NBT- I'm going racing 😳

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I don't think I ever went quick enough on tarmac to crash, on dirt I went from falling off because I was going too slow to hurting myself because I was going too fast for my lack of ability.

[wull]

I always thought not coming last was an achievement

I always thought finishing was an achievement

My weekend of 4 250 proddie races at Knockhill as a yoof was as follows

Race 1 started from the back, managed to make a couple of places, taken out at hairpin, DNF
Race 2 started from the back, managed to make a couple of places, crashed all of my own doing at the hairpin, DNF
Race 3 started from the back, managed to make quite a few places , finished in top 20.
Race 4 started from rear 1/3rd of the grid, managed to keep my place, taken out at hairpin, DNF

I realised racing wasnt for me after that brief experience

Well done Tricky, simply outstanding mate and really pleased at just how much you are enjoying the whole experience

Haha, that fookin hairpin!

It was like railways at East Fortune, you’d go into there on the 1st lap thinking “please make it, don’t hit me don’t hit me”…………

[Bigyin]

Haha, that fookin hairpin!

It was like railways at East Fortune, you’d go into there on the 1st lap thinking “please make it, don’t hit me don’t hit me”…………

I have some pics from the late 80's of East Fortune ..... looking back at them there are farmers hard standings out there with better surfaces and less weeds growing through

[Tricky]

This week-end's round was at Brands on the usual (short) Indy circuit, and there were bookable garages, so I made sure I got my name down as soon as the notification came out as although there are definite disadvantages being in a garage if you have a motorhome/ caravan setup, we don't, and it's a definite plus for me not having to mess about bringing and setting up / tearing down the awning, gennie and the other stuff that goes with it, and well worth the extra £30 that being in a garage costs.

Ahead of the actual meeting I had a few little bits to get sorted on the bike and my kit- on the bike, apart from the usual clean and nuts and bolts check, I needed to change the gearing slightly for Brands, and after Pembrey, I'd also decided to try the heavy (20W) fork oil , just to try and slow things down a little at the front.
As I'm pretty sure I've previously mentioned, the regs on the Bandit series are pretty tight, and the only allowed options you have for altering the forks is different weight springs or oil, and the addition of spacers on the springs to add pre-load- all the original suzuki internals have to remain as standard, and the use of cartridge emulator etc are specifically prohibited.
So, out came the forks (there are no drain plugs on these), off came the tops, I tipped them upside down to remove the old oil, added just under 500ml of 20W and put them back in.
Apart from that, the only other change was a slightly smaller rear sprocket to up the gearing a bit, which annoyingly meant I had to shorten then chain, but that's no biggie so then we were all set bike-wise.

The other changes were to my riding kit.
A comment/complaint I've had from some (well, both of them actually ) of my supporters , is that it's hard to pick me out sometimes on track, particularly when I'm in a bunch as although I'm currently wearing an orange jacket, most of the bike and my helmet and now leathers too is black, and after seeing this pic (was taken by the NG photographer at Pembrey, and was in the Brands programme), I can see what she means- I'm 5th in this pic



So, I bought £5 worth of yellow-ish vinyl ( the sort people wrap cars with), and after an hour or so with some scissors, a knife, and heatgun my lid had gone from this



to this





And of course, as I’m a tart and have no shame, I got my nickname sewn onto the back of the new leathers




And finally, for good measure, I whacked some vinyl on the leading edges of the front mudguard of the bike too....



So , last Thursday came, I loaded up, and off we (Isabella and me) set towards Brands mid-afternoon- if there are no traffic issues it’s only approx 1hr 45- 2hrs from us, but a large part of the journey is the M25, so, well, am sure you can guess, and true to form, although everything was going well until we got to the Leatherhead/Reigate area, it all came to a grinding halt, and it was like our trip to Pembrey, and groundhog day albeit on the M25 instead of the M4 this time, and we had to leave the motorway as there was apparently a cyclist on it.
The next hour or so was a bit fraught with lots of road-ragey people as a result of too many vehicles trying to get down roads that were too small for them, so very tiresome, but the nice thing this time was that we didn’t really care as we had guaranteed garage space ( pole position too in #3 we were right next to DCM and Ricky Elder and the cafe/ race control, so perfect
I’d also booked us into the Brands Mercure Hotel, the one at the circuit entrance, so couldn’t have been more convenient really.

Apparently they had been doing some filming for some future Brad Pitt F1 film there that day, so there was extra security and an evening car trackday there which meant we couldn’t get into the garage until 8:30 pm, but it was a lovely day and only took me 15 mins or so to unload and setup, then walk back to the hotel for a couple of beers and bed.



Friday was perfect weather, the bike was great with 20W oil in the forks making a marked improvement, and the gearing just about spot on for my pace, with me hooking 6th about ¾ along the start/finish straight and my final big shift light just starting to flash pretty much as I shut off and knocked it down two for Paddock.
I reckon you can’t really get an accurate gauge of how well (or otherwise) you’re going on test days, as you never know if people are really trying, so I was going on last years (same weather) Bandit results , which had fastest Bandit lap of the meeting at a 54.0- the outright lap record was set back in 2021 and is a 53.1, albeit that was on the Conti tyres, on the current Dunlop Sportsmart control tyres it’s approx half a second slower at 53.7.
There was, of course, no way I expected to get anywhere near that ( or needed to TBH to win the Seniors class) but I finished the day lapping in the high 55s with the feeling I definitely had more to come, so I was comfortable and very happy with that, and retired early for a (delicious and highly recommended BTW) Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi at the Rajdani, a pleasant 15-minute stroll up the road from the circuit main gate.

Saturday morning came and although the weather was by no means bad, there was a very fine drizzle as I walked to the garage from the hotel, and some very ominous-looking dark clouds and some on/off rain forecast.
Temp was still forecast to be 20 degrees + though, so wasn’t really a worry as any rain would dry out very quickly.




My qualifying session came around and out I went- the 400s were out with us and I got caught up with a couple of them for the first couple of laps, and just I’d got clear on about the 3rd or 4th lap and thought right, lets get my head down, I came out of Graham Hill accelerating hard towards Surtees then bang- my front wheel went from under me- I was sure I was down, but thankfully it gripped again just as I hit the edge of the track and the grass and I stayed on- feck knows how, but it was pure luck.
There was a load of blue smoke in front of me and a trail of oil pretty much the complete length of the bottom straight from Harley Prebble’s Bandit (he of the Evel Knievel leathers in the BSB F900 Cup races) after one of the rods decided it didn’t want to be inside the crankcases any more.
That took them a long time to clean up, and ended our qualifying session after only 4 laps, disappointing for me as I was still in the 57s ( Harley got pole with a 54.4 ) and it put me back on the 6th row, 17th on the grid, but not a disaster really as Keith, my close rival in the championship was only one place in front of me in 16th.

Saturday’s first race came, and I got a flier, managing to cut through a few on the run-up to and through Paddock, the first corner. Was a fairly action-packed race for me, with me finishing 4th Bandit over the line, only 0.5secs off 3rd, but most importantly for me 1st Senior, some 10secs in front of my main championship rival, so I was dead happy with that.
I was lapping in the 55s, with a best of 55.6, which was 1.06 secs off the fastest lap of the race, set by (you guessed it Harley Prebble- he borrowed one of the other front runners spare bikes, and just whacked his own fairing etc on it.

My right forearm had come up like a baloon again ( I had it at Cadwell in one race) and makes it so hard to brake reliably when it does that- I know why it does it ( 12 race laps around Brands with brakes that need as hard a pull as Bandit ones do is tough) , but I’m not sure how to stop it happening, so will be putting a bit of research into it before the next round, and maybe doing some specific exercises to try and stop it happening, as it is pretty uncomfortable when it does and massively reduces the strength in my arm.

I’m pleased to say that it went down over the next hour or so before my next race, the “ Newcomers” (basically anyone on any bike that has held a race licence for less than 3 years).
I’m currently sitting 2nd in this championship in the “Middleweight” class, which is basically Minitwins, DesmoDues, and Bandits, and TBH it’s tough as although SV650s and Bandits make very similar power, the Bandits are a good 20kg heavier, not as nimble , and just not quite as fast anywhere- a good rider can of course make the difference, but there are some handy people out there on SVs, and I’m the only Bandit rider in this class.

The good news on this race though was that I was further up the grid on the 5th row in 13th, but Liam Walker, my main championship rival was a row ahead of me, and had done a 55.1 in qualifying, so although it was going to be a big ask, my plan was to try and get my usual flier of a start, hopefully get in front and then and try and hang on to the back of him and get him to pull me along if (when ) he came past me.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go to plan- Liam got a flier too, but I was with him until I got doofed by a kamikazi out of control ZXR400 at Druids, and that really put paid to things for me, he was gone, and I crossed the line some 6 or 7 seconds behind him in 3rd, with another SV rider ( also called Liam ) in just in front of him.
I was happy with that though, a frustrating but exciting race for me, and of course another trophy, and I’m still 2nd in the championship

Both my brothers had come to cheer me on and help etc, which I love so we had a very pleasant couple of pints in the Hotel bar before they went off on their way, and it was a quick shower and out for some food and another couple of pints before bed.
Even got a pic of all three of us together, which we all agreed, the last time that happened was probably in the 1960s.




Sunday arrived and was scorchio- I was sweating just walking to the garage from the hotel, but I’m not complaining about that- I'll take it every time over cold and wet
With NG, every class has two races on Sunday ( with the exception of the Newcomers race- that’s Saturday only ), and there’s a 10-15 min warm up session for anyone that wants it before racing starts- there is always only four of those, so as you can probably guess, if everyone decides to go out, it’s pretty busy out there on a small circuit like Brands Indy.
The bike was spot on, and I was feeling good, so my initial thoughts were that I wouldn’t bother, then I changed my mind and thought yup I will, I’ll just do 3 or 4 laps to check all’s still well and get my eye in ahead of my first race, so that’s what I did.
My practice pass was in group 4, the final session, so off I went out with what was probably a good 40 ( or possibly more) others.
The bike was just as expected, and the reality was I was just using fuel and wearing tyres out so on my 4th lap I signaled to come in and pulled off the circuit into the pits at the usual place, which when racing is at the end of the bottom straight just before Surtees, and what a spookily good decision that turned out to be, as unbeknown to me ( or it seems anyone else), the bike immediately ahead off me started dumping the contents of its crankcases from the exit of Surtees, all around McClarens into Clearways.....

The rider that had been behind me (a fellow Banditeer called Shane (Slim) Watson) was the first to come across the oil, and bosh, down he went, followed by the next six riders before they managed to get the reds out.

Dunno what it is about me, oil and Brands Hatch, but that is the third time I’ve had a lucky escape in the last three visits- Weeksy and Ceri will probably remember a trackday a number of us did at Brands where a Blade blew its guts out at the end of the start finish straight and covered me and my then brand spanking Street triple in red hot oil just as I was about to tip into Paddock- got away with that one too, although not sure how I did then either!

Edit- link here to that track day report from us all, for anyone that’s interested
viewtopic.php?p=15568#p15568


Anyway, back to the current day, thankfully no serious injuries, just a number of broken bikes and another delay as the racing was due to start and apparently there was a lot of oil and it needed a serious clean up before anyone could go out .
The 600 National lot were the first race, so they gave them 2 warm-up sighting laps, but after the first lap they all came back to the grid waving their arms and shouting, as I think nearly all of them had nearly been off on it, so the decision was taken for an early lunch whilst they got the heavy duty tanker out and gave it a full degrease and scrub which would take a good hour for it to be fully dry.



That was duly done, and racing got underway with no issues, but an unfortunate knock-on effect of the delays was the already full program wouldn’t have been able to be completed, so instead of the planned 2 x 10 lap races each today, it was reduced to one 12 lappers per class.
Bit of a bummer but there you go.
My race came around and Saturday’s results had moved me up on the grid a bit to row 5, and I was raring to go.
Unfortunately I didn’t get my usual flier of a start, got a bit beaten up around Paddock and ended up fighting ith two 400s for most of the race, one of whom is a definite accident hot-spot with his rear wheel in the air on almost every corner, and the other really erratic to the extent that I nearly went in the back of him twice- annoyingly he had a really fast bike, which meant I just couldn’t keep him behind me and I’m sure if I could have got clear I could have gone a bit faster, but 5th Bandit over the line, 1st Senior and 55.1 laptime was still a decent result so we packed up and went home with three more trophies, two more caps , a 15 point chamionship lead, and no mechanical woes or crashes so the weekend was , again, a most excellent one.










The guest class at this meeting were the Lansdowne classics, which was lovely to see- don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Manx Nortons,G50s and Inters in one place at the same time, at least not being used as intended , like these were. There was even a Vincent Lightning- I didn’t get many pics, but here’s a couple that I did






And some shonky old bitsa to get Fromage frothing




Next round is Castle Combe on the weekend of 26-27th July, where I’ll hopefully see one or two of you- It’s the only bike meeting of the year at Combe and should be a good one with doubtless a few big names there too (last year Charlie Nesbit, Josh Day, TJ Toms and a few others were in the big races) - more detail here
https://castlecombecircuit.co.uk/july-m ... e-weekend/


My eldest boy is very thoughtlessly getting married down on the south coast the day before and it’s a big family do so I’ll be loading up the van a day early , driving it to the wedding, and heading up to Wiltshire early morning the day after- I’m going to have to go steady on the beers I guess…
That and the fact that I don’t know the circuit and all the trackdays between now and then there are fully booked mean I’m not expecting it to be my best performance ( just getting all the excuses in early in case any of you do turn up), but whatever happens, it will be fun and we’d love to see any of you , we’ll have Jaffa Cakes and HobNobs and even if I’m shit I guarantee I’ll be trying!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Hmmm, I don't froth, was the Zephyr raing?

Apart from the frothing comment a good right up, I get a few motorcycle magazines for free (Ride, Bike, Classic Bike and a few others) and that was a better written and more interesting article than anything recently in any of those magazines.

[Noggin]

That's awesome. Loving the spidey sense keeping you upright!

I love reading these write ups, thank you

[weeksy]

Top write up, i'm not surprised it took until 11pm, you must have started it about 7

Great job as always... we always said you were fast for an old fella

[Tricky]

Cheers both and yeah, that ended up a lot longer than I thought it would be

It didn't take anywhere near as long as you'd think to write though as I voice type into a google doc and paste it in- uploading / linking the pics takes me the longest , I definitely don't have the patience to manually type all those words in!

[Supermofo]

Echo the others, great write up, really interesting and enjoyable. I used to like reading the race reports in some of the mags where the testers were racing and this is easily as good if not better. Certainly more pictures and details.

[Buckaroo]

Top man Tricky.

Always good to see the post teens doing great

Write up as good as always!

[Dodgy69]

Any updates from the Trickabella racing team. ?

[weeksy]

I messaged him Friday but haven't had any updates since Fri morning.. i'm assuming he's too busy trying to get all the trophies on the shelf.

[Tricky]

Err, sort of

It has been a long ( I packed the van last Wednesday and we set off for this one early Thursday morning) and quite eventful weekend one way and another, I've decided that Castle Combe is my new most un-favourite circuit , but it certainly wasn't dull, and we've made it back safe and sound.

Am achy and knackered, not even unpacked the van yet- full report with pics to follow over the next few days

[Nobby]

Oh no. Reading that last sentence...... A bit achy ?
Do you feel like you've been in a sack and beaten with a large stick for ten minutes ?
Hopefully not.

[Tricky]

Last weekend's round was at Castle Combe, and as I think I mentioned earlier on, my eldest boy was getting married down on the south coast on the Thursday immediately before, so that basically meant packing up the van on the Wednesday afternoon and driving down to Fareham for the wedding on Thursday morning.
And we had an absolutely fabulous day at a lovely venue, despite the weather, and the rain even stopped later on in the day allowing them to get some half-decent outdoor photos





And one of me and Isabella in our glad rags at the hotel before we left for the venue



As I was on track the next day, I was trying to go easy on the liquid refreshments, so I stayed well away from the wine (apart from the glass of fizz for the toasts) and shorts, and was sticking to a pint of water in between each beer, for most of the time anyway .
Anyway, suffice to say that a truly fabulous time was had by all , with lots of merriment, bad dancing by me and some times that brought a tear to my eye, but the good happiness sort of tears...

Anyway, celebrations over, I was up bright and early Friday morning , not that long after I’d gone to bed, and set to set off in the van for Castle Combe leaving Isabella pushing up the zeds in the hotel.
As I think I may have previously mentioned my young ( relative term) fast mate Tim was also also contesting this round.
it was to be the first NG round that he's competed in- he's currently leading the Bemsee  MiniTwins Rookie championship, they have a bit of a gap in their schedule and so he had entered the minitwins here , and the newcomers race here which I of course qualify for, so I was quite excited about that because it was going to be the first time we're both in a race together- I didn't expect to beat him, but I was planning to give it my best shot

As this round is the only bike race meeting of the year at Castle Combe we knew it was going to be a busy one, and with the circuit open for pitching up from 2pm on Thursday afternoon, the chances of getting a decent space in the paddock were going to be slim on Friday, and sure enough we weren't wrong.
Tim set off from home nice and early and got down there before 7 o'clock, but the main paddock was already rammed so the gate nazis shoved him in a field absolutely fecking miles away down by Folly.
I arrived about an hour later, and after doing a few circuits of the main paddock managed to find a a bit of space for us at the far end of the main paddock so down came the gazebos and we moved over there.
Although it wasn’t the ideal place, it was massively better than where we were and meant that we were reasonably in amongst it and didn't have to trek to get to race control, the cafes and tyre man .

The way the test day here was organised , you get a maximum of only 3×12 min sessions, which would be either AM or PM- Tim was in an AM group, I was in a PM.
TBH this was a bit shit  for both of us as neither of us had ridden there apart from the two or three laps that we both did as part of our ACU licence test there last year, so it doesn’t exactly give us much chance to get up to race pace
Anyway, Tim’s first session came around so off came the tyre warmers and out he went.

Unfortunately, he didn't get very far though- on his first flying lap,  he went for the brakes coming into Quarry, which is without doubt the fastest part of the course (is absolutely flat out in top on most bikes) and there was nothing there so he headed for the grass on the inside of the track and jumped.
Considering the speed of the off , there is no doubt that the got away relatively lightly, as he would have traveled a fair distance-  the airbag in his leathers of course deployed ( for the fourth time so far this season  )and undoubtedly helped him, and no obvious serious injury but from his (brand new Shoei) helmet it was obvious that he’d whacked his noggin along the way so he got the eye and balance test back in the medical centre,  which he unfortunately failed.

He was a bit battered and shook up but seemed compos mentis, and had no other significant injuries so he got told to go and sit in a cool place, drink lots of water, no coffee or fizzy, and come back in 3 hrs time when if he felt OK and passed the tests, the doctor would sign  him off as fit to continue.

I got his bike back to the vans and all things considered damage was relatively light, he was very lucky it had slid down the tarmac for most of the time and not flipped.
The damage was basically clip-on, rear-sets , fairing, fairing mounts, exhaust can, front rim  and one or two other bits but we had or were pretty sure we could obtain everything we needed without leaving the circuit so all eminently fixable, and whilst he was waiting to be re-tested, he set about stripping it, and I took the front wheel up to the tyre man to get that sorted.



In was, however all in vain though, as he failed the second tests, which basically means a 12 day ban on the licence, and he can’t race again until signed off by a circuit doctor.
TBH I was glad that he failed, as he’s a tough little bloke but seemed a bit wobbly to be so definitely l for the best IMO, as Castle Combe is a fast and quite scary place IMO, and one of the last circuits I would want to crash at.

So I turned my attention to me and the Bandit- mechanically it was just as it was from leaving Brands, aside from the usual post-race clean, and nut and bolt check etc. I’d also had the calipers off and given them a good clean and new pads. I’d also bought a couple more sprockets with me, as although 14/47 or 14/48 is the acknowledged ideal gearing for a fit Bandit that will suit at pretty much every circuit we go to, Castle Combe is the fastest so I was expecting to maybe have to gear up a little from that.

The only other thing that I’d done was to spray the belly pan red, purely as a result of seeing me in one of the pics on the club’s FB group- this one-



Where I thought that the satin black bellypan made it look just too much like a ratbike, so the rattle cans had come out again, and it is now Postman Pat red to try and break up the blackness a bit (pictured here win a can of my favourite energy drink on the tank



So off I went on my first of three 12 min sessions , and although it’s a relatively simple track in terms of number of corners and elevation changes, I reckon you really do need to know it to go fast, and it’s the only circuit in a very long time that I’ve run off on, but they were just “finding the edge of the track” sort of run-offs and nothing too serious, and by the end of the third session I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable, albeit still feeling pretty slow and with a lot more to learn, but overall , decent progress , and nigh-on perfect weather.

I helped Tim pack his van, and in a spooky sort of way, maybe it had not been meant to be for him this week-end as it was only when I’d got to the circuit and unloaded my stuff that I realised that I’d left my tyre warmers at home- not a disaster at all with the weather how it was and the tyres we have to run, but they are a nice comfort blanket to have so I held on to his.

By this time, Isabella had arrived up from the south coast in her car after having a nice lie-in, so we toddled off in convoy to the Chippenham Premier Inn, less than 10 minutes up the road.
Saturday dawned and I got to the circuit nice and early- I didn’t need to as unfortunately it was our (the Banditts) class turn to be the last qualifying sessions and races in the running order at this meeting, but well, I seem to struggle sleeping before racedays, and can’t lie in bed.

As the noise levels on race days are more lenient that test/trackdays there, out came the baffle (which gives me an extra 2 or 3 hp at the top end ) I was also debating whether to up the gearing slightly , but I thought that I’d suck it and see.
I felt good in my warm up session, although as I don’t have a lap-timer on the bike I still didn't have a clue what times I was setting, but managed to tag on to the back of a Millie after he went by me and stay with him for the rest of the session with no runs off the track so was feeling OK for qualifying.
Qualifying eventually came, and out I went. As anyone who has ever raced in a particular class for more than a couple of rounds on the trot will confirm, you get to know roughly where you/ your bike sits in the speed hierarchy, so I tried to tag on to a couple of the more experienced main class top three (one of which I’d beaten at Pembrey) , but within less than a lap they were gone, so I just settled in and rode my own laps, ending up qualifying 7th overall and 1st Senior in the 1:22s.
Although that was some 2.5 secs off pole, my nearest Senior class rival was a whole second slower than me ,so I was pretty happy with that as I was sure that there was more to come as I fully worked out more of the track , and I was just about on the rev-limiter coming up to Quarry, so a 46 tooth went on the rear, ready for my first race, and I got the shorts and flip-flops back on and had a good old mooch about and chatted to a few people to kill the next 90 mins or so before my first race .

By mid-morning The circuit was rammed with the biggest crowds that I've ever seen at any club race, fabulous to see.
The weather undoubtedly helped but in addition to that there were one or two of the big boys from BSB racing in the king of Coombe (open) races , with half-decent prize money right down to 10th
And on Sunday, Tommy Bridewell was also there wandering around the paddock , being Tommy , signing autographs and generally lording it up and he also did a few laps on his Fireblade Road bike and a bit of the commentating too, so great entertainment.

Alongside all the regular races ( including sidecars at this round) they also had a Parade class which I think it's for people who don't want to race and don't necessarily want to do a track day either but just really want to show their bikes and have a few laps of the tracks, so there were some interesting bikes there and free access for everyone all around the paddock, so it from that perspective it really was a cracking do- I actually took a few pics this time too



















Anyway, my first race came around, and as we were again out with the 400s, my 7th fastest Bandit time had put me P10 on the grid, top of the 4th row.
My experience to date has been that the first corner in Bandit, and I imagine a lot of other club race classes is usually pretty hectic and it seems that there is almost always physical contact, but at this circuit it is doubly exciting , or downright scary dependant on your outlook;- you accelerate away from the line on the widest part of the track and arrive at the first corner pretty much flat out needing to lose 60mph or so and three gears to get around, and it was literally six or seven abreast, with dive-bombers too
I got beaten up a bit but made it through and around the first couple of laps, and was, I thought, making good progress, although I was likely trying too hard and had more slides in those few laps than I’ve had year to date, and didn’t match my qualifying time, but it definitely wasn’t a complete disaster as I crossed the line 12th on the road, which was 8th Bandit and most importantly for me 1st Senior, so although it was an extremely frustrating race for me and I still wasn’t comfortable with the track, I guess it was a decent result.

I came in and was pretty much straight back out as I was also in the final race of the day, the “Newcomers”- my qualification time had put me a bit further back for this one in 14th on the 5th row, but it was a pretty much full grid with another 5 or 6 rows behind me
And that was carnage- although when we’re out with the 400s some of them can be annoyingly fast on the straights, the Newcomer races can be another level. As you can ride anything you like in these, you can get a very big variance in speed both of bikes and riders, and particularly at the end of the main straight heading towards quarry, the 1000s can be going a good 50+ mph more than Bandits and Svs etc, and can blast past you in-between the chicanes ( there’s three of them in a lap) and you can end up rear-ending people, and I had far more contact and near misses in that one than I was comfortable with so it really wasn’t a race I enjoyed, finishing 15th on the road, and 4th in the Middleweight class, so just missing out on a pot in that one.

Drewe (one of the Jolly-boys gang I go green-laning with down south at weekends) had come to watch with one of his mates, and my two brothers had again traveled down to cheer me on, so overall it was a great day, finished off with a very welcome couple of cold ones in the sun at the pub down the road before they toddled off home and Isabella and I settled in for another night at the Premier Inn.
Which, incidentally, I have to say is definitely one of the better ones- the “Elite” rooms are well worth the extra tenner or so IMO- walk-in shower, half-decent coffee machine, and uprated air con

Back at the circuit Sunday, looking at my race times from Saturday, my best laps were actually slower than I’d done in qualifying, and I was thinking maybe I’d just gone that little bit too far with the gearing so a 47tooth went back on the rear, ready for my next race.

I lined up 12th on the grid for this one, but most importantly a place or two ahead of my main championship rival, who I was expecting me to trouble me more than he had so far this weekend so far, although I had targets ahead of him.
I got a decent start making up a good few places on the first couple of laps until a 400 and a Bandit tangled and went down right in front of me at the ( tightest ever and frankly ridiculous) last chicane which is made out of big rectocele blocks, and I had to come to pretty much a complete stop to avoid running over the rider lying on the track in front of me.
Half the pack that was behind me short-cut the chicane through the bollards to avoid the melee, so I had a bit of catching up and overtaking to do. I managed to catch and pass a couple and then got stuck in a battle with Kevin Gale, another Senior . He was lying 5th in the championship before this round, and I’ve beat him in every race I’ve been in except the Oulton ones so I was expecting to be able to clear off but I really couldn’t this time, and we must have passed and re-passed each other 4 or 5 times in the rest of the race, with me crossing the line 8th Bandit overall (again) and just 0.2 seconds behind Kevin, so 2nd Senior for me
Thoroughly frustrating, as if I hadn’t got held up with the chicane crash, I’m sure I would have been able to gap him

I was topping out in 6th in that race, so for my final race of the week-end, the 46T rear went back on, which I’m now not sure was the right thing to do as Kevin got by me and although I got him back, I was struggling keeping him behind, but I was confident, and I had a last-lap plan this time, which unfortunately didn’t work out as the race got red-flagged due to a nasty coming together at the last chicane (again), which meant a very similar result to the previous race with me me finishing 2nd Senior and Kevin 1st.
This time I crossed the line in 7th, for what it’s worth, but most satisfying for me I was 15 seconds ahead of my nearest championship rival.

So although I haven’t extended my lead by quite as much as I’d have hoped, I have extended it, I’ve come away from what I think is not a particularly nice track, and certainly not one I feel comfortable at (feck knows how some people go as fast as they do round there, it really is astounding to me) with an increased lead, three more trophies and no DNFs so far, which is more than most can say, so am calling that another decent result




Next round is Donington at the end of August, I like Donington, and they have garages so am really looking forward to that albeit I will be taking it slightly easy there as I am getting married myself 5 days later….

[weeksy]

As always an epic write up mate... Top job all round i'd say, well bloody done !!!

[Buckaroo]

Impressive stuff @Tricky

Life in the fast lane!

I really enjoy reading about your continuing escapades on two wheels.

[Tricky]

The old girl had a sort of holiday at the end of last week, two days (well, strictly speaking, it was only 1.5 days as she popped a fork seal halfway through the second day) trying to terrorize the fast group at the annual Ixion trackday.


@Dodgy69 and @2xtwins also did a session on the old girl, have to say I thought they'd be in and complaining within a lap or two but they both stayed out and on the face of it at least, seemed to enjoy riding an overweight 1997 shopping bike

On the second day, Richard Kerr ( 2023 BSB Superstock 1000 champ and Rory Skinner's replacement for this weekend's BSB round at Cadwell) was out to play with us on his M1000RR , very polite (and probably needless to say, fecking fast) fella, I'll be rooting for him this weekend!

I also got to do some laps on Dodgy's MT , Kev's 890R, and Mart's ZX6, I loved them all

The first day was a bit of a crash-fest in our group, and dependant on your outlook, it might be said that far too much beer was drunk by some of us but we had plenty of laughs and a cracking good time was had by all - Overall a top couple of days

[Dodgy69]

A few more pic's and one of the Munster Hotel. Cracking 2 days.

[R1Dave]

Really enjoyable read this Tricky!!

Great to see the successes too,well done, i'm at Donny at the end of the month, racing with the True Heroes lot (Things have progress since my last racing update)
We are in garage 3, please do feel free to pop by and say hello, i can come find you etc.