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  #1  
Old 24-Aug-2009, 20:26
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Otei Otei is offline
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The Otei report: Shake rattle, not pole.

I'd been a bit worried about this meeting since the start of the season, so it made perfect sense not to bother doing a test day and just turn up, hoping that the extra practice gained from doing one of those ludicrous Allcomers races would be enough to beat Shep round a track he's won at before. Hmmm.

In all honesty, part of it was lack of cash, and part of it was just me being stubborn having recieved that snotty email from the fella that helps run things there, so it'd just have to do.

It was a bit of a trek for us, so I had decided that the little blue van would have to stay at home, because 65mph for 200 miles just isn't good for your mental health. With this in mind I asked my sponsors, Ultimate Finish Powder coating if I could borrow their work van, which has a behemoth 2.8 turbo diesel engine in it...gosh!

What I wasn't told, was that for some reason, when the tyres had worn down a bit, it gave off the most excruciating road noise. Kate was off out with some mates the night before we left, and I implored her not to get steaming, goggle eyed, knickers round a strangers head drunk the night before, because I didn't want her to suffer the journey with a mega hangover.

Truth be told, I just couldn't be arsed to listen to her grind away about her head for 4 hours!

Fortunately, I soon discovered that at precisely 83mph the noise was bearable...just. This made for an entertaining trip as I tore through built up areas and past orphanages at the optimum speed, only giving the poor van a brief respite when we stopped to help some hooded youths get back their pink handbag from an old lady that was on the ground protesting that it was hers. The cheek of old folk these days.

We eventually arrived after what had not, to be honest seemed a long journey. We parked up next to Chass in the adjacent paddock, and to be honest felt a bit rude. We did have some hard standing for the bike though and this was the main reason for choosing that paddock...as well as the fact that we're scared of Dallas cos he's only a facial tattoo away from being Queequeg out of Moby dick!

See!




Anyway, we set up camp, with Kate getting all excited when she saw how cosy our little race HQ looked, bless her.

Chass, made us a ridiculously tasty Spag bol, with garlic bread to die for, and not once did that kind gent ask for felatio from either me or my wife. Excellent skills....that's the cooking, not the fel...er..anyway.

We went for a stroll around the track at night, and it really was a bizzarre scene, as we looked around at the huge cheesewheel hay bales and it felt as though we were on a ramble, rather than on a racetrack. It was difficult to spot any obvious bumps, and Kate made the astute observation that they might only really show up when you were on the bike at speed. How right she was!

Having the alarm go off at 7am was plain rude, and the fact we had to go out at 8:45 to qualify for the allcomers was very much akin to having your face sat on by a naked Leper...just not welcome in the least!

Chris had informed me that Sam had spent the day with Mr Cobby on the Wednesday test day and that it might be wise to tag along and get an idea of lines. What he hadn't factored into this advise was the fact that Sam is a student, and it dawned on me as I was trundling behind him at 6.3 mph for 2 laps that he was actually asleep on the bike and dreaming about playing drinking games with Kelly Brooke.

I decided to go past and find my own way around, which is what I normally do anyway, but this place seemed like the sort of idiosynchratic track that requires knowledge of the danger areas to go properly quick at. I managed to get down to a 1:28, which I was pleased with, given that it was my first ever time on the track.

Sam had obviously been woken up when a bat flew into his underpants and in his haste to get back to the paddock, posted a slightly quicker time. Not to worry.

Next up was DD qually. Time to get serious. Me and Shep headed off out front and Chris and Cathy gave me good pit signals to inform me that I'd managed to get into the 1:24's. I started to hit traffic and figured I'd have done enough for a front row, which turned out to be the case, with me in 2nd, Shep on pole and Harriet firing Betty onto the front row with a cracking laptime on a 583 and Tom Tom Parkes in 3rd having put in a great display.

I pulled in a little early, because I had to go out in the allcomers race straight away afterwards. In hindsight, this was a mistake, as I was already up to speed really and should have saved the tyres!

The Allcomers was just Keystone cops on 2 wheels. Such a mindless mix of machinery and ability as to be comical. I jumped the start, messed about for a bit, did a 1:23.98 laptime then pulled off when the brakes went all grabby and weird on my ass in the closing laps. I was a bit concerned actually, and Chris and Cathy stripped the brakes and bled them. Cheers guys, you're amazin'!

Part 2 to follow.
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  #2  
Old 24-Aug-2009, 20:56
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Otei Otei is offline
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Part 2.


So then, after a bit of a wait that was interspersed with some games of dice and drive by shootings in nearby Bristol, we lined up in the holding bay for the first of the DD races. It struck me that there were rather more faces than usual, and then I noticed the large number of spectators on the banks and thought "Sweet...a proper crowd!" I guess this is because the locals are starved of 2 wheeled action for most of the year. Whatever the case, it would be more pockets for Kate to pick so we could afford the fuel home.

I was keen not to repeat my jump start from the Allcomers race, and to be honest, if that daft melee was to have served any purpose at all, I guess getting that out of the way was it. Once again they held the lights for a long time and when they went out you'd have thought that Tom Parkes had been fired from a Medieval style catapult, hastily constructed from Tom's secret collection of vintage French knickers.

As things go, I managed to creep up on the impressively aggressive looking Tom Tom and got the drop on him into the first chicane, having gained a better drive out of Quarry.

I just knew that Shep wouldn't be far behind, and sure enough, he gained on me and passed going into Quarry. I saw him forced into the tight line and immediately swept the bike left to try and grab a faster exit. The bike was completely sideways as I drove past him, and I honestly have no idea how I didn't tap his rear wheel with mine as I went past him. The crowd must have loved that one, cos' I sure did!

I led for a bit and then Shep had another go and got past. We were back and forth so many times, and it was just like the Cadwell tussle...maybe worse! I remember flying out of the first chicane and cracking up through the next kink flat out, with the bike bucking around all over the place, thinking "this is a stupid thing to be doing" and laughing my ass off out loud in my lid.

Tell ya what, it's a great feeling when you realise what a great life you're living...at the time you're doing it. Totally mental!

I managed to get a great drive out of the final corner that leads onto the straight (hated that corner though) and picked up Shep's slipstream. In all honesty, it was the first time I've ever felt a really positive effect from a slipstream. I've noticed it in the past, but not like this. I hurtled towards him and as we were approaching the crest leading into Quarry he was inching towards the outside of the track, leaving me a bikes width to go around the outside....if I dared? I held my breath and shot through...wahhaaaaaaaaaaaaooo!!

Somehow, Shep regrouped immediately and dived up the inside. We were never seperated by more than a few inches from now, even flying past a backmarker on the brakes into the chicane. It wasn't to be though, and having slithered and slipped our way round the 8 laps, it came down to the final chicane.

Shep didn't know I was that close, and I considered really squeezing up the inside, but in all honesty, he'd JUST about covered that door and I had to back out of it. I ramped the kerb on the way out and lost drive, giving Shep the win by a second. I was gutted, but happy to have put up such a good fight on my first ride here.

Tom Parkes grabbed a fantastic 3rd place, and this time it was on merit. Well done dude, awesome ride.

The second race soon came around, and after just a couple of laps, it became apparent that the tyes has nothing left to give. So much so, that I'm not prepared to sell these ones as scrubs for racers. They can go on Ebay for a road rider to use.

It was a shame, I think I'd learned enough from the first race to give Shep a taste of his own medicine, but I guess we'll never know. With the 2 Oulton park non scores, it was critical to finish and pull more points over Will in 3rd place in the championship, which I duly did as he finished 4th in the first race, then regrouped to collect 3rd in the second.

Shep now has a pretty solid looking lead over me in the championship, but just as long as we go to Cadwell with it still mathematically possible for me to win I'll be happy, cos it'll be the first time that's ever happened in the A class.

Harriet had an amazing ride to win both her races in front of hef family, well done petal. Excellent stuff.

Thanks once again to my sponsors, including Tim Pollard, who came over to have a look and say hi, was great to see you.

Thanks to Chris and Cathy, who have shown such astounding support and commitment to me this year that I feel truly humble.

Lastly, to my wife for her continued love and understanding with regard to this crazy, expensive and wonderful sport.

Wales next......bring out the leeks!

Otei #85
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  #3  
Old 24-Aug-2009, 21:13
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chris.p chris.p is offline
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Arrrgh bless, we only do it coz we love you


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  #4  
Old 24-Aug-2009, 21:46
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Gbyte666 Gbyte666 is offline
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Entertaining report as usual Tim.. Love the bit about Sam still asleep around the first Quals. Francis usualy just about manges to get him out of bed 4 mins before the first race.
Still a battle worth fighting for, ahh I wana watch it all again now.

Craig
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  #5  
Old 24-Aug-2009, 22:06
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andys 900ss andys 900ss is offline
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You'd have a masive lead in the champs if it was on race reports fellla

Excellent bettles in the races so close, especially when my lot told me about the last lap chicaine thing...

NOW COME-ON EVERYONE ELSE, GET YOUR DD RACE REPORTS DONE. We all love a read whether its sorting the bikes, getting faster, getting slower, breaking down, loosing a filling, anything. Just get a report up for us to read about.

Andy
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  #6  
Old 24-Aug-2009, 22:28
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DSC Member Ghost Ghost is offline
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Super write up as always Tim. Very entertaining reading
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  #7  
Old 24-Aug-2009, 23:24
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tomtom tomtom is offline
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Absolute top riding by you guys at the front there, i got to watch you two for a few laps before you pulled too far away and i couldn't believe how close together you were on such a wide track. Very happy with my results lately as i've never been to most the circuits lately and haven't had the money to do the trackdays, little allcomers qually works well enough i've found. Though the allcomers race was madness, wish i had sat that one out. Loving the medieval catapult tim, although those cheap french knickers must have got caught in the clutch as it was starting to slip by the end of the day
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Old 24-Aug-2009, 23:58
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Otei Otei is offline
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Had a look at your lap progression on the results site.

Seems like you're making the same sort of progress that Will made after Anglesey. Once something clicks with these bikes it makes things a little easier to deal with. The extra aggression at the start is needed as well.

Be a pleasure to have you at the front with us fella, well done

Keep your knickers to yourself though, eh!
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  #9  
Old 25-Aug-2009, 11:32
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andys 900ss andys 900ss is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Otei
I led for a bit and then Shep had another go and got past. We were back and forth so many times, and it was just like the Cadwell tussle...maybe worse! I remember flying out of the first chicane and cracking up through the next kink flat out, with the bike bucking around all over the place, thinking "this is a stupid thing to be doing" and laughing my ass off out loud in my lid.

Tell ya what, it's a great feeling when you realise what a great life you're living...at the time you're doing it. Totally mental!

Totally agree with you there mate, its such a buzz doing it and knowing your just so close to the edge...............

Andy
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