| Snetterton - August 18th & 19th 2007 |
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Myself and Richard spent a fair bit of time prepping the bike before this
race as its mid season refresh was seriously due, this involved the heads and
barrels coming off and a full service of the valve gear inc new inlet valves,
brake system overhaul, repair of crash damage still causing hassle after the
accident from Darley Moor, setting up gearing and suspension etc etc. We travelled up to the circuit on Friday afternoon after some last minuet machine fettling at Louigi Moto workshop and after an interesting route due to my Girlfriends creative map reading we arrived slightly later than planned and found a nice spot at the circuit to set up. We then went to the bar for a couple of beers and discussed team tactics with spanner people Doug and Hilary, technical guru Rich and team groupies Shona and Becca. It was heavy rain over night but dry in the morning for technical inspection of machine and clothing. Saturday’s racing- First practice I went out to familiarise myself with machine and circuit. All went well and we were ready for our first timed qualifying session for the NG Open. Around 40 riders went on track and after the 20 minuets we ended up 12th fastest which was fairly good for such a fast circuit on a twin against mainly four cylinder machines most of which are the latest spec and some tuned to over 200BHP. The first SOT qualifying race we had to start 18th on the grid due to it being by ballot. I got a good start and within three laps was closing in on 4th place and putting in some decent lap times, unfortunately the machine stopped dead coming out of the bomb hole which was a surprise as it had been running well, a following rider on an SP1 Honda (Jazz Withy, more of him later) came very close to hitting the back of it! I tried to bump it as it was still rolling but nothing so I pulled off the circuit. After the race had finished I loaded the bike into the circuit recovery van with the help of some marshals. As the van pulled up I could tell by the look on their faces everyone in my pit had thought I had fell off it and it would likely be damaged so I felt pleased to tell them it was all ok apart from it stopping! Turns out the main lead that comes out of the P8 ECU (Engines computer brain runs fuel and ignition) had randomly fallen out which should not be possible as its held in by a spring clip we have not had that happen before it was just unfortunate and likely it got snagged somehow when we fitted the bodywork and then worked its way out. So it was an easy fix for the next race, plugged it in and away it went. (With a cable tie right round for extra peace of mind!) Onto the open race- Started 12th but got a bit of a slow start and got away about 15th managed to pass a few people and ended up around 12th again when a determined rider on an R1 Yamaha decided he wanted a race so we ended up swapping positions with me mainly faster on all the braking entries and corners but with his extra power he kept coming by down both the front straight and the long back straight. Unfortunately this action slowed us up a bit and we lost touch with the guys in front, I managed to get rid of him after a bit as I worked on the section after the back straight to get a run through the corners faster in one sequence to drop him off before the next straight, once I was away I started gaining on those in front but ended up running out of laps so had to settle for 12th position in this one. The Sound of Thunder Final-Due to my earlier non-finish I had to start from dead last on the grid right at the back behind some 40 or so bikes! I got a good start and set about passing as many people as possible all race and ended up fourth setting the 3rd fastest lap of the race which we were all fairly pleased with apart from the thought of what might have been had we started nearer the front. Sunday’s racing- When we got up it was heavy rain and the circuit was very wet, I decided to go out in practice on my spare bike 996 SPS as it had wet tyres on already and just needed fuelling up and thought Id get myself dialled in to a bit of wet weather riding. The SPS is a bit easier to handle in the wet as it has a softer power delivery. I had a real nice run round with only one big slide heading out of the bomb hole towards Coram which I managed to sort out it was fun out there but very slippy compared to the day before, some of the riders were going silly though I had two crash right in front of me one came through a bit out of control and then crashed the other came through pushing hard and I thought “ carry on m8 its only first practice” next thing after I followed him for a few corners it spat him over the high side coming out the esses ! First race- We fitted a new set of slick tyres, which I had to scrub in on the warm up lap. Starting from 18th again. Decided I was going to give it two sensible ish laps once race started to get tyres properly scrubbed in and working then push really hard as I wanted a result for myself and the team. Had a fairly good start and started working my way through passing riders where ever I could, the weather started to turn with rain spitting which I could see on my screen and visor I have had this before and generally you still have lots of grip unless it rains heavier and makes the surface slick which tends to not make slick tyres grip too good, I decided to push on as I was fast catching the leaders that is until I got to Coram curve at around 105/110 MPH in 4th gear the back tyre suddenly lost grip which I corrected and then around half a second later it let go big time and I got high sided off the bike quite spectacularly doing a high speed hand stand on the handle bars before letting go and then hitting the floor! I slid for a bit until hitting a black object that turned out to be Jazz from earlier SP1 Honda who had also fell off a few seconds before myself. I got up to witness several other riders and bikes on the ground in what had turned into a fairly major accident, basically a random cloud had within a lap rained hard on that one corner half way round 10 riders myself included fell off! Most were leading riders so that race got declared a result and I was credited with 5th, which is where I was when I came off. The medical staff took me away as I had some damage on my crash helmet but after my check up I got let out the med centre to race again as I was luckily o.k. bar some bruising. We hastily repaired the no1 bike as it was mainly superficial damage the usual broken handlebar, control levers, footpeg, gearshifter screen etc etc. Rich, Doug and myself made short work of it and got it repaired and re scrutineered, put on my spare helmet and leathers and was good to go again for the final. We stood around for a bit wondering what tyres to put in as it was raining then drying up again all the time we ended up getting both bikes ready one with intermediate tyres on it and the no1 bike with wets on as it’s the fastest one which is what you need at Snetterton. Turned out it was wet so I headed out on the 1026,started 5th on the grid got a good start until it spun up on the paint leaving the grid which is a big strip just after the start line for some kind of car use, went a bit sideways and then I managed to get going about 10th with some work to do. After the earlier accident Ill admit I was looking to bring it home this time I managed to get up to fourth with a lap to go then passed third placed Jazz on his VTR SP1 down the back straight he was sat up cruising so I assumed it must have broken, coming into the last corner he blasted by again and just pipped me to the line for 3rd turns out he though race was over a lap early until I motored by him so a safe third turned into a mugged back to fourth! Roll on Pembrey on the 15th 16th September and hopefully some better weather and a bit of luck and we can do better next time out. Fingers crossed … |
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