My 2013 Oulton Park report Oulton Summuary No Practice, Quallifying I Crashed at Island bend, resulting in No lap time so I was planted at the back of the grid in 31st Sunday morning warm up told me the bike wasn't straight and the left knee was reluctant to change angles, but I managed to get my 3 laps in. I had a great start to race One part One followed by a decent stoppie around the front row of the grid, while the thought of "Oh No, not another crash" went through my mind, luckily I avoided planting my front wheel into Brummy Dave by almost forcing Wayne Thomas into the pit wall. After the scare of the first start my second start was a bit more sedate and I just toured around behind Ian O'Reiley for the whole race with a lack of confidence in the front end under braking Second race wasn't much better, with 2 laps to go I nearly pulled in, but decide to give it one more shot resulting in me passing Ian into Old hall and then knocking 4 seconds of the lap times we had been doing, still slower than what I managed in 2005 on my 583 running the Pirellis but all things considered a step or should that be limp in the right direction On a brighter note Dallas got a 2nd and a 3rd on my spare Class A bike, he first sat on it Friday morning and as the test morning progressed we slowly dialled it in to suit him a bit better, the result was I watched on as he reduced his lap times despite the fairing trying to drop off at one point. Goes to show a basic bike is a pretty good tool in the right hands, with bars above the yokes, no Powercommander and No Dyno mapping, Non adjustable forks, a five speed box and running on standard unleaded it was leaving behind far better developed bikes, I'm looking forward to having a better outing at Anglesey, thankfully its a good few weeks after Oulton, hopefully giving me time to get myself and my bike sorted After Oulton my damaged parts, shopping and To Do list consisted of Front Disc Front wheel spindle Left Harris Clipon Clutch lever and clutch reservoir hose Fibreglass repairs to fairing and seat unit Replace Leathers, Helmet, Tinted Visor and Gloves Hoping the forks were just twisted in the yokes, so I have loosened everything off and tried to align as best I can and hope to test around the trading estate on B/H Monday, off to Motoliner in Maidstone later this week to drop in wheel and Disc for straightening Checkout the Desmo Due Paddock on Facebook |