Pembrey Rounds 2/3

Back to our ‘home’ track. I’ve done so many laps around here that I know how the thing should behave. We booked a day’s testing on the Friday and armed with a notebook and all the ride height and geometry measuring tools we posessed, we were determined to make some headway, even if it meant trying every suspension combination we could possibly come up with! With no Ricky this weekend it was up to Chris and I to work through Friday as methodically and logically as we could. The results were amazing. We started off doing 1.05s, soon got into the 1.03s and then I would come into the pit lane, make one click of adjustment, and go back out for another five laps. My consistency of riding made the changes noticeable on Chris’s stop watch, even though I felt I was riding as hard and as fast each time out. At one point, I came in and asked for one more click of front compression damping. My 1.03s became 1.05s. I came back in, took the click back out, and I was back doing 1.03s again. We finally got into the 1.02s which is the fastest I’ve ever managed on a test day!

Saturday’s qualifier showed Mark Compton meant business. He was straight in the 1min bracket and pulled away. Phil Bevan, former SoT Champion and Pembrey outright lap record holder was also running fast but his bike packed up, leaving me in second! Before the final, Compton’s luck suddenly ran out. A big crash in the Open race destroyed his bike so although he managed to borrow one, he was well off the pace. Bevan’s machine was now running ok but although he would be starting off the back of the grid, I knew it wouldn’t be long before he was with us. Chris Richardson on the self confessed ‘Superquick’ 999 Ducati took the lead, Graham Goodyear on the equally quick, brand new Ducati 1098 followed with me in hot pursuit. It took a few laps before Bevan came through and took over at the front. I managed to get past Goodyear mid race and started closing on Chris. Heading into the hairpin on the last lap I was right on his tail. He went in a little late and deep on the brakes and I grasped my chance for an overtake. Unfortunately, he turned in on top of me, unaware that I was there and we tangled up, my left handlebar stuck in his rear seat unit where his silencer exited! Somehow we didn’t fall off but carried on to the grass, still stuck together! We came to a halt, I yanked my handlebar back out of his bike and pointed myself back at the track. This excursion had allowed Goodyear through but I finished 3^rd, happy to take some points.

Sunday morning showed Graham’s confidence in the new machine growing, and the speed of the thing compared to Spidey was incredible. I still managed to lap quicker than he did but didn’t want to push my luck in the qualifier. Instead I tried to figure out where I may be able to get past him if the same situation occurred in the final. Chris was right off the pace but I knew he’d have that sorted by the afternoon. Bevan must have had problems too as he started coming back to us on the last lap and the three of us crossed the line within half a second of each other.

The final was going to be exciting! Goodyear got the holeshot off the line and led for the first lap. Bevan got through up the inside into the Esses and started to gradually pull away. I was in Graham’s wheel tracks for the next few laps but then the moment I’d been waiting for came. The Ducati had so much power that it was lifting the wheel quite high out of the hairpin. This time it came up a bit higher than before and he had to shut the throttle for a second to get it back down. Spidey was still pinned and I managed to get to the Spitfires bend before him and as soon as I was ahead I knew it was time to show him what I had in reserve. Up till that point we’d been doing I.02s but with clear track in front of me the next time I crossed the line my lap timer showed a 1.01.8. Big C was on pit wall with the board showing +0 meaning Goodyear was right behind me but I held him into the hairpin and put in another fast lap. This time the board said +1. The next lap +2. I knew I’d broken Graham and now Bevan was getting larger and larger in my sights. He had slowed a fraction to be kind to the backmarkers we were now amongst but when he glanced over his shoulder exiting the Old Hairpin he got the full view of the front of Spidey almost alongside him so anyone else about to be lapped got some harsher treatment! The whole team erupted when I got back to the pits, Spidey’s back!

Beccie, still finding personal goals, managed to finish 33^rd out of 38 in the Open Newcomers (and was told to start counting her result from first back, and no longer how far up from last place!) and her best lap time was good enough to be on the time sheet grid in the back of the programme that works out your average speed, something she didn’t manage at Silverstone.It makes you wonder just how long this personal goal list actually is!