Race Report - Silverstone 9th October 2004 (NGRRC)
I'm writing this report over six weeks ago since this meeting took place now, so my memory of the weekend is a bit sketchy! I can remember most of the practice day and even the end of season party afterwards, but the races themselves are a bit of a blur now.....anyway, I'll do my best!
Not having ridden the Silverstone circuit before, I'd booked a place for the Friday practice sessions so we decided to go down there on the Thursday evening. We got there about 9pm and finding the circuit locked up, we had to park up in the car park just outside the main entrance. Glen and a few others had already arrived there, so we met up with them and downed a few beers before getting some much needed kip for the early start and the scrap for a garage the next morning. As it turned out, the Silverstone garages are huge and there are plenty of them, so we got one no problem and unloaded all the gear. At the last count, we had 10 bikes in the garage with plenty of room to spare and we were in one of the smaller ones!
| The Friday practice sessions started a bit damp with some early morning drizzle, so I took it a bit easy and just set about learning the relatively easy National circuit. Basically, the track has five corners and a poxy chicane and isn't the most interesting or challenging to be honest, although the white lines and the surface changes from the GP circuit make it a bit unnerving. There's also a bumpy bit going into the very fast right hander after the start finish straight that was giving me a bit of chatter, but nothing to worry about. Anyway, it dried out quite quickly and I was soon putting in some reasonable lap times, dropping down into the 1.12's during the sessions before lunch. During the lunch break, Lesley had to go and pick Alex up, so I changed the rear tyre for a new one and did an easy session scrubbing that in and then played around with the suspension for a while to see if I could get a better set up. To be honest, I didn't really notice any difference, so I went back to where I started and settled for the fact that 1.12's would be good enough to do what I needed for the races. |
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All I needed to do at this meeting was to finish in the top 10 in both Open 400
and Formula 400 and that would secure 5th place in both championships. I
had a second row start for the Open 400 qualifier and from what I can remember,
the race got off to a good start and I was doing ok sitting in 6th place.
I then started to get some pressure from Russell Hynes on his TZ250, which being
a GP bike was powering past me easily down the straights. Problem was
Russell was struggling round the corners and was holding me up something chronic
so I soon found myself under pressure again from Dave Ashman. He then
passed me on lap four and somehow managed to get past Russell and old him off,
so I was relegated to 8th place and a second row start for the points race.
With the absence of Sean Nippress after his bad crash at Pembrey in the last NG round, the F400 qualifier was a front row start for me. My memory is not so good now, but I remember being in 5th place sitting behind James Parry for much of the race and being comfortable with that given that this was only a qualifier. It stayed like that for almost the entire race until the last lap, when Dave Ashman passed me (can't remember where) to drop me down to 6th and then at the chicane he did a move on James to take 4th. I remember panicking a bit because Andy Whitehead had also grabbed third place and if he could improve on that in the points race, then my championship standing would look a bit vulnerable. Still, a good finish would put them both out of reach, so I just needed to keep my head and stay on!
The Open 400 points really is a distant memory now, so it couldn't have been that exciting! I remember sitting behind James yet again and being comfortable with that. I also remember looking behind and seeing neither Dave Ashman or Gary Curtis anywhere near, so it was job done and all I had to do was stay on and finish, which I did in 6th place. Championship over with and 5th place secured......one down and one to go!
I was a bit tense going to the holding area for the F400 points race and it didn't help that when we got there we were held back whilst the marshals sorted out some dropped oil on the track. However, I had a chat with Rich Bearcroft while we were waiting and he gave me a great piece of advice to just stay on and not let the red mist get to me......so what if Dave or Andy passed me, all I needed was a top 10 and neither of them could take my placing so just stay on! I actually listened for a change and went out of the holding area with that in mind, which stayed with me for the whole race. Andy disappeared off to take a well earned 3rd and get himself the 'Man of the Meeting' award while he was at it and when Dave came past me on about lap three, I just watched him go and took comfort that the 6th place I was in would be more than enough. It was and I wrapped up 5th place in the F400 championship as well......excellent!
Having got back to the garage and celebrated with Lesley, we packed up and headed off to a nearby caravan site for the end of season part Glen had organised. We set up Glen's awning (huge thing, even bigger than mine!) and got his karaoke machine wired up for a good sing song and plenty of beer. Quite a few people came along and it all eventually finished in the early hours of Sunday.....I was a bit worse for wear to say the least!
A quick mention for the other lads; Rich Halford didn't race as he'd popped a rib out drying himself after a shower......bizzare! Instead, Nick Pusey rode his bike and finished 10th & 9th in the F400 races; John Rees was outside the points in the F400, but picked up 5 points in the Open 400 to finish 8th and just in front of Rich; Glen Watterson didn't have his best weekend and had some bike troubles, but held 12th in the F400 championship; finally, Andy Rochester doesn't appear in the results as he hasn't got a transponder, but had a good few battles with Dave Etteridge who has decided to pack it in now after struggling to come back after a big off at Darley last year. Well done all the lads and I look forward to doing it all over again in 2005!