Been there, done it, got the t shirt!
 

Well it’s a little before seven on Sunday morning and I am sat here typing as I can’t really sleep or get comfy, so why not. Bit of a long one here….

Where to start… Many of you know that I have a bit of a thing for speed and track riding and from Weeksy’s tales and Jen’s efforts I decided I wanted to do a race. Now you must understand this was ‘do a race’ not ‘be a racer’ It was always going to be a one off and after the stress I have put Jon through this last few months that’s something we have definitely agreed now!!

After the usual amount of faffing and preparation the bike and I were finally ready to race so off to Oulton Park on Friday for my first practice day. Bearing in mind I have never ridden in the fast group on a track day this was a bit of an experience but despite being super tense I got out there and held my own and put in a good few sub 2 minutes laps which I was happy with.

Saturday dawns and with Dibble keeping the spirits up we head to Oulton and get set up in the garage, plenty of space as I have it to myself – good job! Next thing Ian (DCR) turns up and before I know it everyone is sporting team t shirts with ‘Lily 155’ this really boosted me up and I can’t thank Jon and Ian enough for doing that for me. Bike is all prepped and after some shots from Guy we were ready for the off.

Ten minute practice and my aim was to get back to my usual smooth self which worked well and I was happy and relaxed.

Race 1 – Allcomers Heat 3 – basically a free for all race! Mate came to holding area to pick my grid position for me and what does he get – Row 1!!! I don’t think so, so back it went and next choice is back of grid 38 out of 39, oh well, at least no one behind me to hit me! Manage to go grass tracking on the warm up lap – don’t ask how or why, I don’t know…lol.
So race is underway, lights go out!!! And I do a bit of an Aussie mammal impression before I get going, but still make it into turn one with people behind me – wahey!! Start to get in the swing of things and relax and all is going well, have passed some people and although I get into a bit of trackday mode and start plodding round I am fairly happy. Managed to take some bloke through Fulstons, but obviously he is not happy about it as next thing I know as I am turning into Hizzy’s he is there and nudges me out of the way – grass here I come again! Back onto the track and a bit wobbly and a few have gone back past, but I get back to relaxed mode and pass one more before finishing. Slow race, but I did it and I finished 28 out of 39 starters and 35 finishers!

Race 2 is the Thunderbikes (750 and twins) and I am 26th on the grid, slap bang in the middle of the dirty great oil spillage that is now most of the way round the track :(
Start gets underway and I am off, its going well and I have passed people and smiling before red flags are out in lap 1. Back to grid, another warm up lap and we are off again. Not such a great start, but I take a fair few into turn 1 and even more down the avenue and I am well up for it, next thing I know bloke cuts in front and takes the bloke in front of me out, so they are both sliding down the tarmac in front of me EEEK I picked the bike up and hit the brake very hard, nudged a front wheel out of the way and the path was clear, although I was in 3rd and virtually stationary and everyone had gone past again – Oh well!! Get going again, but with only a short race I only manage to get back past a few and I race a bloke over the line for him to beat me by .09 of a second - come home in 24th although as someone took a short cut I think I move up to 23 out of 29 finishers and about 35 starters.

I now know I am capable of top 20 if I get this right, lap times are still only at 1.59 but I know I can do better.

Race 2 – 24th on grid and a crap position to start from, but I get going eventually. I finally feel like I can ride, relaxed and starting to be the old me again!! Start to pick people off and really enjoying it, apparently well inside top 20 when its red flagged AGAIN! No warm up lap and only a 4 lap race!! Another crap start and we are off, once again I start to pick people off slowly, but with only 3 laps its not looking to hopeful, but I keep going.

Next thing I know I am coming up behind some bloke and I am ready to get past him, he is still cranked over coming out of Old Hall and I am way out wide with plenty of space, but upright and on the gas to go, disaster strikes!! He loses the front end and his bike spins straight in front of me, I have nowhere to go!! Not too certain about the next bit, but by all account with no other path my bike uses his as a ramp and I take off! I just remember landing and telling myself to relax as I rolled and bounced for an eternity! Came to in the medical centre and all is ok!

Bike is a bit bent and I am a little less bent, but in a lot of pain – as they say, fat bikers bounce better! Going to be canceling my track day on the 21st me thinks, but although doctors say 6 weeks I am hoping I will be ok for Jerez in 4 weeks.

Huge thanks to everyone that came to support, especially those that traveled a heck of a long way! Big thanks to all the well wishers who gave me the courage to keep going and finally the biggest thanks to Freak for being there for me, for putting up with my urge to race, for sorting me out on the day and for looking after me when it went tits up!! Cheers Babe, I promise never again
:)

[Edited on 4-9-2005 by Lily]

Well done Lily
 

You have more balls than most - top banana :D:D:D:D

Great going Lily, certainly sounds as if you were on a steep learning curve, shame it had such an abrupt end to it.
Having now raced/finished/crashed you are most certainly a racer doesn't matter if you never do it again.
Hope you and the bike get sorted in time for Jerez

:D :roll:

well done Lily:D - brave (or mad?) burd!:cool:

hope all mends soon

C:)

Well done! Glad your pretty much ok, Respect! ;)

Glad you gave it a shot and came away relatively unscathed. Shame about your crash. It sounds like it was a bit of a ruckus day with all the red flags. In any event, I am sure you feel great about how well you finished in the other race and probably even scored novice championship points.

If it remains a one-off event, at least you've done it. Thumbs up!

Well done Claire,knew you would do it,hope you mend quickly.
Butch

Fantastic, well done, love to have seen it.

Hope you are feeling ok, accidents happen eh!, Not much you can do about them sometimes, but you're ok and the bike will be fixed for Jerez I'm sure.

Now are you SURE that you have it out of your system? There are plenty of DD bikes for sale;)

WeeJohnyB

Glad you're ok "Racer" - was worried when I heard you were still in A&E at 7pm....

This'll cheer you up........always rememebr the good times had ;)



Jangle, jangle, jangle.....and that's not the normal Ducati engine sound...that's the stomach churning!!!!!













Not sure who this dogy oufit is!!!!!!!!!!









Polishing someone else's helmet for a change!!!!!! :lol::lol:;)









THE CREW



xx ©2005 Quasimodo Images.com

[Edited on 4-9-2005 by Guido]

Fantastic for getting out there, real shame about the incident, but not your fault.

Hope you and Bob get well soon. And great pics too!!!

Onwards and upwards...

Tim

Well done Lily, and conratulations on in finishing your first few races even if the last one didn't go quite to plan.

I hope you're feeling better soon and Bob gets sorted out quickly.

That Jamiroquai bloke gets everywhere!

Good to see everyone was a great day out pity about the last race but main thing is you are ok.

Well done Lily! sorry about the race 2 thing, hope all will be well for Jerez! You and the bike. (your few days on the beach prior to the t/day will help with the R and R)

Any damage report yet on what you need for the bike?

Looks like a pic from around about 1970 slipped in there somehow!

Nice one Lil, see you on the 20th - assuming you at least gonna come laugh at my feeble attempts to learn Oulton! :sing:

Here's the BIG ONE!!!! Ian

[Edited on 4-9-2005 by Guido]

That's an ace pic...what a larf...:D:D

Well done Claire, but sorry about the result of the 3rd race:(

Sorry i wasn't there, on the way back from holiday as you know, but thanks for the text report.

Good luck for a quick recovery for you and Bob.

I can't believe how worried I look sat on the grid!!!

Either that or the look was discomfort at how much my leathers were sticking to me!!

Thanks for the pictures Guy

Good on you, no excuses for the rest of us now is there...

Well done, hope Bob and you are ready for Jerez.

Ouch – hope you’re not hurting too much today.

Never mind, you’ve been and gone and done it. Respect to you young lady!

See you soon.
Gill xx

GRANDE LILY.....BRAVA!!!!
Great pictures, Brave rider, Great bike and..what a team!!! Surely the best privateer team Ducati has....:burn::burn:

Glad you are OK!..you did really well!

Well done indeed, you rock big time!
Sorry you crashed but I gotta say, DP has had so many crashes this season! Put me off a bit tbh.
Big buzz innit! ;)
Again, very, very well done, I'm proud of you (and thanks for the mention too) :sing:

Lily,

Many Congratulations, and commiserations at the same time. So sorry that the third race ended in disaster. Very harsh that after your near miss in race 2 you got caught be someone else's incident in the 3rd one aswell.

I hope the bike (which looks stunning in the pictures...what a great number for an ex-Bostrom rep!) is not in too bad a shape and, more importantly, hope you get well very soon, and are fully fit for your Jerez Trip.

Ian

I don’t think you look to worried on the grid but you do look pretty determined in the next shot with the visor down.

Mend fast racing lady. Well done

How much for one of them t shirts

:o

Lily,

You superstar, absolutely cracking weekend, absolutely nothing you could do about the off, and today the bike doesn't look half as bad as we thought it was yesterday ......

Thanks to you and JM for the hospitality and to all those that came to Oulton to support Lily, I think you made the weekend ....

Proud of you babes ...

Heal soon and take it easy.

Px

Nice one Lily and hope you mend soon. Bigger balls than me that's for sure!!!!

Don't know what else I can say here, thanks for everyone who came along to give her a boost, thanks espscially to Ian for the T-shirts, Dibble for making such a trek and helping rally round on Sunday and help unload the bike and assess the damage, and everyone else - you know who you are. Glad to meet the usual suspects and some new ones, Guido that lense is huge! :o great pics BTW, must get a set of those.

Lily did really well, I know I was more nervous than her, most of my friends race, and were racing that weekend (Gary won his races and now has a wildcard entry at this weekend's BSB at Oulton - BIG UP TO HIM ALSO) part of me was jealous not to be out there, but it's unbelievably hard to be calm watching the other half doing something predominantly dangerous, I don't how other people do it.

I'll apologise to anyone I might have offended after she was rushed to the medical centre, I wasn't exactly in a calm relaxed mood then as you can imagine.

Bob doesn't look as bad, but if it was a road accident and the insurers were involved I've already got the parts at over 4K let alone labour :o , it's done now, JHP and us will have a busy month trying to get it sorted for Jerez in 4 weeks though :(

Also didn't plan on running repairs on a 749 on Saturday morning, but it just adds to the fun, and kept me busy rather than worrying.

If anyone fancies Oulton on the 21st Sept let me know as Lily obviously can't make it now, she needs plenty of R&R and hopefully her injuries will heal soon

JPM

Superb...What an excellent thread (Well, except for the photo of Dibble in shorts)

Well done Lily, that takes some doing and I mean both the guts to go racing and resisting the temptation to do it again.

Hope you're OK after the off, but it sounds as if you're well on the mend.

Well done again.

In racing, you always need to look on the bright side. (This is not generally a problem with racers as they tend to be eternal optimists). At least you now got a "proper" race bike!

I hope you heal soon.

...Or a Bostrom Rep which is no longer original come resale time :rolleye:

Ah, see, Jon, you're negative again. Obviously you'll never be a racer! ;):lol:

Felix you're right, not me, and neither will Lily - officially retired

Enjoyable day out spoilt only by Lily's impromptu impersonation of Evel Knievel's grand canyon jump. I think the reaction of all of us at cascades was "oh my god" get up get up get up.

JPM - Didn't get chance to tell you but loads of people in paddock was asking how Lily was and wishing her a fast and well recovery. Only one person asked about the bike.

My tee-shirt is now lying alongside my "Free Mandela" tee shirt
:lol:

Dibble - you forgot to mention the gay bar tender who offered to lap dance for you? Why would that be?:devil:

I heard about that bar man - the way I heard it was he was eyeing up the 80's pop idol look-a-likey :lol:

Don't blame either of you. It was a bit of a baptism of fire. It's one reason my wife refuses to go to races.

Glad you're ok Lily, did look back on the grid at the starts but I guess you were psyching yourself up ;) ;)

Fantastic, loads of guts for doing it Claire, but sorry to hear about the outcome. Hope you get well for Jerez.

:devil: DOH!

Big Respect! - Nice one.
Get Well Soon.