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BRITISH SUPERMONO CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS 7 & 8 CADWELL PARK
November 9th & 10th 2004.
Finally some dry weather!!
The British Supermono Championship met for its final two rounds at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. Brian Wyles was taking his Spondon Rotax along for me so I supplied the accommodation for the weekend. With my brother Mike along for support we left home at 7:15 on the Friday evening and had a good journey, getting to Cadwell at about 10:30. Brian had just arrived and managed to save a space big enough for the two vans and my caravan. We set up the big awning on the side of my van and unloaded the race bikes. By the time we’d finally got the caravan set up it was after 1am and time to get some sleep!
Saturday dawned cold but dry, we scruitineered early with no trouble. The Rotax was still on wet tyres from the last outing, and with the Supermono practice first on the timetable there was little chance of changing to the intermediates in time. Having never ridden the track with the new chicane I made the decision to stay on the wets and do the full session. Once I got out on the track I realised that this was actually the best tyre to be on, with the track temperature being so cold the back straight was actually white over!! Even I had a slide as I left the holding area and all the other guys were on slicks and having to take it very easy.
The new chicane seemed ok although I hadn’t attacked it at racing speed yet. However it has spoilt the run into the bottom of the mountain, which for me was a favourite overtaking spot.
Between practice and qualifying I changed onto intermediates, I would’ve preferred slicks but that involved changing tyres on wheels and there wasn’t time. I did the full qualifying session but I didn’t really put in a great time which put me 17th on the grid overall.
The Supermono race was scheduled for after lunch so I now had plenty of time to fit the slick tyres, there was also plenty of time for the weather to change too!! I decided that whilst the wheels were out I’d change the rear sprocket as it was revving out on the straights.
Fortunately it stayed dry for the race, which is quite a miracle for Cadwell at any time of the year, never mind October!! We made our way to the grid and I was conscious that my slicks would have lost a lot of their temperature with all the waiting around in the holding area. I took up my position and we were soon on a steady warm up lap. Brian had fitted a special clutch since Aberdare Park and it was very grabby, this was the first opportunity I’d had to try it out, but at least I was now prepared for the start of the race.
We reformed on the grid and I awaited the imminent start. I was determined to make up ground off the start so when the flag dropped I fought my way to the left of the track for the inside of the first corner.
When I exited Charlies onto the back straight I realised that it was still going to over rev as I soon clicked into top gear with most of the straight still to go. I just had to nurse it as best as I could but in a race that’s easier said than done. I was glad to be on the slicks as they give so much for confidence than the intermediates.
On the second lap I was following a rider who I thought I would line up to pass at Park corner however he decided to dive up the inside of two other riders and went in far to fast and overshot, causing the rider in front of me to take avoiding action. By now I was going around the outside in an attempt to miss both of them and use the opportunity gain a couple of places. I managed to hit the rider taking the avoiding action and thought we would both end up on the grass as I’d all but run out of tarmac!!
Fortunately we didn’t crash but I didn’t make the places either!! He waved apologetically as I rode around the outside trough Chris Curve. I eventually passed the rider who caused the incident but I did it on the straight rather than risking a pass in a corner!! Mind you I really had to ring the neck of the poor Rotax and I think it was beginning to feel the strain. I caught and passed several riders throughout the race until I got into some free space. By now the clutch was slipping really badly and in the final few laps of the race I found that I hardly had the strength to pull the lever in and it was slipping more and more. With the loss of concentration I missed my braking for the chicane and I did a spectacular stoppie, I didn’t overshot though!!
I finished the race in 10th overall, which was 3rd in class. I also managed to improve my lap times from qualifying to 1min 45seconds which is brilliant; I only wish I’d had the correct gearing so I hadn’t had to thrash the bike so hard. The tyres and suspension had worked perfectly though and I was pleased that all the hard work on the set up had paid off.
When we checked the bike over after the race we found that the clutch had bedded in and all the adjustment had been taken up in the cable, which is why it was slipping so bad and also why I couldn’t pull the lever. We changed the sprocket ready for Sunday and went to the Supermono tent for prize giving and an informal meeting about plans for next season, which will hopefully include more rounds and none that clash with the Manx Grand Prix.
Sunday dawned dry but very overcast; the wind had changed direction and was bringing with it a bitterly cold wind. The Supermono warm up was at 9:30am so there was plenty of time to get the tyre warmers on, but just before our session it rained.
Slick tyres and a cold wet track, a perfect combination! I went out anyway as there was no chance to change the tyres, after a couple of laps to get the tyres up to temperature and have a look for the wet patches I was happy to push on knowing that I really needed to gain confidence in these conditions and I really felt like I’d improved.
What I couldn’t believe was that the bike was still revving out on the back straight even with the gearing change. The engine felt so strong though, however any more sprocket changes would compromise drive out of the corners, so I would have to live with it for the race.
After practice I was called in to the race office to be told that the bike had been reported as smoking excessively and if I was to race I would be black-flagged. I knew it couldn’t be anything terminal as it was running so well and Brian himself had followed me for several laps of practice with no signs of smoke. We set to investigating why it might be smoking. After lots of stripping down we discovered that an exhaust valve guide had worked loose and was allowing oil to pass. It was very unlikely that the engine was smoking under load but would be dripping oil into the hot exhaust gasses on overrun when I shut off for the corners, causing the smoke. So that was my weekend done, Brian offered me his water cooled Yamaha for the race but that meant changing classes and the Clerk of the Course wouldn’t allow it!!
The Supermono Championship has never really got off the ground for me this year unfortunately. Meeting clashes with both the TT and Manx Grand Prix meant that I had lots of work to do at the meetings which I could attend, then the Rotax blew up at the first meeting and not getting to do the last race of the season have really put pay to any hopes of a good result overall.
Good news for next year though is Brian’s decision to invest in a second Yamaha in a TZ chassis for me to compete on, meaning I can move into the Water-cooled class on a more modern race bike.
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