Now, I know what I said about test days, but seeing as I’d only been to Cadwell twice before, once on the short circuit on my old 125 racebike (circa ’92) and once for a trackday shortly after I got the Mille (must be 4 years ago), I’d booked myself on the Friday practice. With Cadwell a good 3 ½ hours away, it made perfect sense to drive up Thursday evening after work. Ricky just happened to get through his work a bit quicker than the rest of us and was well on his way by 10.30 in the morning; guess the excitement he’d had building up over the previous two weeks could no longer be contained! At least he could secure a good plot for us in the paddock. His haste to go racing hadn’t allowed for the fact that Sian, his fiancé, had to work the whole day so she hitched a lift up with me in the truck. Crazy Pete had a driving lesson on the Friday for his imminent test and had to sit this weekend out. He was pretty gutted about missing out but despite plans of getting lifts or catching trains to get up there, in reality there wasn’t much choice. Chris would have been there a week early if he could have done but he too had to do a bit of work in between. Tracy had a party to go to Thursday evening and the plan was to come all the way up after the party, meaning they’d arrive around 3 AM! There’s commitment for you, though I did request that as part of that commitment they were very quiet when they finally arrived!
Ricky had spread just about the entire contents of his van to mark out a place for us to park on the last free area of hard standing that was close to the circuit. He also fed us and with his help, the awning went up with military precision. We then took up Geoff’s challenge of making the flooring match up properly. It was a bit like a task from The Crystal Maze but eventually we had a black and grey chequered floor to be proud of! The rest of the evening was spent setting everything up for the weekend and getting settled in. I tried out the superb showers, which were a welcome addition since my last visit there, and got a reasonably early night. I didn’t hear Chris and Tracy arrive but when Ricky knocked on the door to wake us up early Friday morning, I knew from their protests that they hadn’t had much sleep! Despite poor weather forecasts, it was bright and dry out so I signed on and got ready to familiarise myself with the circuit. And what a circuit it is; steep hills, cambered corners, blind crests, this place has it all. It is a real roller-coaster ride and couldn’t be more different to the flat and fairly featureless Silverstone we’d just been to. Chris’s advice was to take it steady and look around on my first session (I’d only booked in for the morning), get up to speed in the second and try to push hard in the third. I knew Deano had sneaked a bit of cheating practice earlier in the week so when he came past me I tried to hang on to the back of him. He wasn’t pulling away too much but his confidence around the circuit showed by the way he was picking people off and I soon lost sight of him. Never mind, I guess that’s what I was here for. The second session went much better. I felt calmer on the bike and the laps stared to flow. I got in a good rhythm, gear change points were becoming consistent and I felt much happier. In the final session however, I got stuck behind a bunch of guys on quicker bikes that were slightly slower than me in the turns and I really wasn’t confident enough to force a move on them. I ended up slipping into trackday mode; following them around and feeling it was all a bit of a waste of time. See, I was right about test days! While Tracy made herself at home in the truck, Chris and I spent the afternoon watching the action from various places around the track and despite getting rained on at one point, we were able to see who was going well. Unfortunately, the two riders that stood out as being quick were Deano and Nigel Reed, my main contenders in the Sound of Thunder class! I was glad to be chilling out in the afternoon instead of wearing myself out on the track but there was a part of me that felt like I was in for a tough battle this weekend.
I had planned on making dinner for us all Friday evening but Tracy was already on the case. In fact, she was a star all weekend; you’d only have to mention you were slightly hungry or thirsty and Tracy was up and preparing something and then clearing it all away afterwards; I could get used to this!
Then I heard the rumour. I usually don’t take much notice of the paddock grapevine so when I heard that Deano’s bike had ‘blown up’, I took it with a pinch of salt. You know what Chinese whispers are like and I was sure whatever the problem was, it could be solved. I know Deano is my biggest rival but I walked up to see if I could help (ok and maybe a little to see how close to the truth the rumour was, I admit). Ricky came along too with his compression tester but when we got there it was plain to see it was futile looking any further. The bike had been partly stripped and it looked like one of the valves on the front cylinder had exited stage left; game over. I guess I should have been secretly pleased but I felt flat. The whole build up to the weekend, in fact my whole aim so far this year had been to try to beat Deano and suddenly the force that had been driving me had been removed. We had a quiet evening but I felt distant and hardly slept all night. I’d find myself worrying about my sudden loss of motivation. I’d find myself worrying about the pressure of having to make the most of the points-grabbing opportunity. I’d find myself worrying about all the nuts and bolts on the bike hoping that I too wouldn’t suffer mechanical problems. And then I’d find myself led awake worrying about how little sleep I was getting and how tired I’d be in the morning!
Saturday morning and my head wasn’t in much better shape. By now everyone knew about Deano’s problems and I was rapidly getting fed up with the number of people who’d come up to tell me the championship had been handed to me. Yes I’d got a chance to get some good points but I’d only got 95 so far and there were still 250 more up for grabs; one change of fortunes and the scales could easily tip the other way. My first practice session didn’t go too badly but the first ‘open’ race confirmed that I still hadn’t got the measure of the track. I was doing ok but I knew I wasn’t at race pace. The SoT qualifier wasn’t much better either. I finished third but I was a fair way back from Nigel Reed in second and a long way back from Mark Compton who won. Compton was the MRO runner that was hassling me in the qualifier at Silverstone and I knew he had been to Cadwell earlier in the year so I expected him to be fast straight away. The permanent smile on Ricky’s face showed he was having a great time on the Ducati, his first ride since October. He did get pulled over after the first race for a noise test and kind of proud he’d broken the NG noise record with 110db, 4 over the maximum allowed! We soon re-packed his silencers and it just passed allowing his racing to continue. I didn’t do the ‘open’ final and for the first time in a while, was actually feeling a bit nervous. I guess I should have felt lucky that Deano was out but instead felt more like I was waiting for his misfortune to rub off on me. Chris sensed there was something wrong but I tried to convince him everything was ok. We fitted a new slick to the rear and waited for the Thunder final. I was already thinking of damage limitation and had almost convinced myself that 16 points for a third would be ok and a lot better than a big zero for falling off or blowing up. Reed shot off for the warm up lap while I scrubbed my rear tyre in which felt a bit strange but I put it down to it just being a bit cold on the track. It was also strange coming back to form up on the grid and having people already there as I usually like to be the first back. Still, one person wasn’t already there. Reed had pulled over on the last corner of the warm up lap and was frantically fiddling with his bike. He still wasn’t there when the start lights went out and it turns out his throttle had stuck open and he’d had to retire. Bad luck rubbing off?? I got a poor start with too much wheelspin but soon got up to second. The race itself was pretty uneventful; Compton pulled away in the lead and I held station safely in second. Safely until the penultimate lap that is. Just as I went to tip the bike in to the left hander coming towards the ‘mountain’, the bike started spluttering. I hoped it was the old quickshifter problem but because of the tight left and immediate right followed by the steep hill I daren’t take my hand off the bars to flick the isolator switch! So, I chugged and lurched around the left, the right and then up the mountain and as soon as everything was straight and level I managed to hit the switch which sorted things out again, phew! Of course, all this mucking about had allowed the pack to catch right up with me again so I had to ride as hard as I dare in the last lap, still not 100% confident in the rear tyre, to secure second and a healthy 20 points. Crossing the line I felt a weight had been lifted. The points haul was 20 more than each of my regular rivals, so as far as I was concerned, the pressure was off for the following day and I could just go out and enjoy myself.
I really managed to relax on Saturday night. Once again Tracy had done us proud with her culinary skills and we spend the evening cruising the paddock, chatting to people and getting Chris all excited about sidecars. He really has a soft spot for them and we got invited to have a look around the F1 outfit of ‘Swifty’; a fantastic piece of engineering and a real shame that the technology is covered up with a shapeless sheet of fibreglass! We weighted and strapped the awning down with everything we had in anticipation of the winds and rain that were supposed to be coming up from the south and sat up late playing TT Superbikes on the truck’s newly-fitted Playstation.
Thankfully,I slept much better though I did get woken by the rain hammering against the side of the truck in the night.
Sunday morning and the rain had stopped though everywhere was still wet. It was good to see Geoff turn up, and I proudly showed him his perfect floor and the fab tyre stand he made us being put to good use. I figured it would be a good idea to try to blag a practice pass, if only to test out the new shape Dunlop wets, which were so far untested. On two day meetings, NG run a full set of practice sessions on the Saturday but only a couple on the Sunday just for anyone that hadn’t been there on the Saturday and already done a day’s worth of tracktime. Justifying being given a pass can be tricky as Steve, the man in charge, has heard every lame excuse going so tends to hand them out more for originality of the excuse than content! My plea of “please could I have a practice pass as I’ve ran out of decent excuses to justify one” was pretty lame but he gave me one anyway. By the time we’d finished the minor paddock debate as to whether or not to use tyre warmers on wet tyres, it was too late to do anything about it and I had to go out on cold wets anyway. The track was only really wet in the places we could see from the pits, and there was a dry line around the most of the rest of the track. Cold wets or not, I felt I had more grip in the wet than I had the day before in the dry on hot slicks!
No sooner had I arrived back in the pits, another rumour started; Deano, it appeared, had borrowed a bike. Suddenly, all my motivation, which had disappeared off somewhere else the day before, had finally realised what it should be doing and was right back with me; my eyes lit up, “must beat Deano”!! Fully dry now, the wheels with the slicks were fitted and I went out in the ‘open’ qualifier to get used to them again. The change in my attitude really showed and I felt much more confident. Lap times were nothing special but I was picking people off in places I wouldn’t have considered the day before and I experimented with a few different lines. It must have been riding better because I finished 11th, not bad considering a poor starting position. Next up was the SoT qualifier. Deano was there as rumoured but Nigel Reed had packed up and gone home the day before. On pole for this race (the grid being worked out on championship positions), with Deano next to me, we ran around on the warm up and I was first back, that’s more like it. The lights went out and well, nothing much happened! The back wheel just spun on the grid and when it finally gripped enough to push me forward, I was about 7th into the first corner with Deano heading off in the lead. I wasn’t ready to lose out so I got my head down and started making progress. Mark Compton took the lead ahead and I caught up to the back of the hard-riding Deano on his borrowed bike with a couple of laps to go. The Ducati wheelied over the mountain as usual, but I had got the knack of keeping Spidey level and was able to get the power down while he was having to throttle off to get the wheel back down. I out drove him into the twisty woodland section and tried to pull a gap. Mark was way ahead but as this was only a qualifier, I only needed a top four for a good starting position. I nearly didn’t get that though. One lap from the end, I tipped it into the hairpin in the woods and the back tyre just let go, big style. It came right round on me. Deano saw it all and told me afterwards that he was convinced I was off. I pushed against the tarmac with my knee, ankle and toe and somehow stayed on. I shrugged it off but it nearly did the same on the next right hander! The rest of the last lap was taken relatively gently but I still finished second.
The tyre problem had troubled me a bit, the Dunlops are usually great and it made me wonder if there was a machine problem instead. The lap times were troubling me too. My fastest of a 1.43 was poor in comparison to Deano and another Ducati rider Garry Smith’s 1.42s, and abysmal compared to Compton’s 1.40. I needed some time to gather myself. The rest of the team went to watch some racing and I spent some time just making friends with Spidey. I took out the front wheel, changed the tyre for the spare new slick and balanced it. I checked and cleaned the brake calipers and re-fitted it all. I took out the rear wheel, changed the tyre for a new slick too and checked the wheel bearings. I gave her a clean and polish and topped up the fuel. The process was mentally focussing and I felt content that the bike wouldn’t let me down. I got my gear on and did three laps of the ‘open’ final, purely to scrub the new tyres in. I took it steady at first and pushed I bit on the third lap and the bike felt like mine again. I pulled in and waited for the SoT final. While waiting, I chatted to MRO Mark. He was clearly feeling pleased with his clean sweep of the weekend so far and told me how he was fed up chasing the very expensive Ducatis at the MRO meetings and had decided to do the rest of the season with NG. He let it slip that he also used to crash a fair bit when trying too hard with his power deficit against those ex-British Superbike spec machines, something that made me realise he was human after all and therefore beatable! We didn’t have to wait long before the SoT race was being called. The clouds that were looming parted to reveal blue sky for us as we formed up on the grid. I practised my start on the warm up and this time there was no sign of wheelspin, just solid drive. Again I was first back to take my position on the grid and I felt more determined than I had so far all weekend. The lights went out and my start was perfect. No real wheelspin, just good drive with the front wheel hovering a few inches off the deck. I was first into the first corner but Mark came past me just before the back straight. I knew that if I could just hang on the back of him we could pull away from the others. Chris was on pit wall and confirmed it was workin;. +1, +2 and +3 showing as the gap behind me was increasing lap by lap. The turquoise Aprilia was about 10 bike-lengths ahead of me but not really pulling too much. The most sensible option was to hang on in there and settle for another 20 points, I mean, I did have a big points advantage over Compton and I was running ahead of Deano, pretty much perfect. Nah, I’m a racer! I started to push real hard and the gap ahead of me closed. I pushed some more and the gap closed some more. I was soon close enough to see where I was quicker and where he had an advantage. Still pushing harder than I ever had, I was right on him as we started the penultimate lap. I shadowed him all the way keeping the pressure on to see if he had anything in reserve or to take advantage if he made a mistake. He was another mountain wheelie man and though it looked cool to the spectators, it wasn’t the fastest way. I was right on his back tyre through the woods and I had to back off slightly though the twisty section and then the last corner before the start/ finish straight. I tried to see if Spidey would out drive him to the line but the line wasn’t quite far enough along to out drag him in time. I passed him just before the first turn with about 6 inches between us and about 3 inches between my tyre and the grass, tight, but I didn’t back off. His inside line had the advantage into the first turn but I already knew my best chance would be to get a run on him out of that last corner. The whole of that last lap was taken in very close formation but as we approached the mountain I deliberately held back. He nearly messed up my plan by pulling another massive wheelie and I really had to make myself hold back for my idea to work. As we went into the wooded section for the last time (and out of sight of the spectators) I began my run up. Building, building, closing the gap more and more. There was still a gap as we got to the last corner but my faster corner speed meant I must have had a good 10mph on him at the exit. I tucked right in, throttle right against the stop and it was all down to Spidey. Side by side as we reached the pit wall and I nosed ahead as we crossed the line! 6/100ths of a second was all that separated us but it was enough as it meant I WONNNNN!!!!!!! I punched the air with delight, total elation and disbelief! The whole crowd erupted as I came back past the grandstand and the sound of them cheering me was just fantastic and something I’ll never forget. Chris was puffing and panting after running up the long hill from pit wall and I must have nearly broken his (still dodgy) back when I jumped on him in celebration! I was still being congratulated when Chris’s name was called over the tannoy to go to the race office. Not sure of the reason, he headed down to see Marion. I thought it was odd that he had been called instead of me and I had a terrible thought that I may have got a jump-start or something (I’m sure it was a clean getaway?!) and they wanted Chris to break the news to me! I headed down to the office and met Chris as he was coming out. He told me everything was fine so I popped in to see Marion anyway, and collected my prize money.
As I came out of the office, Chris produced a white box from behind his back and handed it to me. Confused, I opened it and was absolutely dumbfounded to read the inscription on the glass trophy ‘Man of the Meeting’. I fell to my knees in disbelief. I’ve been plugging away at this racing lark for a long time on and off. To take such a close win was one thing but to then realise that people in the know were watching me, and that they were impressed enough to give me the award was simply amazing. I guess the whole reason anyone enters any form of competition is to prove to themselves, or to anyone else who’s interested, how good they are. A lot of bike riders think they are pretty quick but when you go racing you are given a piece of paper at the end of the day to show you just how good you really are, and it can be harsh when you’re at the bottom of that list! Today, I was at the very top of that list and it brought a little tear to my eye. A great big thanks to the NG team, Marion, Steve, Nino, Russ, Keith et al, for everything.
I got back to the truck, composed myself and was a bit shakey for quite a while afterwards! It was great having the seemingly endless congratulations and handshakes as we tried to load up the truck, but when everyone was gone, I sat in the truck, enjoying a cup of tea with just Chris and Tracy, quietly reflecting. Thanks guys, I couldn’t have done it without you. We did consider staying over but it wasn’t late and the roads were bound to be worse in the morning. Still, for me at least, the three and a half hour journey didn’t seem so bad with a smile on my face and the memories of the day to keep me company….