Race Report - Snetterton 23rd/24th July 2005
(Derby Phoenix)
I'd never been to Snetterton before, but
had heard lots of good reports about it so was quite looking forward to
it. Also, it's been a while since I raced at a circuit I've not ridden on
before (well apart from Anglesey and Croft earlier this year!) and it's a good
thing to expand your race experience at different circuits, which is one of the
main reasons I chose to race with Derby Phoenix so much this year.
To get some track knowledge and practice
in before race day I booked the test day on Friday. Because the track is
so far away from the Midlands, we travelled up on
Thursday night to make sure we were there ok and ready. The Friday
morning was a little bit damp with some light drizzle so I went out on wets or
the first session, but it was actually too dry for full wets so I came back in
after three laps and by the second session it was dry. It stayed that way
for the rest of the day and I ended up lapping in the high 1:18's fairly
comfortably so was happy with that.
| Saturday Races
The first Formula 400 race of the
weekend was a fantastic battle right from the off, with Graeme Frear and
me swapping places throughout the whole race. He was stronger on the
brakes in some areas, whereas I was quicker through many of the turns to
get back at him and in particular, Sears corner where he ran wide each lap
and allowed me to get drive on him down the long back straight.
After having changed places probably half a dozen times, I eventually put
a pass on him going into the Esses on the penultimate lap and held it all
the way through to the chequered flag to win by nearly 4/10ths of a
second.
The second race on Saturday was
less of a battle and with the Frear brothers scrapping with each other as
well as the chasing pack, I was able to break away to create a very
comfortable lead of over 8 seconds at one point. I looked behind on
the last couple of laps and seeing there was nobody near, I backed off on
the last lap to take the win with a decent margin and secure 'the double'.
Most importantly, this result saw me go in front of Steve Smith by 25
points to become the new championship leader! |
|
Sunday Races
Sunday came with the threat of rain,
although the forecast was to stay dry until the afternoon. The first race
was dry and although I got off to a pretty awful start (was 4th by the first
corner), I had soon got past Paul Battersby and Graeme Frear to go into second
behind Daniel Frear. We then battled as hard as we had done the first race
on Saturday, except this time I had Graeme snapping at my heels as well.
For four laps we swapped places and as we crossed the line to start the 5th
lap I was lying in second, but a mistake coming out of Russells Chicane meant I
had lost this by the end of the straight to go third. I managed to get
back into second again by getting good drive down Revett Straight and set my
sights on getting the lead back again, but as we came through Russells to finish
another lap the red flags came out to end the race and place me second from the
last completed lap.
|
|
The final race on Sunday
was wet as the rain came pouring down. There was a great deal of
standing water around and on the warm up lap I could feel there wasn't a
lot of grip in certain parts of the track. I got a great start and
lead the first lap fairly comfortably, but as I got to the Esses on the
second lap, Daniel Frear passed me to take the lead. We continued to
resume the kind of battles we had staged most of the weekend, with us
swapping the lead with each other a couple of times. I worked out
that I was faster through the turns (particularly Corams) whereas he was
very good on the brakes, so I decided to stay behind him until the last
lap and then make my move. However, on the penultimate lap I hit a
large area of standing water at Riches and lost grip completely at both
ends and both my feet slid off the pegs. I managed to recover it,
but I had let Daniel get away just that bit too much and shaken from
nearly binning it, I backed right off to make sure I got the points and he
got away to win by over 6 seconds at the chequered flag. Still,
second place and 20 points is what matters for the championship. |
So a bit disappointing not to get a win
on Sunday, but at least I went home as Formula 400 championship leader by a good
margin of 65 points! Also, another couple of wins under my belt on
Saturday was fantastic, particularly doing the double! Roll on Cadwell in
three weeks time, although I have to say that we didn't intend on getting into a
championship battle when the season started, so each meeting is going to make me
that much more nervous now as I think more about having to get a good
result. It kinda takes the fun out of it a little, but I can't miss up on
this opportunity!
Thanks as usual to Lesley, who is still
jumping up and down every time I cross the line for a podium finish! She
actually managed to damage the pit wall this weekend as she caught the cable
trunking when leaping around in the first race on Saturday, managing to get a
big bruise on her knee in the process! Thanks also to the Davo, Benzo and
Ged who we usually share our awning and garage space with at DP meetings and all
of which have been very supportive to help me focus on the championship.
The only bit of bad news for them was that Davo managed to drop his Aprilia in
one of the Sunday wet races and Benzo dropped his twice the same
afternoon! His luck was doubly bad in that the previous day he suffered
mechanical problems and to cap it all was leading a race that afternoon and backed off
thinking it was ended, only to find there was another lap and finished third!
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