posted on August 10, 2010 16:05
Brands Hatch disappointment for Omagh's McAleer
It was disappointment for Omagh's Nicole McAleer at Brands Hatch on Sunday during the latest round of the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship, which was held over the full International Brands Hatch circuit. Despite qualifying well up the grid in 26th place, having been up as far as fifth place during the wet final qualifying session, her luck was to run out in the race.
After a less than lightening start, which saw the 18 year old from County Tyrone dropping back to 37th place on the opening lap, the determined and gritty young lady was soon cutting back through the pack and was up to 28th by lap 9 of the 12 lap race. However she was not able to improve any further after sliding off her vibrantly coloured Splash Racing Triumph Daytona 675, landing in the gravel trap at Druids, having crashed out when she hit a patch of fluid on the track, which also claimed another rider in the form of Craig Neve who until that point had been in a dice with McAleer at the time of the incident.
McAleer did have one consolation in that the race only lasted another two laps as it had to be red-flagged when Ben Padgett also crashed on the fluid at Druids which took out McAleer. She is now hoping for better luck at the next round, Cadwell Park on August 30th, which is the traditional Bank Holiday party weekend for the Lincolnshire track which has already hosted a round of the MCE British Superbike Championship earlier this season, in May when McAleer took 17th place in the "Shoot Out" race, having regained her early season confidence and got the Triumph running how she wants, she is out to prove that she can run top 15 in this one of the most extremely competitive Championships within the British Superbike Championship.
Brands Gp Track
Well after a fantastic weekend at Snetterton I really was expecting results again. First practice we were just going with the flow because I hadn't been round the GP track on the 675 yet, but when I went out the gearing was wrong and plenty of other things and I ended up 38th, but I was happy with the track around the back, I just needed to get the first sector right and I knew I'd be up there. First qualifying came and I was really hoping the rain would hold off and thankfully it did, I ended up 26th which left me sitting on the 7th row and I did a 1.33.6 which I was chuffed to bits with. After changing the gearing and suspension changes it made a big difference on the bike and I was confident to push.
The next qualifying wasn't till Saturday so I was left to think the rest of Friday. Sadly just before the session started it rained and we changed to wets. I knew I had to go out in case it rained Sunday and up until then i hadn't had a wet session on the 675 at all. After a few laps I realised that it was pretty good and not much different to the 125 and I started to push more when I saw P1 on my pit board, well what a feeling I had and it was definitely something I'd never felt before. So I kept pushing and through the whole session I was dicing for 1st. In the end it dried up and people started going out on slicks, but my wets were knackered by then so I kept going and just enjoyed the session. I finished 5th in the end leaving me 26th on the grid.
Race day came and warm-up went well enough so I was hoping for a good race, starting the race from the 7th row wasn't too bad, I just needed to make up some places and I didn't loose any on the first couple of corners, but I just couldn't seem to gain any as I lacked a lot of speed down the straights and was having to ride that extra bit harder round the corners. I made a few places up and before I knew it we were well in the race and I caught a few others due to a safety car coming out. The next thing I knew was going into Druids and loosing the front and before I could even get up I heard someone crashing behind me and the next lap someone else went down all at the same corner. There was fluid on the track and there had been no oil flags placed out or any warnings at all so my front wheel just washed away and the race was red flagged due to the amount of crashes and the fluid on track. It was disappointing because the weekend started well but just went bad and I was looking for a result after Snett's performance, but I guess lady luck cant always be on my side, lets look foward to Cadwell where I will be back up dicing and going for points.
I would like to thank all my sponsors because without them I would not be there, Megabikes, Micky G, Daytona, Rock Oil, Western Catering, Hornee, P17 CRW, Gortrush food services, R Potts Haulage, De taunton Ltd. Without all your help and support I wouldn't be able to keep on track so I am very grateful. Also to my family and mechanics, who put a great amount of effort into the racing, thankyou.
Cheers, Nicole #69
nicolemcaleer.com