2005 Diary

Rounds 11 & 12: Pembrey 25th / 26th June 2005

Well, not only did I manage not to crash but I got my best results so far, showing how much I'm learning this season. For some reason I appeared to be almost asleep for both of the morning's Minitwin races - coming 10th both times when I should really have been further up the field. The Minitwin final on day one was a stormer, fighting all the way and getting into the 1min 5 sec lap times, which I was very pleased with. 13th is my best ever final result - out of 70 plus Minitwin racers in total. The final on day two was cancelled due to lack of time and will be run at another event.

My best performances were in the 400/650 Shootout; the first race saw me keeping Deb in sight and winning good battles with 400s and 650s, ending in 10th place. The second race saw me come in 9th - again my best result.

Rounds 9 & 10: Croix en Ternoix 11th / 12th June 2005

It may be that I'm establishing a reputation as a crasher. I hope this doesn't continue since
1. It does my championship points no good at all and
2. It's expensive.
In Minitwin race 1 I came in a determined 12th - I was very frustrated since I missed the last call to the race and had to go to the back of the grid again! After a start like that 12th was a great result.

In the warmup to the Minitwin final I took a corner too tight - intending to get my knee over the kerbing I managed to dig my right peg in. Because the kerbing was uneven the rear wheel popped into the air and the bike nose dived, sending me flying parascending style down the track. The damage wasn't good; L shaped forks, crunch bodywork, bent front wheel and another rear set. Thanks to all those people who gathered round and helped to rebuild it for me. Unfortunately it wasn't in time for the Shootout, but at least I was ready for Sunday.

I started day 2 thinking positively and race 1 saw me claw my way up the field after another poor race start (how on earth am I going to improve these??!). My times seemed to lower for no particular reason and I rolled in 12th after being taken by a couple of riders I'd earlier fought my way past. I put it down to tiredness and perhaps nerves after the crash, however we found out later that there was almost no damping in the forks - no wonder I was tired wrestling with the thing - I'd wonder why it was jumping around so much under hard braking. Unfortunately I went out into the final with the same set up and managed to scrape 21st place again.

I came 13th in the 450/650 Shootout - my best result so far.

Rounds 7 & 8: Cadwell Park 29th / 30th May 2005

This was a bit of a disaster weekend for me, but with some good results and battles coming out of it. I managed to crash on the left-hander of the Gooseneck on lap 1 of Minitwin race 1 - attempting to undertake my sparring buddy Tony Courtney. The bike wasn't too bad and I was hardly bruised but it meant that I was gridded at the back for the next morning's race. In the Minitwin final on day 1 couldn't kick from 1st to 2nd gear for a few seconds and so ended up being overtaken by all and sundry, so may as well have started at the back. I ended up 19th overall.

In day 2's race 1, I ended up battling up the field to 15th in 3 laps when the race was red flagged. We reformed on the grid and I found out that all my hard work was undone - back to starting positions, i.e. back of the grid again. I was gutted but again fought my way up to 15th in the 4 laps remaining. In the afternoon's final I was too tired as it was my 5th race of the day, and I only managed to limp in 21st place.

I had another ride in the Rookie 400s on race day 2, thanks to the very kind Boffin (Ben) and Aaron. This was immense fun. I borrowed Boffin's for the first race - a ZXR400 with a non-modified engine. I started from the back as I'm not a regular in the championship and quickly battled through the field. I was running around 12th on lap 4 when the heavens opened - it even started to hail. I passed someone else then the yellow flags were out on a couple of corners as fellow racers slid off the track. This signalled caution to the rest of us although I was determined not to lose any places, and rolled past the finish line in 8th place.

The afternoon race was overall a disaster. I was using Aaron's bike with a very sweet engine (I'd love to get my hands on that bike again) and a quick action throttle. Not being used to the throttle I managed to stall the thing off the start, thus negating all that hard work getting to 8th on the grid. I bump started it and set off in hot pursuit of the back markers. By about lap 4 I was dicing with Andy Palmer (who also started at the back) for 6th place... then smoke started pouring out of the radiator and I had to pull over. To say I was gutted was an understatement, but I still had a huge grin from the fun of dicing with Andy.

I had my best 400/650 shootout result on the afternoon of race day 2, coming in a very respectable 12th.

Silverstone NG 7th May 2005

I crashed in my first race. That's after I'd been to the med centre to check on friend Steve after he crashed in his first race

Steve smacked his head and ended up with concussion and being carted off to Northampton general, where he was making demands for cigarettes, books and his favourite paddington bear jimjams.

I had been going great guns having been gridded 32nd out of 34 as a late entry and a guest. I'd got past 10 to 15 other racers (I think... probably more like 5!) by the end of the back straight and was lining up to take 2 or 3 more on the outside on the large left-hander; but the closest minitwin I was overtaking ran wide and I had nowhere to go but the gravel trap. I nose dived and took a head bashing too. The guy who ran wide came and apologised later. Well, the bike got rebuilt with the help of the brilliant welsh contingent I shared a garage with (thanks guys!). I got out for my second race at the back of the grid and proceded to give a poor performance - slower than my practice day lap times. All in all a disappointing weekend for performance and results but still a lot of fun.

Thanks to Spiderman for inviting me along and covering the club and race entry fees.

Rounds 5 & 6: Brands Hatch 30th April / 1st May 2005

The emotions of the team were again on a roller coaster. This was our open weekend so the team had put a lot of effort into making it a special occasion. I think we all missed Kath and Jay and look forward to them rejoining us at Cadwell.

I designed a Feisty Racing 5ft display and Terry Calcott did a great job of producing the film (courtesy of the Window Film Company) to cover his plastic sheeting - take a look at the result on the left. The display outside the marquee helped our large set up look even more professional. More sponsors logos will be on soon, as soon as we can persuade them to send us good enough quality graphics!

Personally I feel I acheived a great deal and really enjoyed the weekend of racing as well as the support of all of our visitors and Chris and Andrea at AdrenalinX.

I qualified quite well in both the morning races and got into the A final on both days. The Clubman races were a definite favourite as I had a Feisty bottom to aim for - Deb was ahead of me (though I did manage to get past on one occasion, however brief). The Saturday clubman race was the setting the a photo with four female racers - Deb in the lead, Loz Smith next, me watching for any mistakes and Sarah Jordan next. Unfortunately that race was restarted after Scott Halliday's spare 400 engine blew leaving oil all the way from Druids around Graham Hill. Loz and Sarah both decided to opt out of the restart so no replay of that tangle. The Sunday Clubman saw Deb and I dicing again, both frustrated by not being able to get past one rider. I mucked up the final corner and managed to hold onto 16th place by a mere 1/1000th second - thank god for transponders!

The biggest thrill for me was Sarah Quinn kindly letting me try her ZXR400 in the Rookie 400s after she had decided not to race. I wasn't allowed to enter it on Saturday since I'd never sat on the bike - in fact I've never been on a bike smaller than a 600 since passing my test 16 years ago! Three laps of morning warm up made me realise that you can't get round fast in top gear - I was busy forgetting to rev the nuts off the bike. I was gridded at the back of course, having only entered the race that morning. After an appalling start I managed to scrape about 15 places by the end of Graham Hill, and was fighting forward through the pack when the race was finished a lap early with me in 11th place. The second race proved that I had to concentrate harder to make the 400 perform as I was struggling with drive out of my favourite corners - purely from being in one gear too high I think. I ended in 9th place having run 2 seconds a lap slower than on my SV650. It was really enjoyable and I wish I had the money to buy one so I could race both a 400 and an SV.

Deb leads, then Loz, me and Sarah

I'm in front

Me on Quinny's 400

Rounds 3 & 4: Lydden Hill 2/3 April 2005

The weekend was one long roller coaster of emotions; the fight for space in the small paddock of Lydden race circuit was counteracted by the camerarderie and fun of us all being under one roof in the marquee supplied by CMC. I had a great weekend of results; after pottering around for the first couple of sessions on practise day and scaring myself silly I really got into the track and now I love it. I was 1st rookie home on Saturday morning (12th overall) and 2nd on Sunday morning (14th overall). This put me 25th and 28th on the grid for the qualifier races where I ended 24th on Saturday and was knocked out (a yellow peril got my clutch lever this time!) on the first corner on Sunday. I found out that if I'd stayed on I would be 3rd in the rookie championship. Oh well, plenty of time to get more points in. I'm pleased to have gained my first proper championship points outside the Rookie Championship.
I also entered the two Clubman 400/650 Shootouts held on the Saturday - where I overtook Deb (admitedly on a yellow flag, oops) and gave her a fight for 3 laps to get back past me again. I ended 15th in the first race having had 10 seconds docked for the flag infringement, but was too tired to really do much in the second race and came home in 24th with slow lap times.
The weekend ended on a tragic note with Kath's crash in the Rookie 400s when an 18 year old lad sadly died. This has made us all consider very carefully our participation in the sport, however, all of us are likely to be racing at Brands at the end of the month.

Rounds 1 & 2: Snetterton 11/12/13 March 2005

Practise was a big learning curve in organisation and bike set up. Unfortunately three of the team hadn't been able to book onto the over subscribed practise day on the Friday (there is a day's full practise the day before all race meetings but one). We ended up having to swap and change a bit to get everyone but Quinny onto the track.
I also discovered something which should have been obvious if I'd condsidered it for more than half a second: don't bung a new, very light, air filter in and expect it to work without rejetting and a day on the dyno. The first session was ended early for me because of the unhappily spurting engine. The DT-1 filter supplied by Billy Hollands Racing will have to go on before Lydden now.
I did get faster during the day but was "whooped" by many a Minitwin and SS400 so definitely time to work on those braking points and turning in points... as well as injecting some bravery serum - where do I buy that?

Saturday
I was gridded 25th in the second Minitwin race (B) in the morning. Qualifying for the afternoon race depends on the results of the morning's A and B races, then there is a non-qualifier's race.
Well, cor blimey, that race start is a scrap and the fight for the first corner - oh my god! I really need to work on my race craft as I have the track day mentaility of being polite in corners and not taking someone's racing line. Politeness does not win places; I knew that of course but putting years of track days behind me will take some doing I think. I also need to work on late braking since I was out-braked a few times and had to fight to get back past a few guys who I knew were a little slower than me. I've got a grip excerciser and intend to use it every day to help with this.
I had a great battle with Tony Courtney, another rookie No. 54, exchanging positions a good few times, almost ramming him on the Bomb Hole and Corhams, then having him outbrake me into Russells, darn it. That's where he got me on the last lap so I came in just behind him.
It was great fun; I was amazed that 7 laps seemed to last for so long - I was sure it must be the end at about 5 laps in! MRO races are double the length and I know fitness is key for performance.
I ended up in 19th place, 5th rookie and qualified for the afternoon race. In the qualifying race I think I was gridded about 26th, though in the end it didn't really matter since I was bumped off track at Russells at the end of the first lap. An unidentified yellow bike rocketed past about 5 of us, lost control and got himself onto the rumble strip, bounced into me and snapped off my front brake lever sending me onto the grass and apparently took another couple of racers out too. I'm not entirely sure about the last bit since I was busy gouging my knee into the grass wondering when the inevitable barrel roll was going to happen. It didn't; I ended up upright and surprised - and rode back to scrutineering to make sure I was OK to go out on Sunday.

Sunday
I was 40th on the grid (last) for the qualifying race after coming 20th in the morning's race, and ended up 34th overall. Both race starts were rubbish putting me at the back (or close) into the first corner with a lot of work to do. I was disappointed, but intend to improve drastically by working on race craft, braking, fitness and race starts. I'll also check out the bike on the dyno, get that filter fitted (I need to keep below the 72bhp limit for the series) and invest in some different sized sprockets as I was being outdragged on the straights a few times.
Roll on Lydden Hill at the end of March...