Big Tone was due to be testing his Aprilla but it suffered engine problems prior to the event, instead he turned up on his new 250cc super commuter scooter which we all wanted to see him thrash round on. How cool would it be to have no chicken strips on a scooter……respect!!!

Toms Dad was there along with a few of Toms mates to cheer him on, one of them was also riding his old CBR in the intermediates group (future Go Star racer?). Finally Terry Oilphant a new Go Star racer came to visit us he will be contesting the Rookie 600’s along with Ben and Tom (maybe ?) this year.

After the safety debrief everyone was keyed up for the first session, Barry and Tom were out on new bikes for the first time, Rug Rat and Hamma were still getting to grip with their new steeds and I was trying out my recently Phil Seton fettled bike.

Out on track the early morning dampness gave the circuit a deceptive kind of sheen like outer surface. The line looked quite damp but was in actual fact quite grippy in most places, there were a few pant filling moments as the back end stepped out (speaking about my personal experience here!!) but generally all was good and the best to be expected from a winter day in January.

There were three sessions prior to lunch and everyone seemed to be going fine. Tom was having some bike set up issues and there was some furious twiddling going on at the front and rear end of the new gixer to stop the front end bottoming. Think the consensus at the end of the day was that a new shock and fork internals will be required, but overall the feedback from the bike was good.

Barry was raving about the twin experience on his SV. Hamma was doing things motoX style, perfecting his elbows out stance ready for any first corner dust ups in the coming season. Rug Rat was again flying on his minitwin giving people on more powerful machines plenty to think about, he will be a force to be reckoned with next year in the minitwin class.

After lunch, the track had dried out completely and we even had some blue skies appear from behind the clouds. Everyone was getting to grips with the machines not wanting to push to hard and bin it but as always happens, you tend to forget your survival instinct as soon as your on track and just go for it !! There were some good lap times (so I’m told) being done and we all made it through an incident free bargain priced first track day of the season………..and as if by some freakish occurrence just as the bikes and kit was being packed up we had a sprinkling of snow………couldn’t of been better timed.

Anyhow we don’t care what the weather does now until the 18th February when the Go Star crew will be back at Brands for the second part of the buy one get one free trackday experience.
 

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