| Nick\'s Quick Cadwell Report
Round 1 – Cadwell Park – 26 March 2006
Well THAT was hard work! The weekend didn’t start too well when the car wouldn’t start on Friday morning. Took the morning off work to fix it, with the prospect of an expensive van hire on the cards, and by midday it was fired up and purring like a bag of rusty spanners. Now I want to get packed up and on my way to Cadwell but had to wait impatiently for the geezer to come round and fit the towbar. Mr Towbar was on time and did a quick enough job, so all to do now is throw the kit on the car, pick up the trailer (thanks paul), fetch Psychlist and Monica, then pick up my bike from Pete’s and get up to the circuit in time to find a spot to camp.
Never driven to Cadwell in the dark before so the Sat Nav was switched on. The damn computer leads me to a service road with a locked gate at the back of the circuit and tells me I’ve arrived at my destination! So an effort is now needed to do it the old fashioned way – turn round and follow the signposts. Trying a turn in a narrow unlit road with 6ft ditches on either side and a trailer with 2 bikes on the back is not much fun... As I reverse back, a trailer wheel finds the ditch. All brakes are on solid but the trailer is slowly pulling the car back as it tries to dive down this big hole leading
straight to the burning depths of hell. First gear, nail it! Pull the trailer back on the road and find a better place to turn. This weekend is not getting off to a great start.
Finally, we’re there at 2320hrs. And thanks to Lin/CK for reserving us a spot of mud in the main paddock. Slide the car into our home for the weekend and invite ourselves into AndyJ’s caravan for a cuppa where Lin and Kaz are showing irrefutable evidence that it was they who’d polished off that bottle of vodka. Neither Paul or I had any inclination at all to start setting up camp so just rolled back the front seats and tried to get through the night without freezing to death.
Saturday was a spectating day for us both, with no track time until Sunday. So leisurely set up camp properly and wandered round in glorious sunshine catching up with old and new faces. Then, late that night, the weather came in. First there was the rain then the wind, the gazebo was taking a bit of a battering so needed more ropes... now it’s solid. I was woke at midnight by a tapping on the car door – the gazebo was trying to get in – the wind had picked up even more, and literally imploded the thing! So I’m out in the cold/wet/dark doing battle with this contraption, and after deciding it was already beyond repair out comes the knife to hack it to death and find the nearest skip – Nick 1, Gazebo 0. Now I could sleep in peace.
Up early Sunday morning for qualifying and it’s stopped raining but the track is still wet. We’re second group out, so by this time the track had started to dry in places. Not really ideal conditions to say the least, but we’ll go potter round to post a time and rely on a good start to get up towards the front in the race. After a couple of laps warming things up I find myself on the back of Perrin and the Ducati UK guest rider. I was getting a little held up by them for the rest of the session but couldn’t find a way past, so didn’t get a clear lap to post up a decent time. I expected to see a mediocre grid spot, maybe somewhere on the third row, but back in the paddock people were patting me on the back and congratulating me like I’d just won MotoGP! What’s all the fuss about??? So I wander to race control to check the grid and bugga me, I’ve qualified SECOND, right next to Geoff! WTF!!!
Race 1.
Still can’t believe I’m lining up in second spot, but still I stroll through the also-ran’sand take up my slot as if I own the place... well I’ve gotta soak it up while I can! The sighting lap is underway, and people are flying past like it’s the last lap of the race, as if there’s a trophy for the first one back to the grid, but I take my time and use the throttle and brakes as much as I can to get some warmth in the tyres. Now I’ve got to remember how I used to get such great starts, then I might actually lead a race – briefly.
The flag man points at the lights, the revs go up and the lights go out... A short time later, I realise it’s about time to go, so pin the throttle back and drop the clutch. Front wheel comes up and I’ve fluffed it, bugga. Let some throttle off to bring the front down, then pin it back again and somehow I’m leading into and all the way through Coppice! Bear with me while I say that again... I’m LEADING THE RACE!!! Where is everyone? What’s going on? Where’s Geoff? Ah, there he is, as I exit Charlies 1 the Spencer flies past like he thinks he can have a piece of me. Then on the run to Park Corner Ian gets past in hot pursuit of Geoff. I try to stay with Ian but it’s not long before I realise I’m out of my depth, but I know I have to ride these six laps like my life depends on it. I cross the line in third, take a quick look behind and see a respectable gap. I ride lap 2 on my own with no challenges, and complete lap 2 still in third place, but on the way to Coppice someone, bike 37, comes by and gaps me pretty quick. I don’t even know who that was!
OK, so that’s the top three spots gone, now I need to hold on to 4th for as long as I can. A glance behind and I see AndyJ about a second back, so even though I’m trying as hard as I can, I just expect at every turn to see him come past. Over the line and he’s right on my chuff, so it’s time to prove to myself that I CAN hold the throttle on the stop through Coppice. I held it open through Coppice and still managed to turn it in enough to hold a good line through Charlies 1 and 2. Then, on Park Straight, I look back to see I’ve pulled back a gap of about a second over Andy, so I think if I can keep doing this then it should at least reduce his chances of getting by.
Now I’ve managed to hold him off for two whole laps, but I can hear him behind all the way from Mansfield, through the Mountain and into Halls. I know he’s about to try a pass on the brakes into Old Hairpin so I close it off as much as I can without having to lose too much of my line, but he comes past on the brakes just as I’m about to turn in. He’s now right next to me, hard on the brakes so turns very late, and I can’t turn until he vacates some tarmac for me to use! By the time Andy’s turned, I’ve ran out of road with the only option to take to the grass (mud). I try to make the turn on the grass but there’s no grip at all, so I try the brake and there’s STILL no grip. My only option is to run into the hay bales and not fall off so I would be allowed to re-join, but I have to wait for the marshal to pull me out while I watch bike after bike sailing by and killing any chance I had of a decent finish. Back on track with one lap to go and Ant is in the distance, it’s pretty clear that Diablo tyres aren’t quite as good when they’re covered in mud! So no chance of catching anyone on that last lap and I finish 15th after a lot of hard work and a really good effort. So I’m really disappointed and just wondering what was the point of trying so hard. Andy’s pass was far too late, and I’d’ve expected better from someone with his experience, but I can’t be annoyed at him because that’s the way it goes – with one lap to go, if you think there’s a big enough gap then you’ve just gotta have a pop and see who comes out on top. No hard feelings and no arguments, we shook hands and took the **** out of each other for the rest of the day – so business as usual!
Race 2.
I’m waiting around for the next race still wondering what’s the point, but as grid time approaches I just want to get out there and lay the ghastliness of race 1 in the past. On the grid again for the start and the light flashes... this time I get a better start, but Geoff gets off the line well too and we’re almost touching bars all the way up to Coppice. At this point I’m struggling to believe I’m largin’ it up with Spencer, but I keep going and don’t give him an inch until the turn. We go into the turn side-by-side and Geoff gets the better of me on the exit and clears off through Charlies, closely followed by Ian, then Andy. So here I am back in 4th at the end of lap one, and a glance back sees Ali and Couchie wanting to have a go.
Ali’s really quick, he’s someone who I consider I can only beat when he’s on one of his excursions into the gravel on his arse. And whilst I’ve not previously raced with Couchie, I know he’s a bit useful too. But I feel I’m going well enough to at least put up a bit of a fight so I get my head down with only one belief in the world... I will beat them both, I’m not giving in. If they brake late then I’ll brake even later, if they gas it early in the corner then I’ll be on the case even earlier. In my mind it’s written in stone – I WILL beat them!
I hold them off for three laps until, on lap five, Ali tries to come round the outside on the run up to the Gooseneck. Not a chance boy, I give it some more gas and drift a little left and Ali backs off to avoid a free ambulance ride. Now I’ve got a lap and a half to hold station and tell myself I’ve got to ride the last lap of my life. I don’t look back at all, there’s no need because I know what I’ll see. I just need to power on as early as I dare, don’t brake until I see God, and cover the passes as best I can. The last chance for them to get past is at the Old Hairpin so I approach it far right and turn late to make it impossible to get by. I almost come to a stop doing this but I’m hopeful(?) that I’ve slowed them up enough too and I drive as hard as I can through Barn and stare at the rev counter to get the best possible gear changes all the way to the line. Done it, fourth place finish in an epic five laps with Ali who I didn’t think I’d ever beat in a straight fight!
That’s round one done with and it really wasn’t a nice weekend. My worst ever finish in race 1, then my best ever result in race 2. Then the bike fell over in the paddock and bust a lever and clip-on! The whole weekend turned out to be a hell of a lot of effort and a big bag full of money for just twelve quick laps of Cadwell, half of which were wasted! I guess racing life is full of ups and downs so from here it can only get better... we’ll see how it goes at Brands...
NickB#34  |
28-Mar-2006, 13:49 
domski
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