Hey people.
Well, I'll post a full write-up later when I have my energy back, but it went really well.
Practise day was wet to begin with but dried out towards the middle of the day and we got 'the flying circus effect' going on...three 650 twins carving through the sessions like mad things. Great fun.
In retrospect, I'm sure I did my best riding on Saturday. I also found out that my brakes are still a long way from ideal, and that you can only ask so much of a cast-ff $50 Dunlop GP Racer before it starts to let go, regularly. The two other guys refused to pass me out of Pacific because I was getting such regular big slides going they were afraid I'd highside and take them out! So...I have to either spend proper money on tyres or just cope with the disadvantage.
Mister SV650's new flatslide carbs, M4 exhaust etc. were definitely giving him a slight advantage at the top end. Ricardo Rapido's secret electronic aids also seemed to be helping. My bike was just a tad slower than the rest, but certainly not so much that a bit of talent on my behalf wouldn't have made up the difference.
Sunday was cold but reasonably dry to start with. Qualifying kinda set the tone for the day. I went out, got my head down, and posted a qualifying time 3 seconds slower than the PB I set at my last track day! Mister SV650, by contrast, got confused and came in early because he thought it was just a warm up session...but still posted a time that put him on the front of the grid! Hats off to him. Ricardo Rapido was just that - rapid.
A timing issue early in the day (a couple riders went out without transponders!) led to a day with lots of delays, and the organisers decided to make up for lost time by grouping C20 class together with Limited Class. This, I'm afraid, was crap. The inline 4's blow past you on the straights and then get in the way on the corners....for lap after lap after lap. It ruins your pace. It also meant that the start grid was super full and the first couple of turns were crowded chaos. But I guess that's the call that had to be made on the day.
I was certainly not setting any records, but had some great battles throughout the day. Unfortunately I still don't really have the stamina I need after having brain surgery late last year, and by early afternoon I was really running out of puff. But I stuck to it and did every session. Mister SV650 and Ricardo Rapido both went significantly faster than me, and although I'm not yet aware of the final standing, I'd be surprised if they didn't earn themselves a couple gold painted egg cups here and there.
My beautiful wife and kids showed up for a look and had a great time. Lots of other friends and squeezes showed up too - a busy, fun, happy pit shed for sure.
My wife felt so sorry for me (regarding brakes) that the first thing she said to me when I arrived home was "We have to get you one of those Brembo master cylinders as soon as we can, don't we?" Nice!
All in all a bloody wonderful day. Hopefully I'll have some brakes, tyres and stamina by next race!
I'd like to thank SV and Ricardo for all their help in the shed over the weekend, for great company and great racing.
O.B