7th March 2004 - Brands Hatch

With both my bike and my body out of action there was no way I was going to be able to ride. Obviously I was disappointed but cheered up when I saw that the weather had taken a turn for the worse and the track was going to be wet for most of the day My bike on the other hand looked almost as sorry as I did. It hadn't really been hit that hard, well not at first glance anyway. Initially I thought it was just the broken and bent handlebars and foot peg. Turned out to be a little more complicated than that but, I suspect, it could still have been a lot worse given that I was taken out at nearly 100 mph whilst cranked over in the middle of the corner.

A quick look at the video footage confirmed that a) there was never going to be any space to overtake at the point and b) that Nigel Voyce had been traveling way too fast and had simply gone in too hot and rather out of control. I suspect that if I hadn't been there for him to bounce off he would have ended up flying through the air regardless. Still didn't make me feel any better, especially when he told me "That's racing!" when I did eventually catch up with him. He did apologise eventually but kept repeating the "That's racing!" mantra over and over again. It's only racing when it's a legitimate move that goes slightly astray. Anything more than that is simply reckless but I guess others don't see it quite like that.

A closer inspection of the bike revealed that not only had I bent the foot peg but the foot peg mount (that is welded to the frame) was badly bent also. Some how the rear of the swing arm had been completely crushed as well, destroying the cast aluminium end plate, the chain adjuster and various other bits and pieces in that area. This was where I found the biggest problem of racing a rare bike. Nobody in the UK had a new, or second hand, swing arm for sale. The part is interchangeable with the Cagiva Raptor 1000 but still I couldn't find one. More by luck than judgement I stumbled across a couple dotted around the world. I'd been using a Raptor forum on the internet and tracked one down a second hand unit in Finland and another in New Zealand. Baines Racing came up trumps by fitting it all together for me and sorting out the foot peg, etc.

The racing on the Sunday was pretty spectacular though. Everyone was much quicker although it rained shortly before the second race which caused a lot of confusion over tyre choices, etc. In the end Rob Garland won the race on a rapidly drying track. His first race win in 26 years of racing. Well done Rob! He had chosen a wet front tyre with a dry rear. In another lap he would have been beaten by second place man Chris Foster who was riding on Metzeler Rennsports in the damp whilst almost everyone else had opted for wets and had destroyed their tyres when the track dried out.

Not the start to the season I had hoped for. It left me fairly battered and cost a fortune. The swing arm, leather repairs, foot peg repairs, handlebars, etc. probably cost around a grand. There goes my tyre budget for the year. Ho hum!