My Donington report, abbreviated version
 

Desmo Due Rd 6 Donington Park

Friday testday
Spare Bike ran well but had some serious judder under braking while playing with a GSXR1000, I don't think running standard ST forks helped

Race Bike performed well, but got Black flagged for Noise in 3rd seesion. I don't believe I was over with the baffle I had fitted and as the Tacho had packed up and I wasn't prepared to stiffle the engine any more with a more restrictive baffle I sold my Afternoon sessions to Brian Bates as it was his first time at Donington.

Spent late afternoon/early evening Scrutineering getting through between 30 to 40 bikes and even more riding gear.

Saturday Raceday

Free Practice OK taking another couple of seconds off of my practice day times, Quallifying was in two parts finally taking place over only 3 laps but managed another improvement putting me 14th on the Grid.

Saturdays Race (race 1)

Not a Bad start but Alan Ball came flying past on the run to Redgate and nabbed my line,costing me a few more places,started working my way back up the order and had just passed Brummy Dave and Alan down the inside into Redgate when the Brake lever came back to the bars, a quick stamp on the rear helped me avoid collecting them both and taking us all into the kitty litter.

Replaced the AP racing Pads with New EBC HH pads, flushed the fluid and refilled with Shell 5.1 and improved clearance between right hand caliper and disc, then wait to try in Sunday warm up


Sunday

Warm-up, Chance to bed the new pads in, all seemed well

Race 2, Fair start and dropped in behind Kev P, when Ghost's bike slowed coming out of Goddards Kev P swerved to the left and i swerved to the right to avoid him. Kev then made a mistake and ran off track at Coppice, I could see he was still upright so new he would be rejoining and trying to chase me down, what I din't realise was Tony Norman (Parkkit Racing) on Matt Lawsons bike and Alan Ball were right on my back wheel and without Kev P in front of me I let my guard down and they both swept by, what followed was a great battle all the way to the flag with places swapping on a regular bases and my lap time just dropping into the 1m 55s

Race 2, Another good start until Tom came right across my front wheel and if I hadn't braked while cranked over we would both have been on the deck, as this stood the bike up a bit I had to run wide and several riders dived down the inside so I again dropped in behind Kev P, around Shwantz his right foot came off the beg and unsettled him so I took advantage and passed him, knowing kev was right on my rear wheel I got my head down and by the 3rd lap i was again into the mid 1m 55s and again on lap 4, on lap 5 i nearly lost the front on the change of direction through the Foggy esses and it wasn't long before Tony and Alan were again swapping places with me, Tony tried coming around the Outside at Redgate and on the exit was bouncing violently across the curbs, so much so I backed off a bit to give hime room to get back on track, this allowed Alan to pass down the inside. A lap latter Alan was on the Grass down Craner and again i backed off as it was obvious he was going to be rejoing at the wrong angle and at speed after the Old hair pin and before the bridge, as Alan passed in fron of me I moved to the right and headed for into Shwantz only to be passed by Tony who had carried more speed into the curve and got ahead of me.
All through the race Ghost was not far up the track ahaead of us and with 3 laps to go his bike started smoking on the down changes, with two laps to go I couldn't see him or his bike or the entry to Redgate due to the amount of smoke and this into the Old hairpin, macleans and Coppice, heading doen the straight towards Foggies Tony was braver than me and on the same line and Ghost with the bike billowing out smoke, so I moved off line incase I had to avoid two bikes, as it turned out Ghost ran off track and Tony sailed through Foggies while I on a tighter line had a slower entry and had to swerve around Ghost rejoining as I headed to the Melbourne loop, I managed to close the gap a bit on Tony but he beat me to the flag.

As normal with race weekend I sorted out a few people with more of my spares including Throttle assembley, Oil pressure Switch and a MAP Sensor, even ended up removing a front caliper from the Spare bike

Good to see Craig bounce back from crashing his 996 in Class 1C, there were a few crashes over the weekend but among the DSC guys I don't think there were any serious injuries and most were back out racing at sometime over the weekend. A couple of Blown engines, Pete Blomfields 996 will probably cost a bit more to fix than Ghost's 620 and Andy Blomfield will be looking for a Swingarm to fit a early Monster.

Great riding by the top guys, Andy C with 3 wins dispite his practice day crash, Andy P with two seconds and a 3rd and Dallas for his 2nd and two 3rds.
Great to see Tom get his first win, Chris to come back from his Cadwell Crash with a couple of excellent results and Spence also again getting a couple of great results including a win and putting it all on the line to try and get a step higher on the podium in race 2

Also thanks to Bernie the Cheif Tech for sorting the Dyno runs and Tony for carrying out the checks, as it hppens the Dyno is still reading slightly high by around 3%, from the results I got to see at least 4 bikes measured were over their class limits although I wouldn't suspect any of them being outside the rules and if i did we do have enough money in the DD fund to lodge a protest. I'm sure Tony will look at the figures and try and reduce the error to give a more accurate reading.

Great to see everybody and appreciate Mark and Wendy Shore travelling all the way up from Cornwall just to support us all as Mark couldn't race having suffered several broken ribs when he lost out in a fight with a cow. also great to see Matt Lawson and family coming up from Kent not only to keep an eye on his bike but also supporting DD.

Condolences to Steve Mason and his family on their loss this weekend, the DD paddock misses you

Good to see so many DD supporters in the Paddock, from the Regulars such as Roy, Sandra, Buggsy, Steve, Shel and family along with those that travelled up from Oxfordshire

Finally big thanks to Trudi for looking after us all, along with sorting the raffle, late entries and phoning around drumming up the Marshalls required so the meeting could run.

Weather was very kind to us lets hope it is at Cadwell in 3 weeks time when hopefully all those with bike problems will have them sorted out in time.

Great report Kev........makes my weekend look a bit boring!

Alright for some you have a boring weekend resulting in two 2nds and a 3rd along with a fastest lap, I feel like I'm either flat out or kknackerd and end up lapping 5 seconds slower battling for a top 10 finish.

Sadly my technical skills outweigh my riding skills, but when your having fun none of that matters.
look forward to catching up with you again at Snetterton unless I pop in for a cuppa when I'm in the area

Good wright up kev and some great racing was good to see you back to your self and having a battle with you

Can i just tag on to this and say a big thanks for what ranks as one of my most enjoyable weekends on a bike since i started racing .. the missus is already bored stupid with me recounting the various overtakes and shananagans :lol:

The on track battles with you two kevs and tony where top notch :D .. really couldn't of enjoyed myself any more

Apologies to you guys for getting "a bit wild" at times in the last race .. without the benefit of the track day to learn a few lines and breaking points i was generally making it up as i went along and only got worse as tirdness started to creep in .. i'm normally a bit more measured than that ..

and thanks for not collecting me after my little off road excursions :o

nice report Kev
 

Nice report Kev, I soooooo wish I was out there with you, It sounds like you enjoyed racing at Donington (the best bit of tarmac in the world).

Matt

Great weekend indeed, and the sun was out most of the time :)

What a great read, you must have had a secretary to hand. :D

Nice and jealous

Pics of the two bikes
Race bike has had a recent fairing change along with bracket and clocks
The Spare bike has inherited the parts removed from the Race bike and houses my old 5 Speed engine running on 750Ss ie throttle bodies and injectors with the fuel map in the ECU modified to suit, which is one of the main things I was testing

Great read.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to all that helped me out over the weekend, especially after my introduction lasted 2 laps of practice before I was on my arse.

I have a lot to learn and you were all very patient with my dumb questions, many thanks.

(Kev, I'll get the throttle tube back to you at Cadders, much appreciated.)

[quote=skidlids]Another good start until Tom came right across my front wheel and if I hadn't braked while cranked over we would both have been on the deck.

At least this was only once, me and tom were at it every corner come race 3swapping positions, Close racing is understatement, riding on the edge :lol:


and Spence also again getting a couple of great results including a win and putting it all on the line to try and get a step higher on the podium in race 2

I didnt go any faster into the last corner or put the power on any sooner, but trying yes I was :lol:

But can't grumble, Didnt race Anglesey, missed oulton, and have had 3 DNF's this season and still 4th in championship :D
QUOTE]

Great to see you put the old gal where it is used to being and belongs Mark - fighting Chris Clarke ;)

Mark was in the mix with me and tom too!! Had a few close ones with mark too :o

I thought the 600's were known as the axe murderers until I got in with you lot. :lol:

I did say..... :lol:

Well done this weekend Kev, found your MoJo for this round.

Good to meet you on Fri Mark and to see Mine and Bradders old steed still in the thick of the pack. That bike was the first bike I ever raced and at that circuit in the Moto Six. Did have a bit of a giggle when I heard you were ok when you went down. Welcome to DD. ;) But as you have seen there is nothing like the DD people.

Craig

Great write up Kev,My weekend was a bit of a rollercoaster as Kevin said i was a donny virgin,What a track that is! easy till you start to go fast then it seems to change character and demand inch perfect smooth riding,The other tracks in the series seem easier for the novice
My qualifier was hampered by lack of power which Saint Kev and Tony Dyno helped to sort,Massive thanks to both you guys
mediocre rides due to inexperience and too small B-----ks in the 3 races but then the reverse grid handicap OMG could not believe i was leading,I was looking for flags cos i thought i must have jumped the start and was suprised to see everyone gone when i came back round to grid,still thinking there was something amiss i just thought keep going till they tell you to stop.
Still there after 5 laps was like a dream but nerves and disbelief got the better of me and messing up a couple of corners was all it took for fast lads Andy and James to get past coming into foggies,I had no answer but was amazed and delighted to get 3rd and flattered to by awarded novice of the meeting

I would like to thank the whole paddock for your friendly welcome,help and support in this my first season and look forward to Cadwell to meet and compete once more

Batesy

When we came in after race 1, turned round to you and first thing that came out of your mouth was '' you guys are bloody crazy'' I did chuckle to myself :lol:

Ha, yes I remember saying that and that everyone just sort of nodded and smiled.

I loved every minute of it. :eek:

how did you find the 600s after...

Quicker but not half as competitive !

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/vb...8&d=1346167817