Race Report - Thruxton 7th October 2006 (NGRRC)

 

Thruxton is one of my favourite circuits and it also gives me a chance to catch up with the NG crowd again, so I'd been looking forward to this one for a while.  I was still a bit beat up after my Cadwell crash and my ankle was still giving me quite a bit of pain at times, but my ribs had settled down nicely and although I hadn't ridden since the Sunday after the crash, I was confident they would be ok and hold out.

Unfortunately, Thruxton has a lot of noise restrictions so there's simply not the opportunity to practice there, but it's the same for everybody.  I have raced there for the past 3 years, but that was on a 400cc bike and this being a very fast circuit means that the R6 is going to be reaching much faster speeds, so I was a bit nervous.  I didn't even know what gearing to go for, so I just took a guess (which turned out to be too high) and went out for practice to try and get used to the place and remember my way around.  As it was, I soon got my pace up and although the gearing wasn't right, within a few laps I was finding a rhythm and getting up to pace.

Qualifiers

Like a lot of the 600 riders, I was using the NG Open Qualifier for a bit more practice, with my main races in the Open 600 later in the programme.  I was gridded fourth row and got away really well to go into 5th place into the right/left complex and it only took me a couple more corners to get up to 3rd.  I was tucked in behind Joe Symonds on his R1 and Gary Teague (GSXR1000) was leading, but I could keep with the early pace, no problem.  A couple of laps later and I was pushing Joe really hard, showing him a wheel every now and then in the tighter sections of the circuit, but as soon as we got onto the fast sections out the back the power of his R1 was simply too much and I'd lose ground again.  In the meantime, Gary Teague was pulling away and eventually won, with me very frustrated and queued up behind Joe to take 3rd.

For the Formula 600 Qualifier, I was third row (there's something to be said for getting your entry in early!) and got another very good start to get right up the front to 2nd behind Leon Morris as we got to the right/left complex.  As we entered the Noble left hander, I lined Leon up to get him on the exit and took him cleanly as we went into Goodwood.  I was a bit hot going in and half expected him to get past me again on the drive to church, but he didn't and I kept the lead.  It was then a case of getting on with it and taking the win, which was fairly comfortable with just under 2 seconds between us at the finish. 

Finals

For the Open Final, I was gridded 6th.  I wasn't that I had a particularly bad start, but more like the more powerful 1,000cc bikes were able to drag past me to the Complex.  This put me in about 8th place for Seagrave, but I managed to pull a couple of places back through Noble and was 6th for a while.  It was very frustrating to be quicker in the turns than the bigger bikes and then watch them drive off Church into the distance, but there's not a lot I could do about it.  I then had Phil Bevan come past me up the back straight on lap four to drop me down to 7th, but I don't know what happened to him as he didn't feature in the results afterwards.  Come the final lap, I wasn't under any pressure behind me and we were all queued up in front, so I settled for my 6th place finish.

For the Formula 600 final I was 2nd on the grid rather than pole, which I was a bit surprised about as I thought I'd gone pretty quick in the Qualifier race.  I looked across to pole and could see that it was a Suzuki GSXR600 and that it was covered in Crescent livery, but I hadn't got a clue who the rider was.  I got away from the line ok and was third into the left/right complex, but then just going into Seagrave I managed to take Leon Morris and go 2nd.  I had the Suzuki in my sights and passed him going into Goodwood and then held the lead until the back straight when he passed me again.  I then battled with him again in the next lap, before he got in front of me going into Church and then just pulled away from me like he was on a 1,000 not a 600!  He pulled away good and proper on the third lap, so it was just between me and Leon who was going to get 2nd.  I didn't think Leon would be that close, but he got past me on the long run out of Church on the third lap and I had to give chase.  I could catch him again through the tighter sections and made a move on him every lap until the last through the left hander of Noble, but every time I got past he would drive past me again up the hill to the final chicane.  On the last lap, I tried to get close enough to him to pass him before Noble, the plan being that I was a lot quicker through there and could gap enough to hold him up the back straight.  However, it all went wrong when I tried to get on the gas early out of Seagrave and it chucked me out of the seat!  I recovered it, but I'd lost touch with him and had to settle for third.  Oh well....still a good result!

I got back to the paddock and waited for Leon to congratulate him as he'd not only beat me, but had also just picked up the NG Open 600 Championship!  Well done to him and the CSC team for a fantastic season and a well deserved title.  As for the rider on the Suzuki GSXR600 (who eventually won by  over 7 seconds), it turns out it was John Crockford (BSS Privateer) on a Crescent prepared full spec BSS bike.  It was no surprise then that he cleared off........I was just impressed to have battled with him for a couple of laps! 

It was great to round the day off with such an excellent race and I was more than happy that I was back on the pace after my Cadwell crash.  My ribs were ok (could still feel them slightly through the tight turns) and my ankle was a little bit sore, but other than that things were ok and I was happy with my weekend.

Big thanks as usual to Lesley for all her help and thanks to John and Sue who travelled down from the Midlands to come and watch.  Only one more weekend's racing to go now and we can pack up for the year!

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