NEMCRC Championship 1st Round at Croft 20/21 March 2004

I couldn’t really have wished for worse weather conditions for the first meeting on the R6. It was meant to be an easy run round to get me aquainted with the bike, but it wasn’t made easy by the driving rain and running water across the track on the first days prac-tice.

Even still, I got the “Gimp Suit” on and set out, with a brand new bike on brand new tyres with no base settings for suspension………..and it felt GREAT !!!

Considering the conditions the bike was a dream to ride and never felt unstable, in the two short practice sessions I got. Neil had worked wonders to get everything ready, despite moving house the day before Croft and leaving Jenny (his wife) for the weekend with a house full of boxes.

By the afternoon though, the wind had picked up however and the meeting was cancelled, so no racing (I thought the caravan was going to get blown over). The winds were gale force !

So on the first day, I managed to get the nice new bike thoroughly filthy, but I gained a lot of confidence. The power increase from the 400 was something I will have to get used to; it was wheelieing out of 3rd gear corners in the wet !! It felt very smooth though and that’s what gave me most confidence. It also turned into corners even quicker than the 400 (which I thought, turned fast).

Saturday afternoon was spent trying to tie everything down and keep it dry, in the gales and rain. Satrurday night was in the Chequers pub swapping stories with some of the other Scots guys and laughing at John McComisky’s great telling of the potted history of racing.

On the Sunday, the wind was still strong, but the weather had changed to showery conditions and I was lucky that I got (almost) dry track all day. Practice with the dry tyres went well and I began to find my confidence. I was still taking it easy as It was important for my confidence, not to make any mistakes.

The meeting was so overcrowded, that I didn’t manage to get into the 600 class. I was in with the Open Class, which was mainly R1’s and GSXR 1000’s. I was put on row E (5 rows back from pole) and started my first race on the 600 with only a small wheelie. I wasn’t pushing and that made it easy to settle into a rhythm. Only a couple of big production bikes passed me, and I got some clear track to circulate in. I began to feed in the power a little bit more on exit from corners and the bike still felt very stable. This netted me a 15th position out of a grid of 30 (not bad when most of them were 1,000cc)

The second race went in similar style, although my start was a little better. I managed to get into some clear space and get a feel for the bike and this time I got 14th position.

I couldn’t have been more satisfied, as I had learned a lot about the bike, at the same time as putting in some good consistent laps in race conditions.

So roll on Sunday. I’m off to Darley Moor near Derby for some more practice races, before East Fortune in April.

I owe Neil and Jenny a big thanks for letting me pester them while they were moving house.

Thanks to all the sponsors and everyone who supports the team.