ACU Supermono Championship - Rounds 8 & 9
Snetterton - September 17th & 18th

I’d got very little to do to the Rampisham Garage Yamaha Supermono to prepare for Snetterton, a change of the rear sprocket and a good clean and bolt check and she was ready for action again. I’d planned to take the caravan but it’s quite a drive to the circuit and you can make much better progress without towing.

I called Eddie and we decided to just go in the van, so on Thursday evening he came round to help me load up, we didn’t get much done though because it was throwing it down, at least we got all the heavy things in the van.

Baby Jack woke me up nice and early on the Friday morning so I went into work early, meaning I could get an early finish to sort out the last minute jobs before getting away. Eddie arrived at about 5:30pm and we we’re on the road by 6pm, we had a brilliant journey for a Friday evening and travelled the 200 miles in a little over three hours.

We had the big gazebo set up by the time Brian Wyles arrived from Somerset and we got the vans unloaded and set the beds up to get some sleep. It was the first cold night after a long warm spell so it was a bit of a shock to the system!!!

The Supermono warm up was the first practice of the day and just before going to scruitineering it rained…so I got soaked. It was then a mad rush fitting the brand new wet tyres just before the session.

The track was freezing cold and I didn’t get the tyre warmers on either…I’d still got the Donington incident in the back of my mind when I ventured out onto the circuit so I took it nice and steady/rode like a girl, but I did enjoy the session and got faster throughout.

It was anybody’s guess what the track was going to be like for qualifying. A narrow dry line was slowly beginning to appear as the practices went on but the track was predominantly damp.

I changed to slicks after much deliberation and got the tyre warmers plugged in just in time for it to shower again!! It was too late to change back by now. I decided not to rush out for qualifying and give the track a bit longer to dry, I started the bike on the rollers and headed up to the holding area, which was shut when I got there.

I had to about turn and manoeuvre up the pit lane, in doing so I stalled the bike!! I had to run back to the paddock, fortunately there was someone there to help me start and I finally got out onto the track.

I enjoyed the session but felt the bike was lacking drive, I put that down to the damp corners and not carrying the corner speed to rev the bike down the straights. I was disappointed to find that I’d only done 1m25s as my fastest lap, which put me eleventh on the grid for the race.

I decided not to change the gearing because of the conditions during qualifying and hoped that they’d improve for the race. I didn’t want the bike to over rev and risk blowing up on the long straights at Snetterton.

The Supermono race was first after lunch and the weather had stayed dry although still a bit cold. I took up my place on the grid after the warm up lap for the 15-lap race. I had a reasonable start where I didn’t loose any positions and followed the procession for a couple of laps before passing two riders and moving up a couple of places.

I caught up with Andy Buik and although I could reel him in on the corners, by the end of the long straights he’d pulled out a big gap and I wasn’t close enough to make a pass. I followed him for seven laps before I dived up the inside on the brakes before Russell’s chicane.

I pulled away from him and began to catch Aria Lane but couldn’t get close enough before the end of the race. I finished the race in 7th overall, which was 5th in class, with a much more respectable lap lime of 1m18.48s.

Sunday night was a bit warmer thankfully, helped by a good meal at a nice pub.

The morning dawned damp and misty and I was going to give the practice session a miss, but the track was dry so I went out for a few laps to blow the cobwebs away.

I wish I’d altered the gearing to see how the bike pulled and if she would over rev with a larger rear sprocket but it was such a last minute decision to go out that I didn’t have time to do it. There was no qualifying either so I would have to stick with Saturday’s grid position and gearing.

The mist cleared but Sunday afternoon remained overcast, at least it was still dry. The rear slick was looking a little second hand after the long race on Saturday and we’d got an eighteen lapper to do now!!

I got a better start though and soon caught Andy Buik again, he looked behind to see me right on his tail again, I gave him a little wave!! I managed to get past him at the same place as before but it took me a few laps. I pulled clear and set off chasing Aria Lane who I was over 4 seconds behind. By lap fourteen I was right on his back wheel, I tried a couple of passes but didn’t make them stick.

On lap seventeen the European Champion Benny Jerzenbeck, came past me on the back straight, I didn’t know but he’d just run over my silencer which had broken free from it’s rivets.

When I shut off at the end of the straight for the chicane the noise was deafening I didn’t know what had happened, I missed a gear and the bike wouldn’t pull, I thought she’d blown up at first!! It wasn’t until I got onto the main straight and looked down to see the carbon outer had come off the exhaust.

Fortunately because I’d been lapped I was now on my last lap and the chequered flag waved as I crossed the line. I was panicking thinking I would be black flagged before finishing the race if I had to do any more laps.

Sadly I didn’t manage to pass Aria so I had to settle for 5th in class again. I did knock almost half a second off my lap time whilst trying to catch him though 1m18.09s. It took me about an hour to get the remains of the smashed silencer back so I could repair it before Cadwell!!

I’m still 7th in the Watercooled Championship so I’m really going to have to have a good run at Cadwell to get into the top five.

The next Supermono meeting will be rounds 10 & 11 at Cadwell Park, on the 8th & 9th October.