After missing Round 1 due to the holiday in Europe and having not been on the bike or track since the Bernard day in December, I was buzzing for Round 2 and a chance for a ‘long’ weekend of testing and racing. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way, but neither the weather nor the club are to blame for that.
Friday testing
Arrived at the track nice n early to set up the garage, give the bike the once over and get it sorted for the day. Unfortunately I still had the Conti Race Attacks on at this stage and no wets in the garage, and the track conditions were certainly not suitable early in the day. This did give me the opportunity to meet a few guys and chat about things in general. The track cleared towards the end of the day, and I eventually paid up (full price for half a days testing?) and did two sessions. It was certainly good to get back out there, but I wasn’t setting the world on fire when it came to speed or lap-times.
Saturday Qualifying
Again the track wasn’t in brilliant condition for the Race Attacks, but we hoped that if a large enough F2 field went out for qualifying then a decent enough dry line would be cleared for the rest of us. While that proved to be the case, I still went out there very gingerly with the view that setting a time to get on the grid was the most important thing of all. I, like many others it seemed, still managed to give myself a mind altering moment when coming on to the main straight and tapping the throttle on the wet white lines… that was exciting to say the least. So it was little surprise that I earned 11th place on the 12 bike Clubbies grid with a lap just under the 3min mark… I suspect the fella on the rescue quad would have gridded in front of me if he’d entered.
Saturday Race 1
By the time Clubbies race one came around, the track looked dry, and our warm-up lap gave me some confidence that I’d have a good time. For some reason I’m more comfortable on the back of the circuit with the flat corners than I am on the main circuit with it’s banked corners… so I figured that if I could stay with the pack long enough, then I may be able to make some moves over there. But my over confidence and desire to get with the pack by turn 1 bit me on the backside. I ever so slightly anticipated the start, and in that moment when your brain is saying ‘pull it up and no one will notice’, the lights went out and everyone else got a clean start.
I did manage to get out of Toyota in about 8th or 9th place, but was soon passed by a couple of the bigger bikes and better riders. By the time I came out of Higgins for the first time I had two bikes in front of me that needed passing soon if I was to even try and get near the front 6, and a sense of some bikes behind but I was too scared to look. I managed to get passed Richard Clulee on the wee Aprilia somewhere over the back of the circuit, he got me back coming in to Dunlop, and then I was able to use the donk on the 600 to take him back coming on to the main straight and was able to set my sights firmly on the Wendy Harding Ducati which was now about 300-400metres in front.
I slowly managed to pull Wendy in over about three laps, and passed her going into the hairpin over the back of the circuit. By this stage I was well knackered, and coming round to the main flag station I was looking (and praying) for the white-flag. It wasn’t there. So I took some deep breathes and soldiered on for another lap. There was no one in front of me at this stage that I could practically chase, so I was just trying to get into a smooth racing rhythm and see if I could set a reasonable PB as a future target. Again, another lap went by with no white-flag, more deep breaths. And another lap with no white flag… when will this end?
This time, coming out of Higgins and seemingly from nowhere, I’m passed by Richard on the Aprilia (I thought I’d left him ages ago) and Malcolm Foster on the Ducati (I thought he was one of the ones way up ahead of me). Tagged team by two Italians when your cream crackered… good one. I struggled to stay with these guys and they ended up crossing the line about 6secs in front of me. I was happy with my 10th in my first race back, and confident that my long track PB of 2.21.507 was a mark I could deal with in the latter races of the meeting.
Sunday - The dawn of reckoning.
Weather wise, Sunday was a shocker. But a more prepared team would have been able to deal with it, and most of them did. Not only was I still knackered from my efforts in the previous two days, but I was less than confident with our abilities to safely get the wheels out and in on the Gixxer for us to have Shaun do his magic getting the wets on. Those concerns, and my desire not to put a tired self in the way of other competitors along with a healthy dose of self preservation, saw me take the easy option and choose to only go out if the weather got better. And it didn’t.
So what did we learn from this weekend?
1. I’m unfit and need to do something about it
2. I’m fat and need to do something about that too (I could hear my leathers stretching!)
3. We will get together sometime between now and the next Round and literally practice getting wheels in and out, so future efforts are not so much of an effort
4. See 1 and 2 above.
Big thanks to Shaun for providing the wets even if I didn’t get to use them in anger, to my wing man Grant for putting up with me all weekend, to my lovely wife Janice for supporting my efforts, and to my sister Sonia and her family for allowing me to use their farm down the road like a hotel on race weekends. To the private sponsor who doesn't want to be named, many thanks. To the company who were going to support us, but pulled out on Tuesday night before Round 2, it's a shame you're not coming along for the ride.
See you all at Round 3!
Cheers, Mark
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Originally Posted by Bucketman96
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