My goal for the day was to try racing for the first time and get a feel for what it was like. It was also to see if racing was something I wanted to spend some time doing. As some of you know I’ve been doing ok at the odd track day and a couple of the guys suggested I should try racing. Well, a track day is one thing but I imagined racing would be something else again. And I wasn’t wrong!
First of all thanks to Sudeep (Motoracer) for being brave enough to risk lending me his GSXR600 – a bit foolishly as it turned out (really sorry about that Sudeep). Thanks to Kit (Bugjuice) for helping out and telling me stuff like how to start and where to line up – all the things a newbie needs to know but doesn’t want to ask.
The day started for me with the practice session. This went ok and I qualified third with a CBR600 and a CBR900 ahead of me in Clubmans. After watching some of the other races it was finally my turn. We did a one-lap warm up and then lined up on the grid. This turned out a bit funny because no-one had told me there were two starts – one for the pre-89 classics in front of us on the grid and then one for us! Oops! Wondered why I got such a good start compared to the rest of Clubmans!
Everything went well for the first half of the first lap and then coming into the hairpin it all turned a bit pear-shaped. I dropped down from 6th to 2nd coming into the turn and before I’d even started the turn I was suddenly on the deck. I have no idea what I did wrong as I’d been doing the same thing all day in practice. All I can think is that I just came in too fast and lost the front. Luckily I was on the outside and fell clear of the rest of the bikes.
I could not believe it. My first lap of my first race on a bike that was not mine and I binned it. I was so cross at myself! The marshals came running over and asked if I was ok. They then picked up the bike and rolled it away. Not having had this experience before I didn’t know if I was going to be allowed back in the race so I was pleased that one of the marshals managed to restart the bike for me and I was allowed to get going. Thanks guys!
I finished the race and managed a third place much to my surprise! Not the best start to my racing career though and I just cringe to think what poor Sudeep was thinking when I rode back into the pits on his bike.
I completed two more races and although I never pulled the times I did the previous day, by the last race I felt I was getting back into the groove again so was pretty happy with that. I learnt heaps. I learnt that racing is fun but can be cut-throat. I learnt that I can crash and get back on. I also learnt that I will be back to try again.
A couple of people that I need to thank as well are Frosty for letting me do a session on his SV nearly a year ago and getting me completely hooked on this game. Thanks also to Bret (Quasievil) for offering me his bike to race and getting me thinking about the whole thing. And thanks to Motobob for driving me to and from the track most of the time! Thanks to Jo and Rach for coming along and hanging out in the pits with me. And thanks to everyone who has supported me to get out there and do it.
I’ll be back – this time on my own race bike!
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Originally Posted by Drew
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