CARNABY 25.08.02
With the three different championships covered at this meeting, it was always going to promise some hard racing....and it did !
Only the short circuit was used for this event (approx. 1.6 miles) which is only really a scaled down version of the full National circuit.
After the last meeting at Carnaby, where I had problems getting drive out of corners due to a rich jetting mixture, Herbie had a look at the carbs and made a few adjustments.
Practice showed a distinct improvement, giving only a very small missfire at about 10,000rpm.
The weather was good and it proved to be a great race day.
I met one of the other MAGsport riders Alan Tanton, it was good to have a chat with him as I haven't any contact with the MAGsport guys otherwise.
The usual lottery for grid positions gave me a couple of row 2 starts a row 1 and row 3, not bad really.
It was really difficult to distinguish the races and write about each separately, as they were all so good. I really had to fight hard to get my placings.
In the F400 races the BDK sponsored bike was off from the start. Thats a combination of a good rider and 80+ bhp. I fought very hard, but was passed by the ex Auto 66 champion on the outside at the hairpin. This taught me an important lesson and an improvement to my line at this type of corner should prevent this happening again. To add to the frustration I was pipped at the post by 1/2 a bike length by an Aprilllia which outbraked me at the very last corner on the last lap...in both races!
Race results 4th & 5th
My first Open Class race saw me in second place after the first corner and a mistake by the leader got me in front on lap 3. He got me back however, but after a very close one trying to pass the leader on lap 4 I lost some ground and could not get close to him again. The racing was so tight throughout it was incredible.
Race results 2nd & 3rd
Despite hoping for some better results in the F400 races I was really pleased with what I got, when I consider the calliber of the opposition. It was a great days racing (as I have said).
I should have boosted my placings in the NEMCRC F400 championship to put me in the top 5, hopefully.
I also got some good news from The Melville club, that I am leading the Club Championship by 5 points. This is great !!!
The Melville Club Championship is decided at East Fortune on the 14th and 15th of September, so I am already psyching myself up to do my best.
I have just been very fortunate and have received a UVEX helmet From Bickers (Bikestyle, Ipswich) which I have to test and report my evaluation. More to follow about this in the next update.
Duncan