After spending most of the TRRS weekend, with Robert Taylor’s help, finding a good dry setup, we awoke to a cooler but dry morning. Perfect as the previous day’s VERY hot conditions would have made 3 hours of racing quite challenging.
We arrived early and went through the usual sign in, scrutineering and rider’s briefing. Two practice/qualifying sessions interleaved with the MotoTT trackday and then the big event.
Practice 1
The plan was for me to go out for the first half and let my race partner David Hunt get familiar with the bike again in the 2nd half. This would be David’s 2nd session on the bike. Conscious of the cooler track and the need not to ‘bin’ before we started, I put in some conservatively aggressive laps. The top bikes had cleared out so I found a clear track to put in some flying laps. It wasn’t long before our pit board came out and I pulled in for David’s turn. The session was a little shorter than expected and David only got a couple of laps before the session ended. We had done enough to qualify fourth on the grid.
Practice 2
As we waited for our next practice it became obvious the weather was going to deteriorate as the clouds closed in. 30 minutes before the start of the session rain was consistently falling and the track was truly wet. We still had the dry tyres on the bike and spent the next 20 mins umm’ing and arr’ing about whether to change to wets. Our qualifying position was safe so this session was just to get a feel for the track. With 10 minutes to go and after watching everyone scurry around looking for or fitting wets, we made the decision to change to Wets. David went out first and did some conservative laps. I was out in the 2nd half on the new untried (by me) Metzeler Wets. There was standing water and some parts of the track were quite slippery, especially over the newly painted grid lines on the last corner to the start/finish straight. Despite this the tyres felt very comfortable. We had the 3rd fastest lap time for that session.
Race
I was to start and David to finish with rider/fuel stop every 30 minutes. When the call came we nervously made our way round to the start line for the Le Mans style start. Benji (our pit crew) held the bike at the start line while I made my way to the other side of the track. There was a little delay while the start team settled on who was going to wave the Green flag, but this was settled and we were off. Running across the track in wet leathers and boots was a little tricky but getting my leg over the bike in a hurry was even trickier. Push the start button and it fired up first time!! Got away from the line cleanly and into the first corner in 5th (?).
I was into race mode with the usual jostling for position in the first lap. First drama of the race was in the 2nd or 3rd corner. Overtaking a yellow bike on the outside I was expecting the rider to turn in but as I passed I could feel his handle bars catching on the seat of my leathers. Luckily they unhitched quickly and we made it around the corner upright. As I set on chasing down the leaders, I found myself not far behind Hayden Fitzgerald. Trying to match his pace I followed his line through the fast turn 8 out the back. As I clipped the apex I suddenly found both wheels sliding sideways, luckily race tracks are wide, I recovered and continued. Since this was lap 3 I decided to calm down a bit as we still had a little under 3 hours to go.
After getting into a rhythm, all too soon the pitboard came out. In for a rider swap which went like clockwork with everyone on the pitcrew working well. David looked comfortable on a now truly wet track.
In no time it was my turn again and this pit stop included a fuel stop. With funnel and pourers ready the refuel went smoothly and I was away. The track was now really wet and picking a good line through the seal repairs and white lines was the focus. The rain seemed to be coming down even harder in the second hour and I was beginning to feel water soak through to the underlayer of my leathers. The spray coming off other bikes was pelting my visor like hail which just motivated me to get past as quickly as possible. Half way through the race and another rider change was scheduled.
David was now getting really confident with the bike and tyres and his times were coming down. Rob Edwards from HRC had just come down from the Tower and indicated we were in 5th. The Pits were now a hive of activity with riders/bikes and crews busy running around with umbrellas, lap boards and fuel cans.
Coming up to my final ride, David indicated he was coming in before the scheduled time. He was still riding at race pace so we must be low on fuel. This was a bit unexpected but not a disaster, so I rushed around filling out fuel jugs. The rider change and refuelling went smoothly and I was off on my final ride.
The rain had stopped but the track was still soaked. Jamie Rajek blasted past and I put on a chase to follow his lines. Coming out of turn 7 Jamie went a little wide and his rear wheel just touched the white line. He lowsided in front of me but I managed to take an inside line to avoid running over him. As the session wore on a dry line was now noticeably forming. I could see Jason McCamish (vtec) in the distance going noticeably slower. Over the next couple of laps I put on a chase and was soon right behind him. I wasn’t sure why he had slowed up but I put on a daring move to poke my front wheel up the inside of turn 5. He obviously saw this and put on some pace. I followed closely behind for the next few laps but losing ground on the corner leading to the start/finish straight. I was less willing to try my luck with the white grid lines and seal repair. Jason’s pitboard came out one lap before mine and I had clear last lap to myself before David’s final run home.
I had been chasing Jason with the fuel light flashing for the last 4 laps and as I pitted the ‘1 litre left’ light came on. With two fuel cans going into one funnel we poured a bit extra for the final session. The track was now noticeably drier and some teams were preparing to change wheels. Getting a little worried we checked the tyres but the Metzelers were great showing almost no wear at the end of the race. David’s was finally getting used to the bike and he was putting in some fast laps. He spent most of the session chasing #808 getting quite close through the infield. This was even more impressive when we found out later he had almost no brakes!! We had elected not to put in new pads and the now heavily worn pads were now experiencing major brake fade. No wonder he had so much corner speed !
We managed to get across the start/finish line ahead of the chequered flag and squeeze one more lap in and finish 7th.
Big thanks goes to my Sponsors: Metzeler, Maxima Oils, TripleZee Cycles Dyno Tuning and Botany Honda
And also to David Hunt, my Endurance race partner, for putting up with my obsessive planning and not dropping my newly painted bike and his brother Benji for being our pit crew for the day.
And lastly to Chris and Andy for organising such a great event. I’m looking forward to next year’s event.
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Originally Posted by PrincessBandit
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