 |
| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
| #1  23-Aug-2005, 13:58 | ||||
| ||||
| TP takes on Minitwins at MRO! Well, a short notice decision to tackle minitwins last week led to me thinking about the MRO round at Cadwell. To be brutally honest I was daunted by the prospect of taking the 620 monster to a national level series where it would be underpowered. If the 675/583 boys and girls can do it in DD then I can do it in MRO. So, the DD bike is actually illegal in minitwins due to my having a modified airbox. So I rang the organisers to ask them if it was ok, seeing as I was underpowered anyway, and they were cool – so that was it, I entered! I had a hunt around for someone to help me all weekend and eventually found Phill Clarke who was keen. This was great for me as Phill is another Ducati riding Aussie and he was up for a weekend’s racing. This of course, could have a downside in that we could end up doing a bit of drinking …. Hrmmm, well I packed the footy so we could have a kick around too. We both play rugby so that’s a real footy, not one of these poofy round things  We headed up on Friday afternoon making a quick stop at the offie for some beers and a bottle of port. Now this offie is a guy I chat with regularly, not that I’m an alcoholic in any way you understand, and got my favourite beers in for me from Aus on request a little while ago. We have a quick chat about the fact that we were leaving to go racing and I chanced my arm and asked if he had any stickers we could run on the bike and he was keen. He’s going to get some made up and chuck us some beer for the pleasure. First on any Aussie’s sponsorship checklist has to be a beer sponsor and there’s a tick in that box now – Thanks goes to ‘The Last Try’ Off license in Twickenham. Wicked. It was a long and wet drive up in the van but fortunately it had stopped raining by the time we got there. Sat morning arrives all too quickly and I’m up, showered and got the bike down for scrutineering early to avoid any rushing around. That done, we’re off for some breakie and to try and calm the already growing nerves. Phill is being a legend; I couldn’t have done all this by myself. The practice was a bit of a blur and I didn’t push that much initially as I was scrubbing in some new supercorsa’s and I’d never ridden this bike on them before, so it was a learning process. I’d been to Cadwell twice before, once for a trackday on the full circuit and we raced on the woodlands circuit in April. So I knew my way around and knew I liked it so I was keen for a good result. I wasn’t doing anywhere near decent times but I was out there and had good look around. These boys, and Sarah, were fast! Mucho work to do! My goals for the weekend were: 1 – Stay on 2 – Beat someone/anyone 3 – A decent laptime – first a 1:50 – then a 1:48 but the real goal was a 1:45 Qualifying Well this didn’t go according to plan at all. I had caught up to some slower riders as I started to build up the pace and was held up. I took too long to get past and made a meal of it really. I wasn’t very happy as I knew I could do a lot better, nevermind. It was a rubbish time and a rubbish position on the grid – 1:51.87 and 18th of 20. Not good. I ran 15/46 gearing for that and decided it was too tall and I was losing too much drive. We changed to 14/45 for race 1. Race 1 I got the TP trademark start – RUBBISH! I was DFL into Coppice and had a 6 bike length gap to the next bloke – DOH!! Fortunately I made that up by the exit of Charlies 2 but then I lost out down Park Straight. I knew the 620 would struggle here so I’d just have to make it up on the brakes into Park. I closed back up into Park but wasn’t quite close enough. This game went on for 2 laps until I finally got past and then my laptimes dropped and I was off after the next guys. I could see them ahead but there was a decent gap. I kept my head down and tried to close the gap. It was working, I was catching them. MRO have longer races than I’m used to in Desmo Due with New Era so I was hoping that I had enough time to catch them - even though this was only the Superpole race and therefore 8 laps. Everytime I came around Barn I’d be looking for the last lap flag to tell me I’d run out of laps. I finally caught the next bloke and was on him out of Barn and the last lap flag was out. I had to get past him this lap. He pulled a gap on me down the straight which I made back up going through Coppice so I was back on him again. I had a look up the inside to Charlies 1 but didn’t have enough drive. The next placed bloke was a bit too far away for me to get both of them so I decided to try and be a bit patient and put a good pass on without losing out on the exit of the corner. So I sat behind him through Charlie’s 1 and 2 and tried to get my drive right up to the back of him out of Charlies 2 and get him to drag me down Park straight. It worked and I managed to only lose about two bikelengths on him so I went late on the brakes into Park and managed to nick it. I knew I was quicker through Chris Curve so I just needed to get in there first cue me holding a tight line on the entry to not give him any room to come back on me and just cracking open the throttle. I held him off from there until the end and managed to close the gap a little further to the next place gent. Result – 18th Best Lap – 1:49.1 and .8 quicker than the bloke in front. I need a better start, and I need to get past that first guy quicker. I also felt the gearing could be a little shorter. So we changed it to 14/46. Phill and I went into Louth and had a meal and a few beers. We brought a few more back and got the footy out and had a beer/footy session which was great. Then off to the bar for some more beer, well we ran out you understand. Stayed there for a while and then adjourned to the tent for a bottle of port. Late to bed. .. hrmmm … Race Two First of the 10 lap races. TP trademark start and DFL into Coppice again. Great. Once again I let myself get held up for far too long before getting past the next guy and the gap was huge to the next guys. I put my head down and pushed harder but it seemed to come to me a bit easier. I got a decent rhythm going and started to close the gap noticeably. There’s so many places I can make time if I was just more relaxed and patient. Something I need to learn. The gap was closing but in the end it wasn’t enough. I finished 18th again 2 seconds behind. I clawed back something in the region of 10 seconds once by the last placed man but it wasn’t enough. I’m being stupid about this, I was tense on the bike at some points and I was forcing myself to let go off the bars when I could and hold the throttle open with two fingers to try and relax. Ten laps is certainly different to the sprints I’ve done this year. The good thing though, was a best lap of 1:47.8 which I was pleased with as it just sort of came to me and I know there’s lots of places I can make time. For the last race I need to take a more considered approach and make a conscious effort to be patient. Race 3 A slightly better start than before meant I was finally on the back of the pack, still DFL into Coppice but right on them this time. I made two places through Charlie’s only to lose one of those down Park Straight. The good news is that the gent that held me up in the previous races was now behind me and we’re only at Park. Patience and being relaxed was what I wanted from this race so I didn’t try and dive under on the brakes anywhere. I was right on the back of the next placed guy and I got to use my favourite overtaking move at Cadwell – I drove right onto the back of him entering Chris Curve and went around the outside into the gooseneck and through. I had a grin a mile wide under my helmet and I knew it would stick. Next up bloke is about 1.5 seconds away and people have started chucking themselves into the scenery left, right and centre! I closed the gap quickly and realised I was quicker through the mountain and hall bends. I put a pass on into the old hairpin but got it crossed up and let him get the gap again. It took me until Mansfield to close back up and I got good drive up the mountain to go over it with him just next to me and I got him into Hall, That felt good. It’s tight in there! I knew I could put a small gap into him before we got to Barn so I went for it and really attacked Barn. He still bloody came past down the S/F straight but I went round him again into Charlies and put another gap into him. If I could make it stick into Park I knew I’d get away from him. He came back on me down the straight but I managed to hold him off on the brakes and I was off – result. Unfortunately someone had a big off in Chris Curve so as I was about to put the big ones in to get away the red flags came out. We had done 5 laps and reformed up on the grid for a 4 lap race. Great – it took 5 laps to get those guys and I felt I could have got another spot as well and now I had to do all that work again. I was gutted. With getting the extra spot on the track and the crashes I formed up in my race position of 15th. Not bad, if I could finish in 15th I’d score a point in the MRO championship and Phil and I had talked about this overnight but I didn’t think it was achievable this weekend. Anyway. The Restart You guess what happened off the startline …. DFL into Coppice but not so bad as it worked out similar to the first start of Race 3, I managed to get past my nemesis in Charlies but the gap to the next bloke was a bit bigger and took me a bit longer to reel in. The last lap flag seemed to come out straight away and I was on the back of the next guy and managed to pull off the favoured, round the outside in Chris Curve pass on him there and started taking chunks out of the next guy. I was getting closer but just didn’t have enough and he finished .8 ahead of me. I felt so ripped off but excrement happens, as they say. The worst bit is that I don’t have any times for the first part of the race where I think I put a few good ones together, the second part was messy and my best lap was a 1:50 – very ordinary!!!! I wasn’t very happy at this point but then I got wind of the result – 14th!!!!! I had scored two MRO championship points! Instant smile, I was WAY stoked to have scored points and to get a best lap of the weekend of 1:47.8 I was pretty happy. I have to say that my weekend was pretty successful. I didn’t get the 1:45 lap but I felt I had a 1:46 in me and maybe more. I wouldn’t have even been there if it wasn’t for Phill who came and helped me, I really appreciate your efforts mate – you’re a champion! That also extends to the people who got me there through encouraging me and giving me support. Guys like my sponsors: Sigma Performance Wraysbury Tyres The Last Try – Twickenham Off-License And those who encouraged me from the Ducati Sporting Club, and www.visordown.com Thanks very much for all your words. MRO Minitwins Points Table With me in it!!! Edited to add this pic, I know it's in another thread but it it's more appropriate here and I might even have some more later. This is me on my way up the mountain:  [Edited on 23-8-2005 by TP]  |
| #5 23-Aug-2005, 15:23 | ||||
| ||||
| Excellent ! I was sitting on your virtual shoulder reading that. Cadwell is such a brilliant circuit for an underdog with not enough power  I prefer it with a small bike though, as you are going slower when you lowside while taking someone on the inside at park on the last lap  (yes I did that, and did the same type of thing at brands too) I think its a major result when you finish every race thinking 'could have gone faster there'. Take the bike (any bike !) to a sprint and practise your starts. |
| #6 23-Aug-2005, 15:55 | ||||
| ||||
| Good stuff, mate. Really great to see you putting verything into the racing and seeing the results... fantastic! |
| #7 23-Aug-2005, 16:02 | ||||
| ||||
| Quote:
note to self: never, ever give phil enough room to dive up the inside |
Linear Mode
