Cadwell 16th (& 15th) August 2003

Practice day 15th

Although had done a couple of trackdays in 2002 there, I hadn’t raced at Cadwell since my rookie year in 2001 and it had been a month since our last race (Donington). This in mind Andrew and I decided to do the official practice on the15th.

We had decided to go up to Cadders the night before (Thursday eve) and getting there for about 11pm. Due to Matt getting stuck late at work we were running late and eventually arrived at Cadwell at ~02:30, got to bed ~03:30 up at 07:30! Didn’t sleep too well either. So with what worked out to be about 2hrs worth of sleep the practice day lay ahead.

I love Cadwell, it offers so much and is very rewarding if you get it right, it also punishes you if you make a mistake though, which is probably what makes it so rewarding when you get it right.

My fastest ever race time was 1:39.22, back in 01 when I was a rookie, had a stock motor and it was my first visit there ever. On a trackday at the beginning of 02 I was consistently putting in 1:35s and really comfortable at that, it was just all working I was banging them sort of times in all day, reckon I could have gone faster if I needed. That was when I was full of confidence … then there was my Mallory crash a month or two after … my next visit to Cadwell would also be my first time back on the bike, several months since that fateful day at Mallory that put me out for the rest of the 02 race season (and meant I had missed the 02 Cadwell round). It was September 02 and I wondered how I would get on. When I got on track, my fears came to fruition, I was really struggling, serious 'sack' shrinkage and what once felt so natural now just wasn't happening. Some atrocious laptimes in the morning up in the 1:50s, I was all over, missing/making multiple apexes, braking far to early, just not cranking the bike over … everything was wrong … I managed to bring my times down to 1:44s by the end of the day, with the odd sporadic 1:42. But it was a real struggle and consistency just wasn't there … I didn't have 'the feel'. I was mortified; I realised at that point I had a lot of work and frustrating times ahead if I was to continue.

Much water has gone under the bridge since then and my aim for this event was to try and get as near the 35s as possible, but realistically 39s or below would be in the right ballpark for now.

It all felt a bit weird at first as usual after a layoff, but I soon got a bit dialled in, by the end of the first session I was doing consistent 1:44s. Next session 1:42, next session 1:41s. I did manage to get down to 1:40s when I got a clear run by the end of the day, which although a fair way off pace is good enough and pretty near my first target of 1:39s and I believed that'd soon come under race conditions.

Although the bike was generally behaving pretty well, I had found that I was getting real bad tank slappers sometimes out of Mansfield when I was shifting my weight across the bike ready for the right kink (Mansfield is a left hander). At times even strong enough to throw my hands off the bars, I could minimise them if I delayed moving over slightly and kept a bit more contact with the bars when moving across the bike to stop the slappers getting too big. Although many might have put a few clicks on the damper at this point, I actually made the executive decision to turn the steering damper DOWN as I felt the bike was slow to turn in at other corners around the track.

I felt I was struggling through hall bends, not going in anywhere near hard enough, which was one of the places I was so strong in early 02. The Gooseneck and Mansfield I was also much slower than before too. I had Coppice, Charlies Park and Chris pretty good though, with my only real floor being that I could get away with braking a bit later for park as I was actually backing off the brakes so I didn’t scrub off too much speed in the end. I was braking at the 300 yard marker and yet remembered braking nearer the 200 before … so I had attempted to push my braking point past the 300 yard marker , but had nearly come unstuck in doing so, so played it safe for now and kept with the 300 as my braking marker.

I have recently bought a spare rear wheel so I can have 'good rubber' and 'old rubber' tyre choices, thus I can save my best rubber for when I need it, much as I did in 02 (when I used a spare set of Andrews wheels). Although using the used rubber from Donington for practice, I had put a new tyre on the spare wheel for raceday. I intended to use this new tyre in last session on the practice day to scrub it in ready for race day, my other opportunity would have been the brief practice session we get in the AM on raceday. Doing it this way though, I could use the old rubber in the AM to get dialled in not having to worry about taking it easy scrubbing in the new tyre (as that will already be scrubbed in and ready to slot in for racing)…

That evening we were unexpectedly treated as a test session that mush have been booked by some of the BSB/BSS teams was going on. Hard to make out who was there, but it seemed to be Steve Plater on his SP2, Carl Harris on his CBR6, Leon Haslam on Duke and a few others who we couldn’t work out. We watched from the stands by the mountain and we had been impressed with the ‘air’ Carl Harris had been getting over there … Carl was on his awesome looking and sounding works CBR6 <drools> and showing off by getting a good 3-4 foot of full air across the mountain. I do get full air across there, but probably nearer a foot. At 3+ foot he was simply showboating as it isn’t the fastest way across as Leaon Haslam on his Duke showed, he was putting in some rude lap times and was only about a foot or so off too. But Carls showboating was impressive none the less, surprised the cocky sod didn't wave at us too!!! … he did do an arrogant stare though :o) … great!!! What was even more impressive was that he was doing this straight after he had had a massive off which had closed the circuit for 10-15 mins to tidy … after a bit of time in the medical center he just hopped on his spare bike and was straight into these antics, showing how hard he was, totally unaffected by the off!!! These blokes are made from a different stuff than us mortals!!

Race day 16th

I had entered SuperSport600 and Clubman600 as usual, SS6 was race 2. I decided to run the old rubber for the first race, the new rubber for SS race two and that’d leave it with no doubt in my mind it was fully scrubbed for my all important Clubman race yet not worn out (the scrubbing in practice session the day before had been red flagged after a couple of laps, so not fully scrubbed).

Morning Practice

Some kind gent had left masses of oil in a line all down the start finish straight and round turn 1 (Coppice) and Charlies too, evidently from one of the last practices the day before. It had been well ‘powdered’ marking it nicely, and hopefully soaking it up, but still not the best place for those quantities of oil!

Went out for practice on the old tyre to save the new one for when I wanted it (Clubman race), was weary through the first few turns due to the oil, but there did seem to be a line where it could be avoided, but it meant you couldn’t stray far else you would go over it. Due to this and traffic, I struggled to get a clear run, my best time was a 1:43, Three seconds slower than my best the day before. I did find myself going slower down through Mansfiled (90deg downhill left hander after Gooseneck) for no good reason, but I was feeling good and under race conditions I’d soon be able to get the times down again.

Race 2 SS6 Race 1

Start 31st on grid row 8, bit of a pap starting position, so I had my work cut out.

The start is manic at the best of times, but with that much oil/powder down isn’t the best of variables to be chucking into the pot. However, in practice I had found there was a line where it could be avoided so I was gonna head for that and hope not to get held up too much and chances were that if you crossed the powder you’d be ok as long as you didn’t push the front to hard, but I was going to try and avoid if I could.

Pulled away from the grid on the practice lap and the back spun up a little when crossing the oil patch (had to cross to get on line for Coppice) … humm …. but to be honest this might have been more because of the masses of powder not necessarily the oil (probably a bit of both)???. The rest of the warm-up lap was uneventful, but I had no problem keeping with the guys in front. It was only the warmup, so not necessary to go over too hot, but I got a bit of ‘air’ across the mountain as I knew ‘the lads’ were watching … and they were all giddy after seeing Carl Harris do it in a big way the night before. Came back to the grid and got me binos out to see the lights. Lights went green and we were off. I actually got away pretty clean and although there was plenty of jostling I didn’t get too involved, held my line behind another bloke (not the fastest of all but was on the line I wanted to avoid the oil patch (which many others went through regardless and didn’t seem too effected). Held my own through Charlies 1 and 2 with this geeza really getting in the way now, I think he had a rear view mirror as when I tried to go up the inside he swerved right, when I tried the outside he swerved left … I wanted to make the move, but was pretty unlucky on that count. Kept it pinned down park straight, and was going to go past this geeza on the brakes into Park, just as I was moving out to initiate my pass, a bloke shot past me a few mm away blocking me, so I had to back off loosing momentum a bit, and yet again 'mirrors' started to go right (which was where I was gonna pass). I had to abort into Park, but had had enough by now and nervously managed to go up his inside round Chris Curve, blocking him into the gooseneck. Finally I was past!! Made another place at Mansfield, but a geezer went through us both carving us up. Things were still pretty manic with bikes everywhere, but overall I was probably about where I started position wise, mibie a couple either way. I closed up on the next bloke on the brakes in to the complex at the bottom of the mountain, went over the top trying to make a pass before Hall Bends, but had to bail. Re-aligned for the hairpin and got the run into barn, making a block pass, crossed the line and got my head down …

Someone lost the front into coppice, went in pretty hard and noticed the scrape marks on the ground where the bike had gone down and hoped there was no oil as I was in there pretty hot, which works the front real hard, no problems though and closed up a bit on the next bloke to Charlies and some more into park. Went into the Gooseneck and it looked like the bloke had really stuffed it up as I took gobloads out of him and managed to go round the outside on the left ‘flop’ … that was too easy … I then looked down to the next corner (Mansfield) and saw the red flag … I backed off and stuck my hand up, the red flag had obviously just come out and the other geezer had noticed it before me. We then pootled round and assembled back on the grid. I was pretty miffed as I had managed to get past that slow ‘mirrors’ bloke and all things considered an ok opening lap or so, now I’d have to do it all again. They took about 5-10 mins to scrape the bloke and his bike up then they told us to re-start our engines, having a ‘total loss’ system means that the starter is to be avoided, so I bumped started my bike. There was a gap in the row in front of me, so I just stayed there for the warmup rather than moving/paddling back. The engine was still hot and showing 84 degrees … we seemed to sit there for ages, the temperature rising … I made my cut off point 95 degrees .. and I was keeping a keen eye … it was rising fast 88 … 90 …. 92 … 93 … 94 … there was some movement now … 95 … they waved the first row off for the warmup lap. I was right on my cut-off limit but about to go …. They waved off row 2 … row 3 … a bloke had stalled on the line … row 4 … row 5 … 96 deg … they now stopped waving rows because they realised there was a problem and wanted to get the stalled bloke clear … …. 98 deg …. Oh come on!! … 99 deg … they got him clear and waved the row in front away … then my row was waved on I didn’t attempt a practice race start with the engine cooking like that, so just pulled away gently … taking a sigh of relief that there was now some airflow, short shifted through the gears.

Entered Coppice and saw there was some new powder down where this bike must have dropped some fluid in the crash. I had actually gone over part of this with no problems, but didn’t want to now at full race pace as it was marked. There was a gap about 2 foot wide before the powder started … that was now to be my line!! Working the speed up now, the bike was back to 88 deg, by the end of the back straight it was back to a normal 82 deg, nice … started to try and pick up the pace a bit now got to the mountain and people were crawling (no point getting to the line too early).

After everyone was lined up on the grid the flag man indicated to watch the lights … click first gear … 8k … red lights … feed clutch out …. Few bikes started to roll forward … red light out, more (less) clutch …. green … and we are off … got away cleanly but got swallowed by thems that must have ‘anticipated’ the lights behind me. I wanted to get over to the left so I could take my (oil fee) line, in doing so I had to be wary I wasn’t carving someone up and I got well bullied round coppice and Charlies … the dust settled and I made a pass or two into Park … then guess who I was behind …. Mr Mirrors!!! Oh for flox sake!!! Did finally get past him but it took me over a lap this time.

I had lost loads of ground, but I started to make my way forwards, yellow flags everywhere where bikes were dropping like flys.

Started to get dialled in a bit now and set to work, all too soon the race was over. Finished 23rd. Gutted! I felt I had really lost out on the re-start and it was only because there was so many fallers I even got 23rd!!

Fastest lap was a 1:40.10

The wait

There had been a multi bike accident in race 5 (GP250 & GP125s), we weren’t sure of the details at the time, but it took longer than normal to sort. They eventually called an early lunch. We had our lunch and then just sat and waited.

As the accident had meant all the marshals etc were busy tiding up, racing could not continue until they had returned and we had ‘coverage’. I didn’t really look at the time, but this took about 2 hours at a guess. They announced on the tannoy that due to delays that all races were to be reduced to 5 (then later 4) laps and the clubman races to be held at the end of the day were to be cancelled. i.e. my race! Fair enough and under the circumstances I wasn’t about to kick up a fuss and was not surprised either, but was a little disappointed that yet again I was going to miss a clubman race, which is the one I am interested in championship wise. Also I had obviously paid for my entry to that race and they hadn’t said anything on that matter (i.e. would we be reimbursed??). Although I did wonder about this and would have liked to know, I was uneasy about going to ask to find out and eventually decided against asking.

After the wait, there was a wait

The first race back on after racing recommenced was red flagged on the first lap. Another pileup!! This too took a while to clear and put things even more behind schedule. Races were now reduced to 4 laps.

Race12 SS6 race 2

Start 23rd a measly 4 laps to do battle.

Had new rear tyre in, but kinda wished that I had left the old one in as it was a bit of a waste because I was no longer doing the clubman race, but I had put the wheel it in and got the warmer on before I knew that clubman was to be cancelled and it isn’t good for the tyre to be heat ‘cycled’ so I stuck with it rather than put another cycle on both tyres.

Lined up on the grid and got away ok, lost out a bit into Coppice, but not as bad as the morning re-start. Yet again I had to pass ‘Mirrors’ and after doing so started to get stuck in as a gap had now appeared ahead. I composed myself after having to play ‘dodgems’ with ‘mirrors’ and got to work and reeled the first one in, made a pass into Charlies 2, held my line and blasted off down Park, I eventually got in touch and passed round Chris curve. Then set about the next bloke, I was now putting in 1:39s in the chase… crossed the line, the last lap flag was out. I was on a mission now, got semi into touch with him by Charlies but no opportunity to pass until Mansfiled. I took a different line out of gooseneck to get good drive and got alongside on the short run downhill … I had to hit the brakes but had not completed the pass, so intended to slot in back behind him … he obviously saw me out of the corner of his eye and left a bit of a gap at the apex … he didn’t have to ask me twice!!! I was through, that was the most opportunistic pass I had made for a long while, but it was safe and clean and I was now focused … only to be greeted with a red flag not long after … stuck my hand in the air and cruised back. As I didn’t complete that lap at race pace I have no idea what time I would have put in, but I can guarantee it would have been a 1:38 or possibly lower. I was finally enjoying myself and focused but it was all over!!!

As it was red flagged on the last lap then I lost that position I made too as it would have been ‘counted back’ the precious lap.

Officially finished 18th

Looking at the results I had the pace to be in the top 15.

I would have been all fired up for the clubman race, but there you go.

Summery

All that way for 9 race laps (6+3). I still feel like I haven’t raced this season!! And I just am not getting the opportunity to get into the swing of it; things just aren’t going my way on that front. As for my Clubman championship somehow I am currently joint 8th and I have to say I am amazed at that as at Snetterton I had patched my bike up for after the morning crash smashed the casing and was weary/had oily rear tyre so got a poor result, missed the second race at Lydden, and didn’t attend the double round at Croix. I am yet to score a single measly point in SS!!

I have written this season off now championship wise and am viewing it as a ‘recovery’ season trying to get my head sorted, with a view to making 04 MY season. I hope things keep going well as overall I am on the up and that no more spanners are thrown in the works to impede this progress. I still feel I haven't had a proper 'bash' at this racing lark.

My aim at the mo is to finish 04 in the top 10 in SS and win or as near as the Clubman 600 (if it is still run). Although along way off and anything could happen, I can’t see myself racing in 05, so really hope 04 goes well so I can quit on a high.

Roll on Silverstone!!