Round 10 - Elvington - August 5th

I was fairly confident that my recent radiator repair (bodge) would do the job but just to be on the safe side, i bid for a radiator on ebay. I won the bid and then spent half of Saturday evening driving into Bradford and getting lost. Eventually I found the place I was picking it up from and I headed back to Harrogate for some much needed kip.

Although sleeping in a proper bed always sounds like the best thing, I think I now prefer to sleep in the van and wake up at the circuit. It gives you at least another 1.5hours in bed and seems to take some of the stress out of the morning. As it was, I was up at 7am and arrived at the circuit in plenty of time to get the bike through scrutineering and get signed-on.

There were loads of old faces at the track and I knew that I was going to have to be on top form to get some good results. I used the practice session to scrub my new front tyre in, but couldn't help putting a cheeky last corner move on Matty Handley (just for old times sake).

As for the front tyre, it is a Dunlop Racer, whilst the back is a Metz Racetec. There is loads of talk about incorrect matching of tyres but in my opinion, if you are using the sticky race tyres from each manufacturer, a bit of swapping around doesnt hurt too much. Ideally I'd have matching tyres but at this point of the season I'm having to juggle to make my tyre supply last. The next round will be even worse. The front Dunlop will stay on. The back Racetec will do half the meeting, then I'll swap it for an old Supercorsa that should last a couple of races. Then after that meeting, I'm swapping to try some Michelin Power race tyres I got from Ben Handley. Hey - it's all money!

The 600 qualifying was a straight forward point to point and my 2nd place was never challenged and neither did I challenge for the lead. I think the old faces were just remembering their lines.

The Senior cup qualifying was also turning out to be a bit straightforward until with a lap and a half to go, I realised I was catching 3rd place. I put in a really good lap which brought me right behind him going into the hairpin and I used the momentum out of the turn to drive passed him on the last corner. It was a complete block pass and unfortunately he didn't allow enough space for my late braking. As I was trying to scrub off speed to make the apex, he was cutting back to the inside to try and get extra drive. His front tyre hit my rear tyre and although we both stayed on, it nearly had him off and he wobbled outside of the marked track and I think he lost 4th place.

I went over to apologise to him afterwards, even though it was a fair move. He seemed okay about it. His name was mitch - who I'd later learn was a bit of a nutter and a liability on track.

The 600 trophy race seemed to be over very quickly. I can't even remember much about it, but I do know that I finished 3rd. You'd think that coming 3rd in a trophy race would merit you a 3rd place trophy... but since Auto66 are such a money grabbing club, they decided that the grid size wasn't big enough to warrant giving out 3rd trophies so I was denied the silverware. Its a complete shambles and makes a joke out of the club.

I do remember the Senior cup, or at least the second half of it. I'd been putting in good fast laps, hitting my markers and suddenly I was aware of another rider right on me. He kept showing me his wheel but I'd just roll off the brakes a little and keep him out. It totally changes the way you ride when you know somebody is "on you". You take different lines, you brake later and harder (which kills your mid-corner speed) but then get on the power earlier to get the drive down the straight. I do it to try and break their momentum but ultimately it results in a slower lap and I think you can only do it for a lap or so before they figure out how to change their riding style in order to get passed you. It was a furious last lap and I could hear the bikes engine right behind me, but that's where it stayed and I managed to take 2nd place. As it turns out, it was Nick. He won every single 400cc race last year and has since been riding a CBR600RR with Derby Phoenix. He's a fast lad.

This time I got my mitts on the silverware and another 2nd place trophy for the mantle-piece. When I came into the paddock area, I noticed that there was water dripping out of my lower fairing. The bike was overheating again. Damn. I topped it up and just prayed that it would be ok. I made a conscious effort to keep the bike temp lower before the start of the race (around 60 degrees rather than 70)

The 600 points race was the best one of the day. Not for results but for excitement. Once again, I was in 2nd place and I could hear a bike behind me. A lap later and I was braking hard into the hairpin and a bike wheel appeared on the inside of me. I tried to carry as much speed through the tight 180 right-hander as I could and lean over as much as possible. As I did, my right elbow banged into his left foot, I looked over and we were about 10cms apart, both cranked over to the limit, yet it felt strangely safe and composed. We both accelerated out of the corner, trying to gain that little bit of ground to make the other back off. I'd been as brave as I could, but it was Nick who edged in front into the next corner and then started to creep out a lead from me. He then proceeded to chase down the leader and for the first time in a long time, Rob Wilson didn't win the race. Meanwhile, at the hairpin again, I was just at the end of my braking when Matty came shooting passed me and only just managed to stop from running off the track. I'd later learn that he nearly opted to go on the inside of me rather than the outside - thank god he didn't or it would have been zero points for both of us. In the end I finished 3rd place and lost a little more ground on Rob Wilson in the championship - but got closer to securing 2nd place for the season.

Once again, the coolant was bubbling over and I had to top up the radiator again. I really should have a larger radiator on the bike but I'm hoping I can do without until the end of the season - Hopefully the new one I've just bought should be better than the one on now, with all its hole repairs.

The last race was another standard fair with no great shakes. I rode well and finished a respectable 4th place, behind Nick and the two big thousand cc machines that battle it out every time. The most noticeable thing about the last race was that the strange rise in revs as I accelerated hard onto the straights had become much more pronounced. At first I thought that my tyre had gone off and I was simply spinning up the rear as I got the power down, however I know that my bike doesn't have enough power to spin up in 4th and 5th so it pointed towards a problem with the bike rather than my God-like bike prowess! All fingers pointed at the clutch. Slipper clutches wear the plates quicker than a standard clutch and I had had these plates in for two years so that was the main culprit.

So back onto ebay and I bought a new (used) clutch for a K4/K5 for £45 - bargain

Last night I was up at Scott's. I fitted the new radiator and then we set to work on the clutch. I run a STM slipper clutch which I can't recommend enough. Its a piece of bike porn. The only thing was, this Italian made exotica needs a sodding great 30mm hex nut to get it off. Without such a tool, Scott was able to fashion one together by welding a 22mm steel nut to a 30mm nut and then we used a 22mm socket with our new bespoke double-ended nut to undo the clutch - pure mechanical genius!

So now the bike has a new radiator which should help but might not fix the heating issue and new clutch plates which should do the trick.

I guess the big news is that I have decided that this will be my last season of racing. Its unbelievably time consuming and obviously remains very expensive. It's also strangely lonely at times and it's this more than anything else that is making me move away from it. Without other race mates, its not a sport which I can enjoy to the fullest. I can't talk about racing to anybody (take an avid football fan and put him into a situation where suddenly nobody has an interest in football - it would take a lot of the fun out of the game for him), and I can't share the fun with anybody as even Scott no longer races.

I've been writing this blog for around a year now and only about 3 people read it (thanks you guys). My Folks don't read it (this is a test, as my Dad says he does!), my Brother has absolutely no interest in it and has never wished me good luck or asked me how a race went (although my Nephew thinks I'm a biking God - bless him) and all my "friends" ask me how the biking is going in the same way as they would ask a work colleague how they were - they don't actually want to know, its simply a rhetorical question to appease me.

I also realise that to progress to the next level, I would need to invest probably double the time and money, which I am not prepared to do. I know I'm a good rider, but I'm also a pretty lazy one. Give me a fully prepped bike and tell me to turn up at race time and I'll do the business - But all the stuff that's involved before you even get on the bike is something I could now do without (buying this, fixing that, cleaning this, changing that, driving here, there and everywhere just to get the bike ready). I know I'm going to miss it more than anything else in the world, but I have plans to do lots of other biking adventures to make up for it. Supermoto experiences are knocking heavily on my door and I'd like to do a few off-road breaks.

Anyway, for now I remain committed to the rest of the season and just hope I can get through it without any major incidents to either me or the bike. Later doods...