Umm, it's all a little hazy really.
Let's see, got up, went to Deano's house, got in car, went to racetrack, did some stuff, waited for qualifying.
I'd never done the full circuit before, so that was pretty cool having a new experience out there. Qualifying went not so well, there were yellows and then a red. That's okay, we were all pretty much in the same boat in that regard.
Poor Darkman set the best time, and then crashed out of qualifying. I qualified 15th overall, or 4th in Clubmans B.
First race, crap start, but I felt good, bike felt good. My performance enhancements have worked out great. It feels much stronger. The other 400s are not getting away, I can stay with them. And the bigger bikes simply don't fuck off into the distance anymore. Sweet. Watching Tom I can see I could be a hell of a lot more aggressive in traffic, that guy is a demon. But I didn't follow his style and didn't go for the gaps in the first lap like I suppose I could have. Speaking of Tom, in the second lap I saw someone t-bone him while he was going into the hairpin in the back section of the track. It looked pretty nasty. I don't quite remember what happened really, but I came in buzzing having felt like I had put in a good effort and not at all dissatisfied with the machine. I was super happy, not caring if I had come last or not. Turns out I got 6th out of 9.
Second race, crap start again (I'm gonna have to practice those). And I went for a couple of gaps, I obviously pissed off someone after passing them because they tried to retake their place into the hairpin and they completely stuffed it up after passing me back... Tehehehe... Passed a few more people, and then it was following Dave Coyle around the track getting closer through the back section and him creeping away down the front straight. I was just loving the back section, I've never cranked a bike over that far going that fast before in my life and it was awesome. And going a little bit sideways too, awesome, I loved it. And I was feeling pretty damn calm too, not stressed and not fighting the bike. I don't think I messed up a gear change the entire race.
I finished 7th out of 11, which I don't feel at all bad about. The cool thing is my best laptime was a 2:21.994, which is about the same as 5 other riders on a mixture of machinery in this (Small!!) class, so I there is scope for all of us to have some good racing, which is what I came here for. Also it is nice to see if I was in F3 I'd not be coming last. And I'm going faster than some newer more powerful machinery, it's a good feeling.
Sure, I could brake later and go faster around corners, but what a confidence booster to have such an un-eventful yet throughly enjoyable day!
Big thanks to Deano, you are awesome man, Nicky's and your help is invaluable and I really can't thank you enough.
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Originally Posted by skelstar
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