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MARK CASTLE - MAG SPORT RACING 2007 - NG Road Racing Club at Darley Moor
19th & 20th May 2007
I can’t believe it’s May already and I’ve just had my first run out on a race bike. Normally I would’ve raced several times and used a road bike every day since February.
But due to life’s twists and turns I’ve managed neither until now.
Mind you I got my RVF 400 road bike M.O.T’d last week so apart from the damn rain things are looking up.
I decided to give the Northwest 200 a miss this year due to the uncertainty of my personal circumstances around this time, which is a shame because I’d had a brilliant offer from KS Performance to ride their superstock ZX10 Kawasaki, still there’s always next year.
I have however entered and been accepted for the Manx Grand Prix 2007, a requirement of the entry by the ACU though is to attain a mountain course licence, which requires a medical and race finishes in six different meetings.
Unfortunately even though I competed at the NW200 and Oulton Park in May last year they are too early to be included and I’m short by 2 races!! The cut off date for which is June 30th. So with my 400 engine still away I was beginning to worry about getting this licence.
Brian Wyles of Rampisham Garage fortunately came to the rescue with the offer of one of his RVF 400’s, which although required running in, would give me a race finish towards the licence. Brian had a discussion with me at the start of the year about selling the Supermono race bikes that I’d competed on for the past few years and getting a 600 for me instead.
This would give me more freedom to compete at events that don’t cater for single cylinder bikes and an opportunity to get track time on a 600 prior to going to the Manx GP, we have sourced a bike but not got our hands on it yet! So Brian prepared the 400 for me to ride at Darley Moor, which is part of the NG Road Racing Club Championship in which he’s competing. It fitted in perfectly as Darley is local to me.
Brian had travelled from Somerset on Friday evening so he was already there when I arrived at 7am on Saturday morning.
We got the bikes through scruitineering early and went to sign on. Brian went for a ride around the track on my pushbike, as he’d never been to Darley before.
Eddie had turned up to help and we fitted the wheels off my own RVF as I’d fitted new tyres at Richardsons Honda in Congleton earlier in the week; unfortunately they are bright orange and looked a bit bizarre on a dark purple race bike!!
We warmed the bike up and fitted the tyre warmers and waited for the 2nd practice session to be called.
I followed Brian out onto the track but soon dropped off because I was only revving to 10,000 RPM, giving the engine chance to settle in nicely by being smooth and not over revving.
Brian had set the bike up brilliantly considering I’d not sat on it before to sort the position of pegs, bars and levers, I was well impressed by the modified seat unit I made for him last year, he’s a bit taller than me (Most people are!!) and struggles fitting onto the compact RVF. The extended seat unit gave loads more room to move and get tucked in.
It was quite a wait for the first race and I was surprisingly nervous, it my first run out of the year when everyone else has been racing all season, also I didn’t know any of the other competitors (Other than Brian), when you are used to racing with the same people you know who you can trust and more importantly who to avoid! I also felt like I was under a strange kind of pressure because I actually had to finish a race to get the licence. Normally I would never even consider that I might not finish the race.
Finally the call came for our race and Eddie removed the tyre warmers, he told me that the rear tyre was cold because the warmer hadn’t worked. It was nice having a starter motor on the bike, after several years of difficult to start single cylinder bikes this button made life very easy indeed!!
We made our way to the holding area, I’d forgotten how small the grid was at Darley Moor but I was on 16th on the outside left so at least I wasn’t trapped in the middle. They waved us off for the warm up lap and it soon reminded me how tight the first chicane is with a whole field of bikes bearing down on it. We returned to the grid and took our places and awaited the lights to go.
I made a brilliant start and muscled my way through the chicane, I was conscious of the rear tyre and not wanting to risk a highside I was careful through park corner. I was at the back of the lead group of bikes and was happy settling into a rhythm when the red flags came out…someone had highsided at park!!
Eventually we were ushered back to the grid to start on our original positions. All the hard work wasted! I made a balls up of the second start and got mobbed in the chicane and generally made hard work of it. I saw Brian in front and caught up with him, I decided that as I was running his bike in, I would stay behind him, but I couldn’t resist nipping past him on the last corner and beating him across the line.
I’d revved the bike to 14,000 RPM during the race and the new engine built by KS Performance was pulling brilliantly. I lapped at 1min 9seconds, a far cry from the 1min 3secs when I raced there regularly.
Back at the paddock I got called a little S*** for sneaking past!!!
It was a very long wait for the second race but I was much more relaxed having got the race finish I required, Eddie had fixed the rear tyre warmer too.
My 13th place finish in race one determined my start position for this race; unfortunately this was trapped in the middle of the grid. I had a much better start though and really enjoyed the race.
It’s good to be racing again in a class of just 400’s where you constantly get mobbed if you hesitate for a second. I finished the race in 10th so I was happier that I’d got a bit better but my lap time had only come down to 1min 7secs…must try harder.
We went out for tea at a local pub and had a brilliant meal, I was going to sleep in my van that night but Brian suggested I sleep in their caravan which was much more comfortable and warm!
It had threatened rain all Saturday with quite a strong wind but fortunately it never transpired, Sunday was a fantastic day though with not a cloud in the sky and the wind had totally gone. Brian asked for a practice pass to have another look at the circuit after we’d talked about a few things after the races on Saturday. I didn’t bother for not wanting to put too many miles on the new engine.
My mechanic Andy Grimes turned up on his road bike early on and Eddie came along again; it was like the good old days with the team back together. The radiator had holed on Saturday so we fitted a standard one.
There were lots of delays in the morning races with lots of red flags and it seemed to take forever.
Whilst waiting for my race I got a call off my wife who was in tears at the gate. The woman wouldn’t let her in even though I’d given her a pass; she’d made her pay.
Charlene had our 22 month old son with her and his woman had been really abusive to her saying that she was too late to use the pass…I went over to see what had gone on and believe me I don’t go looking for trouble, this woman went ballistic at me, all in front of a queue of cars waiting to get in, I couldn’t believe it.
She was happy to reduce a young mother to tears then shout and ball at me across a car park…She told me I was nothing special and that she was going to have me banned from racing at Darley Moor.
I think that the circuit owners and staff forget that if it wasn’t for people like me who spend massive amounts of cash entering events then they’d be out of a livelihood.
No I’m not special, I never thought I was, but if I’ve spent hundreds of pounds on four races then I’d like my wife to be able to use one of my passes to come and see me without being abused.
Not only that after all that upset I’ve got to go and compete.
I virtually had to jump in my leathers and head off to the grid by the time I got back to the paddock.
I kept my eye on the radiator on the warm up lap and it seemed fine, although the engine ran a little hotter throughout the race. I had a better race from 17th on the grid again and with a good charge through the pack in the closing stages of the race I finished 8th and improved to late 1min 5second laps so I was happier.
In the second race I started from 8th place and had a really good fight with a couple of riders, I got the better of them and was up to about 6th and lining up 5th place going into the last lap when I got mobbed, when one came past the other followed and I couldn’t get back past either of them and was relegated back to 8th but that’s racing I suppose. It was brilliant to be back out there and I had a great time.
We made our plans for Cadwell Park on the 2nd & 3rd June, in which I’ve entered a 600, if my race bike isn’t ready I’ll ride Brian’s Triumph Daytona.
We packed up and got Brian and Co. on the way down south and set off home having had a brilliant weekend except the bust up obviously!!!
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