfeild on August 25 and I'm hoping this round will go to plan.

Cory Mudge is a Rotorua rider competing in the Bridgestone Winter Series run by the Victoria Motorcycle Club and the Pacific Motorcycle Club Bike Rider Magazine Summer series.