So, now a seasoned pro going into my 5th round...
After a corking weekend at Oulton I was looking forward to Brands a lot, but again had never ridden it before. The good thing about Oulton was that in entering 2 classes, 400s as well - we doubled the 400 grid, and the EDI Asia guy that sponsors 400s hates 2 strokes which is a bonus (nothing like doing someone a favour so they have to go mmmff and not say too much hehe). I had 6 practice sessions and a qualifying available to me on Friday, which made life hectic (full trackday done and dusted by 1pm anyone???). I made 4 sessions after a powervalve controller failure had to be diagnosed and fixed. Qualifying was in meltingly humid heat but at least I had powervalves again. And some new pipes went on after qualifying, which makes mine one of the fastest bikes out of bends in pretty much the whole field
Morning practice was allegedly 15 minutes - one out lap and 4 flying ones for me so don't reckon it could have been. Still - everything going ok, just taking things cautiously - particularly the monstrously fast Hawthorn bend, which laughed at being taken flat in 4th so went to 5th. Monster queue for noise testing after as they ran out of stickers, so wasn't around to take my friend's call for tickets. So it was superb to see Matt (Milne) and Mike (Cope) turn up and hear Mike talk for the first time since the coma-inducing incident at Paddock Hill bend in March and a grim few weeks recovery.
Wasn't happening in Race 1 on Saturday, as it's the first time I've ridden Brands GP, so ended up outside the points (16th) for the first time since the centenary meet! Never thought I'd be expecting to finish INSIDE the points in April - now it's pretty much every time, which is progress. The significant event was being passed by a new-to-me rider Pat Smock, who made a clean pass at the back of the circuit and then proceeded to spectacularly bin it into the gravel at the bottom of the dip - lots of tumbling both bike and rider. The gravel showered all over the track but didn't create any probs as I rode over it. I got warned about Mr Smock by some of the others as he's known for being a bit of a loon, takes inadvisable lines and is not averse to bouncing off people in lieu of braking hard enough. Apparently he was taking his hand off the bars going round Paddock every time to wave at his little fan club - wonder why he binned it? So that was a red flag after just 3 laps.
Race 2 got me away with the gaggle of riders I've joined from 10th to about 16th. They did get away slightly but I got my best lap time of the weekend, but faded off in the last two laps as concentration levels disappeared. I knew Barry (Negus was breathing down my neck so kept it pinned as best I could, but only got it by 0.3secs... 15th and a point so not too bad for the first 13 laps round this most excellent circuit.
We were clearly robbed in the evening sports day events though! Welly wanging, egg & spoon, sack race etc. all in the name of donations to the Ben Fund and the overall class winners getting an extra lap for both their races on Sunday. Pipped by a few points by the 400s. Oh, and got a spot prize of £30 from our Norfolkline sponsor
Thanks to Team Rioja for another good social and an introduction to homemade lemon sherbet vodka (literally those sweets, that drink, mix, leave) drink of champions! :D
First race on Sunday was another cracker, usual crew swapping places for the first couple of laps, then left me behind ever so slightly. Which left me open to an attack by Barry at the back of the circuit. So lined him up coming out of Clearways and outbraked him going into Paddock (1st time I've been brave enough to try that one!). It stuck so I went on the chase after "the gaggle" but at some point during that lap out came the red flag for the unfortunate Kev Higerty and game over. Countback meant I lost out on 13th place by a measly 17thousandths of a second!
Race 2 gave us a bit of rain in the air and an uncertainly damp track to contend with. Got me usual fairly swift start from the outside of row 4 and after about 3 corners realised "the gaggle" weren't going as fast as usual. So went for it and got through with my target Craig in sight for a couple of laps and caught him up, at which point showing him a wheel for a couple of corners put a fire under his arse and had us battling all the way to the finish. The attempt on the last lap to try and outdrag him out of Surtees ended up with my back wheel a foot sideways, so caught him up again by Clearways and got alongside at the line. Missed out on 8th by 0.09sec!!!! Still 9th is my best ever finish so I'm pretty happy with that. :D
Really looking forward to Cadwell now.
All the Racing Line piccies I could dig out. There’s quite a few on Sunday that show the raindrops on the screen.
To introduce the gaggle of current close rivals you will see in these pics #98 Barry Negus, #71 Nick Griggs, #44 TDR Paul Norris, #10 RD Adrian Grove, #94 Craig Jennings, #14 Chris Wallace. Another you’ll not see is #82 “Smiley” Ben Miles as he wasn’t racing this weekend and #54 Spencer Reeves who’re just that little bit ahead but will definitely be featuring in future pics.
Saturday
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Sunday:-
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