Officially round 9, but following the cancelled race at Thruxton, this is our 8th round, at least as far as the Sound of Thunder class is concerned.
Keevil is the really the circuit that NG Roadracing grew up from. Basically, they had some deal with the Ministry of Defence and were able to ‘borrow’ a number of airfields for days throughout the year, mark out a circuit with plenty of red and green cones and offer cheap racing to the masses. It’s how a number of now-famous racers started their careers. Funds have now allowed the organisers to progress to ‘proper’ circuits with all the facilities that go with them but Keevil survives as a reminder to those early days.
Well, that’s enough of that rose tinted stuff, I hate airfields. The surface is terrible, real bumpy with slippery over-banding, changes in surface from concrete to tarmac to broken up tarmac with grass growing up through, and all very flat and featureless with very little to help you judge where the next corner is, except for a sea of cones in the distance, Also with runways being used as straights the speeds are generally very high. Typically suited to the point and squirt style of riding but that just isn’t me! Having said that, I went pretty well round there last year so, still leading the championship, I felt quite confident.
There was a practice day arranged on the Saturday afternoon so Pete and I loaded up in the morning and headed down. We managed to get caught up in the holiday traffic on the way and ended up late [bad omen 1?] but when we got there Chris was ready and waiting for us; he and Pete unloaded the van and they set up the gazebo, to give us somewhere to shelter from the blistering heat, as I went to sign on. Tracy was pleased to find that the arrival of the van offered just enough shade to lay a duvet alongside and she made herself comfy! I was a bit disappointed to see championship favourite Mark Baldock, on his missile of a Ducati, [bad omen 2?] in the pits as he doesn’t usually lower himself to doing airfields but I guess the only reason he was there was because I was ahead of him on points so in a way that was pretty cool.
The first session was just to refresh myself of the layout and bed in some new brake pads, (Bendix this time as the supplier of my preferred make, Performance Friction, had stopped doing them, typical [bad omen 3?]). I got my leathers, boots gloves and helmet on, jumped on the bike pressed the starter button and…nothing [hmm bad omen 4 and counting]; the battery was almost dead flat! It didn’t take long to put enough charge in it to fire it up so, sweating away in all my gear I finally managed to get out on track! First lap was done in a pack of 40 riders, so I just thought I’d let them go and stay out of trouble. I noticed the top hairpin had been changed but because of all the traffic hadn’t noticed much else. Second lap, and the bikes had spread out a bit. The left hander was marked out slightly differently, but nothing to worry about, powering out of there and down the back straight, changing up through the gears and, eh? I ran straight on through the cones at the end of the straight! Rejoined, through the new hairpin layout and all the rest seemed pretty much the same. Third lap and once again I didn’t brake till far too late and again went straight on through the cones (I told you it was pretty featureless!) It turns out the circuit was completely different; the tarmac of the ‘old’ layout was breaking up so badly that they’d had to drastically shorten the back straight (aha!) and instead of the hairpin they’d put in a tricky double apex left hander which tightened up on itself before turning right down towards the original ‘esses’. Great, so now I had a totally new circuit to learn [omen number 5? it makes you wonder…]! Back in the pits, we noticed the front brakes were binding a bit, but just put it down to the intense heat. The next two sessions were cut short after a couple of laps due to people crashing, so time was getting on and I still didn’t have a clue where I was going. I did manage to get a few sessions in but couldn’t seem to get a consistent line anywhere two laps in a row! I did manage tag on to and stay with a couple other SoT guys but there were so many different styles of bike out there that it was difficult to judge who was trying hard and who was just lapping to stay out of trouble. I finally gave in to the heat and was relieved when Chris told me that my session was the last of the day anyway so he couldn’t have made me go out again even if he wanted to! Pete took the bike over to be scrutineered while I tried to get myself out of my very hot and sticky leathers; I felt like I nearly dislocated my hips trying to pull them off in desperation to cool down! Still, I was well pleased with the shade offered by the new gazebo and the desk fan we brought along was a godsend. Tracy fired up the toaster while we waited for Paul G (on route from work to spend the Sunday with us then to head off to meet his family at the seaside) and on his arrival the barbeque was lit and the beer supply was started on. Things were looking up as we chilled out until [yes, here comes omen number 6!] one of the organisers came over complaining that someone one our paddock scooter was tearing around and upsetting people and that if we didn’t sort him out pretty quickly we’d be sent home without being able to race the next day….. PETER!!!!! Chris acted as diplomat as I trekked across the main field to curtail the crazy one. Situation resolved and Pete kept a low profile for the rest of the evening.
Sunday morning and I was up fairly early. I hadn’t slept much, as I remember just going over and over the circuit layout in my mind throughout the night. First job was to give those binding brakes a clean up but on inspection I could see why there was a problem; the new pads had got so hot that even the paint on the backing had blistered plus the friction material looked like it had been sat incinerating in the barbeque overnight and there were also signs of melted pad on the surface of the discs! The caliper pistons were all freely moving so Paul and I cleaned everything up and, luckily, I’d brought along the old PF pads, that I’d removed the day before, so I fitted them back in, albeit a bit worn but it was my only option [7?]. At least the weather was cooler.
First practice seemed to go ok and at the end of the session I even found a line through the new hairpin that seemed to work, allowing me to get good drive on the exit, although it did mean trailing the front brake while I was leant over which is against everything I normally do but hey, it seemed to work. Second practice session I was keen to try out my revelation. Too keen as it happens; I went in far too fast and realised the arc I was turning in just wasn’t going to get me around, so I stood it up, hit the front brake hard, ran onto the grass, swapped to using the back brake and as I slowed (not quickly enough!) I decided to nudge up to one of the fence posts instead of getting wrapped up in the fencing! I missed my footing as I came to a stop and just laid the bike on it’s side on the grass [that’s 8 bad omens so far, do I sound superstitious yet??]. It was so gentle that I picked the bike up remounted and went to get another couple of practice laps in before the session ended but got black flagged as I crossed the startline [9!]. I pulled in and was told that because I’d ‘fallen off’ that I shouldn’t have re-started and would need to get scrutineered again. Oh well!
First race, as usual, was the ‘open’ qualifier. With nowhere close enough to use a pitboard, and so no cunning plans, I let the pack go off the line, moved up to where the front row was and did a practice start from the inside line. I caught up and passed a few people and didn’t mess much up so it was good practice! The brakes felt ok and I was relieved to find the binding had stopped (mental note to send the Bendix pads back with a letter to let them know just what I thought of them!).
Ah, a word about the starts. There are no grid positions as such at the airfields just the first four in the championship get the front row and whoever gets there first chooses where they want to start from (meaning a pretty quick warm up lap!). Normally pole is on the outside of the first corner which is technically the best bet but the risk here is having someone overshoot by poor cone/distance perception, which has been known (yes, yes, myself included, ahem!) which blocks you from turning until they are out of the way. I decided the inside line was the best idea as long as I didn’t go straight on myself or get boxed in by having someone go in deep and turn across in front of me. No starting lights here, we formed up on the grid all eyes on the national flag of the Start-man. Everyone tense, revs raised, clutches biting and the Start-man made a little twitch; I went to go, then stopped as I realised he hadn’t dropped the flag then went again as he finally did. A couple of people had kept going on the flag twitch and I got totally boxed in for the first corner. I missed a gear as I got onto the back straight which didn’t help at all and had to gather myself to get back up with the pack. I had a real battle with the incredibly late braking ‘Jumpin’ Geoff on his Ducati (which frustrated me more as I never usually see much of him!) and finally caught and passed Ricky on the Benelli. I finished 6th but a jump start penalty for Lance (cheat!) put me in 5th, so second row for the final.
Time was flying by for a change. Hardly any of the races were stopped and with friends coming and going throughout the day, not to mention my ever growing creche, sorry, pre-teen fan club (all related to Damien and his crew who were parked next to us) to entertain, meant there wasn’t too much hanging around before having to get ready to go out again. Mention should be given to Graham who turned taxi driver as his MPV was co-opted into our paddock transport, allowing us to watch the other races from different points of the track.
I wasn’t fussed about doing the second open race on the basis of saving myself, the brakes, and the tyres but then I was told I’d qualified pole for the B final; I ask you, after all those attempts, efforts and plans at trying to do just that and I manage it without trying! The warm up lap showed that there were a couple of other people that really should have been in the A final, one real quick guy on a GSXR1000 and former NG champion Paul Willis, on a tuned-to-the-max Mille, one of my SoT rivals. I ended third behind these two, and though I couldn’t catch Willis, the gap he’d made on me in the first couple of laps stayed pretty constant for the rest of the race, meaning that if I could push harder early on I may be able to threaten him in the main event.
Still no delays and we were all a bit surprised that we were being called for the SoT final and it was still only mid afternoon! Second row on the grid this time and to avoid the situation of being boxed in again, I positioned myself on the outside behind and slightly to the right of Baldock. No false moves from the flag man this time and I got a great start. I deliberately went in to the first corner a bit deep, quick turned the bike, picked it up and tucked in directly behind Willis for a draft down the back straight. Unfortunately, Willis’s bike then decided it’d had enough and started pouring out great clouds of smoke hiding me in it’s trail! I moved to the right but so did he, unaware of what was happening underneath him, so I had to cross back through the fog behind him and finally passed him on the left as we got to the top hairpin. I’d got what I thought was some spots of rain on my visor but the circuit is so physical that I couldn’t take a hand off the bars to clear it until I was back on the start/finish straight. I raised my head to get the wind-blast from the screen to clear it but for some reason that didn’t work either. When I finally got a chance to wipe it, it just smeared so I was running pretty blind again (uh oh, remember Darley?!). Onto the back straight and I cleared it enough to get on with the job in hand and although I wasn’t able to catch the leaders in time, I at least finished fourth. Not quite what I wanted or I expected of myself but when I got off the bike, the result wasn’t bad considering that the whole front of the bike, my visor and my helmet were covered in oil from Willis’s bike! I guess I should have considered myself lucky to have stayed on as the front tyre and brakes must have had a coating too!
So that was it. 4th was enough to keep me second in the championship but Deano and Damien are closing in on me. I felt pretty subdued despite Chris’s attempts to make me look on the bright side though it’s given me something to think about in the run up to the next rounds at Pembrey. We loaded up, said our goodbyes and Chris and Tracy left on their bike hoping to avoid getting caught in the imminent rain, as did Paul on his journey to see the sea. Pete and I made sure our site was litter free, had a last look around the now pretty empty paddock, jumped in the van and…….nothing. The battery was dead flat [here we go again!!]…………