Race Report - Cadwell 25/26th March 2006 (New Era Club)
I’m writing this report some 2 months and more since this first race meeting of the year for me and with so much having happened since then (Croft, Mallory and Donington), my memory is a little jaded! I really must keep up to date with these reports!
Being the start of a new season on a new bike (which was only just finished…..long delays in getting the wiring loom from Yamaha and RLR only having finished doing the fuelling work two days before the meeting), I decided to book myself on the Friday test day before the meeting to get some much needed practice. As it turned out, it chucked it down with rain for almost the whole day and when it did dry up, they called an early end to the day as someone had dumped oil all over the circuit and it was going to take a long time to clear up. So, all said and done I didn’t actually get any dry practice and the sessions I did go out in, I tip toed around not wanting to bin the bike before the season had even started.
Saturday Races
This is the first time I’d ever raced with New Era so didn’t really know their format for race meetings, but basically they do a timed practice session to determine your grid position. This would be a good thing, except that the overnight rain hadn’t dried up very quickly and I had the difficult choice of which tyres to use. Unfortunately, I made the wrong one and went for intermediates instead of full wets and slipped my way around to set a disappointing 1:54 lap, giving me 13th place on the grid
I could see the track was drying out and despite the qualifying set back, I was confident I could do better so come race one I was reasonably fired up. Being so late writing this report, I don’t actually remember too much about this race other than the start, which was my first on the new bike and in contrast to my fears while sat on the grid, went quite well and I got into the top 10 at first corner without any dramas. I finished the race in 7th place, but I couldn’t tell you now how I did it!
Come the second race, I thought my grid place would be promoted to 7th as this was how I finished race one. However, as I tried to take my spot I saw Ben Billard sat where I thought I should be and he told me that once you’ve qualified, that’s it for the weekend…..that buggered my chances for a better get away in race two! Talking of Ben Billard, the first lap of this race got red flagged and as we re-gridded, Ben decided he needed to go back to the pits for something and left to rejoin a few minutes later in his 7th place, despite being told he would have to go from the back of the grid. Again, I don’t remember too much worth mentioning about the race, but I finished 6th on track behind Ben, who was later given a 10 second penalty for not starting at the back and so promoted me to 5th!
As well as the Formula 600, I’d also entered the Clubman race at the end of the day, but it was getting very late (after 6pm) when this came round and the club decided to run it as the first race the next day. As it was, I didn’t bother with that either as it damp Sunday morning and I couldn’t be bothered changing wheels and then having to worry about possibly changing again and refuelling as the 600’s were first out in the programme both days.
Sunday Races
I’ve already mentioned it was damp on Sunday morning, although the track was drying out fairly quickly and the Super Kart boys were doing their best to put a dry line down. I was in one of those couldn’t decide moments for a while and come final decision time I went for Intermediates thinking that they would be a happy medium. Unfortunately, that wasn’t one of my better decisions (along with my poor tyre choice for Saturday qualifying also) as by the time we got out on circuit for the first race, it was pretty much dry.
I remember getting away ok in the first Sunday race and was going quite well for the first couple of laps whilst the guys on dry tyres were just feeling their way around, but by the third lap I was starting to lose places and simply couldn’t do the laptimes on Inters that the riders on drys were doing. I lost few more places and thought I’d fallen outside the top 10 when it finished, but in actual fact I’d finished 9th, so not too bad and still a top 10 finish.
The second race was bone dry again and the weather was warming up a bit by now (still only around 7-8C though!), so I felt I could go a bit quicker. I got another decent start and managed to make up a few more places in the first couple of laps, finishing the race in a very credible 6th place. Strangely though, my laptime didn’t improve any over the first day whereas everybody else ahead of me had shaved a second and more off theirs, so I clearly I wasn’t riding as hard as I could do.
So, my first race meeting of the 2006 season on a brand new bike didn’t go too bad and it left me with a lot of confidence that once I’d spent a bit more time on it, I could get my laptimes down and improve my results. The main thing is I stayed on it and very much enjoyed riding the bike, which felt great and with plenty of power despite the standard motor.
Thanks as usual go to Lesley for helping me out and feeding me all weekend and for being so considerate over my nervousness about riding the 600 for the first time! I think she was also very grateful for there being no dramas or tantrums, which I think she might have been expecting under the circumstances. Let’s hope they all go as smoothly!