Round 12 - Elvington - 30th Sept
I'd been up to Scott’s again and we'd taken the clutch apart and refitted it. This time we used a torque wrench to make sure it had been done up to the specified 100Nm. New oil and filter and she was ready to rock.
I'd been meaning to get my forks services for ages and decided to take a half-day off work to meet Colin from 100% bikes at Croft to get them done. I went down to the track the night before and slept in the van. Jeezus it’s turned cold! The next morning Colin serviced the forks and put in new SBK spec fork oil. I then asked how I might be able to get the bike to turn a little quicker and he suggested I Softened off the front by one ring and harden up the back by 3 turns. Now she really was ready to rock.
Nic and I went down to Elvington on Saturday night. After setting up the awning, I joined Sammy Logan for a beer and as we sat around his roaring fire, he told me that he'd heard rumours that the Croft meeting at the end of the year had been cancelled. This has really pissed me off. It was one of the reasons I signed up for Auto 66 again this year as I thought they had some decent tracks booked. It now means that during the 2 years of racing with Auto 66, I won’t have raced with them at Croft once. It also means that I now won’t have the requirement of four different tracks for my National License. Bummer.
After another freezing night in the van, I got up and put the bike through scrutineering. Again, no probs, and before I knew it, it was time for practice. I was mainly checking out the clutch and it seemed absolutely perfect. The plan was to use the Michelin Power Race tyres until lunch and then put some Pirelli Diablo SuperCorsas on. Much to my surprise, the bike didn't seem to be turning quicker after the suspension changes, in fact, it seemed to be a little worse, but good enough for the qualifying rounds.
The 600 grid was a bit fuller than it has been lately and there were plenty of fast boys there. But I was feeling confident. After the warm up lap, we lined up and waited for the flag. Well, I waited for the flag. Most of the rest of the grid seemed to belt of early and as usual, nothing was done about it. After the first corner I was in 5th but right behind them all. I held the position for most of the lap but then moved into 4th at the last corner. The front 2 were pulling out a bit but 3rd place was well within reach. I kept a nice steady pace for the next 2 laps but the bike wasn't feeling quite as well as it should on the exit of corners. I approached the chicane and braked hard as usual, I let the brakes off and tipped it in, giving just a little throttle to balance the bike. Half way through the turn and just as I was about to flick it right, I was off...
The bike lowsided and slid straight into the straw bales and I followed. I wasn't hurt but the bike was. I couldn't work it out. I had done nothing wrong, nothing different. I wouldn't have changed a single thing about the way I took that turn and yet it had spat me off. That worried me more than the crash itself.
Snapped handlebar, snapped footpeg, shattered screen, snapped and bashed fairing, bent paddock bobbin, ripped leathers.
Quite a bit of damage for a lowside and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get it fixed. Luckily, Rob Wilson (who at the time was leading the championship from me by just 7 points) helped me out and loaned me a clip-on handlebar. It's times like this that you realise just how friendly the paddock is. When rivals will help each other out so that they can still compete against each other, that’s the purest form of sportsmenship. Then Nick Colley helped me out with the fairing and we used one of my spare footpegs and my spare screen to get it back together. I'd also changed the tyres for my sticky Supercorsas just in case that was the reason for my 'off'.
The scrutineer okayed our workmanship and even passed my leathers which had been professionally patched - with gaffa tape. I'd missed the qualifying race for the Senior cup but I was ready for the 600 trophy race.
Everyone had told me to take it easy and I didn't intend to go gung-ho, but a race is a race. Again, several people jumped the flag and again I was in 5th place after the first corner. Once again I moved up to 4th quickly and half way round the lap I was right on the tail of 3rd. As I rounded the left hander towards the end of the lap, the bike let go... I was sliding on my ass for the second time in 2 laps. Again, I had no idea why.
The damage wasn't as bad this time. Another broken footpeg (good job I had 2 spare at the start of the day) and a scrape to the handlebar bung (sorry Rob), and another couple of millimetres off the NGR engine casing. The leathers however were a write-off. The gaffa tape fix had been enough to ensure my skin hadn't been exposed, but it hadn’t been enough to stop a large rip now extending down the thigh and a few other rips appearing around the back of the suit. I couldn't race in it.
Time for another racer to come to the rescue. This time it was Matty Handley, who had narrowly missed running over me. He sped off to his house, which is approximately 400m up the road from the track, and returned with his spare set of leathers. For the rest of the day, I would be sporting "Handley" on my back.
After discussing what the hell was going wrong, we decided that the increased preload at the rear of the bike meant it wasn’t absorbing enough movement and it was asking too much of the rear tyre. I softened it off 3 turns to put it back to its previous setting. Luckily the tyres had felt better (during the 5 corners where they actually gripped) so I wasn't completely disillusioned.
I just needed to get some good points in the 600 points race. I knew that my confidence was down but if I let myself get beaten into a really bad position and Garry did well, my 2nd place in the championship would be under threat. I didn't feel that I could get anywhere near Rob to close the gap on 1st place.
As it turns out, Garry made my 2nd place even safer with a crash on the warm up lap. It turns out that he couldn't work out what he'd done wrong either, but it meant that I could ride slightly more within myself. I was starting from the 3rd row (due to my 2 DNF's) and again, they jumped the flag but this time I was pretty much with them and made up a place or two on the first lap. After then I was struggling to keep in touch with the front guys. I could feel myself over-compensating for the bike and was taking all my body weight on my legs to do some of the suspension that the rear shock should be doing. As I rounded the corner onto the straight, I got too close to the apex.
On a normal circuit this would just mean going onto the white line or maybe clipping the curb. At Elvington it meant I clipped the grass and the front lost grip. "This is it", I thought, 3 crashes from 3. But a split second later it had gripped and I was head-down with the throttle wide open, chasing the pack. As it turns out, I was putting in low 58's, which isn't too far off my fastest time, but I couldn't catch the main pack. I finished 5th. My lowest finish in the 600 class for ages. Rob had stretched his championship lead and I had stretched my 2nd place lead
I'd been meaning to get my forks services for ages and decided to take a half-day off work to meet Colin from 100% bikes at Croft to get them done. I went down to the track the night before and slept in the van. Jeezus it’s turned cold! The next morning Colin serviced the forks and put in new SBK spec fork oil. I then asked how I might be able to get the bike to turn a little quicker and he suggested I Softened off the front by one ring and harden up the back by 3 turns. Now she really was ready to rock.
Nic and I went down to Elvington on Saturday night. After setting up the awning, I joined Sammy Logan for a beer and as we sat around his roaring fire, he told me that he'd heard rumours that the Croft meeting at the end of the year had been cancelled. This has really pissed me off. It was one of the reasons I signed up for Auto 66 again this year as I thought they had some decent tracks booked. It now means that during the 2 years of racing with Auto 66, I won’t have raced with them at Croft once. It also means that I now won’t have the requirement of four different tracks for my National License. Bummer.
After another freezing night in the van, I got up and put the bike through scrutineering. Again, no probs, and before I knew it, it was time for practice. I was mainly checking out the clutch and it seemed absolutely perfect. The plan was to use the Michelin Power Race tyres until lunch and then put some Pirelli Diablo SuperCorsas on. Much to my surprise, the bike didn't seem to be turning quicker after the suspension changes, in fact, it seemed to be a little worse, but good enough for the qualifying rounds.
The 600 grid was a bit fuller than it has been lately and there were plenty of fast boys there. But I was feeling confident. After the warm up lap, we lined up and waited for the flag. Well, I waited for the flag. Most of the rest of the grid seemed to belt of early and as usual, nothing was done about it. After the first corner I was in 5th but right behind them all. I held the position for most of the lap but then moved into 4th at the last corner. The front 2 were pulling out a bit but 3rd place was well within reach. I kept a nice steady pace for the next 2 laps but the bike wasn't feeling quite as well as it should on the exit of corners. I approached the chicane and braked hard as usual, I let the brakes off and tipped it in, giving just a little throttle to balance the bike. Half way through the turn and just as I was about to flick it right, I was off...
The bike lowsided and slid straight into the straw bales and I followed. I wasn't hurt but the bike was. I couldn't work it out. I had done nothing wrong, nothing different. I wouldn't have changed a single thing about the way I took that turn and yet it had spat me off. That worried me more than the crash itself.
Snapped handlebar, snapped footpeg, shattered screen, snapped and bashed fairing, bent paddock bobbin, ripped leathers.
Quite a bit of damage for a lowside and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get it fixed. Luckily, Rob Wilson (who at the time was leading the championship from me by just 7 points) helped me out and loaned me a clip-on handlebar. It's times like this that you realise just how friendly the paddock is. When rivals will help each other out so that they can still compete against each other, that’s the purest form of sportsmenship. Then Nick Colley helped me out with the fairing and we used one of my spare footpegs and my spare screen to get it back together. I'd also changed the tyres for my sticky Supercorsas just in case that was the reason for my 'off'.
The scrutineer okayed our workmanship and even passed my leathers which had been professionally patched - with gaffa tape. I'd missed the qualifying race for the Senior cup but I was ready for the 600 trophy race.
Everyone had told me to take it easy and I didn't intend to go gung-ho, but a race is a race. Again, several people jumped the flag and again I was in 5th place after the first corner. Once again I moved up to 4th quickly and half way round the lap I was right on the tail of 3rd. As I rounded the left hander towards the end of the lap, the bike let go... I was sliding on my ass for the second time in 2 laps. Again, I had no idea why.
The damage wasn't as bad this time. Another broken footpeg (good job I had 2 spare at the start of the day) and a scrape to the handlebar bung (sorry Rob), and another couple of millimetres off the NGR engine casing. The leathers however were a write-off. The gaffa tape fix had been enough to ensure my skin hadn't been exposed, but it hadn’t been enough to stop a large rip now extending down the thigh and a few other rips appearing around the back of the suit. I couldn't race in it.
Time for another racer to come to the rescue. This time it was Matty Handley, who had narrowly missed running over me. He sped off to his house, which is approximately 400m up the road from the track, and returned with his spare set of leathers. For the rest of the day, I would be sporting "Handley" on my back.
After discussing what the hell was going wrong, we decided that the increased preload at the rear of the bike meant it wasn’t absorbing enough movement and it was asking too much of the rear tyre. I softened it off 3 turns to put it back to its previous setting. Luckily the tyres had felt better (during the 5 corners where they actually gripped) so I wasn't completely disillusioned.
I just needed to get some good points in the 600 points race. I knew that my confidence was down but if I let myself get beaten into a really bad position and Garry did well, my 2nd place in the championship would be under threat. I didn't feel that I could get anywhere near Rob to close the gap on 1st place.
As it turns out, Garry made my 2nd place even safer with a crash on the warm up lap. It turns out that he couldn't work out what he'd done wrong either, but it meant that I could ride slightly more within myself. I was starting from the 3rd row (due to my 2 DNF's) and again, they jumped the flag but this time I was pretty much with them and made up a place or two on the first lap. After then I was struggling to keep in touch with the front guys. I could feel myself over-compensating for the bike and was taking all my body weight on my legs to do some of the suspension that the rear shock should be doing. As I rounded the corner onto the straight, I got too close to the apex.
On a normal circuit this would just mean going onto the white line or maybe clipping the curb. At Elvington it meant I clipped the grass and the front lost grip. "This is it", I thought, 3 crashes from 3. But a split second later it had gripped and I was head-down with the throttle wide open, chasing the pack. As it turns out, I was putting in low 58's, which isn't too far off my fastest time, but I couldn't catch the main pack. I finished 5th. My lowest finish in the 600 class for ages. Rob had stretched his championship lead and I had stretched my 2nd place lead
As we waited in the holding area for the Senior race, Garry's bad luck struck again. There was coolant dripping out from his catch-pan. He took to the grid and did the warm up lap but as we lined up, there was still coolant dripping out and for fear of a seized engine he pulled out. This meant that my 2nd place in the Senior Championship was safer. Now I just needed to make sure that I wasn't too far behind John Hildreth. so that the 5pt gap didn’t get too big. I still have hopes that he might not go so well at Cadwell so I was on damage limitation.
I fired off the line and got swallowed up by the 1000's of John and Daryl and a couple of other new guys on 600's. I was confident I could get passed Daryl if I could stay with him... I just needed to get up to him. I was right on the tail of one of the 600's (a rookie) for most of the first lap and made my move down the straight. I passed him and left my braking really late so that he couldn't get back passed. As I went to tip it in to the fast right-hander - he was there!
I couldn't turn at all. I waited for him to make the turn so that I could let off the brakes and make the turn but it was clear he had carried far too much speed and was now running me off the track. I braked hard but I was soon on the grass and running over rabbit holes and molehills. The suspension was bottoming out and making a nasty noise over the field-like terrain. How I didn’t come off I don’t know but as I came to a stop and turned the bike, I saw the guy rejoining in front of me. I was absolutely furious - could this meeting get any worse? The rest of the guys were long gone now. I'd lost 11 seconds (it was a miracle it wasn't more) but I was desperate to catch the little rookie bastard. I fired off down the back straight and immediately out broke myself going into the chicane and had to go straight on and rejoin. Another lap of catching him and I came to the chicane again, with the same result - straight on! I was riding like a man possessed. Not fast, just mad!
Another half a lap and I caught and passed the little git. In the distance I could see another rider, I wanted him! 3 more laps of concentration and grit and I was right on him. In the exact place where I had crashed earlier on, I made my move round the outside of him and block passed him into the last corner, firing it up the straight and away from him. 1 lap later, it was all over. I had come 3rd. Not a bad result, but had I not gone off-roading, I should have got Daryl and thus 2nd place. Ho hum, I was just happy to have scored points in both of the races that mattered.
I fired off the line and got swallowed up by the 1000's of John and Daryl and a couple of other new guys on 600's. I was confident I could get passed Daryl if I could stay with him... I just needed to get up to him. I was right on the tail of one of the 600's (a rookie) for most of the first lap and made my move down the straight. I passed him and left my braking really late so that he couldn't get back passed. As I went to tip it in to the fast right-hander - he was there!
I couldn't turn at all. I waited for him to make the turn so that I could let off the brakes and make the turn but it was clear he had carried far too much speed and was now running me off the track. I braked hard but I was soon on the grass and running over rabbit holes and molehills. The suspension was bottoming out and making a nasty noise over the field-like terrain. How I didn’t come off I don’t know but as I came to a stop and turned the bike, I saw the guy rejoining in front of me. I was absolutely furious - could this meeting get any worse? The rest of the guys were long gone now. I'd lost 11 seconds (it was a miracle it wasn't more) but I was desperate to catch the little rookie bastard. I fired off down the back straight and immediately out broke myself going into the chicane and had to go straight on and rejoin. Another lap of catching him and I came to the chicane again, with the same result - straight on! I was riding like a man possessed. Not fast, just mad!
Another half a lap and I caught and passed the little git. In the distance I could see another rider, I wanted him! 3 more laps of concentration and grit and I was right on him. In the exact place where I had crashed earlier on, I made my move round the outside of him and block passed him into the last corner, firing it up the straight and away from him. 1 lap later, it was all over. I had come 3rd. Not a bad result, but had I not gone off-roading, I should have got Daryl and thus 2nd place. Ho hum, I was just happy to have scored points in both of the races that mattered.
So now it’s just Cadwell Park left. A two round weekender to decide the championships. I am still a little nervous about my bikes handling but I am fired up for a good showdown.
I've ordered more spare handlebars, footpegs, paddock bobbins and screen (and then the Royal Mail went on bleedin strike!). Plus I’ve got a complete set of bodywork coming to Cadwell and I’ve sent my leathers off to be repaired. Not what I wanted at the end of the season but if I can have a good weekends racing at the end of the season it will all have been worth it.
Check back in two weeks to see how the season finished - wish me luck.
posted by Lee Head at 9:56 AM
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