My reasons, by the way, behind not doing the practice day go like this;
· First, it would mean the expense of the entry plus more tyres, brake pads and fuel.
· Second, there was the (albeit pessimistic) view that the more laps you do, the probability increases that one of those laps is going to be done badly resulting in a crash.
· Third, a race is about 7 minutes of total concentration pushing as hard as you can for every single second; practice days are 20 minute sessions with traffic of differing abilities and for me, only good for learning where the track goes.
· Fourth, if you’re out with slower riders it’s easy to feel you’re a racing god and have a rude awakening when race day arrives and everyone is suddenly going much, much faster.
· Fifth, if you’re out with faster riders and because there’s no reason to really push hard (you know, no points of prizes or fame or glory!) you feel slow, so you’re grouchy all evening, you spend the night led awake, worried about the next day, and then you’re tired all day when it’s important to be at your best
· Sixth, I just didn’t want to.
In the paddock I met up with the pink-haired Susie Grayson, head of Feisty Racing, and Mini-Twin racer. In a bid to boost our Sot/MT grids, I’d invited the Bikegirl team to do some of our rounds (they’d been doing Bemsee’s Championship last year) but I’d not had any takers. Then last week, out of the blue, Susie emailed me to say she was interested in coming along to try out NG for a change. As she was the only one of the all girl bike racing team on a Mini-Twin this year I offered to sponsor her ride; so here she was and in the programme it said “supported by Team Fiesty /Spiderman”!!
Ricky and I spent the rest of the afternoon on the outside banking, in the sun, watching the test day, all very relaxing. There were definitely some quick Thunder bikes out there that we hadn’t seen before. Ricky had heard that one of them was a £70,000 ex-Dean Thomas BSB Ducati. Hmm, rumours, rumours! At the end of the day, I went back to the truck, had something to eat and made the most of the peace and quiet before everyone arrived! Sian, Ricky’s fiancé turned up on her SV650 and although we were keen to lock-wire it up and fit number-boards to it for Ricky to ride the following day (the Benelli was still absent; don’t ask!) we were under oath not to touch it! Race weekends don’t start till Chris arrives so I was pleased to see him pull up later, even with his car full! Tracy made herself at home in the truck while the kids got straight in front of the tv and put a film on, having been denied the square box during the four hour journey! The evening was spent sat around in the awning chatting, eating and drinking. I wasn’t late to bed but hardly slept; By the time Tracy and Eva had eventually stopped talking (they were sleeping in the rear of the truck where the bike normally sits but I could still hear them!), the wind had picked up outside, and the awning had started banging against the side of the truck. It got so bad at one point that I really thought we wouldn’t have an awning left in the morning!
I got up as early as 6am but was surprised to find the awning in one piece still. Chris was already up, having had a bad night’s sleep too, so we walked a lap of the track then he pushed the bike up to be first in the queue for scrutineering while I put my shiny new leathers on and met him up there. That done, we set the bike up on the paddock stands, put the tyre warmers on and fuelled it up while Tracy made us a lovely cup of tea and started making some porridge for our breakfasts.
First practice was always going to be a bit tough. Not having ridden for two weeks meant everything felt fast and added to that the track was a little damp and the wind was still blowing hard. Tricky to get a rhythm first thing but I had the ‘Open’ qualifier to use as another practice. 40th on the grid was going to give me plenty to do but at least I could watch what was happening ahead of me before getting stuck in. We lost at least three riders who went straight on at the first corner and another couple at the bottom hairpin; some things never change! I soon started picking people off but took it steady and stayed out of trouble. The bike felt ok at that pace but my laptimer showed I was doing 1.11s so I knew I’d need to find at least 3 seconds to get to the same pace I was at last year. The wind was straight ahead down the back straight so not a problem but I was having to heave real hard on the bars to get the bike to turn through the chicane. I also knew I wasn’t chucking it into the fast first right hand turn or the left hander after the back straight anywhere near as hard as I remembered doing before. It may have been because the steering damper was set so high but there was still a hint of a weave on the fast bits so I daren’t risk backing the damper off, I’d just have to get more physical with it!
Amanda arrived on her Blade along with Pete on his ZX6 with Zoe riding pillion. Crazy Pete had finally made it, after panicking that he may have to let the team down, by begging a lift from his mate Shane. Lee and Susie turned up too, and Paul T (AKA ‘Singlesman’) made an appearance. Tracy was the perfect hostess offering tea and coffee to everyone of the growing band of Team Spidey. Biggest surprise was seeing my mum wandering down the paddock! It was the first time she’d ever seen me race and I was really pleased she’d come along.
On to the SoT qualifier. It felt good being on pole position and looking behind to see a full grid for the first time this year was pleasing, though I was beginning to think that the Friday practice day may have been a good idea. I got a pretty good start and led most of the way round the first lap. Deano went up the inside of me at the left hander after the back straight and Nigel Reed forced a move on me up the inside of the chicane. I settled in behind them for a couple of laps but Reed was riding like a thing possessed! Riding small bikes for the past year meant his lines were well different to mine or Deano’s as he did everything to keep his momentum up through the corners. It seemed to be working but from where I was, it looked ragged and a bit dangerous. Twice in a row he made contact with Deano through the tight chicane and I deliberately hung back as there was a real possibility of them taking each other out, something I didn’t want to get involved with. Times got into the 1.08s which was encouraging but the dicing ahead of me had slowed us up enough for one of the MRO guys to catch us up and in the last few laps he made a move up the inside of me into the tight chicane. His tight line made him slower on the exit than my sweeping line and each time I out drove him onto the start/finish straight. The same happened on the last lap but again my better line meant I crossed the line ahead of him but still behind Deano with Reed taking the win. A front row start for the final would be ok but I knew I’d have my work cut out, especially as the other MRO guys, who had started on the back of the grid in the qualifier, would now be starting on the second row.
Tracy, still in charge of catering, made enough bacon rolls to keep everyone happy at lunchtime and Chris and Ricky fitted the new slick on the rear.
We, well Chris, decided I’d better do the ‘open’ final to scrub the new tyre in, for extra tracktime and to try out some different lines. Chris was up in the grandstand earlier and had a clear view of where I was leaving room to let people force moves past me. 30th on the grid in the A final was ok, near the back, on the outside but at least with riders on a similar pace to me after their qualifier. I took it real steady on the opening laps and made a real effort to look around, use the width of the track and see what worked and what didn’t. Although the pace was a bit slower, it at least gave me a chance to think about the bike set up too. The quickshifter started playing up again after being perfect all morning but I recognised the symptoms straight away and flicked it off. I added some muscle to the countersteering this time in the places I’d struggled at and it seemed to help. Also, I was losing out into the lefthander after the back straight even though I could feel my rear wheel hopping off the deck as I hit the anchors. I knew I couldn’t brake any harder with the current set up so some fork adjustment needed to be investigated. I don’t know where I finished but it was a useful exercise, although I wasn’t sure that I could go much quicker next time out. Back in the pits I increased the fork preload slightly, the rebound damping to match and also the compression damping by quite a bit to reduce the rate of dive under braking. A slight adjustment to the rear shock to keep things balanced and Spidey went back on the paddock stands, tyre warmers went back on, a splash of fuel went in and she was given a quick clean and polish ready for the final.
First though, Chris and I had something to do. While Tracy grabbed a few minutes sleep, we grabbed a couple of the youngsters Spidey-masks and headed to Race Control. Marion, the Club’s secretary is usually locked in the office and rarely gets to see the light of day during a race weekend but she is a big fan of the sidecars. We donned our masks, stormed the office and kidnapped Marion and took her to the grandstand to watch her favourite race! She didn’t put up a struggle and was pleased to have us cheer her day up for a few minutes!
Soon enough, the SoT final was called. In a bid to send me out at the last possible second, Chris went down onto pit wall and he watched for the end of the previous race. When the time was right, he signalled Geoff, who signalled me and I fired up the bike while Crazy Pete and Shane took the tyre warmers off and took out the paddock stands, very slick. I arrived at the assembly area with hot tyres and knew what I had to do. I practised my start and flew round the warm up lap, being the first to arrive back at the grid. As the rest of the riders assembled, I focussed my thoughts. The flag-man moved aside, the lights came on, then off and GO! I got an absolutely perfect start, and powered away in the lead. I wasn’t surprised to get overtaken by the expensive Ducati on the straight but thought that if I could just hang on to the back of him, he may help me stretch a lead on whoever was behind. Not only was I able to stay with him, it felt like he was holding me up through the twisty bits! I made a firm move up his inside into the fast first turn and from then on I just rode in total concentration lap after lap. I maintained my preferred, wide line into the left hander entering the complex which although could lead me open to an attack up the inside, was better for a fast lap, but I stayed tight on the entrance to the ‘bus-stop’ chicane (as directed!) to hold off a desperate diving attack there. The laps clicked away and a glance at my lap-timer showed I was doing mid 1.07 laps, pretty good! When the last lap flag was shown I kept my head and pushed just a little bit harder but determined not to make a mistake. I was so focussed on the braking points and turning points that I’d missed my lap board (sorry Lee!) so I didn’t know how close the next guy was. I assumed he was right on my tail and didn’t back off at all on that final lap and crossed the line in first! I couldn’t believe it! I stood up on the pegs and punched the air in celebration, what a buzz! Seems I had the length of the start/finish straight over the MRO guy too! As I pulled in off the track, I was greeted by my mum, who looked totally proud, and Pete who wrapped his Spidey flag (well, duvet cover) around me. Pete pushed Spidey back to the pits as I walked back, being congratulated all the way; one of those feelings you wish you could bottle. There was a crowd gathered as I arrived back at the truck, a big cheer then everyone produced a bottle of water from behind their backs and soaked me! I was drenched (though glad they hadn’t used beer!) but, in the words of Valentino; “I verry ‘appy”!!!!!!
We finished the day off by watching Damien (SoT rival from last year and good friend), on his new R1, take the win in the Powerbike final to add to his 'Open' final win earlier in the day. Top ride and well deserving of being given the 'Man of the Meeting' award, though I'm taking some of the credit by pushing him so hard last year!!
So, 95 points in total so far, versus 73 for Deano and we’re already a third of the way through the season! Cadwell in just two weeks is going to be interesting as it will be the first time NG have raced there; I can’t wait!