10th March 2002 - Brands Hatch

It was Sunday which must mean another race series. This time it's the Aprilia RSV Mille Challenge run alongside the rest of the MRO classes. This is the big time, well, for me it is - The races are filmed and shown on Sky Sports 3 as part of the Moto+ program. This meeting is scheduled to be shown on 4th April at 7:00pm and 11:00pm.

Had spent last night putting a new front tyre on the bike which was an interesting experience. Have never done it myself but with help from Roger Ford and Duncan, his regular mechanic, we got it sorted eventually. This meant that the ten minute practice session was a gentle tour of the track until I was convinced it was scrubbed in before picking up the pace a little towards the end.

Qualifying

For the first time in my life I actually had to qualify for a race which was a bit nerve racking, especially given the speed some of the guys were faster circulating. Not sure whether it was just tiredness or the fact that my ankle was still pretty sore form the crash on Friday but I couldn't really get in to a rhythm. It really wasn't helped by the high wind which made sticking to a line rather interesting.

Only managed a time of 58.34s over the 18 minute qualifying period which was rather embarrassing as not only was it slower than my best time in the two races on Saturday or the practice day on Friday it put me dead last. Normally to get out in the race you have to circulate within 110% of the pole position guy. Unfortunately Steve Booker had managed to get round in 51.05s which meant I needed to be lapping in under the 56.15s - Fortunately there were only 20 entries for this race so the two of us that didn't make the cut were allowed to join the race on the back row of the grid, i.e. 20th position.

Race - Aprilia RSV Mille Challenge

I still haven't managed to master the starts on the Aprilia and by the time I got going even the guys on the same row as me had built a gap. One of the pictures on this page shows me at the back as the grid heads down from Druids to Graham Hill bend on the first lap. Even the guy I had beaten in the last Super Twins race yesterday, and the guy who finished just in front of me, pulled away fairly quickly. I have to admit that I struggled quite considerably with the high wind especially after a couple of interesting moments at Surtees where I turned in left and found myself moving right as I got blown across the track.

This was my third day at the circuit and I was exhausted so the harder I tried the more mistakes I made. Not helped of course by this being an 18 lap race compared with the 9 lap races of yesterday. All proved rather lonely for most of it except when the leaders came through - Something that happened twice for the guys right at the front of the field. My ankle was really starting to hurt and I was hanging on the bars quite a lot due to the sheer effort of muscling this bike around the circuit - I think it works out about 25 kilos heavier than the 600 I raced last year.

So much for 18 laps! I only actually needed to do 16 as I was lapped twice - Something I was quite thankful for by the end of the race. Three people did manage to fall off though and I didn't so I managed to gain a few places as the race progressed. Now if only another two had been nice enough to visit the scenery I might have got a point ;-) Ended up in 17th position and dead last but I didn't care. My best lap time was 59.02s which was rather embarrassing although I was just glad to have made it to the end of my first race of the year and still be able to walk, albeit with a badly bruised ankle and something of a limp!

In summary it was something of a mixed weekend really. Part of me is really disappointed not to have been able to build on the 56.2s laps I was doing on Friday afternoon but given that on Friday night I didn't actually have a bike that was in any condition to even make the race I was fairly please to have just been out there.

It was also my first race back since my accident last August and I hadn't realised how unfit I had become in the interim. At least if I compare it to the start of last season which was also fairly pants I then managed to improve quite dramatically over the next few months so BRING IT ON!