3rd Race report - Silverstone

So, the last installment from this years toe in the water of Minitwin racing.

Once again its a race weekend that starts on Thursday as I'd booked in for the test day on the Friday. Bike packed and got up there on Thursday night and unloaded into the garage. Quick walk (45 minutes) to Silverstone village for a couple of well deserved pints before a night in the back of the van.

Friday morning and swapped the gearing over to 14:45 and gave the bike a check over. All looking good and it was nice and warm out there. Unfortunately for some reason my friends were out in the session after mine so I was out with mostly 400's and 125's.

First session out was ok, found my way round the track and for the first time ever I'm hanging off the bike and get my knee down round Luffield. After using all the tyres at Thruxton I knew I needed to be getting mobile on the bike and it all came good. Got some decent times and was fairly consistent so happy with the start of the day.

All changed with the next session though. 3 laps in and down to the low 1:09's and I lost the front at Maggots whilst trying to stay ahead of a Supermoto. We walked the track later and worked out from the moment the bike touched til I stopped sliding was 45 paces and I left a nice red mark on the track from my leathers and ground off half the footpeg.

No harm done, footpeg, couple of washers and a new bolt for the bar end and I was out in the next session. Leathers were decidedly second hand but ok for the rest of the day and I'd packed a spare set so the race would be ok.

Barring outbraking myself at Copse (funnily enough chasing a Supermoto again. I can see a pattern forming) and catching the edge of the gravel the rest of the day was good and finished up in the mid 1:08's. I learnt a lot about choosing lines to go round other bikes and learnt to trust the bike hard on the brakes and tipping in at high speed. At the end of the day I had my knee down round Luffield and through Copse so felt really happy on the bike.

Friday night was spent listening to the rain on the roof of the van.

Saturday morning was clear but the track was wet so it was out on wets for practice. Felt pretty comfortable but pushed a bit too hard coming onto the pit straight and made use of the escape road that runs alongside it. That woke me up a bit but thankfully was the only incident in the session.

The qualifying race was a dry one and I started 13th in class and last place on the grid. Once again we were out with the Sound of Thunder so there were a lot of bikes in front of me. My start was slow but steady and no wheelie antics this time. I managed to stay with most of the pack and passed a couple of bikes early on. The second time round Luffield onto the start finish straight saw my second excursion into the escape road. As I came round and hit my marker point I saw a bike stopped on the kerb along the pit straight in exactly the place I was aiming for. There was no way I was leaning over any further so it was stand the bike up, cross the kerb and the grass and onto the escape road then back across the grass and onto the track at the other end. It entertained a few folk in the pits though so can't be all bad.

After that I chased down one of my friends and managed to pass him under braking into Brooklands but later in the lap I missed a gear and he passed me again. Chasing him along the pit straight the bike bounced out of top so I lost even more ground on him which was very frustrating.

In the end I finished the race 9th so made a few places and was all set for a good battle with my friends in the final.

2 races before ours the heavens opened so it was off with the dry tyres and on with the wets. On the grid I managed a slow and steady start again and tagged onto the back of the pack through Copse. Having not lost three or four seconds on my friends like the last few races I set about chasing them down and passed one of them under the brakes again and made it stick. No excursions off the track this time and I caught up with my other friend and between us we made or way past a few more minitwins and even a couple of the sound of thunder bikes.

I was watching him pass bikes under the brakes at Maggots but as I got there the door was closed and I had to try different lines to get around them. I passed one guy going onto the Wellington straight but he had a lot more power than me and soon passed me again. Quite why he felt the need to cut straight back in front of me nearly taking me off I don't know but even worse was when he started to brake about 10 metres before I was planning on. I was a bit shook up and almost ran into the back of him before I remembered how to ride the bike and went round and past him on the way into Brooklands and didn't see him again thankfully.

A lap or so later and I was together with my friend again and found I was quicker than him around Luffield but his greater experience saw him shutting the door on me a few times but at least I was in a position to show him my front wheel.

A couple more times round Luffield and he was cutting off the inside line as he knew I was quicker so I decided to try it round the outside and it stuck so I held the line and was just hoping he stayed in so I didn't run onto the kerb. I got straightened up and on the power and he got caught out by a backmarker we'd caught on the way out of Luffield so he was a little later and I managed to pip him to the line to finish 6th in class and 12th overall.

I'm still buzzing thinking about it.

All that's left to say is a big thank you to all of the people who've offered advice, come to say hello and given me some encouragement. I've thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to racing and can't wait to do a full season next year.

I might resist the race reports though as they seem to be getting longer and longer.........

Cheers.

Jody.

Good Report, i was behind you when you came off in testing, glad all was ok to race.

See you next year, gonna try and get up to your pace and with my new minitwin i think i can do it.

see you in 2011, pembrey testing

Nice write up Jody! Offs are all part of it.

I love reading these! Its a minifix!

I'm just glad I left on the old fairing that the bike came with. The build up of filler and fibreglass repairs on there from teh previous owner meant it just slid along the track on the fairing and the footpeg and didn't wreck the bike.

New fairing and bit of a rebuild on the cards over the winter. The old belly pan is that big and low I was scraping it on the ground at all of the tracks I raced this year.

My leathers were proper knackered though so I'm glad I had a spare set. Need to hunt out another now just in case.

How come you weren't out in the final Jo? Nothing wrong with the bike I hope?

Carl, have been reading your write ups on the Bucket too and it looks like you're having just as much fun out there as me. I've had to put my bike away as I'm moving job in a months time so its going to be a long winter without it. Will be keeping an eye on Bucket II though.

Cheers.

Jody.

Originally Posted by harry_hyde

My leathers were proper knackered though so I'm glad I had a spare set. Need to hunt out another now just in case.

How come you weren't out in the final Jo? Nothing wrong with the bike I hope?


Cheers.

Jody.

Well the main reason i wasnt out was the weather, the bike is fine, new to me, very clean, not a scratch anywhere, and to be honest i just didnt want to throw it down the road on the last race of the season, which happens to me in races sometimes.

I have a set of BKS Leather as per pic below if your interested Size 40 (£200) less than a year old and very clean no scuffs

comes from the day i was racing on my R1 at the start of the season



http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=7018dc7499