CROFT 12 OCTOBER 2002
I’ve had a set of Full Wet race tyres on wheels for almost two seasons and have never used them yet, but this was the meeting where I finally got to see just how good they were.
It was dry when we got down to Croft. Even when we got chucked out the pub at 12:30am, it was still dry. The rain started about 3 or 4am and didn’t stop!
Russel (from York Barbers) was down to help, he’s normally on the other side of the circuit barrier marshalling. Herbie (Dr Carburettor) and Mark were also down for this last race in the championship.
To my delight, I found out I was lying 3rd in the championship, with Ronnie Lindsey 6 points ahead of me, but with no chance of catching Dave Alsop in the lead.
First practice was a splash round, there was so much water, then there was a 3 hour wait as the track officials pondered over whether to cancel the meeting or not (while the track sweeper tried in vain to clear water).
At 12:45 the decision was made to go ahead and we all got one short practice more before racing.
Race 1 (conditions were terrible)
I got away reasonably cleanly and through the lake that was Clervaux I was 3rd, Darren Bowat passed me on the back straight and I didn’t go after him. I wanted to see how the wets would do, so eased myself into a good rhythm and concentrated on my smoothness.
I felt more and more confident with virtually no sliding, so my times were coming down and down. This is when I really felt it was an achievement (I’ve always been either too fast or too slow in the wet before), now I felt in control and was getting some amazing lean angles through Hawthorn.
This was enough to get me a third place in this race (my best ever wet finish) and the fastest lap time of all the finishers.
Not only this but I had clawed 2 points back from Ronnie.
Race 2
This time I got off the line in first and maintained my lead for the first two laps. I wasn’t going to go banzai in this last race, as I knew I could lose my 3rd spot in the championship if I crashed out.
I was passed by Stuart Sturrock and Dave Alsop. Before Dave got past me he managed to see me hit the rumble strip at Tower, getting the bike very sideways in the process (which we had a laugh about later).
I knuckled down and made sure I finished and true enough I got third again. What a result for my first time on wets. It beat my dry race results from earlier that year.
As I came up the pit lane, Neil told me about Ronnie getting T boned at Sunny which put him back to 6th. This meant I had one more point and so 2nd in the Championship.
So from not expecting much at the start of the weekend, I had not only beaten my wet weather bug, but also improved my Championship position to finish 2nd.
As it happens, as we were packing up to leave, it stopped raining and the sun came out.
So that’s another trip we have to go on to get to the NEMCRC Dance and presentation to pick up my 2nd place trophy, as well as going to the Melville club dance to pick up my F 400 Champions trophy.
Duncan