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| #1  04-May-2005, 02:47 | ||||
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| Domski\'s race report - Written with one hand! Before I get into the main part of this post, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly apologise unreservedly to Mike Atack, who I torpedo'd at the hairpin on Sunday. I've never taken a rider out before and I feel terrible that Mike was an innocent victim following an error of judgement on my part. Secondly, I'd like to thank Louigi Moto for turning out such a beautiful machine, the like of which I've never seen. The attention to detail was incredible. Rich, you are a bloody genius! Thirdly, thanks must go to Chris Butcher for being out of control and taking my good mate TP out at the start of the race, and forcing me on to the grass, as without your moment of madness, I wouldn't have ridden so hard from dead last off the grid. I'd like to offer some friendly advice... You're a quick guy Chris, and if you just take half a step back, you'll get the results you deserve. Keep it rubber side down. Fourthly, apologies to TP for thanking Chris, you're a top geezer and I was only being sarcastic anyway  Right then, enough of that stuff, here's what happened... INTRO The Louigi Moto 675 was finished at midnight on Thursday and rolled out for the first time on Saturday morning for it's maiden voyage. This was the first time I'd ridden it, as I'd only ridden Louigi's 748 rental bike at Silverstone and Cadwell over the two weekends preceeding race day. Nobody knew if it would run properly at a track as it had only travelled about 400 yards down a country lane, before being loaded in to my van on Friday afternoon. I didn't know what to expect, and was told "Don't bother running it in, just try to blow it up!"... gulp!...ok then. SATURDAY - SOUND OF THUNDER It was raining for the first SoT un-timed practice on Saturday morning, and I wobbled around VERY gingerly indeed as I hadn't ridden a bike in the rain since September 2001, and that was on wets. It was at about this point I started thinking 'What the hell have I got myself into', as everyone else just buggered off into the distance. Timed practice didn't go much better, although there was a dryish line appearing towards the end of the session, and I ripped around in 1m 05s to qualify... DEAD LAST!! Oh dear! I missed the first race coz I didn't want to embarrass myself further (it was still damp), but unfortunately for me, Weeksy had arrived by now and twisted my arm to go out for race 2... It was pretty uneventful, and I finished 15th out of 16 finishers, with a best lap of 53.11. I was ready to kill myself by now, but changed the rear sprocket for the last race, and finished 18th out of 20 finishers, with a best lap of 51.94. Oh dear, oh dear. Mind you, I had spent just 27 laps on the bike, and my 11th lap would have put me 12th on the DD grid (most peeps did 11 laps in DD qualifying), my best lap of Saturday was good enough for 5th on the DD grid. At the time of course I didn't know this, and so spent the whole afternoon and evening getting depressed and probably getting on everyones nerves! Louigi arrived at 8pm with his better half, Becka, and we all (Myself, my bro Dan, Fil2, Kelly, Fordie, Ali, Sara and special guest Chaz - with a roast sarnie for Louigi's dinner) sat down and swapped tales & bullshit before rapidly vanishing into the night to grab some kip (or more beer and banter if you're called Louigi) SUNDAY - DESMO DUE PRACTICE/QUALIFYING Having endured what sounded like Iraqi bombing raids for most of the night, we awoke to more dampness, so you can imagine my delight I was feeling rather upbeat, despite the conditions, and in the damp ish untimed practice I posted a 1m 00s lap, which was about 10th quickest if I remember correctly and 5 full seconds faster than I had gone on Saturday in similar conditions. I didn't fit my transponder for untimed practice, so that I could keep my lack of speed to myself (until now), although 10th wouldn't have been too bad. I was about to learn an important lesson in DD racing... When we went out for qualifying, the weather was shaping up nicely and the track was fully dry. I like to take it easy to start with and warm my tyres and myself up over 3-4 laps, before getting the hammer down. However, I didn't get to do 3-4 laps, as I lost a screw from my gear lever assembly exiting Barn corner on my second lap, and was stuck in 3rd gear with a flapping lever. A few choice words were muttered and I crawled back to the holding area where I was met by a confused sponsor. I explained the problem by frantically pointing in the direction of the rear-sets, well aware that I was losing precious qualifying time. In the end we didn't have time to fix the problem and the session was over. I was a bit disappointed to say the least, but it was no-ones fault, and from now on I will check EVERYTHING before each session!! The quickest of my two 'out' laps secured me 24th slot on the grid, with a time of 56.51, waaaaaaaaaaaay back on row 6 - oh joy, oh joy!! This would call for some drastic action and lack of brain and brakes on the first lap. SUNDAY - DESMO DUE RACE 1 So, there I was, gear assembly fixed, every nut and bolt checked, sat at my grid slot (around by Hall Bends) barely able to see the lights (only joking) and I still hadn't managed to blow the engine up - top work Louigi  I got an absolute flyer of a start. I was along side Rattler (row 5) almost instantly and a split second later I was along side Paul Payne (row 4)... Bloody hell, this was brilliant... and then it happened... two riders obviously were upset at my progress a whole 20 yards into the first race, and promptly threw themselves at my feet   (sorry TP)I had no option but to stop, as I had fired my bike right up the outside of the grid almost on the grass anyway, just to get through, and now I had 2 bikes and 2 riders blocking my great escape. A split second later I was away again, but dead last! Y'know it's funny, if I had got away cleanly, I probably wouldn't have ridden like I did, but the fact was, I was now dead last through no fault of my own, on a bike which was superb, with my sponsor watching 100 yards away (probably wondering what a muppet was doing on his bike), all my mates were there (mostly in front of me on track!), and I was about to become the biggest flop in the history of racing flops. I have no idea what clicked inside my pea sized brain, but I became the 'old' Domski for about 8 minutes and 5 seconds. All the pressure I put on myself anyway, plus the way I'd been set-up AND set myself up (on here), just pushed me forwards, and I carved through the pack. I was on a mission!! I made 18 places in 9 laps... 3 on the first lap, 4 on the next, then 2, then 3, then 2 etc etc Until that is, I got up to Mr Espindola in 11th spot... it was about this time that I must have had brain fade. I was already breaking later than anyone else into the first hairpin, and was near the limit of stopping or not stopping for the turn, so when I pulled along side Antony on the brakes, and he let off his... I let off mine... thinking, that I had to get past now or never in my pursuit of a decent finish... all seemed well, as we only let off the brakes for probably tenths of a second, and I now had the pass covered ...except, when I opened my eyes and looked up, there was a Multi-Strada about to be split in two as Mike Atack started to turn in to the hairpin, totally oblivious (and rightly so, who would be expecting it?) to a black excorcet and his iminent date with said excorcet. My life flashed before my eyes (now closed again) as I knew that I had over cooked it, and it was looking painful for all concerned. I grabbed more front brake, but all that did was hoist the rear end about 3 feet in the air (Dickie?) and I didn't fancy the prospect of being surgically removed from Mike's arse, head first! As I released the brake (to get the bike under control, not to increase the impact!) and the back end came down to earth... BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew I'd damaged my arm straight away, and went in pusuit of a marshall to pull my glove and leathers off - before the adrenaline and shock wore off... I was directed to the ambulance and gave the nice lady paramedics my expert opinion on the injury and cooly sat down like nothing had happened... sorry, that should be, I blabbed like an idiot for 2 mins, in the hope that they would understand anything I was saying, so that I could get my leathers off to avoid any pain at a later stage - coz I'm a big girls blouse!! Anyway, it worked, and after the race had ended, and I had seen the doctor, the afforded me the honour of walking through the paddock half naked, with my leathers hanging around my knees, and a sling to cover my man boobs!! Louigi was cool about the bike, which wasn't totally destroyed, and happy with what he saw... up to the crash of course, so that was a relief. My fastest lap was a 50.80 (in traffic), which was 7th fastest overall and the 2nd quickest non-620 behind Andy 'the rocket' Johnson - fair play fella. I spent 2 and a half hours in Lincoln hospital on Sunday evening, waiting for an X-ray, and finding out that I had TWO breaks in my Radius, which run lengthways from my wrist back. Nice I must have caught my arm on those ridiculously high exhaust cans on Mike's bike. I can't think of another way I would have broken this bone. Bugger. Why didn't I take out Fil2... I would have been ok then (except for a broken neck) and he bounces well too Anyway, thats the story, its now 01:50 and this has taken me 2 hours to write. Sorry if I've forgotten to thank anyone, but you're all bloody stars and the standard of riding is exceptional. Roll on Castle Combe!!!!! [Edited on 4-5-2005 by domskidue] [Edited on 4-5-2005 by domskidue]  |
| #2 04-May-2005, 08:35 | ||||
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| #5 04-May-2005, 11:06 | |||
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| #6 04-May-2005, 17:19 | |||||
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They didn't say anything about recovery time, but I'm going to see if I can pull the clutch in before the 18th, and if I can, I'll be at the Castle Combe trackday. Otherwise, I'll cut the cast off on race day  I can't wait to see this vid Quote:
I scared you??? You should have been sat where I was Quote:
Yeah, lap times were ok weren't they. Funny what a bit of pressure can do to you  Quote:
Nice to meet you too Dibbs. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm.... Donuts Quote:
No tongues |
domski
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