|
First Race at Mallory Park by James Clamp
Well I've had my first races of 2001 and what a miserable start.
On Sunday 18 March I went with my dad, Mark, to Mallory Park for the first round of the New ERA Club Championships.
The morning dawned damp and cold, and deteriorated throughout the day. At one point tyre choice came down to whether to use snow chains or not!. I have only raced in the wet once
before and I have never raced in sleet and snow before. Anyway a faint heart etc and off I went for race one. A mid pack start meant that as soon as the flag dropped the rows in front of me disappeared in spray and I just set off using visual clues from the side off the track.
Apparently I entered the first, corner in around 10th but to be honest I was less than confident in my abilities in the wet. Slowly more confident and experienced riders overtook me and after ten laps I was glad to finish 20th.
Race two was for unlimited cc machines and I entered just to get more experience. The weather was atrocious and my dad said not to bother but I decided to give it a go. The race was stopped after seven laps and in a race including R1's and GSXR 1000's as well as the odd 250 I managed to finish in 21st place.
The rain/sleet finally abated for race three although the track still had rivers running down it in places. Again I got a good start and was holding seventh for some time but I really didn't feel too confident and I was overhauled to eventually finish 21st.
Lessons of the weekend include:
1. Take a gas fire with you when you race in March, we did and it was a god send.
2. We have got to get some tyre warmers and a generator as soon as money is available.
3. Racing in the wet certainly gets the pulse racing!
My next race is at Cadwell Park on 15 and 16 April. If my past experiences of Cadwell are anything to go by I will be getting more wet race practice then |
