Round 9 - Brands Hatch Indy Circuit 12 August 2001

Pre-Meeting 
As always the bike was stripped and checked for any race damage. Thankfully all was well.
I decided to strip the forks and replace them with some new oil as I can't remember the last time I had done this. Only this time I was going to try the 5wt oil with the 25% stiffer spring in one leg to see if the bike would corner better. I set the air gap at 125mm and left the compression and rebound the same as with the 7.5wt oil just to feel the difference.

Final gearing was set at 15/37 and although I have the kit gearbox you just don't have time at MRO to mess around with internal ratios so again we used a standard box (that's gearbox, rather than the cardboard variety).

I had taken Friday off work to have a go on a NSR500 V twin around Pembery in Wales, but someone had broken it earlier in the week so I cancelled my trip. This left me with a day of unscheduled leave so I packed up the van and set off to Brands Hatch and decided to make a weekend of it.

I arrived at 4.30pm and was told to park up and wait until 6pm. I was just about to get really board when I remembered I had a copy of FHM in the caravan which provided enough entertainment to get me to 6pm.

Apparently we had to wait until the Nigel Mansell School of Racing day had finished before we were allowed in the paddock which was pretty stupid bearing in mind they do not use the outer paddock at all.

Insurance problem, or was it just jobs worth.........who cares, I had FHM to read.

Once in the paddock I found a power point and even managed to set up the awning unaided. I felt so proud of myself I celebrated with a fine cup of Earl Grey tea. Ahhhhhh, lovely.

Finally I met up with the Sansome brothers (I think it was Chris and Nick, or was it Nick and Chris?) for a cottage pie in the Kentagon and a few beers. As there was BEMSEE club racing on Saturday I decided to have a few more beers than usual (No, not to numb the pain but I was not racing so I could wake up with a hangover if required) and ended up in Vince Whittles caravan for the final beer that finished me for the night, probably to his relief as by this time I had verbal dihorea.

Saturday was a fine sunny day and Steve arrived just in time for breakfast. Around midday we cracked open a few tinnies and started the days entertainment. There was some great racing, although there were also quite a few big crashes. The most exciting one of the day was in the powerbikes where a Suzuki came into paddock with the rear wheel waving to the crowd and the front wheel locked up and hopping like a kangaroo with its tail on fire. The following moments were one of Ohhhh, Owwwccchhh! Amazingly the rider looked OK. That was a big one and deserved 10 out of 10 for style.

My neighbour Terry turned up and that evening we were entertained with Kariokie and a live band which helped to make a good night even better.

During the night it was very windy and I was sleeping very lightly, so lightly in fact that I heard the awning zip being undone. I jumped out of my sleeping bag, opened the caravan window and stared into the darkness. It was then I saw a shadow..............I shouted, "I suggest you fuck off out of my awning right now!". The figure froze and I was convinced it was someone nicking equipment. I shouted again in the same polite manner and then a reply came............"It's me, Terry". The silly bugger had got up to inflate his lilo which had gone down on him..............I asked if I could borrow it as that sounded mighty fine to me.

Sunday 12 August - Free Practise (5 Minutes)
5 minutes..............what are we supposed to do in that time?

To make matters worse it rained just before we were due out. I decided to use some old wets but as I went out onto the circuit I realsed this was not the right choice. Slicks were the order of the day.

After two laps my exit speed out of every corner was being compromised by rear wheel drifting as the wets had overheated and given up the ghost as far as traction was concerned.

I was being blown away out of the corners but making it all up on the brakes, although a fast corner entry speed made me reminisce the feeling of how wallowy a 4 stroke can feel when pushed too hard into a corner.

I was glad, no, thankful to see the end of the session. I guess 5 minutes is long enough in some cases.

As we had very little time between this session and our timed session we left the bike as it was and although we actually changed the gearing to 15/38, the wind died so we changed it back.

Sunday 12 August - Qualifying (18 Minutes)
Out on the circuit again and all was well. It had looked as though it would rain, but despite the rain splatters on the visor I knew it was no bother running slicks.

Thankfully Darren Jones and Jo had arrived and they mucked in to change tyres and haul the various wheels and warmers to the pit lane just in case the weather continued to get worse.

My sincere thank go out to them for helping. Darren for his enthusiasm and mental support and especially to Jo who carried a wheel so far it practically cut off the blood supply to her arm (So that's how it feels like someone else's?). Darren had mentioned a way to revive the circulation in this arm but I opted not to watch, or even to ask what it was.

During the session I was passed by Jeremy Goodall, although he went a little wide at Druids and I took advantage to take him back. Then a few laps later Chris Bishop came past who has a very good record around Brands so I chased him down. He went wide exiting Clearways trying to pass a slower rider so I tucked up the inside. This was good for me as I needed someone to chase and make me try harder. I think we both set our fastest laps on the next lap.

I was a little surprised to see Chris at an MRO meeting as he should have been at Knockhill with the BSB, plus according to the rule book the top 10 finishers in the 2000 British Championship are not allowed to enter MRO championship rounds although we waited to see what happened before any questions were raised.

I only hoped he would not score championship points or take any prize money from the MRO regulars, but I guess we will have to see what happens as I am aware there are quite a few other on the same wavelength.

With Lee Dickinson and Mike Herzberg at Knockhill I was hoping to score some good points and maybe regain the championship lead, although the competition was looking hot this weekend.

After completing 20 laps the chequered flag was waved and we made our way back to the awning. I felt as though I had done enough for a front row start (that will be a novelty after the last three meetings).

I was not disappointed. The timesheet put me 3rd out of 36 riders and only 0.32s away from pole position which was taken by Chris.

What had surprised me (no disrespect and all that) was Ricardo Ballerini had secured 2nd on the grid, although he did have the benefit of additional track time after completing two races Saturday in the club meeting and winning both with a fair margin (more silver for the mantle piece). I understand he now has Roger Ford's 2000 TZ which is also a very nice (and fast) bit of kit which would have helped in the fast bits. Fair play mate.........just hope you don't make a habit of it................I'll give you a tenner?

It was all very close at the top with 6 riders in the 0.49s bracket and the next 6 in the 0.50s.

There was a surprise entry (surprise as not listed in the programme) in the form of Neil Higgs who I personally had never heard of, however he qualified 5th.

Sunday 12 August - Race (20 laps)
Well we were held up something chronic by the 600 supersport race. Red flag after red flag...........what a pain in the arse. No sooner had it started it was red flagged again on the first lap of the first re-run. We all wondered if we would get out at all, but eventually we were called to the grid. I had eaten plenty of carrots to see in the dark as the light was now fading.

It felt weird being on the front row again after my recent run of bad luck and starting from the back, although it was like being away from home for 6 months and finally returning home. It just felt right.

Green lights and GO! GO! GO!

I had a pretty good start but hit the brakes a little early (actually it was way too early) which allowed a few riders to get past. This was a little frustrating as it took me a few laps to get by those who passed me on the first lap.

Once past I got my head down and was slowly reeling in the front three. This was Chris, Neil and Jeremy.

As each lap went by I could feel them getting ever closer. Then I noticed there was a strange delay down the front straight changing from 5th to 6th so I started to do manual shifts between these two gears to keep the bike on the boil.

Then without warning Vince Whittle came by along the start finish straight which took me by surprise. He was then followed by Ricardo Ballerini on the next lap at the end of the start finish straight which again was a bit of a shock, although it made me question the speed of my bike as I was being passed just before the braking area.

I had to take a fresh look at things and I dug deep to reel them back in. After a couple of laps I was back on the case and Ricardo was trying everything to get past Vince. I sat there and waited for the inevitable clashing of fairings to happen.

Entering Druids I saw Ricardo go for the pass on the outside of Vince (brave move as this is where you drift right to the edge of the track on the power) They almost collided and in the mayhem I did not need an invite to gate crash this party. I kept it tight, picked the bike upright and got on the gas early to shoot past them both. Excellent!

On the next lap I had a moment (change of under wear needed) where I lost the front going into Druids. I was lucky enough to have caught it on the knee, although I had to drift a little wide as the slide had put me half a metre off line.

By now I realsied I had to keep the pace up to keep these guys behind, but I continued to miss gears. At one point on Cooper Straight it jumped out of 4th. Eventually Vince shot past me (again) on the start finish straight as I had lost momentum trying to select gears cleanly.

Unfortunately for Ricardo he lost the front end and went down at Druids trying to get past Vince, however I was unaware of this until I saw his bike propped up against the fence on the next lap.

I was now shadowing Vince (waiting for my moment to pounce) but the bike just suddenly sounded ill and slowed on the start finish straight. I put my foot out to indicate to anyone behind I had a problem and pulled the clutch in assuming it was about to seize, however it still kept going with the clutch dipped and a bit of throttle on, so going down Paddock I let the clutch out in 4th and it fired up, but was misfiring chronically at the top end. I was in a panic as Vince was getting away. Then a light bulb lit up in my head (PING!) and I switched the shifter off....Phut...Phut...Phutt....Zzzzing! All systems back to normal. Phew!

I had lost valuable time farting around with this and Laurence Hopper mugged me on the way to Graham Hill bend. I exited Druids much slower than normal and had no momentum to fight back.

Within moments he had pulled an easy second away from me and I was left in the wake feeling robbed of what was 5th place.

I tried to close the gap but the gear changes were getting worse and I just could not understand why. As Laurence and Vince passed a backmarker (Mark Tyrrell), he must have been psyched out as he decided to abort mission and highside himself existing Clearways. This was a fast, spectacular and painful looking moment.

The following laps for me was like the longest day.............I was just painfully waiting for the last lap flag, although 17 laps had shot by and I was up for more from a physical point of view. Three laps later the chequered flag came out and I finished 6th. Disappointed with the result but also thankful to have made the finish as the bike was not at it's best.

In Park Ferme I found the reason for the gear selection problems was two fold. I had changed the pressure required to select gears on the quickshifter switch but forgot to tighten it all back up on reassembly, thus it all fell apart during the race and would have held the ignition open on one cylinder , hence the sudden lack of power.

To make things worse I also had to loosen off the gear lever pivot bolt to get the shifter off and adjust it, but muggins forgot to tighten this up too on reassembly. There were just 3-4 threads of the bolt holding the gear lever in place. A few more laps and it would have fallen off for sure. With this much bolt undone the gear lever was sloppier than a size 24 call girl after a very busy night. Well, maybe not quite that sloppy.

I concluded that a 15/38 gearing would have been a better choice (I think I said this last year too) to give better acceleration out of the corners and will try this next time at Brands.

The forks had been bottoming out which was why I lost the front end (basically hit the limit of travel of the brakes and the transfer of force had nowhere else to go apart from through the tyre, which was already near the limit of grip) so I think I will reduce the air gap for Cadwell and see if the final 20mm of travel prevents the forks from bottoming. If this is not the answer and I can't dial them in I will change back to the 7.5wt oil which will slow the entire stroke down in both directions as the oil is thicker going through the same size holes.

The race win went to Chris Bishop (nice one me old china, as he might say) with Neil Higgs 2nd (who is this man?) and Jeremy 3rd with Vince 4th (well done you bugger. Still outdrag you on the mountain bike though) and Laurence in 5th.

I have just been talking to the lovely Bernie at BEMSEE who confirmed that Chris has not been awarded points or prize money (Phew!) which has put me joint 2nd in the Championship with Lee Dickenson. Jeremy has taken the lead (at last I hear him say), so it's all change again at the top. This MRO series has been very close at the top and there is no guarantee who will win the next race which is good for the Championship, but not good for the nerves.

After the race I met up with someone I had been talking to via these pages which is always nice to meet another bike racing enthusiast. Claire and her, 600 (#69) racing boyfriend Phil popped in to say hello and I am sure we will see them again at the following rounds which all adds to a great sociable weekend.

I would like to thank, Steve, Darren, Jo, Terry, Jeremy, Mike, William, Kevin, Dave, Carol and Oliver for taking the time out to either offer cheering support and/or help out. A special thanks to Penny for doing the timing and for helping me pack up after the meeting and offering (with the gentle persuasion of a gun to her head) to help out at Cadwell Park.

Changing the subject slightly, I have just (for my sins) picked up a copy of this weeks MCN and gasped in amazement at the story regarding the re-shuffle of the British Superbike Championships. The 250 class is going to be scrapped for the 2002 series and the only class with British classification will be the Superbikes. All other classes will  be National status. I am just glad to be away from BSB as they are on a course set for disaster, unless you are an avid 4 stroke fan and like to see race after race with no variety or change in atmosphere, apart from seeing different colours. I think the 2002 series will be like watching paint dry.

Cadwell Park, Round 10 is next weekend 19th August 2001 where we have entered the club racing on the Saturday and the MRO on the Sunday (it is a long journey for one race) so it should be a busy, fun weekend.

Don't miss it!