Dundalk Road Races

“You must be nuts!” was the reaction of my mate Andy as we toured the Dundalk Road Race circuit on Saturday morning in the van to try and learn the 3.25 miles public roads circuit before practice started. I must admit I was beginning to agree with him as I put two wheels of the van on a grass bank to let another van we were meeting get by. The road was so narrow two transit vans hadn’t room to pass! At least it wasn’t raining.

PRACTICE

My first outing was in the Newcomers session which meant I was out with twenty lunatics on R6s and the like. My only consolation was there were five other Classic Newcomers also so at least I wasn’t the only ‘old banger’ getting in their way.

I wobbled round very slowly trying to discover some semblance of a racing line and got the fright of my life when Adrian Archibald came steaming past me with his wheels kicking up the dust at the grass verge. (A newcomer? Mmm. Don’t think so!)

Second practice was proper classic practice which gave me a chance to see how slow I was against the rest of the field. I was pretty lucky as I caught a tow off one of the quick riders who was undergeared so I was able to blast past on the 0.8 mile start/ finish straight then he would blast past me around the twist bits while I desperately tried to stay with him. This went on for the whole of the session and it hoisted me up to 14th on the grid which put me on the second row of Group B for the race.

RACE

On the Sunday morning of the race we did another couple of laps in the van while Andy still kept declaring I was nuts and I still kept agreeing with him! I ventured the thought that anyone who willingly raced around roads like these should be locked up for their own safety!

Off we went on the warm up lap as I gave myself a good talking to telling myself not to get carried away and end up wrapped around a tree or somebody’s garden wall. As we lined up on the grid my heart was pumping do hard I was convinced it could be seen through my leathers and my tongue was stuck to the roof of my roof. Nervous? Me? Never!

As the first group charged off the line I thought to myself that as it was three quarters of a mile to the first corner if I could get a good start and lead group B into the first corner then I had a fighting chance of a half decent result as the field would have to work a bit harder to get by me in the 2.5 mile bumpy section. The flag dropped, I dumped the clutch and the bike bogged down! So I had to wind it up again and wring it’s neck to get going. All this happened in a split second but it was enough to put me to the back of the group going down the straight. My temper got the better of me as I was fourth in the group by the first corner! So much for not getting carried away!

So what is a lap of Dundalk like?

The start/finish straight is 0.8miles long and is a good wide road, then it’s down to first gear for an artificially tightened left hander. Give it a handful and get up to fourth gear just as the bike lifts a tiny bit off the road before plunging down a dip and up the other side still in fourth. Roll off a bit for a right hander then down another dip and up a left hander (still holding it in fourth) until you see a telephone pole. Aim for the pole and at the last minute hit every brake you have as hard as you can to get slowed for the first gear left at a cross roads. ( I overshot it twice!)

Then you rev it out in every gear and just as you hit top gear roll off a little stand up and lean forward for the jump. Try and land in a straight line and repeat the exercise for the next jump before hard on the brakes and down to third.

The next corner, a right hander has a ten foot high stone wall on the outside of it and halfway through the corner you need to lift the bike up as it hits a bump big enough to get it momentarily airborne. Then flick left for the fast downhill left hander (this time you have the church wall on the outside of the corner to worry about) before charging through the village while trying to keep it in a straight line due to the bumps on the road. (anyone who has ever toured in Southern Ireland will know the type of road I am talking about.)

Then it’s hard on the brakes again for a very bumpy second gear sharp left and long right with a bump on the racing line which makes the bike jump across the road. Up to third then brake really deep into a left and right flick. Before you can see the exit of the corner you need to give it a handful as the road opens up in front of you just as you come over the crest of the dip. Up into fourth then hit every brake as hard as you can to get around the first gear left hander at yet another crossroads. That’s you back on the main straight so it’s time to do it all again. 

After the first lap rush of blood I settled down a bit and tried to stay with my usual sparring partner, Randall on the Hoey Ducati, but his experience showed and he opened up a 15 second gap but I was just happy that I could still see him!

My race average was 71.36 mph with a fastest lap of 2m 38.63secs which placed me in 11th overall (7th in the 500cc class).

What really pleased me though was that it was the first pure road race I have done that I didn’t get lapped so I must have been doing something right!

Roll on next year!