posted on August 20, 2010 12:43
13th/14th/15th August 2010. Knockhill KDMC.
It was Knockhill at the weekend for a double meeting. :) We went up on the Thursday night to get set up. We had practices on Friday so we got up and it was sort of hot. I was just going out on my GP bike. I practiced pulling tape off the radiator but it never quite worked. I had a new piston in so I had to do two laps at full throttle but boggy. In the second session I had to come in and change my gearing as it was reving out for too long along the straights. Also I managed to pull tape off successfully. By this time it was roasty hot. In the last session I went out and was able to concentrate on my suspension as we took some oil out of the forks, and it was a lot better. :) My dad and me stripped and re-built my GP bike all ready for Saturday.
Saturday. I woke up and there was no wind but it was a little dull.
Qualifying GP: We were getting around 10-15 minutes. I had a good wee run and I did a 57.9 running around myself. I was 2nd on the grid.
Qualifying Aprilia: It seeemed like such a long session and I was shocked to see I did a 1.02.5 all by myself (half a second off my own lap record).
Race 1 GP: I got an allright start and had a good wee battle with Stuart [Wilson] which was fun. Until a backmarker held me up for a corner and Stuart got a gap from me that I couldn't quite bring back in. It was a good race.
Race 1 Aprilia: It was four laps into the race and I saw a big bike in front of me and he went straight on at the hairpin and so the race had to be red flagged. Thankfully the guy was ok and it was an eight lap restart. I led the race from the start. Also I did a new personal lap record of 1.02.472. Which is 7 hundreds of a second from the lap record set around 5 years ago.
Race 2 GP: It was roasting hot by this point. It was the warm up lap and I saw Stuart pulling in. I was gutted because I had nobody to race with. My bike was running great so I still had fun.
Race 2 Aprilia: I led the race from the second lap after having a dreadful start and having to work my way through the bikes. I soon caught the big bikes who had a twenty second jump start in front of us. I was getting quite angry with them. But I was chuffed with my win and also my 1.01.8. The marshals reported me for having a smokey bike... we thought it was just because we run lots of oil.
Saturday night: we stripped and re-built my GP bike. Also we did something with my Aprilia and there is a big explanation of what happened. But it seemed really confusing so the 'vu vu valve' wasn't working. It's all fixed now though.
Sunday.
Practice GP: I did one lap and had to come in and get tape as my temperature dropped to 41°C. I had to get another bit after that too as it was still in the 40's. There was a low foggy cloud covering the track so it felt quite chilly. (It was like a different ecosystem on the track as the track was a bit foggy, and in the pits it was sunny.) I got three laps and my bike was running fine.
Practice Aprilia: I practiced pulling tape off and everything seemed perfect.
Race 3 GP: I got an awsome start and was leading. Stuart and I battled for the whole race. I ended up 2nd though., I did my fastest time ever, a 57.0. :D I was chuffed!
Race 3 Aprilia: I led the race from the start and I managed to get back into the 1.01's again. :D I had the same problem with the same big bikes who aren't even in my race which is even more annoying when they hold you up.
Race 4 GP: I got a great start. Stuart and I were swapping back and forward again until on the 7th lap, I felt a strange crunching noise coming from below me. I immediately thought that it was my gear box as I couldn't change gear. I free wheeled up to a marshal point at Clarks and stopped to see my chain jammed in my frame. It had snapped. I was gutted but thankfully it wasn't my engine.
Race 4 Aprilia: My last race of the weekend and I wanted to make it a good one. I got away at the start and was chasing down the big bikes. I decided to be tough with them and it worked and I was at the front. :D I was glad to have bet them once.
Overall it was a great weekend and I had some great races. Big thanks to all who helped. Chrighton for helping with my Aprilia. And also the weather as we wouldn't have had all those great races without it. :)
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