Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Another Cadwell RACE REPORT

[NBs996]

Still in my competitive spirit, I'll try'm compete for winner of the longest report award...

Round 1 – Cadwell Park (Woodland) – 01 May 2005

What a mega weekend that was. A mix of emotions by the close of play for different reasons which I’ll try’n put in words...

Turned up Friday afternoon and pitched camp next to the loudest generator in the paddock. This was it, round one is here and I’m actually going racing – something I’ve had in the back of my mind for years but never thought it’d happen. But here we are after 4 months of preparation and banter, and time is on us to see who’s been talking faster than they can ride!

For me, most of Saturday was an uneventful wait for our free practice at the end of the Superclub races. A few of our boys had entered SoT to practice being mullered by the big guns but actually put up a decent ride. Ian (the old man) and Tony (TP) were looking well rapid amongst some big bad bikes, and Tim (Rattler) wasn’t too far behind. I was getting concerned for my ego!!!

As the day passed, and our practice approached, I was waiting to get a some nerves twitching and find out for the first time what’s meant by “getting butterflies”. But no nerves yet probably cos it’s only a freebie practice, nothing more than a trackday in the fast group. Errr... not strictly true! Once out on the track I realised I had to work out how to go quick. I tagged onto the back of Andy (Team CK&AK) who was a seasoned racer building up his pace after having a few years off. Andy and I ended up swapping places for most of the session – he would stuff me going into Old Hairpin because I just couldn’t work out how to keep the bike settled going over the crest before it, and I’d get a little bit back on the start finish straight and do him on the brakes into turn 1. This happened pretty much every lap until the flag came out.

Like a track day fast group? Let’s put it in context, on the one to 10 scale for effort needed...
trackday fast group = 3
free practice = 5 (We’ll add to this later).

I went to bed well happy that night because I was able to tussle with a ‘proper’ racer, and without doubt had just ridden faster than I’d ever thought possible. But tomorrow is another day.

Saturday night was pretty sleepless, but only because of the thunder, monsoon-style rain and hail stones beating down on the van roof. What time I got to sleep is anyone’s guess but I was woken up by Rattler tapping on the window at 8am... we’re not due on track until 9 so time for another 10 minutes kip.

trackday fast group = 3
free practice = 5
getting up = 6

First session out was an untimed practice, no points, no trophies, no glory just a bit of extra track time. Only problem was it had not long stopped raining so the track was proper wet, and I hate riding fast in the wet because, well, I can’t! Turned out to be a really successful session though – I was on the case from the start, and the setup Pete’s given me let me take the front tyre to locking point every time into turn one, my right knee was touching down around Barn and nobody overtook me for the whole session! It’s such a great feeling to roll back into the paddock and say to my mechanic “The bike’s perfect, don’t change a thing”, not that I’d know what needed changing anyway! I don’t know what lap times I was laying down because my transponder wanted to stay warm and dry in the car and forgot to join me for the ride, but my wet weather confidence shot sky high when someone came and told me they’d clocked me going faster than anyone else on the timing sheet!

About 45 minutes to wait now until official qualifying and I was pretty confident that I’d achieve my goal of a third row start at worse. The sun had been out and a few other practice sessions for the other classes had dried a huge part of the track, so it was back to dry mode and keep the wire stretched to breaking point everywhere. Here’s where it all went a little bit wrong – I was coming to the end of what felt like a really quick lap, approaching two riders into Halls (turned out to be Phil and Duncan), I decided to try not to let a quick lap get wasted and started a move on Phil which I’d pulled off easily and safely on others through both previous practices. Get a decent exit from Old Hairpin and drive past on their right in plenty of time not to get in the way of their entry to Barn. Turned out that Phil was bloody quick out of Old Hairpin, and I was too late getting alongside to make a fair pass, so thought it best to back off and let him have the turn. I had to just gently dab the front brake, but was on the slippy bit where all the crap gathers from the trees so the front wheel locked and low-sided me with zero warning taking Phil down before sliding on and skittling Duncan who probably didn’t even know there was a torpedo heading his way until it was all over.

Phil rode his bike back to the paddock, and I think only suffered a bent clip-on so was able to get to his bike fixed up for the first race. My lowest point of the weekend though was to find out that I’d just ended Duncan’s whole weekend. His bike suffered a few broken bits which we might have been able to scrounge up from around the paddock, but poor Dunnie had bust his thumb so couldn’t race anyway. Do I take the blame for the incident? Yes of course, the other guys weren’t doing anything wrong. Was it wrong to try a pass there? Well it depends which bike you’re sitting on! Phil says it was an unnecessary overtake attempt, but I say it was due to misjudging the surface while trying NOT to overtake. Either way, it was my bike that went down because I failed to assess the situation properly before starting the move, so I offer my sincere apologies to Phil for ending his qualifying session early, and more so to Duncan for ending his day.

trackday fast group = 3
free practice = 5
getting up = 6
brains required = more

Anyway, with the previous disaster filed away where it belonged, I find that in the few laps I got through in qualifying I’d earned myself a 9th place on the grid. This was probably the best place for me to start from anyway because it meant an inside line into turn one so reducing the possibility of being taken out by anyone but myself, and based on previous practice sessions there should be no-one coming from behind with big enough balls to try outbraking me. On the warm up lap I’d been working out the theory of how to get off the line quick, and since I’d only practiced 2 starts on Hampshire’s finest tarmac, it was all still a theory when the chap was standing in front of us holding the red flag!

No, I’m not telling anyone how I do it cos it’s my little secret and it worked perfectly. The flag man pointed at the lights and strolled dutifully to trackside... the revs went sky high on 29 dukes with open pipes and the sound was awesome, I almost wish I was in the crowd to hear it! Red light on........ red light off, and so were we! I got a cracking start, going past two bikes on row 2, taking plenty of space out of the big boys in front and putting a minor safety zone in the hole I left behind me. I actually got held up in the braking zone by the bike coming off p5. After that first turn, the front of the pack stretched out into single file for the mountain section and I was in p7 coming over the top with god knows what going on behind me, all I could do was keep it nailed and see how these Diablo’s held on with no heat.

The front 6 bikes had cleared off, as expected, on the first lap, but I just kept a sensible head on and decided it best not to try’n keep with them but just to get my head down and concentrate on a couple of good laps early on to give me a bit of a lead over the rest of the pack. After about 4 laps (I think) I took a glance behind while exiting Barn to see Phil was less than half a millimetre behind. I thought “oh crap!” cos I knew he’d be wanting my blood after the qualifying incident, so rather than panic and get it all wrong I started to think up a bit of a plan. I know I can nail him on power-to-weight ratio down the straight, but wasn’t sure what he was like through the twisty bits, especially since he’d had plenty of practice on Saturday. Looking round as I turned the Hairpin I saw enough of a gap that would only let him catch up before the next time round Barn so I rode the twisties on a relatively safe and defensive line to make sure I stayed sunny side up and not give him too many options to go by. Looked round again out of Barn and sure enough Phil was on my tail just as I’d expected, but hang on, Ali had joined the party too!

I’ve no idea what was going on between Phil and Ali during the race but was pretty sure I’d be able stick to my plan and get to the flag first. I thought these were supposed to be short races – it seemed like it was nearly bed time and the last lap board still hadn’t come out! I went past the line and thought “if you don’t show that board next time round, I’m gonna get off and lump you!). The flag man must have known what I was thinking so next time round he showed me I had just one more lap. Stick to the plan, keep calm, it’s worked out so far and it’ll surely keep working for another 51 seconds. I got to the Old Hairpin without having a clue where the other two were so just kept it nailed through Barn for the last time and knew I’d got it. Chequered flag, p7. What a result!

Even better than crossing the line as first newbie was to roll up outside our tent to see Pete with a smile so wide his head was about to come in half! It seemed I did just about enough to make up for bending his bike earlier so maybe I’d be forgiven – hopefully!

So, we’d come back from the first race with the best possible result, considering the competition, so all we could aim for in race 2 was to do no worse.

There was about 3 hours to wait until our race 2 was called, so a good opportunity to freshen up a bit and take the first opportunity to inspect the damage from the earlier crash to my already knackered right knee. I wasn’t expecting to see anything, it was just a little bit sore and I could walk without a problem. But as the adrenalin wore off, the pain built up... I peeled my leathers away from a couple of bleeding friction burns, and my knee was swollen to twice the size, and now I can hardly even walk! Pete was very gracious and insisted there’d be no problem if I decided to sit out race 2, but in typical racer style (I am one now y’know!) I said if I can swing my leg over the bike then I’ll be on the grid, and if I can get round the sighting lap then I’ll be in the race.

We’re released from the holding area after waiting for what seemed like so long that I thought I was going to be late for work on Tuesday, and went round to take the first grid formation. My knee was still giving me some merde while waiting on the grid, and I had to lift my foot on the peg by hand. The grid was formed, and the flag dude waved us off row-by-row for the sighting lap. As soon as I’d left my grid slot I’d forgotten my knee even existed, let alone hurt like hell, so round I came to take my place for the start...

Flag man did his duty once again pointed at the lights. Red light on... red light off... RACE 2!!! Now I was pretty chuffed with the start I got from the first race, but this time it was an absolute blinder! I took three places and got to the first turn in an unchallenged 6th place, and once again had to brake earlier than I’d have wanted because of the DLS bike from the 5th grid slot. I was pretty sure Andy would be sucking on my pipes pretty soon, and was hoping he’d get past me quickly and drag me away from the pack. He got by me somewhere on the twisty bits, which bit I can’t remember because the world was spinning round too quick to focus, so I got hold of his tail and blazed a trail! I was closing on andy down the straight, but not close enough to make a pass, so I was only able to close a bit more on the brakes into turn 1 and try holding on to him for a nanosecond longer.

Same story for the second lap, Andy was getting away through the twisty bits but not quite so much this time so I was able to reel him in sooner down the straight and set up a pass into the hairpin. Uh-oh! Yellow flags waving furiously told me I wasn’t allowed to – there was a bike down so I had to scrub the overtake off the ‘things to do’ list. I have to admit having a bit of an evil thought when going into the scene of that crash, I was hoping there was three bikes down because then all I’d have to do(!) is keep hold of Andy and out-gun him to the line and I’d get a third place trophy! Fortunately that wasn’t the case (because I’m not really that evil), there was just the one faller who looked like he was trying to wrestle his bike from the marshal and re-join the fun!

Lap 3 is now under green, and I manage not to loose too much on Andy before the straight. I use every little ounce of energy in Little Beastie, catching a slipstream, and drawing alongside just before my favourite late braking pass into turn 1. I was 5th, with a seriously quick rider behind me! I was going like a rocket, and got the bike well out of shape going over the crest into Old Hairpin, and Andy went by me as if to slap me on the wrist and say “know your place, junior”. I thought to myself that I was riding way beyond my abilities trying to dice with this guy under race conditions, and if I kept trying then I’d be eating supper through a straw!

Time for a re-think. I know there was a front runner go down a couple of laps ago so I had a chance of getting one better place, albeit inherited, than the first race. So I backed off the pace and let Andy go have fun on his own whilst I reverted to the same tactics as the first race, to keep at a safe speed and just fend off any challengers. I look round and see Phil hunting me down again. “Oh double crap!” He’s gonna want me even more than before now, cos I took him down in qualifying AND beat him in the first race! But I’ve got a bit more speed to play with this time having a race and a bit more track knowledge in my arsenal.

Nothing more happened for the rest of the race, I spent the last 7 laps riding a careful race and pacing myself. When I saw the last lap board go out I took a glance behind to see Tony was wanting to have some of the glory off me and Phil – now Tony was out of race 1 before he even crossed the line, and I remember him looking well quick in his SoT race the day before, so I had to nail it on the last lap while still defending the entry to every bend. I get out of Old Hairpin on a really good line, shift to third and bend the throttle back as far as it would go... keeping it there all the way through Barn and onto the final straight, pulling the grip so hard I was scared it would actually come off in my hand!!

It worked! I stuck to my race plan and crossed the line in 6th place!

So that was it, my first race meeting done and dusted. I’m a racer now just like I’ve always wanted to be! I’ve found myself thanking so many people for making all this happen, I just know there’s plenty of others thinking “hey, what about me, you ungrateful git?” So to absolutely everyone involved – the DD committee, New Era, those who’ve shown faith by opening their wallet to sponsor me, WM Snell for both their interest and financial help, my fellow competitors, everyone who came to see the racing, and the many people who’ve offered words of encouragement before/during/after the event... words can’t describe my appreciation, so all I can say is – Thanks. But without a doubt, there’s one chap to whom I owe the world, I could easily double the length of this report describing his input and enthusiasm, his long hours and expertise, his patience and encouragement... the list is endless – Pete, you’re a legend!

Now peel yourself away from the telly and get the bike sorted for Round 2!

End of chapter 1.