Race Report - Thruxton 11th July 2004 (NGRRC)
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Thruxton is one of the
premier circuits on the NG calendar and I have fond memories of this place
from last year, being the first place I ever scored points. It's
reputably the fastest track in the country and a real power circuit, so I
was really looking forward to going back there with a faster bike. We
got there Saturday afternoon and Rich, Glen and Nick Pusey had saved us
awning space to put ours up next to Nick's to make one huge long awning
(16m x 4m). We soon had the caravan set up and it wasn't too long
before the barbeque was going and the evening got underway. Glen
brought along his karaoke machine for a laugh and invited people to try it
out......rest assured I did not and Lesley kept well away too until she
had a few beers, then we couldn't get the microphone off her! We
eventually settled down to get pissed and watch video footage Dave
Etteridge had taken of the races from Darley. Unfortunately,
the local authority are very restrictive with how much the circuit can be
used (all to do with noise) so there's no practice day. It's the
same for everybody, but it's not so good that the first time you get to
ride it is the morning warm up. This means you need to remember the
circuit as best you can and then make the most of the 10 minutes you get
for practice to learn your way around at race pace. |
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As it turned out, it rained overnight and
first thing so the morning practice was wet and having changed my rear tyre the
day before, it meant that I wasn't going to be able to scrub it until the track
dried out enough. So I put my wets on and went out for a pretty uneventful
practice session, secretly hoping it rained all day. Knowing it wouldn't
just meant that I was going to have to scrub the new tyre in on the warm up lap!
I also didn't get much of a chance to get the gearing right, but settled
for 14/40 which seemed about right.
It was drying pretty quickly, but the
track was still wet by the time the first race (Open 400 qualifier) was
called. Not having any intermediate tyres, I decided to go with dry's and
hope that the track was ok enough to scrub the new rear. I got out on the
grid and discovered it was still pretty wet and the tyre choice might not have
been so good (most others were on wets), but I didn't panic and thought if I
rode steady enough I could still finish ok. Lined up to start, the lights
went out and I got away well enough, but had to back off going into the first
corner through lack of grip. I dropped well back and got overtaken quite a
bit in the first couple of laps, but hung onto the back of Chris Swyer
(ZXR400). The track started to dry after the third lap and I was getting
some confidence back, so pushed a bit harder. I passed Chris and was
starting to close on the pack in front, but relaxed as there was a big gap
behind me and this was only the qualifier.
By the time the Formula 400 qualifier
came round, the sun was out and the track had dried out completely. I
lined up 5th on the grid and got away to a good enough start. I was in a
familiar battle with Rich Bearcroft for most of the early laps, before I managed
to break free a little and was then chasing Gary Curtis. I was getting
close and thought about a pass a couple of times, but decided better of
it. We then found ourselves having caught Sean Nippress (FZR400) and it
wasn't too long before Gary got past him and had pulled a bit of a lead. I
got caught up a little it behind Sean and finished 7th. Not bad for a
qualifying race I suppose.
The Open 400 points race another battle
between me, Rich Bearcroft and Gary Curtis. We swapped places a number of
times and had some great battles, but I found myself at the back of the battle
when it came to the line and finished 12th on the track, 5th 400cc
machine. It was a real close finish and less than 3/10ths of a second
split all three of us! Still, 5th place 400 means 11 points for this race
and elevates me to 5th in the championship, so not bad at all.
Due to various quite serious crashes
throughout the day, the Formula 400 points race didn't get underway until about
5.45pm and was limited to just 4 laps. I got out onto the grid and immediately
noticed the absence of Rich Bearcroft.......apparently he had electrical
problems and couldn't get his bike started. Without Rich, I knew this one
was a battle between me and Gary Curtis and I wasn't wrong! Dave Ashman
(ZXR400) joined in the party too and we had yet more superb battles between us
in the first couple of laps, swapping 5th, 6th and 7th places. On lap
three, I found myself behind the two of them and decided I would line them up
for a pass at the Club Esses (just before the start/finish straight). I
outbraked them both and went into the chicane perfectly to get drive out and
hold onto the lead on them. I then just put my head down and rode as hard
as I could to get some distance between us. I expected at least Gary to
make a move on me, so didn't actually look behind until I crossed the line and
was pleased to see I was at least a second clear of them, so I'd done really
well to put that sort of space between us. I finished 5th and got 11
points to elevate me to 6th in the championship, which is one of my targets for
this season. Just need to keep that position now!
There were so many delays for incidents
during the day that the club had to abandon the last two races. After we'd
packed up, I had to drop the bike over at RLR in Shrewsbury for an engine
refresh and towing the caravan as well meant we didn't get there until 10.30pm
and then we had to drop the caravan off and get back to Warwick......we finally
got back and unloaded the bike and kit at 1am!
A quick mention for the other 400
lads. Rich Halford had yet another good weekend and scored a point in the
F400, but most notably lapped at 1:32.47s; Glen got a 10th in the F400
points race to round off a good weekend; Andy Rochester doesn't appear in
the results for some reason, but I see to remember he had a good day;
Brian Daly got some useful race experience under his belt, while brother 'Metal'
Micky fell off yet again; John 'Meccano Fingers' Rees wasn't racing as he
still had scaffolding holding his pinky on. Well done lads!
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