For those of you that dont enter the murky waters of Ducatiti, here is my race report....
Where to begin?!... I blew up in qualifying at the last round (Mallory) and had to sit out both races with a whole 5 weeks to wait to start clawing back some points. Then, to make matters worse, I decided to go and break a bone in my finger 2 weeks before Anglesey (on my right, braking and throttle hand!). So I have not been training or even thought of getting on a bike (I couldn't even squeze a stapler together 2 days before the race). Add to that the fact I have never been to Anglesey, and things were not looking so rosy.
Anglesey is a lovely little track, but is a little limited on overtaking to getting a better drive out of the hairpin to brake late up the hill into rocket..... not the sort of pressure I really wanted to put on my finger if I wanted it to last the weekend. So, I set off to find my way around and managed to get within 2 secs of the laptime in my second session. That put me in a better frame of mind, but Phil was setting an identical pace to myself, and was consistently able to outbrake me into Rocket (there was no point in my trying too hard on the practice day and having no power in my hand for race day). I decided to just do one last (3rd) session on the Friday, by which time the wind had switched direction and I had lost 1,500rpm on the back straight!... so spent the evening second-guessing what the wind would do on race day to get my gearing right.
Warm up was wet and slippery, qualifying a little drier, and the races dry. Phil had his 2 fastest laps taken from him in Qualifying, giving me pole by a very small margin. Apparently it was for overtaking on a Yellow flag, but I have to admit I cannot work out where that could have happened (with hindsight I think it was for a faller at Peel, but the flag is quite a way off of the track there and quite hard to see - and I don't really remember a flag there, it is just the only place I remember another bike down in a place Phil passed someone). Anyway, partly thanks to the damp conditions we snagged 2nd and third overall on the grid, behind the Class A bike of Mr Lawson.
With the pace Phil had shown in practice and his disallowed laps in qualifying, I had been expecting to try to chase him for a safe second. I got a terrible start in Race 1 and was mugged into about 4th place (I think Phil, Jimbo and Alan all passed me by the first corner, but I managed to get back in front of them all by riding around the outside of the others into the banked hairpin... Phil unfortunately pulled the outbraking move into Rocket I had expected. I will be honest and admit I don't really remember a lot of the details of the next few laps until Andy (Pike) came past me on his Class A bike. I gave him a bit too much room so that when he passed Phil there was a bit of a gap to me. To my surprise I closed it down within a couple of laps, passed Phil, then re-passed Andy. Andy passed me back again, and when closing in on Kenoir into the last bend of about lap 10 he was a little too polite. I could not afford to back off and give Phil an opportunity, so I kept my speed around the outside of Andy, cut across him mid-bend, and came out of the bend passing Paul on the inside. This meant (probably, although I never confirmed this) that I had 2 bikes between me and Phil with 2 laps to go, and it was just enough gap for me to ride home to the victory. Along the way I also managed to set a new Class B Anglesey record (marginally quicker than Phil, who also beat the previous record).
I was very happy now, because I could in theory have Phil beat me and leave Anglesey in joint lead of the Championship. Unfortunately sensibility does not enter my brain when the light goes out. At the start of race 1 I got a much better start and moved across the track towards the apex to cut Phil off. Unfortunately, a slower starting, but faster, Mr Appleby was also there and we clashed (it is quite a surprise to hit another bike!!). Sorry Neil, I couldn't see you behind me. Phil got a better drive out of the hairpin and passed me on the back straight, and for a couple of laps we switched position, with him outbraking me, and me getting a slightly better drive out of some of the slower bends. Phil was generally tight into Rocket, but quite slow out, this meant with a wider faster line I could pull alongside (and sometimes in front by the Right hand section). At about the mid-point of the race I asked too much of the tyres by trying to close too much time at this corner, and the front disappeared from under me. Annoyingly, as I sat by the track and saw the gap to 3rd (now 2nd) I realised I should have perhaps settled for second... but honestly, that is never going to happen if I think I can lead! I also managed to get another fastest lap of the race despite going down, which was again under the previous record, but not as fast as the previous race.
I hadn't expected to do better than 2 x 3rd places with my broken finger, so the 25 points and a lap record were a pretty good result. Roll on Snetterton 300 and a working finger!
Some photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...l=21108d 0cc6
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