18th March 2001 - Brands Hatch

Having spent most of Saturday getting the front wheel to line up with the rest of the bike and straightenting a few other bits and pieces I left for Brands. After the disappointment of missing out on the first two rounds I arrived at Brands with equal parts excitement and trepidation. I had been warned that garage space would be at a premium so arrived in good time on Saturday afternoon and joined the queue to get in. Spent a couple of hours chatting in a friend's van whilst we plotted a way to grab a garage for myself and some friends running in the Rookie 600s class and also ensuring we got another for the TeamIxion 2 stroke contingent. Obviously the fact that he had a heater in the van and I didn't had nothing to do with it ;-)

They finally let us in to the circuit at 5:30pm but hadn't bothered to open the gates across the circuit. Whilst the larger vans joined that queue the rest of us made a dash for the tunnel only to halted just as quickly because that barrier was closed as well. I telephoned the circuit office to get the gates opened but they opened the other ones first so I had to sit there at the front of the queue and watch the remainder of the paddock cross in front of me and blag all the garages. Fortunately Steve Bullimore was one of them and he got one of the last ones going. Unfortunately we had to wait another couple of hours for someone to find the key and let us in. Undaunted I unloaded the bike and went home - The joys of living near to the circuit meant that I had a warm bed to sleep in whilst everyone else shivered in their vans.

After getting up at an unfeasibly early hour the first job was to get the bike and equipment scrutineered. I never realised how painful getting in to a set of leathers could be. My shoulder was still very weak and I had very restricted movement but managed to push the bike down to the end of the paddock, i.e. not far given our garage position. At that point Mike arrived who had managed to get a day pass from his missus and had kindly offered to spanner for me (Seen in the picture after helping Nick Straughan rebuild his bike after his off in the first Rookie race - That's Nick's fairing on the left full of oil).

Practice was interesting - 3 laps in the snow. What is it with snow at these circuits - It's getting predictable. Having been there since 7:00 we then had to wait until 12:00 for the first race. Fortunately I had fitted wets the previous day so it wasn't that much of a problem. For some reason I was drawn on row 2 which must have been a mistake as there were 5 of us there and I these things are usually decided by the position in the Championship. By that reckoning I should have been on the back row but I wasn't going to complain.

Race 1 - Rookie 600

Started to get a bit nervous as I got ready for the first race although once I was on the track theres was far to much to thing about. Got an okay start from the second row but my shoulder was hurting a lot so couldn't countersteer properly. Pretty soon people started barrelling past me as I realised that it wasn't just my shoulder that was the problem and that I had no idea how hard you could push it in the rain. At just about every corner the first thing that came in to my head was my previous crashes and how scary the bike was so instead of looking in to the corner and getting on with it I was just rolling off and gently turning in rather than braking hard and cranking it over.

Had a bit of a dice with a guy around the middle of the race who proceeded to roll off half way down the start/finish straight just as I was about to pull out and overtake him. Despite some frantic braking on my part I hit his back tyre at around 100mph but somehow stayed up. What little rhythm I had built up was totally lost and he soon came by again only to do the same thing on the back straight a couple of laps later. This time I was able to get past him without a collision but just pootled round to the finish. At the end I had been lapped twice by the leaders and my best lap was 1:12.61 - Doh! A fairly embarrassing 28th out of 32 finishers.

Race 2 - Clubman 600

Had entered the Clubman championship to get some practice so went out for another race with some even quicker boys. Started on row 10 which meant the race was much less eventful than the first as the track was now wet but it wasn't raining any more. Still having shoulder problems and but was trying to relax a bit more. As before I was losing a huge amount of time in Druids and Graham Hill bend which was a shame as until the final lap I wasn't actually last. Eventually finished 29th out of, er, 29 finishers with a best of 1:10.80 - Only got lapped once this time though ;-)

Race 3 - Rookie 600

Feeling a bit more with it but was now on row 7 due to my finishing position in the first race. I messed up the start but was a bit more on the ball during the race. Still had problems getting my head sorted but the dry line that had started appearing in the Clubman race was now covering a lot of the track. Still losing yards at Graham Hill and Druids (by yards I mean about 20 or 30 at Graham Hill) but was much more consistent, well, consistently poor anyway. Didn't really find anyone to dice with due to their ability to lose me as soon as we got round the back of the circuit. Ended up 27th out of 31 with a best of 1:07.18. having said that just about every lap was a 1:07.* which proved I was consistent if nothing else.

Race 4 - Clubman 600

There was a nice long clear period after the previous race where the track had almost dried completely so we fitted the D207GP* in place of the wets and went out. The minute we got to the holding area it started to rain. Only gently at first but I had to wipe my visor after the sighting lap and it got worse from there. Got a good start from the 8th row and found I could stick with the rest of the pack who had opted for intermediates rather than wets. Not brave enough to overtake but after about three laps about a dozen people had pulled in as the rain got heavier. Felt quite comfortable and was probably on for some points due to the high attrition rate but in the end common sense prevailed and decided to save my shoulder & bike for another day. I pulled in, packed up and went home.

To put it into perspective my best lap in the rain was 1:12.61 and my best on a drying track was 1:07.18 - At the Keith Code course there last year on my stock CBR600 road bike I managed 1:12.* in the pouring rain and 1:01.* in the dry - All whilst doing the third gear and no brakes drill. When I took this bike for a shakedown run at Brands last November I managed 59s laps and that was with the broken ribs from the karting accident. I really need to get my head in gear and fortunately I have a month for my shoulder to recover so maybe I can get it sorted in time for the next race in Snetterton.