Race Report - Brands Hatch Indy 21/22 March 2008 (Derby Phoenix)
I'll start by apologising again for the complete lack of race reports last year and for the very delayed reports chronicling this year's efforts. It's amazing both how time consuming it can be to write them up and how little time I seem to have these days, so I've decided that in an attempt to try to keep things reasonably up to date, I'm now going to try to keep them short and simple! Well that's the plan anyway!
This meeting fell on the Easter bank holiday and for whatever reason, Derby Phoenix had booked the circuit for a Friday/Saturday meeting rather than the usual weekend affair, but at least it meant we had two days break after the racing which was good. It was such a long way, we needed the rest after we got home! The other thing was that as well as this being the first time I'd cocked my leg over a bike since last October, it was my first time ever at Brands Hatch (other than as a spectator), so I was a bit nervous about which way the track went and how it might ride. Thankfully I'd had the Thursday trackday to learn it and get some practice!
Friday Races
For the first race I was gridded 14th and got off to a good start, getting up amongst the top 10 into the first corner. I then passed a few more riders in the first and second laps to get to the front man and then took the lead in lap three. It was a straight forward race from then onwards, with a comfortable 3-4 second lead to the finish.
For race two I started from pole, but didn't get away well and was down to 4th into Paddock for the first time. I quickly got up into 2nd place and closed up behind Luke Jones looking at a move on him at the start of the 4th lap, but then the race was red flagged. The restart went off in a similar way and I was back in 4th again through Paddock and Druids on the first lap, but I got through to 2nd behind Luke Jones again by lap two. Four laps in and it started raining, the surface quickly becoming very slippery and not to my liking, so being early on in the season and not doing the championship, I pulled up.
Saturday Races
It rained overnight and the weather was still a bit changeable (as well as being bloody freezing!) and the circuit still damp, but there was a drying line. For the first race, I decided on a wet front/dry rear tyre combination and this paid dividends in the early laps as I sliced my way through from the back of the grid to 2nd place. All was going well, however, 14 laps on a now virtually dry track was just too much for a wet front tyre and I lost the front at Druids on the last lap to crash out chasing after the leader.
The DNF in race one meant I had to start race two from the back of the grid as well, but I got a good start and was into the top 15 by the end of the first lap and then just started picking riders off as the laps went by. I got up to second by lap 11 and looked ahead to see what I was chasing, but could only assume the leader was well gone. The race was cut short by a red flag on lap 13, but I was happy with 2nd place from the back of the grid.
So that was the first meeting completed and the first crash of the year too! It was good to get back on the bike again, but it reminded me how much you suffer with the lack of practice when you don't ride for a few months. I was very much off the pace generally and making mistakes everywhere, so I need a bit of work to get my rhythm back.
Huge thanks (plus hugs and kisses) go to Frankie for looking after me and for keeping me fed and watered as well as helping out with the bike and doing the pit board. She was froze stiff all weekend and didn't thaw out until we got back on Sunday, but soldiered on anyway.....thanks darling!
Just a quick final note to say great to see Dave Williams back racing again after a couple of years off. He's back on his Aprillia RS250 and watching him tinker away (darn finicky those two smokes!) it hardly seeems like he's been away and he even managed a few top 10 results.....well done mate!