Snetterton Circuit, Bemsee ACU 8th Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th July 2007
Race Prep & Practice Day
I went out with Tim Jones (Mr MiNiTiM) on the Wednesday at Brands Hatch for a track day. He sat me down beforehand and went through the track and then we did a dosido of him following me on track and then my following him. He had some really great feedback and was really positive throughout the day. We had a laugh and I learnt how to assess myself and the bike a lot better. I also learnt how to start putting into practice the things I know but haven't been able to actually pull off. So although the lap times I was doing weren't my best (particularly as it rained something chronic) I did actually learn a lot from him. He has become a good racing friend/mentor and I have a lot of respect for him. I ended up doing the evening session as well as the day session (I hadn't realised that there was an evening session too) and really enjoyed it!
So what Tim and I had been working on went into place on the practice day at Snetterton. The new fairing that Id put on the bike looked fantastic, thanks to the efforts of SDC and OddBall Paint so I was looking for some good photos of the weekend for my sponsors, SPI Associates.
The practice day also saw Steve "Spinoff" Tibbs highside right in front of me. He was very grateful that I managed to stop before I ran over his head. I had a lot of respect for the fact that he still went out the next day, albeit with a broken thumb and strapping his shoulder in place with gaffer tape. The guy just wants to get rid of his orange jacket! So he didn't push it and just brought her home over the weekend.
Race 1: Poor Start Better Lap Times
After a bit of a faff in the morning, it transpired that my tyre warmers were not switched on and so I went out in qualifying on cold tyres, which I saw as a challenge! Warmed them up slowly and got up to almost race pace when the chequered flag came out. Still I qualified in 21st (16th rookie) which, for someone who doesn't qualify well, isn't too bad…I guess I also have to be grateful I didn't crash…
This was a good race. I had a good mental attitude and was battling it out with Del Saunders (the guy that knocked me off in practice last Snetterton round). He won the battle this time, pushing me down a place, but I was happy with that because Id done a 1m 25 lap, my best so far and miles better than the last time I saw Snetterton. He commended me on my riding too, telling me he couldn't catch me round Richies Corner which meant a lot coming from one of the people in the series that I admire. He also did the usual Minitwin 'up yer bum' salute, very cool, which put a grin on my face.
Race 2: Bit better
Had a real tousle with Adrian Livesey for this race. He said to me afterwards that I was better on the brakes than he, but that he had better drive out of the corners, which Tim and I had been working on. I am lazy with the throttle, so I think I'm going to get myself a sticker and put it by my rev counter, saying "PUSH ME". I think it's because we tend to spend so much time working on the corners, that the easy stuff like putting the gas on on the straights goes out the window. Still we had a good brawl but the damn lightweight beat me by a whisker at the last millisecond on the straight, pushing me back to 17th rookie. Still I was happy with the lap times coming down to my best so far.
Race 3: Can I see 1m22?
Much to the disbelief of a few people, Id set myself the target of 1m 22 laps for the weekend. However, this was starting to look like a possibility. However, I had a terrible start. Bike didn't pull away at all and I'm used to wheelies on the start line. I guess this was down to the 15-44 sprocket change and my not being used to it yet. Once I got going, I made up 4 or 5 places to claw back my loss, which made me feel that Id done ok and had lots of improvement to make. I had a particular couple of battles with Phil Sabin, overtaking him on Corams several times (my favourite overtaking place) and I was told that I undertook someone at Richies too and that I was giving people far too wide a berth. Again, this comes down to my lack of trust in other riders and general road head that I seem to want to hang on to.
Still, I made 15th rookie, which was my best result all weekend and got myself one point in the championship. I'm 18th out of 30 at the moment, which will probably change now that Mr Livesey (Mr Yes Evil) has picked up his game a little. I think I'm going to have to REALLY push it at Brands GP (and maybe get Rich put on the van insurance just in case…).
Race 4: Yellow Flag but seeing only red
This time I got a MUCH better start thanks to a quick bodge from the ever ready to help Mr Wittey. I could still see Bully on lap one and was getting far too excited. In fact I got so excited I went straight on at Russells, giving Cherie Christian and Phil Sabin time to pass me. However, I got it back together and went back in pursuit. Another battle with Mr Sabin proved fun, marred by a big incident involving Dan Gray and Craig Ashall, which I didn't even see, resulting in a yellow flag. Unfortunately I didn't see the flag either and got docked 10 seconds for overtaking Phil on it as a result. I ended up 17th rookie, although I should have been 14th and 19th overall instead of 22nd.
Well I felt that I had progressed all throughout the weekend, especially given the high grid attendance and lack of my favourite rain! Now I just have to find somewhere that I can do some practice starts because there really isn't anywhere that they allow you to do this in the country! A number of people commented to me this weekend that I am looking MUCH better out there and that there is a vast improvement. My lap times are down by 10 seconds a lap on the last visit. I didn't make 1m 22 but I know that I will next round (we are doing snet three times this season). This gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, considering that Snetterton is my weakest circuit due to two bad crashes there: one at Richies at 120mph trying to catch Syco Langford on a track day last year (come on Gabs, you're on an sv thou, he's winning the rookie 600s! what were you thinking! lol) and one already mentioned at the esses, which was my first (enlightening) introduction to the entertaining Mr Saunders (whom I think is now losing the crasher award to Mr Tibbs).
Thanks to everyone who came to see me – it was lovely to see you and I really appreciated your attendance, especially when for some of you it took 5 hours just to get there!
Trying to decide what to do for next year now too. Many options and cash arranging to sort.
Stats:
Qualifying: dry, 1m 28s 357 (best lap, lap 5) 79.532 (best speed), 21 (result pos)
Race 1: dry, 21 (start grid pos) 1m 25s 238 (best lap, lap 4), 82.442 (best speed), 22 (result pos, 16th R)
Race 2: dry, 22 (start grid pos) 1m 24s 287 (best lap, lap 4), 83.372 (best speed), 23 (result pos, 17th R)
Race 3: dry, 23 (start grid pos) 1m 25s 209 (best lap, lap 7), 82.470 (best speed), 21 (result pos, 15th R)
Race 4: dry, 21 (start grid pos) 1m 24s 092 (best lap, lap 5), 83.566 (best speed), 22 (result pos, 17th R)
Non budgeted costs of race:
None.
Next race: Brands Hatch GP, 21st & 22nd July.
Next race prep required:
Mentally – Made leaps and bounds since the track day with Tim Jones. The fact that I missed a yellow flag is indicative of my newly found concentration…
Physically – Now I've got some cash flow sorted, will get the proper drinks and do some sessions at the gym. Ponced one of Moosie's and this worked well for me!
Bike – Fairing is being burnt by my exhaust so I will take it to SDC at the weekend. Other than that, fine.