28th May 2001 - Snetterton

Sitting in bed enjoying a lazy Sunday morning when the phone rings. It's Steve Bullimore telling me they've moved the start time of the first race forward an hour and I've only got forty five minutes to get there. Unfortunately I'm in the first race so I have a mad dash to the track and have barely enough time to get in to my leathers before the race is called.

To top it all my nice new rear tyre only gets about five minutes in the tyre warmers when all the advice has been to cook it for a very long time to get the moulding compound off. Guess I'll be scrubbing it in during the first race.

Race 1 - Clubman 600

Really nervous as I've only ever ridden on brand new tyres a few times on the road and this is definitely the first time in a race situation. Really not sure how hard I can push it so take it really easy and have a very lonely ride. The only time I see someone is when I lap them, lap them?, it seems the Rookie I collided with in my very first race at Brands Hatch back in March got entered in the Clubman championship by accident and is the only person circulating slower than me. End up 31st place with a best lap of 1:29.22! That's even worse than my best time the last time I was here and a full seven seconds slower than my best from yesterday. Oh well, I guess my tyres are scrubbed in now ;-)

Day 2 - Rookie 600

Getting a bit happier with the rear tyre but my confidence and my lines are all over the place and I can't seem to get things flowing the way they did yesterday. A fairly lonely race but gradually catch a couple of guys towards the end but can't seem to find a way though. They are battling quite hard and taking some interesting lines so I daren't get too close in case they have me off.

Just when I think it can't get any worse they both aim for the same spot in the chicane on the last lap and collide rather abruptly. One takes to the grass and the other wobbles all over the place in front of me - I have to slow down and wait until he recovers so we don't collide but still don't manage to pass him before the finish. The guy who took to the grass was in front a the time of the incident so does a lot of fist waving on the slowing down lap.

Finished in 26th place with a best of 1:24.34 - A bit better but still nowhere on yesterday. A general confidence problem as I'm turning in too early and screwing up the lines I had worked out for yesterday.

Race 3 - Clubman 600

Make a better start for the final Clubman race and bash fairings with a couple of guys around the first corner. Make up a few places but can't get the bike in to gear at the end of the and have to run straight on. Almost get knocked off by another guy who has also taken the same route as he is determined to get back on track before me. Have to wait until the track is clear before I can continue which means I get out in last position.

Make up one place before I even get around to the end of the first lap and set about picking people off. Have really lost too much time and only pick up a couple of places in the next few laps. Manage to catch a guy on a ZX6R I know has finished behind me in all of the Clubman and Rookie races so far this weekend and I'm not about to let this one be any different. Pick up the pace a little and manage to get past him around Corams on the last lap.

Managed to recover enough to get up to 29th place with a best of 1:24.25 by the time the flag comes out.

Race 4 - Rookie 600

Another awful start but pick things up a bit and manage to hang with a couple of guys on the row in front. They pull away very slowly through the traffic as I start to have problems with another guy on a ZX6R who is all over the place. He seems to think that it's funny to go half way round Corams with his hand in the air and then suddenly decide to go racing again and move across in front of me.

Gradually reel a few people in but can't get the line right at Riches compared with yesterday. Almost get the guy in front before I have more gear selection problems at Russells on the last lap. End up coming to a stand still in the middle of the chicane before I can find a gear and hare off to the finish before the next guy comes past. Ended up 25th with a best of 1:23.55

A great weekend that saw me move up to fighting for positions in the low twenties and beyond. Much better than the low thirty positions I was getting the last time. Shame about the knackered tyre denting my confidence but I'm sure it'll come back over the next few races. Can't believe how many close encounters I had and how many places I lost because of it - Guess that's racing!

Interestingly enough I seem to be able to run with guys who can run up to two seconds a lap faster than me yet I can be in front of them or right behind them at the finish. After the first lap or two I seem to be able to settle down and put in almost the same lap times for the rest of the race. This can only be a good sign - now if I can just knock off those two seconds...

Hopefully in a couple of months my shoulder will be better so I will be able to hang off the bike again - It's really disconcerting not knowing where the ground is!

Big respect to Ian Davenport for putting in 1:13.12 - He gave me a useful lesson when he lapped me in the last Rookie race at Riches. I turned in, he came underneath me, ran wide and just kept it nailed. At Sears he went off the good tarmac, over the dodgy stuff on to the concrete and just pissed off in to the distance.