Race Report - Keevil 8th August 2004 (NGRRC)
This is not my favourite of circuits to
be honest, although I do like the fact that it's anti- clockwise (one
of the very few in the UK) and I have done reasonably well there in the
past. Basically, it's a temporary airfield circuit mapped out by
cones and the track surface is poor to say the least, with lots of over banding
and tarmac that cuts up to the point of filling your belly pan with grit!
But the club have used it since 1973 so it stays on the calendar and being 6th
in the F400 and 5th in the Open 400 championships meant I couldn't really give
it a miss. After what happened at the end of the day, I was half wishing I
hadn't bothered!
There was a practice day on the Saturday
before race day, so we planned to get there for around 11am, set up and get out
on track for the 12 noon start. However, not being too good at getting up
in the morning and some bad traffic meant that we didn't actually get there
until well past midday! Thankfully, Glen and Rich had saved us some space
and we set up next to their new awning, which is even bigger than mine!
| I got new front and rear
tyres fitted and eventually got out around 2pm. Having ridden my ZX9
for a couple of weeks in Europe (went touring across France, Italy and
Switzerland), the RVF felt strange and steered quickly to the point of
being nervous compared to the Kawasaki, but after a few laps I soon got
used to it. What is also very different are the brakes; whereas the
ZX9 lever travels quite a bit and the brakes are progressive, the RVF set
up bites instantly and with minimal travel, which took quite a bit of
getting used to and I don't really feel as though I did all weekend.
It's a fair point that road riding does no good at all for your racing.
This circuit used to have one of
the longest straights of the UK circuits and was very fast, but the poor
surface condition at what used to be Steeple Hairpin is now so bad that
the ACU won't allow them to use it any more, so that part of the track is
now changed and the Nation Straight is shorter. Also, Village Turn
is now a bit tighter. These changes might not seem much, but they
took a bit of getting used to and caught a few people out. I've
still not decided, but I guess the changes make it a bit more interesting
and are for the better, particularly as the over banding at Steeple
Hairpin was pretty bad. Having just had the bike back following the engine
rebuild, I was taking it easy anyway for the first few sessions, so
got a bit of time to learn it. |
 |
Come race day, I was feeling ready for it
and looking forward to getting out there. I was gridded third row for the
Open 400 (there are no grid markings, you just get in a row four across marked
by a cone) and got off to a good start, finding myself amongst the top 6 after
the first bend. Down the Nation Straight the usual collection of GP250
bikes came past me and I tucked in to focus on what 400cc bikes were in front,
being just Sean Nippress and Rich Bearcroft until Pete Thompson came past me
into the new complex at the end of the straight. Rich was the guy
immediately in front, so I got stuck into him and we battled for virtually all
the race, but I couldn't get past and on about lap 5 I outbraked myself at the
end of the straight and had to detour through some cones, letting Rich get
away. Seeing that there was a big gap behind I settled back to finish 8th
and the 4th placed 400cc bike. Not bad and it put me on the second row for the
points race.
Second race of the day was the F400
qualifier and I was gridded second row. I got a better start than the
first race and was amongst the top 6 into the first bend. I managed to get
past Rich Bearcroft early on and settled into 6th place and a race long battle
with Gary Curtis. We were never too far away from 3rd and 4th (a couple of
seconds at the finish), though the front two of Nigel Reed and Pete Thompson
were well ahead. I kept on at Gary for virtually all of the 7 laps, only
backing off on the last lap when I could see there was a big gap back to
Rich. So I finished 6th for a second row start in the qualifying race.
The Open 400 points race was an important
one for me as I needed to close on James Parry and Gary Curtis (tied 4th in the
championship), the latter having been t-boned in the qualifier and starting from
the back of the grid. I didn't get a brilliant start, but it was ok and
before I knew it I was in a familiar battle with Rich Bearcroft. We
continued this all race and exchanged places a couple of times, when on lap 6 he
looked behind to see me right behind him and then ran wide going into Village
Turn. I immediately took the place and was grinning, only to put the power
on and the engine bogged and refused to rev past 12,000rpm. I thought
something had blown and looked round expecting to see smoke, but nothing.
It still wouldn't rev down the straight and it wasn't long before Rich came back
past me and to make matters worse, Dave Ashman too. As I rounded the new
complex at the end of the straight it picked up again and was pulling fine after
that, so I can only imagine it was a fuelling problem that cleared itself.
Last lap and I wasn't making enough of an impact to re-pass them, so I kept
close expecting to finish in behind Dave when out of nowhere came Gary
Curtis! This was a bit more serious for the championship, but there was
nothing I could do given the race was running out and so I had to settle for
12th on circuit and the 5th placed 400cc machine. It was a very close race
and there was only half a second between Rich, Dave, Gary and me as we went over
the line, but unfortunately I was at the back!
Onto the last and perhaps most
important, the F400 points race. I had high expectations of myself for
this and hoped for at least 4th or possibly even a podium. Another good
start, but I didn't manage to get past Rich Bearcroft or Gary Curtis so had it
all to do. Rich was in front of me and after a lap down, Gary was starting
to get away in his battle with Dave Ashman. I was getting held back a lot
by Rich and had to get past if I was to get back in touch with Gary and Dave, so
on lap two as we were going into the Paddock hairpin I decided to make a move
and try to outbrake Rich up the inside. I got alongside him and committed
my self to the inside line, but Rich let off the brakes slightly to push a
little in front of me and then turned in, leaving me nowhere to go except to
T-bone him. I braked as hard as I could to the point where the back end
lifted, but I had no chance of stopping and hit Rich's back end sending me over
the bars and off the bike......bollocks!! Lesley saw the lot and came
rushing over to see if I was ok, but by that time I was up and helmet off
chatting to the marshals, watching the race go by.
So a crap weekend all told, with an
average result for me in the Open 400 and a DNF in the F400 for no points at a
time when I needed to score as high as possible to get into the top 5. The
good news is the bike was only lightly damaged, with just a front brake lever
snapped off and bent footpeg, though there seems to be a petrol leak from
somewhere. Other good news is I didn't fetch Rich off and he carried on,
albeit that I had knocked his back wheel out of line and he had to limp home to
9th place. Sorry, Rich!!
A quick mention for the other 400
lads. Rich Halford had a nightmare weekend of overheating, eventually
manifesting itself into an engine blow up and some pretty terminal damage;
Glen had a cracking weekend to qualify 8th and collect 7th in the F400 and a
third in the Novice 400; John Rees managed to stay upright and got some
confidence back in his first races since his off in May; Andy Rochester showed
signs of improving and got yet more much needed race experience under his belt;
Brian had some good finishes on a very road going ZXR400 with lights and
everything taped up and his brother, Mickey, managed to stay upright all
day! More than can be said for me.....
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