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| #1  31-Mar-2009, 23:44 | ||||
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| Andys Race Report As Donington is close by we setup our base on the Thursday and made the 30mins trip each day. I decided a chill was in order and swim-train on Friday night which was nice. We arrived Saturday, sorted the first scrutineering of our new bike (which is always a worry in-case we’ve missed something) and setup for qually near lunch. As usual, I met Cleggy waiting to go out for qually and we pushed and headed off. I was confident with the bike and headed off on my mission for a good time. My first lap was some 3secs faster than I had gone in testing which surprised me when it flashed up on my lap timer. I pressed on and the tyres started to work as they hadn’t really been run-in and the times tumbled. I came in and was pleased I had pushed as hard as I could but being on my own it was hard to judge anyone else. The times came out and we got pole! Wow! We looked at the times and guess who was second, very close behind, last year’s sparring partner who’s come back for more, Tim Otei. Top qually Tim!! Race 1 eventually came round, my tummy was rumbling as it was tea-time?? I felt comfortable on the bike but got my famous kangaroo start aiming the front wheel skywards (why can’t I pull wheelies when I try?? Couchie??) and Tim got the wholeshot. We headed down Cranners and I spotted a gap beside Tim and held the throttle to the stop until I got by, phew.... I then got my head down and put in some seriously risky but, fast, laps which gave me a gap. Superstar Cobby was on the pit wall and waving his arms around showing I had pulled a large gap and to cool down (remember Cadwell October 2008). I dropped my pace and gave the motor an easier time but then looked at the lap timer to see I had dropped a few seconds so picked up my pace for the last lap to take our win! We were elated! Rushing up to the podium for our trophy presentation followed by tv. Cobbies top student, Harriet, was bouncing around and had taken the class B win, well done! We got interviewed by the tv and everything. WOW what a days racing, a dream come true... Race 2 took forever to come round, probably due to my lack of sleep as I went home for a decent night’s sleep but had to get up in the night to tow my engineers van back home after the driveshaft snapped at 3am. The sun had his hat on and the wind was much less intense. My swim team arrived in the latest Valentino livery now with jackets and hats, you guys are ace . As our race came round the sun was getting lower and lower which caused some gleary eyes around Coppice and Foggy Esses. Tim once again got the jump at the start, a pattern I need to address especially as I’m quite sharp out of the blocks at swimming?? I thought I’d settle behind for a while to see how he’s going but soon realised he’d upped his game and got his head down for some blisteringly quick times. I pushed and pushed having both the front and rear tyres sliding coming out of Mcleans, we were now 9 seconds faster than my fastest testing times. My smoothness disappeared and I started missing gears, heading into corners in the wrong gear and so-on.... I wanted to throw out the flag to start again, please..... I made some time back and had a good run round Coppice (who was the class b rider who tipped in and smoked the rear tyre? that must have a been a scarey moment for you). We headed down the back straight but Tim managed to get by another rider just before Foggys and I had to hold back as we wobbled through. I could see a field of riders ahead and thought he might get caught up in them and headed into Goddards down the inside as Tim took to the outside but he kept his speed up and run away to the line. Top result fella a 1st each. Massive thanks to my wife, parents and family for their time and support, thanks to Cobby for the tips which made so much to my riding style and to my sponsors for their support in getting me out there. I hope all the fallers were ok, there were a few this afternoon. Finally thanks to my Falcon Swimming Club & friends supporters, you guys make that extra difference and hope you enjoyed the racing. Right, roll-on Anglesey! It looks an awesome track, cant wait. Andy 900ss #65 c/o: K Whitesmith     Last edited by andys 900ss : 01-Apr-2009 at 09:05.  |
| #2 01-Apr-2009, 00:02 | ||||
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| #3 01-Apr-2009, 08:56 | ||||
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