Croft Race Report 3
April 2004
by Tony Bryant
BMCRC Club Championship - Round 3.
Go Star Racers who were competing:
Another weekend with highs and lows for me. James (Set
up Engineering) and myself set off around 11.00pm And arrived at Croft
at 4.00am, we slept in the front of the van and only got 3hrs sleep.
Friday Morning Practice day
Practice was fully booked when I tried to book so I was 4th reserve. It
rained most of the day, and all I could do was watch from the side
hoping to get a place, at lunch time they allocated only 3 places so
again I had to watch. I shared the garage with Ryan Harris and George
Manners and I think the look on my face all day made Ryan offer me his
last session so I could at least see the track, I had already decided
not to race if I had not done any practice.
The 20 minutes went by so fast, but at least I knew
where it went left and right. I also sneaked out in the Power bike
session to get anther look. At the end of the practice day we walked the
track to see it up close the ripples, cambers, run off etc.
Saturday, Race Day Race 1
Again raining hard so put on the new Pirelli wets. On the Second lap of
morning practice the rear let go and down I went, luckily as it was a
low speed one not much damage was done to the bike. The only problem was
getting it repaired and scructineered again before my 1st race, which
was race 2.
The mad rush was on to change the clutch lever and
foot peg and gear lever, I just managed to make it out on the second
call. Sighting lap was O.K We lined up on the grid, I was 10th on the
3rd row. The starter raised the flag, I clicked into first and the gear
selector fell down.
I raised my arm quickly as the revs from the other
racers were rising for the light change. The starter managed to raise
the red flag in time before I got ploughed into. I was pulled to the
side of the track and again had to watch as the race was started without
me.
I can’t explain how low I felt, I just sat in the van
for ages. But after speaking to Ian and Ade I knew it could have been a
lot worse. It could have fell off during the race.
Race 2
After recovering from my disappointment in race 1 I was really fired up
for the next one, it had stopped raining and the track dry. New slicks
were put in and the warmers on.
And would you believe it, as we had our first call it
started to drizzle. Again the mad rush was on to change wheels, we only
had time to change the rear to a full wet. By the time we lined up it
was raining hard, and as I had not done race 1, I was at the back of the
grid second from last.
The lights changed and off we went I used every inch
of the track to over take riders, inside and out. My only worry was the
front washing out but I felt so confident in the bike and myself nothing
was going to get in my way.
I finished 10th and was so pleased after such a bad
start to the weekend.
Many thanks to James, Ryan, George, Ian, Ade, John H,
and those members that called to wish me luck.
We packed up and set off for John H’s house, who was
putting us up for the night, before the Cadwell Sunday Track day which
also went very well with a good turn out of Go Star Riders. But that’s
another story.
Tony ‘’Rain master’’ Bryant |
