Anglesey NG Road Racing 12th - 14th August
Friday Test Day:
After a few beers and some cracking live music the night before at the Anglesey club house i was all sorted and ready to have a crack at the cracking circuit that is Anglesey. Started off nice and easy just settling back into riding the zxr making sure everything's working as it should etc. My pace got better throughout the day but most of the sessions were rammed and trying to learn the track whilst there was a lot of traffic wasn't quite helping so much but i did get a good few laps to myself to try and get up to race speed. I had a couple of issues as my shift rode pulled itself out the threads as i went across the curb so i had to cruise around in 3rd gear for a lap and then get it sorted, fairly easy job it had just been done badly previously. I gave the last session a miss as i was happy with my progression through out the day and wanted to save a bit of fuel for the next days racing.
Saturday:
Woke up nice and early after a cracking sleep in the back of the van, it was almost like a slightly uncomfortable bed! got settled back into things during morning practise, the bike ran faultlessly and i invested in a nice new seat pad so i was actually sitting nice on the zxr. My brother was having some terrible luck after 2 engine swaps and countless issues, one of the other 400 boys was kind enough to lend him his zxr for the weekend but he had to start from the back of the grid in the f400 qualifier. I was 5th on the grid, got a monstrous start and shot up to 2nd place straight away, i tried to go with leader Tim Bradley but he was way too quick for me. I had a fairly lonely race but keep cool and tried to race myself, braking later, taking faster lines etc. I came across the line in 2nd, not quite believing i had managed it! I know it was only a quali race but i was over the bloody moon.
Onto the afternoons F400 race i was 2nd on the grid and proper ready for the race, my brother was starting from the back again but i knew he'd be coming up fast. I got another flying start and almost got into first but held my own and settled into second place. We were mixed with Bandits again and 1 bloke was fairly quick. I started catching him a lap in and had a really good battled, we swapped places a few times, i made a few dodgy lunges but i was confident on the brakes and in my new tyres. As i was pulling along side the bandit down the back straight to go up the inside into the 6th to 2nd gear sharp left he out broke me and flying up the inside comes my brother on the borrowed zxr. I wasn't mad i knew it was coming so i followed his lines and managed to make myself faster. He got passed and cleared the Bandit within a lap, I wanted to follow him so i lunged him again and managed to make the move stick this time. I see the last lap flag buzzing knowing i only had 1 lap left and i had a massive gap to the next 400 in 4th i broke a little earlier into the 6th to 2nd sharp left at the top of the circuit as i had a few head shaking moments in the quali race there. I bang it down 3 gears go to click down into 2nd and it hits a false neutral, something it had done before, as i'm frantically scrambling to get it into gear the bike shuts off and i let the clutch out to try and bump it, she goes full lock and throws me right out the seat and i land on the tank! undeterred i kept trying to bump start it to no avail. I stopped, found neutral and hit the starter motor but she would go as zxr do when they're hot. I had never been so pissed off in my life, managed to break my visor in my rage as well! The Marshall's helped me to push the bike to one side and we still couldn't get it started! They brought the recover van around after the sound of thunder race, just as they open the doors i fire the bike up and ride back to pits
. I was in a bit of a rush as i knew the newcomers race was coming up soon, i got back and cleaned my tyres, checked the gear box was all good and Syked myself up for the newcomers race.
I started 28th of the grid and it was a little frightening seeing how many bikes would be going into the first corner. Again the trusty zxr got a fantastic start i tried picking my way through the 600's/100's up the inside but got blocked, I then swooped to the outside and got myself into 1st in class. From then i had a class race with all the mini twins/600's/1000's and managed to beat a fair few of them with some quite close calls during the race but it was all good fun. I came across the line 1st in class and won the race by 20 seconds! i was 1 second off the newcomers lap record but i knew i could go faster. After the disaster in the f400 race the win in the newcomers made up for it and the trophy was bloody huge! it fit 2 full cans of Carling in it, which i happily drank after the race!
Race footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz7awVEvyTE
Sunday:
After another tracking sleep all i was focused on was getting that F400 podium that was robbed from me. Warm up went well, bike felt solid, i then remembered that i was starting from the back of the grid for the F400 Quali race due to my DNF the day before. It sorta took the pressure off a little bit and starting last is sometimes quite fun. Once again a rocket start, got myself up to 7th place from 23rd! i then started hunting down the RVF in front of me (Glad he had changed his sparking knee slider!) i over took him just into the 2nd lap. Then i went on the charge ti hunt down my Pal Simon and Martin who i had handed 3rd place to the day before. It took me a good 2 laps to pull in the 4/5 second gap. I dropped it around the outside of Simon down the Anglesey corkscrew and then up the inside of Martin into the second corner, a 180 degree right hander. Barrelling down the back straight i thought i'd be safe for 3rd then Martin comes flying up the inside of me into the sharp left and gets it stopped, i did a little cutback into the sharp 180 degree right just after and got a good run to then see a red flag, race result! As it went back a lap i qualified 4th for the afternoon race and got my lap times down to mid 1.16's
A little nervous but incredibly pumped up we go out onto the grid for the afternoons F400 Race. A standard warm up lap but i was working on my clutch control as i believe that was half the cause of my false neutral the day before. Lights go on I Bang the revs to 10K feed the clutch and away we go, Completely focused on the first corner i was almost oblivious to my front wheel being in the air, something i didn't quite think it would be! the front drops and picks up a little again shaking the bars as i land. I dropped it into the first corner in 4th following my brother in as he goes round the outside into 2nd place. I knew i had to try and follow them so they'd pull me away from the chasing pack so I parked it up the inside of Martin to take 3rd place at the 2nd corner. Both flying down the back straight i knew he'd be good on the brakes so i was a late as possible but he still came up the inside, both our bikes going a bit sideways I drop it into the sharp left and just as i do he picks his bike up, we narrowly miss each other but i managed to cut up the inside of him and take 3rd. A bloke on a GP45 came past me but i wasn't bothered about him as i knew he was rapid. Now it was just me and the track, a time trial almost. I hammered in some good laps to try and pull away from Martin in 4th. Consistently doing 1.16's i managed to do that and on the last lap i had a quick look over my shoulder to see what gap i had, i didn't see anyone so the corner that caught me out the day before i went into bloody cautiously, I wasn't having the 3rd place taken from me again! I made my way through and took the rest of the lap super smooth. Coming out the last corner all myself and my brothers racing pals were on the pit wall going mad and i stuck 3rd place! To get a F400 Podium in my first season was something i didn't think would happen coming into the season and even this race but i was over the moon. I spent the cool down lap fist pumping and trying wheelies to no avail haha. Caught up with my brother around the lap who had come 2nd so we went a bit mad.
Race footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI8pG-RQRA0
All in all a bloody cracking weekend and to come home with 2 big trophies and 0 crashes was great
Mother got some good photos of myself and my brother. There should be some cracking action shots to come!