posted on March 24, 2010 23:27
Room for an extra one?
Cheekily, it seemed a good idea to get an extra round in at Brands Indy at the weekend with North Glos. Steve Miller and I decided we needed more track time and Mark decided that we would be better off with race-time rather than just track time. So off we went to West Kingsdown with Mark in tow as Chief Mechanic.
When we finally got into the paddock (believe me, that was some effort), we got set up and got down to business. NG do things very differently from Bemsee. Where MRO MiniTwins is a saturday qualifying session followed by two races each day, NG is a practice session followed by qualifying race 1 and then the race each day. I was allocated grid position 17 for the two Qualifying races.
The lights went out and whilst it rained, I did my usual wide line at Paddock to overtake everyone getting held up on the inside. The concertina effect at Druids gifted me another couple of places and by Graham Hill, I'd made my way up to somewhere in the top ten. After lots of jostling and having been subject to some very inexperienced close passing, I got stuck behind a couple of people and suddenly the last lap flag was out. I had been having a little do-si-do with James Francis and missed a gear, giving him a 50 metre lead. Thankfully I'd worked out that Clearways was his weakest corner and put the hammer down through Surtees, one of my stronger ones. He was a bit slow getting the power down at Clearways and I managed to squeeze past him to grab 10th place by 6 tenths of a second.
So then it was a very very long wait until race 18A. It was still wet and raining, which is fine because I prefer it EITHER wet OR dry, but in-between weather really does make tyre choice difficult. Lots of crashes in this race (all minor), but making for lots of yellow flags, some waved. I felt like I was progressing really well despite the flags: kept in touch of the group in front of me and kept ahead of the people I felt faster then. Unlike the Bemsee round, I didnt feel I'd undersold myself. I hadn't been thinking about what position I might gain, merely considering my laptimes and chastised myself for not yet breaking my target. I managed a respectable 8th.
Then we settled down for the night and went out to curry with some good friends: the Thorntons plus a couple of other racing mates. I spent some of the evening taking stock - if I could get two signatures for the race weekend, that would mean I could build up to my national license and put me on the road to doing the Manx. I really fancy having a go at some road racing and I think Mark would enjoy it too...
Sunday morning was a bit of a struggle if I'm honest. Things are run so differently at NG. I went to go and get a practice pass to stretch my legs now that the weather had cleared and we were on dries. They have a limited number, which I didn't know about, so I couldn't get out to practice. This annoyed me a little as I wanted to test a couple of changes to my setup. I'd obtained a couple of rear-set risers to test for Thunderpants but of course now I'd have to do it in the qualifying race.
On the warmup lap for the qualifying race, I focused on getting into the zone and felt good. I got a good run into Paddock at the start and found a good rhythm. The new surface was playing havoc with my front suspension out of Clark and afterwards I don't think there was one person that disagreed that it's very bumpy coming into the straight. Still, I managed to qualify 10th again and despite it not being my quickest time, I felt that there was something to work on.
Again there was a looooong wait for the race. I didn't prepare myself as well on the Sunday as I had on the Saturday and it showed. After an initial surge of 'fight', where I made contact with someone's rear wheel with my front and had several moments in trying to get past people, I relapsed into the rhythm I'd found in the morning and decided that I was happy with that. By starting to pack up the awning and kit before we had gone out, I think I had subconsciously finished the weekend and this had an effect on my race focus. Still, I felt the result was good and I now had two signatures for my national licence.
Snetterton starts on Thursday night. Luckily we managed to get a garage, so the promised rain will be limited to the track time. My wets are in good shape and I'll be surrounded with good mates, so I am really looking forward to it!
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