Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Watersports (it's a long'un)

[ali]

It was wet. Oh man it was wet... At one point I looked out of side of Dom's marquee and felt like I was lashed to a foredeck. I wouldn't have been surprised to see spectators using canoes to get round the paddock....

We rolled into the circuit late Friday night, Fordie had the bbq rocking and most of the DD massive seemed to have arrived in high spirits. Snags hit the flames and the tent went up on the last 1sqm of grass space the paddock had to offer. Bed time followed shortly after for blissful night of warm, uninterrupted sleep Did it ********! I could hear Dom's impression of a Massey-Fergasson through my earplugs and over the sound of an Airbus taking off!

The early morning sunshine fooled us into thinking we just might get away with this. As the morning rolled on the skies started to spit and qualifying was getting closer and closer. Rattler-san was doling out good advice, namely "three laps then gas it". I had those words echoing in my ears as we headed out on track for our one shot at a decent grid spot. I had a brand new rear on so I waved Tim past, and then Phil, to avoid getting the red mist and binning it on the first few laps. Lap four saw me catching back up with Phil as I started to put some faith in the tyres, and I was slipstreaming behind him down the start/finish straight when I saw the yellow flags. Less than a second later and we hit the rain. Phil and I did our best to scrub some speed off gently as we rounded Redgate to see Tim getting up close and personal with some gravel. As we came out of Redgate the rear tyres let go and both of us found ourselves fighting the spinning rears. I was tempted to come in as I'd done the three laps required to qualify, but Phil seemed intent on staying out so I thought it might be worthwhile getting in my first experience of the wet now rather than during the race. I stayed out until the end of the session and found that although Redgate and Mcleans were slippey-slidey the rest wasn't too bad.

Any hope that the second half of the grid would have to qualify in the wet was dispelled as the rain vanished and the track started to dry out. I was a bit miffed as we'd only had four laps to put in a decent time, but that's racing and one day it'll be the other way around. I'd managed a very reasonable 6th place on the grid, and Tim had put in a scorcher for 5th despite his bad luck with the rain.

Race 1 started terribly, my clutch grabbing at 1st gear giving me a flying/lurching start which I backed off from to avoid clashes in Redgate. Unfortunately no one else backed off so my 6th turned into a 8th before the first corner. I lost another coming out of the old hairpin and settled down to finding out what could be done in the conditions. It quickly became clear that although there was no dry line, the racing line was being cleared of deep standing water and offered a shed-load more grip than the shiny pools either side of it. I started to squeeze the throttle on earlier and earlier, happy with the twitches the rear was giving, but happier with the ones the front wasn't! The pace felt like the cool-down lap on a track day, with lots of sitting up to look over the spray, and gentle braking to avoid what will now be called the Payne Missile Effect

Unfortunately I thought we were circulating in the midfield, so although I managed a couple of passes, I couldn't really get worked up enough to really get on the pace. I was kicking myself when I came in and discovered that letting Marcus and Phil past me on the last lap had cost be a possible 5th and chunk of championship points. I was still pretty happy with a 7th though, and amazed that I'd kept it upright and found it a damn sight less trecherous than I'd thought it'd be.

And the rain came down......

Race 2 saw a much better start, my timing miles better and I tucked into Redgate still in 6th. The track was even wetter but I was sure there was more speed to be had so I tried not to let it get to me. Once again Marcus came past on the P&H machine, so I settled in getting past him and making it stick. We traded places for a couple of laps, with me outbraking into Redgate only to lose out again on the top straight. I could gain 50m through Coppice, and be rubbing tyres on the way out, only to watch him dissappear into the distance down the straight. I finally got past him and started hunting down Mike Dawson, catching up with him as we came down craner. I got better drive out of the old hairpin and took him into Mcleans, only to see Michael Neeves just up ahead. I knew he would have better lines than me so I tucked in behind and looked for a suitable spot to get past. Coppice came to my rescue, offering miles more grip than most thought it had and I out-dragged Michael onto the top straight. He fought back at the end of the straight and I got my first real elbowing coming into the chicane. Despite a big wobble I kept it upright and blocked his line enought to make the place stick. Into the final lap and I saw Clint a good distance in front. I started working on the gap but knew there was little real chance of me catching him. I came home a deleriously happy 4th, amazed at what I'd learnt and that I'd kept it upright.

As for the tyres, what can I say? Towards the end of race 2 I was flat out through craner curves, almost running the left as hard as I did in the dry. I'd never have thought it possible if Rich hadn't pointed to his head just after the first SoT race was won by a man on slicks and said 'it's all in there mate, everything you need to win'. If a bloke on a 145hp bike on slicks can trounce a field of similar bikes on wets/inters then it had to be possible to cane our 51 ponies without too much concern.

The only real blight on the weekend has been the adding of a 5th & a 3rd to my points has started getting me interested in the championship again.... With only two races left to go there's not much I can do, but I'll try to keep it consistent and get a few more points yet.

Many, many thanks to Nelly for pulling the engine apart on Friday evening to check the alternator nut, those go faster stickers were worth at least 5bhp! Thanks also to Fordie, Tony, and Chris for the beer (I may have booze problem!), to Dom for the use of the tent, and to the ever-patient Saara for everything else.

Cheers,

Ali

ps: If any of this is ar$e-about-face (wrong riders in wrong order, etc) then sorry, but my memory of what happens in races is never as good as it could be

[phil_h]

Excellent report max-biagg-ali
I've ridden there in the wet on skinny tyres, and I can still remember half the track being squirmy and then riding round the rest waiting for more slides.
A brilliant result I reckon.

[skidlids]

Originally posted by ali
If a bloke on a 145hp bike on slicks

And the rest,
I have his old 955 motor and that makes more than 145bhp, the Ex GSE lump in the CSC bike that Mark was riding is probably around 160bhp.

Ali nice write up and well done, along with Phil and a couple of others you are showing yourselves to be very impressive riders, where might it lead to.

[Jon]

Originally posted by ali
Rattler-san was doling out good advice, namely "three laps then gas it". I had those words echoing in my ears as we headed out on track for our one shot at a decent grid spot.

Except Rattler did one out lap and then went for it

5th on the grid, well done my boy