The week running up to the weekend was spent with nothing but racing on the brain; I had to prepare Spidey, Ricky had to change Spidey 2 from a wet to a dry set up and Geoff needed frequent text reminders to get himself ready! Also, on the Wednesday, I’d booked in on the Ron Haslam Academy for a bit of cheating practice, along with Amanda and RG Pete for their first bit of track time. We were using the school’s CBR600s and the main lesson for the day reinforcing the fact that being smooth was vital. I managed to end up with my own instructor and found the day really helpful as we got to hoon around at a cracking pace!
Ricky and I decided that although the race was on the Sunday, the best thing we could do would be to head down Friday evening. I can’t remember the reason but I’m sure we came up with a good one! So, as soon as Sian arrived at my workshop, we headed up in convoy. A bit of traffic on the journey delayed us a bit but we made pretty good time. We had to blag our way through the main gate as our passes only allowed us entry after 6pm Saturday but we made out we had got late entries to the New Era meeting on the Saturday so the security guard let us through. Just as well as the paddock was completely full, bar a couple of spaces right at the bottom end. This wasn’t too bad as we were close to the first corner meaning spectating was going to be easy at least. We set our awnings up just in time for it to start raining so left the bikes in the trucks and had a relaxing evening with just a few laps of Donington on the Playstation to refresh our memories of where the track went.
Not having to get up early Saturday morning was heaven; the truck was as comfortable as ever so I had a bit of a lie in. The rain had stopped overnight and everywhere was pretty dry. Sian, Ricky and I headed off to watch some of the rival club’s races with a mission to walk the whole of the outside of the track, something we’d never have time to do on a race day. Donington is a fantastic venue; a perfect ribbon of tarmac circulating through the undulating grassland. From our unfamiliar perspective, it was fascinating to see the different styles and lines of the riders. Stood on the outside of the Craner curves one of those lines stood out. The two fastest guys in the 600 race were running out wide to the right hand kerb before pulling it back to the left kerb for the Old Hairpin right hander, while most of the rest of the grid were hugging the left kerb most of the way down. The difference in speed was instantly noticeable. Ricky and I looked at each other at this revelation. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to turn our heavier bikes back across the track if we ran them out so wide but we were definitely going to give it a try! We moved on further around the track. Next out was the Sound of Thunder class, and we spotted Deano out there getting some cheating practice! We thought it was odd seeing as just three weeks previously he had damaged his ribs, shoulder and right hand. Unfortunately he crashed out again compounding his injuries, meaning he’d be out of the NG meeting the next day. We moved on as the race was stopped to clear things up and then the weather turned. It started to drizzle and the wind picked up. We were halfway round the track by now but we’d brought umbrellas so kept enjoying being spectators. When we reached McCleans corner, I showed Ricky the line I was shown on the school day and carried on around. We eventually arrived back at the trucks at lunchtime, soaking wet and cold but pleased we’d made the most of the morning.
Saturday afternoon brought a VIP to our awning. Well, after I helped her sneak past the security guard who wasn’t going to let anyone in till 6.30 pm, that is! Maria Costello, the fastest woman around the Isle of Man circuit was doing the NG 600 race as a shakedown for the upcoming Manx Grand Prix. I’d met her at The Sheene Run when I went with Pete as he showed off his RG500 around the streets of Rugby. Cheekily, I asked why her bike was painted like a fridge in boring white and offered to produce a paint job worthy of her status! She took the offer up and although I only had two weeks to complete the work, I got it ready in time and we arranged to fit the new bodykit to her racebike on the Saturday. ‘Andy’s rules’ meant she wasn’t allowed to see the paintwork until it was all together so she was sent off to her caravan as I set to work fitting the new fibreglass. The new bodywork was a bit of a nightmare to fit and involved lots of cutting, drilling and grinding but I got there eventually. Meanwhile, Ricky fitted a big, race radiator to the bike she had supplied. It was a bit like one of those ‘Crystal Maze’ challenges. The instructions involved cutting and joining pipes and hoses but Ricky managed to fit the new unit without modifying or cutting anything and it fitted as well as a genuine part, top job! The new paintwork was unveiled and Maria’s huge smile confirmed her approval. I can’t wait to see the photos of it flying around the Isle of Man!
Chris, Tracy and the kids arrived Saturday evening. It had finally stopped raining by now so we got Spidey out and Chris pushed it up to be scrutineered. Geoff, with Adam and Steve, arrived in the evening and managed to squeeze his van in next to us as some of the New Era guys left. The rest of the evening was spent catching up with the paddock and getting everything set up for the morning.
Sunday greeted us with bright sunshine, just as the weathermen had predicted! Liam and Michael made good with some wax polish to make the bike look it’s best and I checked the tyre pressures. Hmm, strange, both tyres were pretty flat. Ricky had fitted the tyres for me in the week and when I heard him pumping up the tyres on his bike I assumed he’d forgotten to inflate any of them! No worries; I pumped them up and put the tyre warmers on. Practice was a bit hectic but I kept out of trouble and reacquainted myself with the track. Geoff’s practice didn’t go so well; one of his front brake discs shattered as he was braking ripping the caliper off the fork leg in the process. How he managed to stay on I don’t know, but full marks for keeping it upright. Unfortunately, that was his day at a premature end. The Open qualifier was a better chance to explore my capabilities and those of the bike. I had a pretty poor grid position, a long way back and on the inside. I knew I needed to get up to speed fast and the only way to do that would be to go with the front runners if I could. Being on the inside of the first corner first time round is not a pleasant situation, but I suffered the bumping and squeezing and headed off with the front half of the pack. I steadily built up to using the new line down Craner and I found it worked, and worked well! I could carry much more speed through the fast, downhill left hander and still have enough time to get around the Old Hairpin and get good drive out of it. My fastest lap was a 1.18.8, around the same pace as my best from last year. I knew I had better in me so I was looking forward to the main race!
To say it was cool lining up on pole at Donington would be an understatement! My heroes, Doohan, Schwantz and Rossi, have all started from this position and here I was in front of a full grid. My enjoyment didn’t last very long though. We went off for our warm up lap and as I tipped into Redgate corner the back end stepped out on me. I caught it but as I changed direction down Craner it went again. Again I caught it but went around the rest of the lap steadily. It felt so bad that I pulled into pit lane convinced the back wheel was loose. As the grid reassembled, Brian, one of the scrutineers, kindly held the bike while I checked the rear wheel. The wheel was fine but the tyre felt a bit soft. I guessed I must have had a slow puncture and decided to try a lap to see if I could put some heat into it to make the air inside expand and give me some feel back. Of course, I wasn’t allowed to re-join the grid but I was allowed to start from the pit lane exit. Well, only when the last man had gone past, that is! So, from pole position to last and with a flat tyre, not what I’d hoped for! I managed to pick a couple of guys off in the first lap and although the bike felt like I was riding it on ice, I figured it was best to try to stay out; anything I could do to make life easier for the final would be appreciated later. To add insult to the injury of wobbling around at the back, as I approached Redgate corner for the second time, I saw my number 2 bike led upside down in the gravel! Ricky was up and ok but Donington’s gravel is unforgiving (having visited it myself in the past, ahem!) and I knew the bike would be a mess. I kept plugging away and finished 24th with a fastest lap some 10 seconds slower than I was capable of. I got off the bike drained. Those 5 laps were the hardest I’ve ever done as I had to concentrate extremely hard to avoid crashing whenever I leant the bike over.
Back at the truck I explained what went on and Chris checked the tyre pressure; 13 psi was all that was in the back; it should have been 36! We had a new slick, so fitted it ready for the Open A final. Before I went out, I checked the tyre pressure again, just to settle my mind. Trouble is, it was flat again! With only minutes to go before the race, we had to act quickly. I didn’t want to risk another problem by just pumping it back up and realised the failure had to be with the wheel or the valve. Chris pulled the rear wheel out while Geoff and Adam helped me take the wet tyre off the spare wheel, the slick off the bad wheel, swap them over and I got my gear on while Chris re-fitted the whole thing into the back of the bike. I shot up to the holding area but I was just too late; the A final had just gone out, damn. I really needed to scrub the new rear tyre in and reassure myself that the bike was ready for the SoT final but my pleading with the guys on the gate got me out in the B final, albeit at the back of the grid, again. I made my way up to 12th and the bike felt back to normal, which was a big relief. It also gave me lots of overtaking practice, something I knew I was going to need. This time, the tyre pressure was fine when I came back in so we relaxed in the run up to my main final. Ricky, in the meantime, was working hard to get Spidey 2 rideable for the final.
Soon enough the SoT final was called. Tyre pressures were checked and all ok so I made my way up to the grid. 24th was a long way back from the front row but was glad I stayed out there in the qualifier because Ricky was another two rows behind me courtesy of his DNF. I knew this would be a damage limitation exercise for me. I figured that Mark Baldock and Mark Compton would make a break from their front row start with clear track ahead of them so I needed to salvage as many points as I could. Finishing with some points was definitely the priority in my mind as opposed to risk crashing trying to catch up with the leaders. Starting from the inside of the sixth row seemed fairly familiar after my Open race qualifier and I was glad of the earlier practice as the lights went out. I had a cracking start driving up the inside towards the first corner. Redgate got a bit hectic as everyone else was intent of doing their own best in the short, 6 lap sprint. My new line down Craner came into it’s own and each lap I despatched a few more riders. Concentrating on keeping as smooth as possible, flowing from corner to corner, thankful of my tuition a few days before. It started to pay off. Two laps left and the riders started to thin out. I had no idea of my position as the track is too blind for anyone to give an up to date pit board from pit wall, but I kept my pace up. I caught and passed Nigel Reed, thinking for a moment that he must have had a problem. When he tried to pass me straight back I realised he was riding as hard as ever and I got ahead again and just aimed for the next guy ahead. I caught Garry Smith as he was being held up by a guy on a Ducati, and managed to pass both of them down Craner. Garry had followed me through and it had given him a second wind! He passed me back and picked up his pace. By now my rear tyre was starting to let me know it was getting tired but in the distance I could see Mark Compton and we were closing the gap! I figured he must have been in second place, seeing as I had passed everyone I could remember bar him and Baldock, meaning I had to be 4th! Not a bad position but as we started the last lap I really tried to hunt him down. Garry was riding like a demon and was stretching a gap on me but it was Compton I was after, as my points gap over Garry meant he wasn’t a Championship threat. Still, Garry did me a favour by sneaking past Compton before the finish line robbing him of some more points, thanks! I crossed the finish line just two seconds behind Compton, not at all bad considering where I started, and I felt certain I would have caught him within another lap. The result was as good as a win for me, only losing 3 points to my nearest rival was brilliant from such a poor starting position. I wasn’t the only person pleased with my result. As I pulled into the pits, I had a welcoming committee, including Deano and Marion, who had watched the entire race from the circuit TV and I got the impression they were suitably impressed. Back at the truck Chris and the team were all ready to welcome me back too, smiles all round, we had done good, full team effort.
Good luck to Maria at the Manx Grand Prix and big thankyou to everyone that made the journey to support me; Amanda, Jan and Andrew, Pauline, Nina, Crazy Pete and Jo, Lee and Suzie, Pete and Zoe and of course, Chris and Tracy, it really is appreciated.
Pembrey next and if I’ve done the maths right, a top 9 finish will secure the championship. I know they say it’s not over till the fat lady sings but I've a feeling she’s warming up her voice in readiness…..