Mallory Park 26th May 2003, Derby Phoenix
Go Star racers in attendance: were:
Oh dear, what a disappointment - Mallory wasn't the
greatest of race meets I've had.
Things started badly on Monday morning - I had to get up at 5.30 after
about 4 hours sleep so I was knackered already. Then because I was half
asleep I managed to rip the skin off one the tip of one of my fingers
when loading the bike. It now looks and feels a lot less dramatic than
it did on Sunday morning, but at the time it hurt like hell, was
bleeding like there was no tomorrow, and generally p*ssed me off -
Injured before I've even swung a leg over the bike.
Anyway, got to Mallory to see brilliant sunshine, so at least things
were looking good on the weather front, but I still felt tired and kind
of had a hung over feel (even though I hadn't had anything to drink on
Sunday).
First race was the 250 - 1300cc allcomers event which had me at15th on
the grid. Got a great start (something like 8th into the first corner),
a few people came past on the brakes into the new section, Edwinas, and
then I held the position, keeping close to the leaders. Then the race
was stopped because someone had come off at Edwinas, the first of many
accidents on that corner (I think about 22 out of 25 races were stopped
because of crashes at the new bit. The problem is that after the start
you all stream around Gerards exiting this at around 100 mph
accelerating hard for another 200yrds before you have to brake like hell
for a 30 - 40 mph left/right flick. It's a huge bottle neck as the first
left is a 90 degree turn and there is only one line through it. Loads of
people went straight on, lost it big time on the brakes or highsiding
coming out of the corner)
I got another good start at the restart, 15th into the first corner and
then took another 3 places during the race, but on the last lap I tried
to outbrake a guy going into Edwinas but misjudged it and had to take to
the slip road, losing 7 places. Still, finished 19th out of 34.
First Steel Frame race saw me in 15th again and got a good start but was
forced wide at Gerards and was down to about 20th. The next 5 laps saw
me claw my way back up to 15th and 3rd novice, and then on the last lap
I went underneath the second placed novice at Gerards (a good 100+ Mph
overtaking manoeuvre, knee on the deck - BIG BUZZ!!) and knew that I
could beat him to the flag. Trouble is they red flagged the race just as
I over took him (crash at Edwinas again) and as it was the last lap they
declared the result as of lap 5. Bugger - 3rd placed novice and 15th.
Not bad though.
Then things went down hill - my tiredness and lack of stamina caught up
with me and my riding went down hill - I started well but by the end of
the first lap I was being overtaken by people I had well and truly beat
during the morning races. So not happy with myself for that but I'm
going to hit the gym big time now and work on the fitness level.
Lap times were not too bad - 1m 2secs which is reasonable but not
setting the world on fire (fast time now is a 56/57 lap). So, plenty to
work on - I reckon I can get down to 1min, maybe a 59sec, but then I
reckon that's the limit. |
