25th May 2003 - Brands Hatch

I actually managed to get a lie in on the Sunday although not as much as I should have been able given that we were going to be race 11 again. Turned out that my two day old front tyre was shot thanks to my harsh suspension settings. It seems that when the tyre is new it can just about cope with things but when it wears... Only thing for it was to fit a new tyre, soften off the suspension and blag a practice permit to see how things go before the first race of the day.

Race 1 - Mini Twins

Made an okay start but Jason beat me in to the first corner (again). Very annoyed as I could see the other guys pulling away and although Jason's lines were much better that the day before he was getting more and more erratic. After one near miss he eventually went over the grass at Surtees and back across the track right in front of me before bailing out on the grass on the other side. I had now lost the guys in front as I had to brake hard and take avoiding action when he cut across in front but just tried to get my head down and be consistent.

The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. The tyres were coping with the suspension and were sliding around less and, despite being tired, I was fairly comfortable putting in a series of mid 0:56s. I eventually finished 9th which I was happy with as one of the faster guys who wasn't around yesterday had turned up and had passed me early on so it was the equivalent of being in 8th from yesterday. My best was 0:56.16 which was okay but I was actually looking forward to the second race of the day.

Race 2 - Mini Twins

Jason was starting at the back of the grid as was Gary Nicholas who I was chasing in the championship due to them both not finishing the first race. Hopefully this would be the race where I could make up a few points on him. I really need to work on my starts as this time Gary Morris came by and held me up for a lap before I managed a forceful overtake in to Druids (I think). As I went in to Graham Hill I braked in the usual place and as I let the brakes off ready to turn it in the bike started accelerating. Eeek! I turned it in as fast as I could but the speed was too much and I was now too close to the rumble strip.

The rear let go and I was unceremoniously dumped on the rumble strip and started rolling through the grass. All I could think of was to hold my hands as close to my chest as I could after breaking my wrist last year. I eventually stopped moving, got up and went to look at the bike. I was well up for trying to get going again but the clip on was bent round and prevented the bike from turning left. Not good! Realised I was pretty shaken up so walked back to the garage and had a rest.

After going back to pick up all the bits out of the grass that had fallen off the bike I worked out that it had slid a good 25m up the hill before coming to rest. I collected the various sticky out bits, the crash bobbins and the air intake that had fallen off my lid and went to collect the bike from the scrutineering bay. I think I got away quite lightly considering the ferocity of the crash but was very annoyed to see that Jason had managed to get 8th place from the back of the grid after Gary Nicholas received a penalty for a yellow flag infringement. That 8th would have been enough to put me level with Gary in the championship.

Oh well! My first DNF of the year although my best was 0:57.04 according to my lap timer which wasn't bad considering it was only my second lap of the race.

Doh! A weekend of ups and downs. Didn't think I did anything wrong that caused the crash - Maybe I hadn't adjusted the throttle cables properly when I put the carbs on the last time. The suspension issues are getting frustrating but I really should be able to keep the thing upright. Never mind, I wasn't hurt other than a few good bruises and the bike was fixable although it would require a few spare parts for the rear sets, clip ons and the bodywork was now looking very second hand as I had trashed the other side to the one damaged at Snetterton.