Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Today at Brands....

[AK]

Firstly, 'Hi' again to all who came & said 'Hi' at some point during the day

Good finishing from Andy on our bike 36 = 3rd & 4th, but had a 'moment' in the SOT 2nd race - but managed to keep it upright
Doug had a good introduction to DD racing, on the Snot mobile, racing as 39 on his first ever race. Kept her upright & out of the gravel at his first attempt, qualified for the SOT, but didnt want to wear himself out for the DD races.


Big thankyous to:

Lin (Phoenix), for a scrummy dinner for loads of us last nite

Kaz (Andy's mrs) for brekkie

Rob & Karen Lott, for all the re-fuelling & added mechanic'ing bits

Red-Leader for my sunday paper this morning

Andy for riding the 'new' bike 36 to a couple of good places - have a nice holiday, whilst we are at Cadwell Andy:P

Doug for keeping the snotmobile out of the gravel this time


and a big thanks to all the usual suspects (mostly the Surrey 'squad' - but also aided by one particular Hants member, eh Roy?:P )for hurling their usual abuse at my good self on occasions throughout the day:P:P:P

Charlotte (and AK! )

[Brent]

Great to watch, and well done to the Knight team!

Also well done to Paul S who had a couple of really good races as well!!

[Dementor]

Excellent day at the races, well done CK/AK looks like Orange is a pretty quick colour

Glad you appreciated the usual insults, I do my best you know

Have a good hols.

Well done to Nick, for a couple of good races, promise I won't mention anything to peteb about all the gaffer tape

Also good to see Paul (Psychlist) enjoying himself and wearing out his toe slidders, that boy sure gets some angle into Paddock Hill bend

Cheers, Roy & Sandra



[Edited on 11-9-2005 by Dementor]

[ericthered40]

Didn’t bump in to you today, we seemed to be walking all over the place with some in the paddock and some in the pit’s.

Well done with your results, they put on a great show again.

[clockwork orange]

Home again. In pretty good time, although rather wet - so what's new??

You're welcome CK and AK, from both of us.

Good to see everyone, and enjoy some keen racing. Thanks Lin for dinner last nite - yummy.

[clockwork orange]

Piccies : 1

[clockwork orange]

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[clockwork orange]

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[webbyc]

Nice to see you guys and also to see the new addition going so well.

[AK]

any more pics Karen?

and our full write up;

Latest update of the Knight Road Race Team! (or tales of excitement about Brands Hatch, yesterday!!!!)

Some of you might know that Alan & I went 'shopping' a weekend ago with all our hard earned & more, and came home with an almost new M620, for a very good price - along with a multiude of spares!
(motto now is: why save for next year, when you can have a blinking great time this year! However this does have some disadvantages - we are now totally & utterly broke, so those with bikes will be being asked if they want anything doing to them soon!!! - or I'll have to start selling my body )

This bike - hastily nick-named the 'tango queen' was quickly dragged off to Brands Hatch for the penultimate rounds of the Desmo Due race series yesterday. Weather on our arrival in the mid afternoon was gloriously sunny & warm, but when we were allowed into the pits on the Sat night, it was atrocious with heavy rain, thunder & lightening which lasted all evening.
Sunday dawned, with a grey mist hanging over the far end of the track at Clearways, and the sun didnt really poke his head out all day, tho the rain did hold off for most of the time.

Andy Johnson was once again on board, with the bike being numbered as 36. Andy had never ridden at Brands before, so entered into the Sounds of Thunder too for extra practice.
Andy had a big 'moment' in the SOT race, but managed to keep the tango queen upright (I dont know how tho!) but slipped back down the pack, from the creditable 17th he had propelled himself to, from the starting place of 31st on that grid. A minor oil leak on the 2nd hand oil cooler that Alan had fitted 2 nights before was hastily refixed, to save any more incidents.
He managed to qualify the tango Queen into 3rd place on the DD grid, and took a closely fought 3rd place (at one point slipping in front of Geoff - eventual & usual winner - into 2nd, before being fought back again.
Andy pulled out a 4th in the 2nd race, again, a blinding ride - and I can see a lot more to come in the series next year.
The trophy Andy got,means as much to me than any of the pots I got for competing with the horses (I think I am bitten by the racing bug totally now!!)
Bloody good going for Andy, riding a totally unfamiliar bike on an unfamiliar track! - well done mate.
Just a shame Andy is away for the last round, as he is in 5th overall place in the points - despite not riding Mrs Snot at Castle Coombe when Mark Hill took the ride. (Mark - are you really really sure you cant ride the new bike at Cadwell?)

'Mrs Snot' was piloted round by Doug Clemmans (who had only just passed his ACU licence last Monday) and managed to also qualify in the Sounds of Thunder wearing the number 39, though sat out the race - saving himself for the nerve-wracking test of doing the Desmo series for the first ever time!
All I'll say is: Thanks to James for kindly lending Doug his top notch leathers for the day - and also to Doug for keeping the snotmobile upright for the whole meeting - and finishing both races safely.

A big bonus with having got the 2 bikes there for the day, was having great mates like Dave (Andy's bruv) and also Karen & Rob who were all hands on throughout the day with tyres/sprockets/oil leaks & the like.
Big thanks to Kaz for all the cuppas - and also for brekkie on the Sunday morning.

It was great to see some of you there - but am sorry if we didnt have time to natter, as we were either busy - or pooped!!!!

Finally - Alan & I are taking 2 of our road bikes off on a well earned holiday at the end of this week for a fortnight, to visit our dear friend Marian (and Frank!) in deepest sunny (I hope!!) Devon. We cant wait to take the bikes along the now familiar roads off the A39, tho will be 'chillin' too.

Look forwards to catching up with Surrey/hants & Sussex peeps once again, after Cadwell

C

[Edited on 12-9-2005 by CK and AK]