Respect earned
Jincheng jc250
18 July 2020
Shimba Hills Forest, Kwale
20 July 2020By Wakili Timam
T he amount of respect that this bike has earned today will last for a very long time. You can't sit back and expect people to notice or respect your talents. You grab every opportunity, believable or otherwise and prove your mettle in their presence.
As y'all know, we repaired Sonic's engine 3 Sundays ago when all major engine components were replaced.
Most "professionals" stated that the repaired engine wouldn't work among other "well thought through" opinions. Even my choice of trusting George Mbugua with the engine rebuild was questioned. Three weeks later, We have since covered over 4,000km in that three week period including two rides to Malindi and back, Narok, Kajiado etc. #MamboYaImaniWachiaMungu.
Last week we accepted a challenge on the race track from a self proclaimed MT09 guru who's ass we wiped the floor with soon thereafter. The bike has got a number of glitches which are being addressed as they are discovered.
Today we had the opportunity to request East Africa's Superbike Championship's second best racer Izzoh "59" to give #Sonic and I a chance to gauge ourselves against him which he accepted. Only Kenya's best racer Evans Acid Boy was faster than him in the 600cc category. A team of skeptical bikers were even willing to place bets that I didn't stand a chance against him seeing how fast Izzoh had been riding earlier on but in the spirit of good sportsmanship, that idea was shunned with extreme prejudice.
We got on to the track, just the Izzoh and I. I had an unfair advantage of riding on proper race tyres courtesy of Bike Tyres Kenya while Izzoh's bike had standard street tyres. I had also spent more time on the track while Izzoh had just done a couple of runs by that time. My brakes were spent so I was relying on Rev matching which Edu Gee TheChef taught me during the R6 days. We did approximately 8 to 10 laps.
The thing is I am proud to say that I emerged faster. I was able to pass him, lead the way and create a small but consistently growing gap between us. Obviously, this doesn't mean that I am a better racer than Izzoh. Not yet. I look up to proper and talented racers like him. But today I was faster than him.
Please note that this is a 400cc bike with 2 cylinders that until three weeks ago was parked in a garage awaiting spare parts racing (non competitively) against a 600cc 4 cylinder Honda CBR. Our future in track racing is very bright. I would love to see such competitive riders coming up within my 400cc category.
I take this opportunity to thank my brother Izoh for giving me the opportunity. I have a lot of respect for him. It will take a lot more practice to get to his level but for now, I have to appreciate the fact that he is creating a platform for lower cc riders to level up. I look forward to many more such challenges and to be able to help elevate this sport to the next level. Asante sana Bassam Ibn Mubarak Farouk for continuing to trust and invest in my talent.
#NiHayoTuKwaSasa
#TeamTimam
#Sonic
#OctaneRacingTeam
#ToGodBeTheGlory
