Race Report MRO Championship Round 6 - Thruxton 3 June 2001

Pre-Meeting
For a  change, nothing to really say here (Phew I hear you say). New pistons & rings were fitted and everything assembled with loving care. A new top fairing and belly pan were fitted as a good friend, Phil of Panel & Paint (Tel: 01963 363922) was coming to watch with Nick, Rob, Carmen from Shaftsbury and I wanted the bike to look beautiful in the sun. Actually, Phil has done a superb job of the paint and a big thanks go out to him for getting the parts done in time.

Saturday 2 June 2001
 We arrived on Saturday at around 12.30pm. I figured that as it was such a nice day, we could get set-up and enjoy the day. However like all good plans we forgot to think about how windy it was.

To say there was a drama erecting the awning (Oh,Er...missus) would be an understatement. To say we were experimenting to see how far an awning could fly without propulsion and take some poles with it would be somewhere near the truth. Plus in such circumstances, it's amazing how large a sentence you can form just using swear words. 

With one big gust, the awning and all the poles were launced up in the air and over the back of the caravan quicker than I could say, "Shit!". 

We found most of the poles, however some were later delivered to the circuit by NASA after they splashed down in the mid-atlantic and were followed by radar to their destiny.

Eventually we decided to erect it slowly (works for me Baby) and pin it down with tent pegs before the wind could get a grip. This worked and after around an hour it was in place. Slightly ripped and battered, but in place.....Just.

We were lucky today as there was some scrutineering going on, so we got the bike up there and it went through without any fuss. This was great as we could now lie in till 9am, rather than have to rush around at 7am. I would like to say thanks to Bernie who treated me to a sweet banana while I waited to be checked over. I only hope some day I can return the favour. Heee....Heee....

We had obtained a display stand  and set it up on behalf of Apex Racing who we are helping us out. Check out the link for prices which are very reasonable and they are very flexible when ordering by quantity.

Steve arrived on his bike later that afternoon and after the normal social trip around the paddock, we were treated to a Lamb Rogan Josh by Santa's little helper, Penny.

We were determined to get to the bar this weekend and wild horses could not hold us back. We met up with Andrew Tipton and his father which was entertaining and then Pete Turnbull joined us, which was a good laugh. Very nice chap who knows his way around the TT very well....Respect! Aye...from the Fleet massive.

Sunday 3 June 2001
Did I say a lie in?

We were awoken to the ambient sound of generators going off nice and early so we just lazily slept in until 8.30 where I had to get up anyway as my bladder was about to burst.

Eventually I crawled from my pit and signed on. We then waited for our call to the first 8min. practice. 

The one thing I do like at MRO is the organisors use the tannoy very well. You get a first call which get me in my leathers and the second call is when we start to go to the collecting area. Why they never did this at BSB I will never know as it works very well and keeps everyone well informed.

Sunday - Free Practice - 8 Minutes
 8 minutes to get on the pace and maybe get an opinion of what the bike is doing. It's just not going to happen really, although I was surprised at getting into the 1:24's without too much bother and appeared to be one of the faster ones out there. 

Believe me 8 minutes went by very quickly. I had to run the pistons in for a few laps so I never really got in the grove.

It was quite windy again, but difficult to judge due to the pace I was on if it was worth changing from the 15/38 gearing we had to a 13/39 selection. So we left it alone and just relied on past notes. On the strip down, all looked well so jetting was left at 188/190.

Sunday - Qualifying - 15 Minutes
What can I say. I had though of writing a premature ejaculation joke in the earlier 8 minute session, but thought maybe I could hold onto it for this session.............then again......maybe not. Ooops!

My qualifying session ended very prematurely. (I'll run out of tissues at this rate) I only lasted one lap. That must be a record at 1:49.23s. I must admit that if the MRO had a 7% ruling on qualifying (as mentioned on earlier Race Reports) I would have been packing my bags as I was last on the grid in 36th place. This time around I was thankful that this rule is not applied.

As I circulated on the first lap I was just scrubbing in tyres and was in no rush, then on lap 2 I got my head down and started to give it the big large one when entering Church the bike started to sound a little ill and power was fading as fast as my cheap jeans in the sun.

In went the clutch as natural as a nudist beach and I coasted to behind the Marshals bunker. I was shortly joined by Chris Sansome, or was it his brother? I can never remember which one I am talking to. Sorry guys. I may have to get name badges.

I was gutted. I knew that a good grid position just would not happen and I painfully watched everyone circulate knowing that a seizure may put me out of the meeting altogether if it was serious enough. I was not very chatty at the bunker (actually I was sulking quietly to myself) and just hoped we could get the bike sorted fast enough to get in the race and get some points to limit the damage to the Championship position.

The session ended and we were picked up by the van and dropped off in the paddock. I rushed the bike to the awning and up onto the operating table.

With scalpel and forceps we began to dicect the beast and find the cause of death. "I am afraid it's terminal I reported". The rear cylinder was detonated so badly the piston literally had been eaten away at the front and then it just overheated and left aluminium all over the barrel. I passed it to Clive at Racing Lines to get it re-plated and set about fitting one of the spares.

The gudgeon pin took a bit of persuading to move, but we managed it after a few load please and thank you's and I fitted a low mileage piston with a new ring so it would be crisp for the race. Let's face it, 36th on the grid is going to be a real struggle to get to the front and I need the bike to be crisper than a bag of Walkers.

Pole was set by Lee Dickinson at 1:21.49s, however we heard he had highsided with around 2 minutes to go, but could not repair the bike in time to get out for thew race as the scruitineers were slow in  releasing the bike. The official report (thanks to Touchstone Racing for the info.) is he is getting the thumb pinned and wired in hospital so he can get to Brands for the BSB round in two weeks time. Unfortunatly for Lee he was unable to make it to the race at Thruxton, but not for want of getting out there, even with a broken thumb. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Big thanks go out to Nick and Rob who dug deep (they do have big pockets down there) and bought me a set of tyres for the race. Cheers chaps, that was most appreciated and in return I promised them an entertaining race. Couldn't guarantee the juggling on the way round, but I would do all I could.

We finished the bike and started it (just to make sure it worked) with 3/4hour remaining. Phew! We made it.

Sunday 3 June - Race (12 Laps - 2.356miles/lap)
I found it weird slotting into 36th place and even stopped to ask the way, but I was aiming for a top 10 finish to get some points in the bag and make the most of a bad qualifying situation. I guess everyone has a spell of bad luck and this was my turn. I threw the horseshoe away and instantly lost 1/2 stone. Great dieting tip there somewhere.

During the calm after the rebuild I studied the circuit map and concluded that as the first 1/3rd of the track was tight corners where the entire grid will concertina from acceleration to brakes, I will loose a lot of ground to the front guys who will not get caught in all the drama unless I get a good start and get through as many riders as possible on the first few turns. If only the bike had 'roo' bars.

The warm up lap was very sedate, but I went a little quicker to help to scrub the tyres in and if the bike was going to go bang again I would rather know before the race had started. 

I never bother with weaving from side to side approaching the grid as it has been scientifically proven that this adds no heat into the tyres at all. In fact leaving the tyres in the sun has better results, or heavy braking will add heat, but weaving just adds to the chances of falling off or colliding with another rider and that's official.

Lights went Green and both #62 and #94 were awarded with jump starts. I witnessed Jonathan Sinclair go through a whole line before the Green light went on, but he was one of the guilty party caught.

Into the first corner and I just launched myself into the action. I figured if I get out unscathed I would be doing well. No bumping on the exit of Allard and I set about passing a few more into Cambell. The exit was a little pearshaped, but I still made up places.

I was a man possessed with the RoadRunner in order to get through the traffic and can't remember who I passed or when, or how for that matter.

After the first lap I had moved from 36th to 19th. I was pretty pleased with my progress. I had a dice with Paul Gladwin and then I moved up onto the back of Paul Shoesmith and Vince Whittle. I had to keep my pace up to limit the damage to the front and went past them as soon as I could without loosing too much time. 

Next on the assassination list was Chris Sansome, who in turn had closed in on another rider. He made an aggressive move on overtaking which stunner the rider and I took advantage and followed through. Into Seagrave I managed to make my move on Chris and waved an apology as it was a fairly close move, (he was just tipping in from left to right but I was carrying quite a bit more speed so I just kept it nailed and shot past underneath) but I was desperately trying not to get bogged down in any battles.

As my progress through the field went on the riders were being reeled in ever increasingly slower. Once I had passed Chris, there appeared to be a huge gap to the next prey and all I could see was clear track. I got my head down and really tried hard to move closer to the next riders. Then I caught a glimpse of a freight train of bikes which turned out to be 4th place to 9th.

This gave me a carrot to chase (and a kick up the arse) and as the laps passed the bikes were getting bigger and bigger. Blimey, at this rate they will be as big as a house when I get near them.

Then, completely out of the blue came the last lap flag. I was around 4 seconds off the back of Shaun Brown and was desperate to get past him to the line. I closed right in on him into Club Chicane on the brakes, but the gap was still 1.5s and jut too much to make up on the run to the line. Dammm!

I ended up in 10th place and set a time of 1:22.11 which would have put me on target for a podium finish if I had started nearer the front.

I was pretty happy with getting these valuable points as it has helped me to stay in contention for a top three Championship finish. I also really enjoyed the challange of starting from so far back on the grid (not saying I want to do it again, but it was fun). Because Lee did not race because of injury, I have now taken the lead in the Championship by just 2 points (Yippee!) and only have 5 points over Jeremy Goodhall with Mike Hertzberg closing in fast. 

It's getting pretty busy around here Maurene.

This is looking to be a pretty hotly contested Championship and even Steve Sawford was out to play this weekend. He went on to take the win (that TZ looks and sounds very well sorted) and set the fastest lap of 1:20.44s, with Mike finishing 2nd and Jeremy 3rd.

I have decided to bite the bullet and convert the bike to run Avgas for the remainder of the season as I appear to be the only Honda out there running Unleaded fuel which is costing me both drive and horsepower. I checked with Dave and Bernie and they confirmed there are no Unleaded rules this year so as they say, "If you can't beat them,. join them".

I hope this fuel change helps, but Rockingham will not be the proving ground as to what 'real' advantage the Avgas fuel is as I will have no lap times to compare against, although it will be less wearing on the engine and the pistons are easier to read for the jetting. We will have to suck it and see, as the lady said to the Bishop.

We are out at Rockingham on 24th June.

Don't miss it!