Pumba
20th July 2009, 21:45
Well round one is over and done, and a new season is born.
I havent been feeling to confident on the bike lately (hmmm, could be linked to the time spent off it), and was praying for a dry meet, cause well I dont have any wets yet and I have tendancy to forget I am on slicks.
Anyway, Practise.
I had made a few suspension changes, playing with springs and making spacers etc. and was keen to see what effect they were going to have. I took it slow and the changes seemed to make the front more positive, and not diving when I looked at the brakes. Slowly building up the speed I was feeling better.
Prelim Races 1 & 2
Nothing spectacular happened. I circulated, stayed upright, and finished.
Oh two things did happen, One, one of the Lancaster brothers decided neutral would be a good gear to start in, problem was he was directly in front of me:eek: It made me thankful fore my years of comuting and lane splitting practise. And two, I put my glasses back on after leaving them off for the two practise sessions (left the house with out putting my contacts in, clearly a sign that I had had to many beers while watching the rugby the night before:doh:) and wholy crap it was almost like I was riding on a different track, I frequently fail to remember how blind I am without them:rolleyes:
Race 1
Few warm up laps and was just telling myself to keep calm, and finish well. I managed to time it right and get a spot on the second row of the grid.
Flag dropped and we are off, it wasnt a bad start but not great one either. There was a bit of hustle and bustle round those first few corners, I settled into a routine and tagged on to the back of a couple in front, it was going well, there was no way I was going to get past and relaxed a bit and dropped back.
Next bloddy thing I knew there was another bike next to me and it was time to go again they were with me for a lap and I was trying hard to loose them, last thing I saw was a wheel apear up the inside at the end of the sweeper, it was only there for a moment, cause there was no bloody room for it to be there. I put my head down arse up and completed the last 4 or so laps and was surprised to find that there was no one behind me at the end. Burged if I know what happened there
Finished 8th, stayed on the lead lap and was feeling good.
Race 2
Well the rain decided to roll in for the second round of races. Ok it was just one heavy shower but it saturated the track, so being good races we sent all the B grade novices out to dry it out before we got a go at it :devil2: (hey that was race order and we saw no point in changing it).
By the time we got out there tha only damp part of the cicuit was the sweeper, great the wastest part of the track in the worst possible condition :( I did not think this would hend well.
Anyway, made the second row of the grid again and had an not bad start. once again a bit of hustle and bustle though the fist few corners then we all sorted ourselves out. A couple of laps in Scott on the team ESE RSGP125 secided he would test how it crashed on the wet sweeper and was probally a good reminder that yes that part of the track was still slippery:shit:
A tagged onto a group of three and watched an amasing battle with Cully leading, a Lancaster brother and no. 70 (I think). This went on for a lap or two till the door was forced open on Cully through the S's which I capitilised on and shot through as well comming onto the straight. Once again those in front just had a slight edge on me, and it still wasnt worth pussihing it through the sweeper.
I stayed upright finished 9th, and took 9th place for the round :banana: I was happy.
And After
I was fairly buggered and wasnt worried about doing any of the little social sprint races they were running. I was about to get out of my leathers when I was Cully ofered me a ride of his Team ESE GP125. Well I thought this would be a bit of a laugh.
Now I wasnt really used to reverse pattern, but bloddy hell those things have got some get up and go!! pulling out of the pits the axceleration was mad compared to my deasil powered FXR. I wasnt comfortable and felt a bit cramped to be able to move around freely, but it was great fun on the straighs. I pulled into the pits and got told I wasnt reving it enough so went out and tried again. I was still pathetic (not used to a two banger) and even got tired and had we lie down half way round (sorry bout that, but they do crash well). But it was certinly an experience.
Well thats about it, roll on round two and the :sunny:
I havent been feeling to confident on the bike lately (hmmm, could be linked to the time spent off it), and was praying for a dry meet, cause well I dont have any wets yet and I have tendancy to forget I am on slicks.
Anyway, Practise.
I had made a few suspension changes, playing with springs and making spacers etc. and was keen to see what effect they were going to have. I took it slow and the changes seemed to make the front more positive, and not diving when I looked at the brakes. Slowly building up the speed I was feeling better.
Prelim Races 1 & 2
Nothing spectacular happened. I circulated, stayed upright, and finished.
Oh two things did happen, One, one of the Lancaster brothers decided neutral would be a good gear to start in, problem was he was directly in front of me:eek: It made me thankful fore my years of comuting and lane splitting practise. And two, I put my glasses back on after leaving them off for the two practise sessions (left the house with out putting my contacts in, clearly a sign that I had had to many beers while watching the rugby the night before:doh:) and wholy crap it was almost like I was riding on a different track, I frequently fail to remember how blind I am without them:rolleyes:
Race 1
Few warm up laps and was just telling myself to keep calm, and finish well. I managed to time it right and get a spot on the second row of the grid.
Flag dropped and we are off, it wasnt a bad start but not great one either. There was a bit of hustle and bustle round those first few corners, I settled into a routine and tagged on to the back of a couple in front, it was going well, there was no way I was going to get past and relaxed a bit and dropped back.
Next bloddy thing I knew there was another bike next to me and it was time to go again they were with me for a lap and I was trying hard to loose them, last thing I saw was a wheel apear up the inside at the end of the sweeper, it was only there for a moment, cause there was no bloody room for it to be there. I put my head down arse up and completed the last 4 or so laps and was surprised to find that there was no one behind me at the end. Burged if I know what happened there
Finished 8th, stayed on the lead lap and was feeling good.
Race 2
Well the rain decided to roll in for the second round of races. Ok it was just one heavy shower but it saturated the track, so being good races we sent all the B grade novices out to dry it out before we got a go at it :devil2: (hey that was race order and we saw no point in changing it).
By the time we got out there tha only damp part of the cicuit was the sweeper, great the wastest part of the track in the worst possible condition :( I did not think this would hend well.
Anyway, made the second row of the grid again and had an not bad start. once again a bit of hustle and bustle though the fist few corners then we all sorted ourselves out. A couple of laps in Scott on the team ESE RSGP125 secided he would test how it crashed on the wet sweeper and was probally a good reminder that yes that part of the track was still slippery:shit:
A tagged onto a group of three and watched an amasing battle with Cully leading, a Lancaster brother and no. 70 (I think). This went on for a lap or two till the door was forced open on Cully through the S's which I capitilised on and shot through as well comming onto the straight. Once again those in front just had a slight edge on me, and it still wasnt worth pussihing it through the sweeper.
I stayed upright finished 9th, and took 9th place for the round :banana: I was happy.
And After
I was fairly buggered and wasnt worried about doing any of the little social sprint races they were running. I was about to get out of my leathers when I was Cully ofered me a ride of his Team ESE GP125. Well I thought this would be a bit of a laugh.
Now I wasnt really used to reverse pattern, but bloddy hell those things have got some get up and go!! pulling out of the pits the axceleration was mad compared to my deasil powered FXR. I wasnt comfortable and felt a bit cramped to be able to move around freely, but it was great fun on the straighs. I pulled into the pits and got told I wasnt reving it enough so went out and tried again. I was still pathetic (not used to a two banger) and even got tired and had we lie down half way round (sorry bout that, but they do crash well). But it was certinly an experience.
Well thats about it, roll on round two and the :sunny: