Keiran Mair has a blast at Suzuki Series 2022 Round 2 in conjunction with NZSBK.
#poweredbywhitespowersports rider, Keiran Mair had his first outing on the TSS Motorcycles Better Finance KTM RC390 at Manfeild over the weekend and share this report with us.
Keiran races in Richa leathers, Gaerne boots and LS2 helmets, and runs Bridgestone tyres.
Friday
Back “home” at Manfeild where I’ve done the majority of my training and practice. We worked on my riding technique and lines for the Friday test day prior to the racing weekend with Steve from Moto Academy NZ.
I managed to set some personal best lap times and get a measure of where I am in respect to the rest of the 300SS field. It was encouraging not be too far off competitive times with some really experienced riders.
My TSS Motorcycles Better Finance KTM ran mint all day and we had put a new set of Bridgestone R11 tyres in which gave me great feel and feedback. It was really cool to meet Gar from Better when he popped in to say Hello.
Saturday
Saturday we had practice, qualifying and Race 1 and it was wet in the morning. For my first practice I got out and felt like I had really good rhythm and smoothness. After a red flag early in the session I found myself in P17 which was a bit disappointing but my first time on a fully wet track on wets and I was having a couple of visibility issues.
In the 150 Super Sport class I was racing my trusty old Suzuki Gixxer 150 “Snail” and found myself 4th overall, 1st Gixxer by a good gap. For qualifying my rider coach, Steve from Moto Academy NZ, gave me a bit of advice and a pep talk. I was out on the TSS Motorcycles Better Finance RC390 and it was really raining hard. I settled into the conditions and had my best session coming home 8th for a second row start, battling hard with Dennis Charlett all session.
It was awesome fun! My Bridgestone wets hung on so well my times were only 2.5 seconds off my best dry time!
300 Super Sport Race 1 = P15
I was an absolute bundle of nerves before the race, my first on the KTM RC390. It wasn’t helped by a wet but rapidly drying track 30 minutes before our race call so Dad set to work setting the bike up for dry conditions. Steve stepped me through a solid pre-start procedure and I headed out to take my spot on the second row.
When the lights flashed out I sort of botched the start and really got swamped into turn one. I lost a few positions through the race but had some really great battles the whole time and was really stoked to finish 15th and 2nd KTM home! Points in my first ever national level race! At 8 laps which was the longest road race I’ve yet completed so I was really thrilled my training at Buildabody Upper Hutt has paid off.
150 Super Sport – Gixxer Cup Race 1 5th overall, 1st Gixxer Cup
I felt a whole lot more at ease going into this race because I’d already completed three meetings on the Gixxer and while it’s really slow, it’s a lot of fun to ride. It was absolutely pouring with rain so we just tried to get it over and done with really.
I finished 5th overall and 1st Gixxer enjoying really chasing Megan Kemp on her R15 just ahead. Once again, the Bridgestone wets never moved an inch all race.
Sunday
After a really nice BBQ with TSS teammate Deano Bentley, his family and Stewart from TSS Motorcycles the night before, we woke to no rain and a rapidly warming day. Early 3 lap warm ups on each bike were instrumental in setting myself up for the day ahead.
300 Super Sport Race 2 = P17
Sadly, my start was no better than the day before and I was mobbed into turn one by a tonne of hungry 300 SS riders! I had some great mid pack battles with many different riders but eventually losing out to each rider and finding myself slipping back further through the pack, at one stage in 20th.
Fortunately, I managed to maintain a semi consistent lap time for the last four laps of the twelve and claw back a few positions to finish in 17th position. There were heaps of yellow flags in this race and t was hard to know where the yellow zone finished and the next one started! About five riders got penalised for passing under yellow but it made no difference to my position.
150 Super Sport – Gixxer Cup Race 2 = P4 overall, 1st Gixxer Cup.
Finally a dry race on the little bike so we could let loose all 14hp! With a full dry track today dad had the Bridgestone S22 road tyres fitted and the bike felt really slow. Being a dry track the R15 Yamahas could really get ahead so I had a really lonely race to run but just had fun gooning around trying to get my elbow down. Funnily, the lap time difference between my wet and dry races was less than a second.
300 Super Sport Race 3 = P20
We had a plan for the start! I was going to focus on getting to the outside of turn one and railing around the congestion, hopefully compensating for my slow starts and offering a different line. Sadly there was a bit of argy bargy turn one and someone got pushed out in front of me, hitting the brakes hard mid turn and I had nowhere to go but totally ruining mine and Steve’s cunning plan.
During the race I got to battle again with some riders but slowly got dropped by the big group of nine or ten riders ahead. I was as low as 22nd at one point but hung on for that 20th place and tried to focus on my riding rather than “racing”.
It was a much calmer race but the track temperature was really high and my R11 tyres had really gotten a hiding over the past three days of riding so with some slides here and there I just cruised home to finish the race upright.
150 Super Sport – Gixxer Cup Race 3 = P5 overall, 1st Gixxer Cup
Final race of the day and really a carbon copy of the earlier one. S22 tyres absolutely did the business all day and maintained their grip perfectly. I watched (from afar) a couple of brilliant battles and just rode my ride to cruise home. As the first round was cancelled at Taupo, this made the 150 SS a single round championship so I won the Gixxer Cup class!
Overall, the weekend was a great success with many positives to take home along with a few things to improve on. This was my first race meeting on the KTM RC390 (the oldest bike in the class) and only my fourth ever meeting. I set faster lap times than ever while maintaining good form.
My wet weather pace was amongst the best in the country. My fitness and consistency is great thanks to my physical training with the team at Buildabody Upper Hutt, even double classing with long races in very hot humid weather couldn’t wear me out. Once I have my starts figured out, we genuinely have the lap speed to compete right up to the top ten positions so I’m excited to work on these.
Big thanks to all the people who have got me here, especially the team at TSS Motorcycles for providing the sweet bikes and Better Finance for getting in behind a young racer starting out. We’re lucky to have support from Whites Powersports who help with all my riding gear like my comfy as Richa leathers and Gaerne boots. I LOVE my LS2 Thunder carbon helmet, it’s so light and well ventilated and the vision is really good.
Liam from Got Speed Media has all my bikes looking so good, people always comment on how well presented they are. Steve from Moto Academy NZ is our biggest asset in keeping me on track and giving me things to work on throughout the weekend.
Now we do heaps of work on the bikes to make sure they’re performing 100% when we head to the South Island for NZSBK in January.
Thanks for reading,
Keiran Mair (with help from Dad).
