12th May 2001 - Brands Hatch GP

Arrived back at Brands Hatch on Friday afternoon to join the queue for the garages only to find myself head of the queue. Soon joined by a few more guys from the Team Ixion so we managed to blag two whole garages - One for the 2 stroke boys and another for the 4 stroke contingent, i.e. mainly 600s.

After a good sleep at the local Thistle hotel I got the bike down to scrutineering at some unearthly hour of the morning and signed on. Unlike the previous meeting here they had actually managed to finish the official scrutineering bay so I had to push the bike, well, being lazy I rode it, through the tunnel to the outer paddock. With the temperature getting up to almost 30 degrees Centigrade we get back to the garage, put the tyre warmers on and wait for the first race.

Race 1 - Rookie 600

Unfortunately some bright spark decided not to switch on the tannoy in the garages so what I thought was still side car practice turned out to be the sighting lap for the first race. Unfortunately the first race was the Rookie 600s which I was supposed to be in! A mad dash to the collecting area, along with a dozen or so others, proved frustrating as we were told that we were too late so we ended up watching the race from the pit wall.

I wasn't that disappointed as I was reserve for the Rookie races and confirmed for the Clubman ones so even if I had got out I'd have to start from the very back of the grid. Watched Mandy Wheeler for a few laps after out close racing at Snetterton a few weeks back and was dismayed to see her best lap was 1:52.56 - Eeek, a whole 9 seconds better than the 2:01.77 time I managed yesterday. She also managed to finish 25th due to the depleted field so her starting position for the second race would be much higher than mine.

Race 2 - Clubman 600

The Clubman race soon came around and I was drawn on the 10th row of the grid, i.e. once row up on the reserves. Made a poor start but soon started picking up the pace and making up a few places. Had a good battle with a guy on an R6 and had just got alongside him down the start/finish straight when the race was red flagged after someone took a dive in to the gravel.

The restart was after lunch so I set off to chase down who despite restarting from the positions on the lap prior to the stoppage got a better start than me so I had it all to do again. It took most of the next four laps to get by a couple of guys who were much quicker through Graham Hill and Surtees but would really get in the way around the back of the circuit. I caught up with Mr. R6 again coming out of Dingle Dell and made a good move up the inside of Clearways to beat him to the line.

A top race with the only disappointment being that they took the aggregate times, rather than the final grid position so I ended up being 0.23 of a second behind so the overtaking manouvre was all for nothing. Really must work on my starts so I don't have to spend several laps getting by people who are slower than me. Finished 28th out of 30 finishers and the last person not to get lapped. A big improvement over the test day with a best lap of 1:56.75 - Still the slowest person on the grid but I wasn't last!

Race 3 - Rookie 600

Right, the second Rookie race of the day and I was determined to make up for the disappointing morning. A reasonable start and I can see Mandy only about twenty yards in front as we come out of Paddock and head off up to Druids. Glenn Berry comes by on a charge around the hairpin and proceeds to pull away around the next few corners. It takes some dramatic braking at Hawthorn to get the place back and then it's off to reel in the next few places.

A couple of laps later and I'm really gaining on Mandy although she is much faster than me through Graham Hill and Surtees although it seems most people are at this point. She pulls out about thirty yards on me through here and I have about half the length of the straight to make up each lap around the back of the circuit. I finally catch up with her but have to take evasive action at Dingle Dell a couple of laps later when she brakes much earlier than me and I almost pile in to the back of her bike.

This mistake lets her get away and it takes a while to get past a couple of other bikes before I can try to catch up again. Unfortunately the afternoon races have been shortened to 6 laps instead of the planned 8 laps and I am just 1 second behind when the chequered flag comes out. Once again I am the last rider who didn't get lapped and have ended up in 33rd place out of 37 finishers. Even better is that my lap times have come down to 1:53.26 so things are definitely looking better.

Race 4 - Clubman 600

The temperature is starting to take it's toll and despite this only being my third race of the day I am shattered. Don't feel particularly inspired which is reflected in my lacklustre riding. Most of the race is pent on my own and with nobody to play with my best lap time is a poor 1:58.49 - The only high point was overtaking David McKeever who was earlier leading the Clubman championship. The downside of course was that he had taken a little off track detour so it doesn't really count.

The last lap flag comes out and I get overtaken by another rider around Druids. For some reason the yellow flag are out and we are getting directed in to the pits. Somewhat confused by this I eventually work out what has happened when the results sheets are published. It seems the guy who overtook me was the race leader so when he came around they assumed everyone behind him had finished. Unfortunately as I didn't actually cross the line for the chequered flag I get classified as a DNF which I'm not to bothered about as I just want to lie down. To top it all David McKeever gets placed ahead of me in the results which seems a bit off.

Again, it's interesting to note how much faster the top Rookie guys are than those in the Clubman series. To put it in perspective Ian Davenport managed 11th place (I think) from the back row in the SuperSport 600 race and Steve Bullimore managed a find 5th place from the back in the Clubman!