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Race day write up from a few years ago.

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Old Git Racing
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PostPosted: 12:37 - 17 Feb 2014    Post subject: Race day write up from a few years ago. Reply with quote

Old write up from 2002/3 ish. Bit long but I hope its interesting to some.

OGR

Last year ended on a bit of a downer, On Bank holiday Sunday in August I fell of on a right handed hairpin at pretty slow speed and broke a collar bone, shoulder blade and rib. Work had been kicking up about me racing, so I didn’t even have any time off, man that was a hard week! For the last meeting of the year I lent my bike, a ‘
93 E model, to a young lad in the club who had been going well on a KR1S in the 250 open. It was a 2 day meeting and on the first day he did really well getting faster each session and race. In the first race on the Sunday he was brought off by a rider making an impossible move in a gap that wasn’t there. Poor Chris ended up in hospital for 12 weeks and I had 1 very sorry looking TZ.
At 47 years old I decided the time was right to gracefully retire. I had achieved a couple of ambitions and done ok in the championships I ran in, even winning one in 02. I have had some painful offs over the years and my wife never really said anything but she was glad when I announced it.
A few weeks after the end of the season I started to rebuild the bike with a view to selling it. One gory little detail was finding part of Chris’s leathers and Knee in the left hand silencer where it had punched a hole in his knee!!! The rebuild went well and the bike looked good. I put a new crank in and had one of cylinders replated, and set the squish and ignition timing . It was very therapeutic and during the rebuild I thought “you can’t sell this, its yours. There’s a lot of you in it, keep it”
I decided to keep the bike and maybe run someone on it or do trackdays. I decided to renew my race licence, not to race you understand, just to have one. Well maybe I could do the odd meeting just for fun and take it easy as my age and physical condition (and wife!) demand.
The result is there I was at a very chilly Cadwell park on April 6th for a round of the FRC pre’95 GP 250 series Cold –yes, nervous-yes, happy-you bet!
The team consisted of me the rider, my son the mechanic and gopher and his girlfriend who’s job was to constantly remind us how cold it was .
Cadwell Park is in Lincolnshire, in the East of the UK *and is my favourite track. Built as primarily a bike venue it is very technical with a mix of fast and slow corners, cambers and elevation changes. It is also narrow and difficult to pass on.
We were using the club circuit, which I think is 1.3 miles and a lap sort of goes like this –
From the start and in the first 3 gears along a left kinked straight to a very tight right handed hairpin that drops down *slightly to join the bottom straight of the long circuit. Go around with clutch in and then slip it like crazy to keep in the power, accelerating up to second into the uphill left hander of Coppice, a fast slightly banked turn *that rises quite sharply. Keep it nailed into 3rd trying to drag the bike to the left to line up for Charlies in, a fast right, in 4th by now going along the brow of the rise into Charlies out, a continuation of the corner now a very fast right hander going down hill on to park straight. The first part is down hill through a dip which then rises up in a long left kink until the bike is flat out in 6th and into the braking area for Park corner a 90 degree right hander taken in 2nd. Short shift up to 3rd and throw the bike into Chris curve, along sweeping right taken flat out in 4th gear with very little run off! Chris curve leads into the Gooseneck, an infamous corner in UK racing not unlike the corkscrew at Laguna Seca. The first part is a sharpening up of the previous corner, really pushing the front in 3rd gear, leading to a sharp change of direction left over a brow , downhill. Plenty of scope to loose the front with the fast change of direction and elevation change. Fire down the hill to Mansfield corner, left handed off camber 2nd gear onto the start finish straight, 3rd, 4th sometimes 5th before standing the bike on its nose for the hairpin again.
Daniel took the bike for scrutineering, passed ok and I had the kit inspection and signed on ready for practise. It made me smile to see all the new riders with orange vests looking pretty nervous and pale before their first meeting, its ok I thought sonny, you just hide it better as you get older.
We spent the next hour rejetting the bike to 400/410 and mixing fuel. The tyre warmers went on the Dunlop KR364’s and a bacon sandwich and cup of tea went down the riders neck.
First solo practise is called and *I get into the assembly area blipping the throttle and watching the temp gauge slowly rising towards 60 degrees. Out we go onto a damp cold track and I take it really steady *bearing in mind the new motor parts and my lack of track time. The bike feels harsh and strange after riding my *00 GSXR 750 on the road but it also feels strong and crisp. The 2nd and 3rd practise sessions are on a dry track but both are stopped due to big 4 strokes having accidents on cold tyres, some people just don’t learn do they? For my part I have been building up the speed and getting a feel back for the bike. The motor feels really strong and the bike is wheelying on the power in places it didn’t in ’02.
We are out in race 9 and spend the time checking the bike and going down a jet size as the temperature has risen slightly on the weather station, although this is barely detectable on the human body with the wind chill coming from the sea to the East.
Race 1 pre 95 125 and 250 GP.
The race is called and in the assembly area there are a lot of bikes. We go around half a lap onto the grid and I take my place on the second to back row on a grid of 36 bikes. Off around the warm up lap going as hard as I dare to get some heat in the tyres. I had watched a couple of races and one rider in particular who is very fast around Cadwell He was on the back row and lined up on the outside to avoid the hairpin traffic jam, a tactic I decided to adopt. The flag lady walked backwards off the grid then flashed the flag up and down, mad orgy of revs and blue smoke, bikes every where but I stick to my plan and ride around the outside of several bikes at the hairpin. Hard up coppice nearly clipping the back of a slow 125 into Charlies in and riding a fine line between speed and tyres not yet up to temperature. The laps pass quickly and I have become involved in a battle with another 250 who I have been catching all the race. On the last lap I try to get around him on the brakes at park but overdo it slightly , getting on the grass and losing several places, Shit shit shit! Take the flag to finish 11th but could have been 8th or 9th. Never mind 3 more races to go!
The bikes running good so its on with the warmers, top up the fuel and wait.
Race 2, 400 open.
On the back row for this one, 19 starters including a mix of supersport 400 4 strokes and a couple of fast Aprillia 250’s. Flag goes down and I get a really crap start, bogging down and I’m last into the hairpin. As the race goes on I pick a couple of bikes off but the clutch is slipping after 3 laps, probably due to the abuse it receives out of the hairpin, so I cruise around at 7 tenths for the track time short shifting. Finish 12th, never mind 2 races to go.
I put a new clutch in the bike and find one of the steel plates is warped and fouling on the centre holding the other plates off. More fuel is added and the warmers put on ready for my 3rd race.
Race 3 pre ’95 125 and 250 GP.
34 starters. I try to get a feel for the new clutch on the assembly and warm up laps and line up on the 2nd row of the grid on the inside this time, figuring if I get a good start no one will pass me and if I don’t then I will be the cause of the traffic jam anyway. As it happens I get a blinding start and am in 3rd place going up Coppice. The 2 bikes in front are within reach but a nasty slide into Charlies in tempers my enthusiasm a little as this was the corner where I had my fastest get off last year (90 mph +) in similar circumstances, some people never learn do they? I have lost touch with the bikes in front
so I get my head down and try to ride as fast and consistently as I can. I get passed by 2 other bikes one of which is the eventual winner on a reverse cylinder 250 TZ and the other is a 125 Honda with a midget on it who didn’t seem to slow down or even brake for the turns! Much respect whoever you were. I finish 5th and am not too disappointed but felt I could have gone harder. Never mind 1 race to go.
The bike gets fuelled up and the warmers applied ready for my last race.
Race 4, open 400.
16 starters. I’m in pole position for this one but make a pretty crap start with a big wheely meaning I have to change up to 2nd to kill it at the wrong time. Coming out of the hairpin though I get it just right lifting the wheel in 1st and 2nd, just getting it down to power up Coppice passing 2 bikes. I think I must be in the top 6 so get down and ride hard ignoring the 1st lap slides. By lap 3 I’m catching a 250 who looks behind at me going into Park and again around Chris curve where I am about 3 feet from his back wheel at 100mph thinking about the pass into the Gooseneck. He takes a strange line into it which makes me hold back. Good job as he looses the front end on the downhill left and exits stage right in a blur of dust and red fibreglass. Well that saved me putting a pass on him I think and am glad to see him stood watching and Ok on the next lap. I pass another couple of bikes and a guy on a 250 Aprillia passes me around the outside at Charlies out, brave move, respect to you. The laps count down and I finish 4th and ride back to the van and just sit on the bike waiting for Daniel to come back. Eventually I get fed up of sitting there and see him in the queue for the burger van, again. Oh well. Thought I rode OK in that one but still need to be a bit more aggressive and push harder in the corners. Never mind there’s always the next meeting.

Daniel loads the van and we leave the circuit for the 1.5 hour drive home. How do I feel? Tired now but that’s normal, satisfied? Sort of but you always know you could have done better, Glad I decided to ride again? Well it beats washing the car or gardening or getting pissed at lunchtime and sleeping it off ready for the evening session as a lot of my mates seem to do. Yeah course I’m glad.

Daniel has the last word “You looked like you were trying in that last one dad, good one”. I was trying in them all son I say to myself.
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