1st March 2001 - Lydden

Finally managed to source a replacement alternator cover. Judging from the state of the previous one I think Honda make them from chocolate. Managed to source a nice one from a Canadian company called NRC Racing which, albeit fairly expensive, seems like it will hold up a little better. Also managed to get hold of the correct set of crash bobbins. Seems the ones I was given before weren't even for the correct bike. Got it all fitted at some unearthly hour last night although still had to cut the holes in the fairing and bolt it all together once I had got to the track.

Missed the first session doing some basic maintenance and the second whilst I ran around trying to get the wet tyres fitted. By this time it was raining quite hard and so I had an interesting introduction to wet tyres, particularly as they were brand new. The next couple of sessions were pretty good as I gradually learnt the track and built up my confidence in riding in the snow - Yes, by this time it was snowing heavily. By my estimates I was progressing well enough for a top ten position, only losing out on some of the faster riders when moving thorough traffic.

The bike is taking much more getting used to than I would have imagined. It's not so much coping with the top end power more trying to keep it in the usable area and out of the rather large hole in the mid range. The other thing I have noticed is the huge amount of engine braking when you come off the power, I guess that running an engine with that much compression must have a downside but it feels like the bike suddenly throws all it's weight forward the minute you roll off the throttle.

I think that must have been the cause of my second off in as many weeks. Coming in to the Devil's Elbow, in fact before I had even got to the corner itself, I found myself visiting the tarmac again. As before I am really unsure what happened, I can only assume I shut the throttle too fast when I wasn't completely upright and lost the front end. This time I landed on my shoulder much harder than before and heard a sickening crack and felt totally winded for a few seconds.

I managed to get up but it was all I could do to make it to the side of the track ready to be whisked off to the medical centre. The consensus seemed to be that although I hadn't broken anything I had torn a ligament, or something similar, in my shoulder. I'll be off to the Doctor's tomorrow to get it double checked but am writing this with a suitably large ice pack on my it and an even more impressive array of pain killers.

The bike on the other hand had managed to land heavily on on the left side once again before flipping over to ensure the right hand side didn't feel left out. Fortunately the crash bobbins did their job although the new alternator cover did get a bit scratched (I have some heavy duty foot pegs ready to put on that should ensure it never touches the ground again). A few more scuffs on the fairing and seat unit plus a badly mauled brake lever was the net result, although it will take me considerably longer to clean off all the mud and grass that was collected along the way.

Unfortunately my shoulder injury mean I had to rely on a couple of fellow Rookies to load the van for me (Thanks guys!) and does rather rule me out of the first two race days this coming weekend. The next race is at Brands Hatch by which time I will be four races adrift in the championship but hopefully the weather will be better and I'll be in a fitter state to make the best of it.