We were confident. After the handling woes of the 2006 season we’d spent a lot of time getting the bike as good as it could be. A re-valved rear shock to give us a much greater range of adjustment, reduced offset yokes to increase stability and Dunlop’s new generation ‘balloon’ slicks with stiffer sidewalls should knock the instability issue on the head. Wrong! It had felt fine on the one test day we did a week or so previously although it was pouring with rain all that day. It felt ok in practice, although that was wet too. The Sot Qualifier was the first dry session of the new season and the old problems soon made themselves evident. With the full grip of that rear slick loading the suspension in a race situation, the instability was back with a vengeance. Couple that to a rubbish start and I was struggling. I did manage to get up to 4th and had a fantastic battle with the 2006 Champion Adam Tempest but my hands soon had blisters where I was having to hold on so tight to keep it under control. I couldn’t believe it. With no practice in between races, we needed to try something radically different before the final. Luckily we had the Open race in between so made some drastic adjustments and I went back out. That was even worse! An increase in rear preload to raise the rear of the bike (to put more weight on the front) contributed to bounding me out of the seat as I flicked the bike from left to right in the Complex. As I landed, my right foot missed the footrest and having to lean the bike over to make the corner it was trapped between the bellypan and the tarmac! Of course, this meant I couldn’t lean the bike over fully so I had to pick it up and run straight over the grass. I was still travelling quite fast at that point and only had the width of the outer part of the old track in which to stop! I made it, with inches to spare but certainly needed a re-think over the suspension. We ended up softening everything up to try to let it ride the bumps rather than get upset by them. Another start that included a huge wheelie (what is that all about??!!) left me trailing the others before the first corner. I considered taking it a bit gently for the first couple of laps but didn’t want them to get away! As soon as I got on the power to get down the back straight, the handlebars started fighting me, worse than ever. The instability was making me have to back off the throttle just to stop it from going in to a full tank slapper. I wound a couple more clicks of steering damper on as soon as I was brave enough to let go of the right handlebar, which helped a bit though it now felt so heavy trying to get though the little flip-flop chicane! I finished 5th which was at least a finish but I never got close to challenging the leaders. Mark ‘the Reaper’ Compton, my adversary from the 2005 season won the race, broke the class lap record and took man of the meeting.
Beccie’s race debut was all about a personal goal. All she wanted to do was be able to say she’d competed in a race and finished it. That was enough. Just one race. Having achieved this goal she quickly set herself another goal of not finishing a race last, which she duly completed too. The words “I’d really like to be able to say I’ve done a whole race season……” were heard on the way home in the truck!