| Rear Action - A Snetterton Report
Howdy ya'll
A quick report on my first race weekend of the year.
I had lots of plans after the last race weekend of last year at Cadwell. Class A was a possibility but then had someone pull out from buying my 583 and I lost out on the Class A the bike I wanted. Maybe it was a blessing because I got hit with some big bills on my house and one or two other set backs... As a result DD had to play second fiddle this year...hence my no shows for the first two weekends.
Anyway with no bike transport I made an arrangement with Chaz {or Uncle Chaz as I now like to call him ;-)} where he will transport my bike to the rounds and I make my own way so it was Snetterton here I come!!!
Basically the weekend was littered with errr hiccups. I left for the track day nice and early on Saturday morning expecting a nice pleasant drive. I had the hire van packed with bike and bits and pieces and was enjoying the nice view of trees, blue skys and.......tarmac that is the northern loop of the M25.....bliss itself! Anyway, i'm approaching the junction for Potters Bar and the image of my white and black XPD race boots sitting snugly in the spare bedroom cupboard appeared out of my dream like reverie.....aaaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh. I took immediate action, exiting at Potters Bar and turning for home again. Life at 70mph had ended......
With boots now safely in the van the journey to Snetterton was now a blur except for the driver of a Tesco 'artic' who tried to run me off the road on the single lane stretch of the A11........seriously the man was trying to kill me!! I mean, if it was a Waitrose lorry I might not be upset but Tesco lorry….no way ;-)
Track Day
I arrived and hooked up with Chaz as well as Nick B and Craig (who i'd not met before - and a jolly decent chap too).
I came with the bike still with Cadwell gearing and thought I'd try it out. It didn't seem to be working so I changed to what ended up being the gearing I would use for the races on Monday - even though i wasn't completely happy with it. Also Snetterton is not exactly my fave track especially the obvious corners of Sears and the left and immediate right after the bridge. I don't have a lap timer but I nevertheless felt like my times had improved throughout the day or at least become more comfortable. I checked my brakes at the end of the day and the pads had a mm or so left in them. Luckily Chaz had some Lucas Race Pads which I hadn’t tried before. At £30 a pop (P4s) they turned out an absolute bargain as they performed as good as the PF and Bendix pads that I’d used before. I think he mentioned he might be able to get them even cheaper if DD folks put in a bulk order…..
Sunday
Day off.. Apart from saving funds the bike still has old tyres from last year on it and I could only afford to give it an oil and filter change so a bit nervy about killing the bike and tyres with three whole days at Snetterton. So, I swanned around without a care in the world while I waited for my wife and two year old daughter to arrive and when they did we all swanned around together having a family day out.....lol
Qualifying
Got to track from our great B&B, got togged up, lined up ready and off we all went. I built up speed and was feeling pretty comfortable until three quarters the way through the session I started having one of those strange feelings like I had had on the M25 when I realised I’d forgotten my boots….except I couldn’t quite put a finger on it….I pulled into the paddock slip road and an official was waving animatedly at me. I stop and he confirms what I had begun to realise…..no transponder…aaaaaaaaarrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh. I whiup into the paddock and with some gesturing etc Chaz quickly grabs the transponder and puts it on the bike. I get out again but only manage a lap and a half and the full lap is yellow and yello and red flagged at the right just after the bridge….aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh. Time: 1:37 ish…second last on the grid…so it goes
Race 1
Get a hot start down the inside almost skimming the armco with my elbow. I arrive at the apex and am blocked sohave to break very hard but somehow it unblocks again and I find a tiny gap to slip through. The same happens at Sears and as I accelerate out I have passed a number of bikes…I wasn’t counting unfortunately ;-) I then proceeded to chase down the next pack of riders and catch them and pass then one by one mainly into turn 1 and also Russells. The next rider was a fare bit further ahead and I set about catching….whoever it was was a smooth rider and I started to catch a bit but had a couple of moments which set me back then before I knew it two bikes had slipped streamed me up the back straight….I chased them round to Russells and up the start finish and the chequered flag was out….lost two places in half a lap…..10th in class.
Race 2
Got another good start and by the back straight had passed a number of bikes. I proceeded to catch and pass some more and by that time the next group had left a straggler behind which I proceeded to reel in. I eventually got close coming into Russells chicane.. I braked very late and thought of a pass, but it was too risky and I decided I’d get right behind and try something up the front straight. Unfortunately it didn’t go to plan as the bike in front didn’t make the chicane and cut the corner across the astro turf, which set me back a bit as I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. On to the front straight and I tried to catch up again for the last two laps but this time I took a quick look behind to see if there was anyone on my tail but there wasn’t. The last two laps saw the bike in front cut across the astro at Russells each time….then take a look back and accelerate away, he clearly didn't like that chicane lol...it was like groundhog day...maybe I should have followed him through for the craic ;-)….10th in class again…so it goes.
Thanks especially to Chaz and Nick B for your help throughout the weekend. Couldn’t have done it without you. Also thanks to Rattler for hooking me up with Chaz. To Paul P for dinner and Craig for use of van etc. All in all thanks for the banter ;-)
Cheers all….told you it was short …lol maybe next time
Last edited by Fastfasulli : 27-May-2009 at 00:24. | 
26-May-2009, 23:48 
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