Race Report - Cadwell 23/24th September 2006 (Derby Phoenix)

I was so looking forward to this weekend.  I usually do well at Cadwell and going into the final meeting of the season with a 7 point lead in the championship at a circuit I like, I was confident I could take the title.  Well what can I say……all that promise and it ended virtually before it had even started with a big off at Park Corner in the first race on Saturday.

To make sure I was ready for it, I’d booked on for the Friday trackday.  Not that it was much use as the weather was dreadful the whole day to the point that half way through the afternoon sessions, the circuit was closed due to excess water on the surface and the trackday abandoned!  I was a bit miffed, but then what I really wanted was dry practice and anyway, I didn’t feel as though I was that much in need of practice......I was happy enough with the bike and my laptimes at Cadwell previously to be confident of getting good results.

 Saturday Races

I’d entered the Allcomers races as usual and not having had any decent dry track time on the Friday, I intended on using this as my warm up and practice for the 600 races.  The track was still a bit damp in some places (mainly the Woodland section), but it was good enough to get a decent pace.  However, it was all a bit short lived, the race being red flagged after three laps while I was running comfortably in 3rd with a good chance of getting 2nd.  I thought this was going to be declared a result (the full distance was only five laps!), but they decided on a complete re-run.  Having lined up again for the restart, I got away well off the line and was lying 4^th as we went into Coppice, but managed to take two places around the outside at Charlies to go 2nd.  As we started lap two, I'd got Liam Marchant in front of me and planned a move on him around Charlies after gaining some ground on him through Coppice.  It worked well and in a similar move to the one on the opening lap, I took Liam around the outside in Charlies Two to take the lead.  I half expected Liam to come back at me down the straight, but I held it and then managed to put over 7 seconds between us for the rest of the race to take a comfortable win.  A good start to the day!

For the first Formula 600 race I was well fired up and really confident I could take the win.  I’d lapped in the 1:36’s in the Allcomers, so was confident the improving track would reduce my laptimes further.  As we lined up, I knew I had to get out in front and build a lead.  I got away from the line ok, but missed third gear and dropped back to 3rd into Coppice.  I had good momentum and I was on a great line through Charlies to get drive out onto Park Straight.  I got the drive I needed and tucked in right behind Richard Gibson, who himself had got good drive and was lining up Mick Daly in the lead.  Richard pulled out to pass Mick as we got into the dip and I pulled out to take them both as we went up the rise and towards Park Corner.  I’d got the inside line and although we were all going very quickly towards the turn, I was confident I could pull it off.  It wasn’t going to happen though…..as I went down the gearbox, I must have gone down a gear too far and it locked up the back wheel, then as I tried to recover it hit false neutrals and I knew I was in trouble.  There was no way I was going to get it slowed enough to turn and I just had to brake as hard as I could still on the tarmac before going onto the grass and towards the tyre wall.

Having had experience of this sort of situation before (unfortunately!), I knew it wasn't good to hit the tyre wall head on, so I decided to grab a handful of front brake to low side and slide along the grass.  There’s not a lot of run off at Park Corner, so by the time it went down I could already see the tyre wall racing towards me and I just remember thinking to myself “I hope I don’t break a leg ‘cos I’ve heard that really hurts”!  I went with a whack, but was both surprised and delighted when I found that I could move limbs without it hurting and I was even happier when I stood up and could walk behind the tyre wall to the marshal’s hut.  One of the marshals checked me over and basically I was ok, although I’d sprained my ankle and I’d got a pain in my chest with a rather disturbing lump.  After the race had finished and we got the bike back to the awning, I got a bit more concerned about this lump so left the lads trying to sort the bike out and headed for the Medical Centre.  Turns out I’d dislocated a couple of ribs from my sternum and the doc not being able to do anything with them, plus the risk of more damage (punctured lungs and other internal organs), he had no choice but to sign me unfit to race. 

I was gutted.  Having DNF’d the first race and unable to get out again, my championship was over and it was handed to Mick on a plate.  The bike wasn’t too bad (tailpiece, subframe, exhaust, footpegs and brake lever) and the lads were doing a great job of patching it up, but I had to tell them it was all in vain as I wasn’t going to get back out again.  My ankle was killing me and my ribs were sore, so being pissed off with beating myself up and losing the championship I decided to go and watch some racing for a couple of hours and relax.  Then come the evening, the most bizarre thing happened!  We decided to have a barbeque and a few beers and because the weather was a bit chilly, we'd lit the barbie in the awning.  As smoke filled the awning, it was choking us all and gave me a bit of a coughing fit......not usually good for busted ribs, but as I coughed really deep a couple of times I felt a click in my chest and my ribs popped back in!  At first, I thought I’d done more damage, but when I felt for the lump it had gone and the soreness had already subsided slightly!  I was well happy with this and as the evening went by and the pain eased up, I decided I would try to get back out again on Sunday.

Sunday Races

Having abandoned work on the bike on Saturday, we started work on it again Sunday morning and with a bit of bodged bracketing for the exhaust (which was crushed badly against the footpeg and pointing skywards!), it was ready to go to scrutineering and sorted in time for the first Formula 600 race.  The lads did a great job and other than the exhaust and a bit of Duck Tape here and there, it hardly looked like it had been damaged, let alone ploughed at goodness knows what speed into a tyre wall!

With not having raced on Saturday, I was at the back of the grid for the first race and it was quite literally the very back, in grid spot 38!  It was a long way from back there to the lights, but I got a good start and ploughed my way the field to get up to around 20th by the end of the first lap.  A lap later and I was up to 14th, but as I went over the start/finish line I noticed the black flag and it seemed to be me they were pointing at (I wasn't sure as I was amongst a few other riders).  I carried on around trying to think if it was me and perhaps there was something wrong with the bike, so I backed off a little and when we went around again, I could see it was definitely me they were pointing at with the flag, so I took the lap steady and pulled off at The Mountain.  I had a look over the book and all seemed ok, so naturally I went straight down to the race office where I was told I'd been black flagged as I hadn't been signed fit to race by the Doctor!  In all the panic to get the bike ready, rather stupidly I'd forgotten to get signed off so they couldn't let me race.....oops!  Funny thing was, I was expecting to get a right bollocking off the officials, but Jim (Clerk of the Course) and all the others were really apologetic and felt so sorry for me for having to pull me out!

I went down to the Medical Centre and once I'd convince the doctor I was ok and did the obligatory 10 press ups, he signed me fit and I was back in business for the last race.  Of course, I was starting from the back of the grid again, but I soon made my way through and with the races having been increased to 10 laps, I had a good amount of time to get a good result.  My chest was hurting like hell though to flick the bike through turns, particularly anything that needed a quick direction change from one side to the other (such as Gooseneck and Hall Bends).  On the third lap, I came down Gooseneck and on the left turn the back tyre let go, which must have made me tense up and my ribs popped out again......I thought I was going to have to pull in, but as I braked hard for the Mansfield Chicane, it popped back in!  I carried on and just tried to go as fast as I comfortably could and was pleased to get 4th place.  I was a second off the pace, but that was a good result from the back of the grid and considering the pain I was in.  When I got back to the awning, I nearly collapsed and had to hit the pain killers and lie down for a while!

So it was a bit of a disastrous weekend all told and after having such high hopes on Saturday morning, I'd lost the championship without even allowing myself the chance to battle for it.  I'd always said that whoever between me and Mick gets it will have deserved it, but it was so cruel not to have decided it out on the circuit and I know that Mick would have preferred it that way as well.  At the end of the day though, Mick has been a superb competitor all year and although we've both had our moments of glory and despair, he's been the more consistent one and he thoroughly deserves his title. 

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