Slipping, sliding, stony & shivering Snetterton

January 12, 2003  - It was bloody freezing, he had 2 crashes, a couple of very squirrelly moments and had to ride his butt off, but Mike Eglington, British Supermoto and Endurance racer, took 1st place in the 450 C (the Crasher's) Final at Snetterton this week-end.

By 8.15 p.m. on the night before, the temperature was -3° and dropping, the door to the caravan had frozen, the gas bottle had ice on it reducing the heat we were getting inside and we had decided, yes, we must be insane!

To convince everyone we were totally mad, we walked the course at 10.00 that night and figured it would be an interesting race. The ground was already rutted and rocky, hard and frozen in places, pitted tar in others, soft marbles at intervals and the odd spot of sand. The dirt part of the circuit, the longest and most technical of the series so far, was going to be tricky.

Morning dawned with that special kind of fog you get when you know it's going to be a brass monkey sort of day. Trees, cars, the circuit, anything that didn't move within a minute was covered with a thick, heavy, icy frost and in spite of wearing half the clothes cupboard, it was cold - bone-chilling, finger aching cold.

The first heat was hard. Mike had a bad start as he wheel spun on the ice, failing to find grip. He caught up quickly and was getting used to the course when, on the 3rd lap, he fell on the last right hand corner of the dirt section, nearly getting his head run over. The back end had slid out on the power, the bike did a 360 but didn't come all the way back in. He kept the bike running though, managed to pick it up, jumped on and kept going.

On lap 5, the circuit was getting very rutted and rocky. On the same corner as his first fall, he nearly fell again, when his tyre found grip, kicked, then high sided him. He gave the spectators a good show with legs flying everywhere as he went around the corner, clinging to the bike and managing to stay on, finishing 16th in the heat.

In the quarter final, there was a long wait at the starting grid as a tractor came on circuit to smooth out some of the ruts and his engine came close to overheating. Mike was starting to get the bike sliding sideways in the Bomb Hole, making up ground on the tar section and although still cautious through Coram's, he managed to overtake a few riders. On his 5th lap, struggling to control the bike on the dirt, he crashed again in the dirt section again when the front end slid out on soft marbles. He couldn't restart the bike and had to leave the circuit, frustrated.

In grid position 16 for the semi final, Mike changed tactics for the start, keeping the revs lower for a slower start on the ice. Although still wheel spinning, he had better grip and caught up with the other riders quickly. At the Bomb Hole, he and 2 other riders came in 3 abreast. The 2 inside riders ran wide pushing Mike onto the grass which lost him some places but he made up a lot of ground at Coram's.

He made better time on the dirt section, finding a good line on the corner where he had twice fallen. This made a big difference to his times and he finished the semi in 8th position, knocking a second off his previous fastest lap.

Starting from grid 8, Mike had a brilliant start, immediately picking up 5 places. Throughout the first laps, Martin Robbins, John Ogilvie, Jamie Wilkins and Mike were already battling. Robbins dropped out in the 2nd lap leaving the other 3 riders in a real race for top position.

Mike was looking awesome both on the tar and in the dirt. You could see that his racing instincts were finally kicking in. Nothing like a good, close race to get the racing blood boiling. After trading places a few times, Mike settled into the lead with Ogilvie 2nd and Wilkins dropping back to 3rd.

The two riders were hammer and tongs for 7 laps, with Ogilvie snapping at Mike's exhaust on the dirt section while Mike powered his way through the tar section. By lap 5, the gaps were increasing and Mike finished 1st dropping 3 seconds off his previous best lap and with a 2 second lead over Ogilvie.
 

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