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Cadwell Park after 14 Years
April 17 & 18, 2004 - Cadwell Park is a circuit I last
raced on 14 years ago so I needed to learn it as if it
was a new circuit. The Friday practice was full and even
as a reserve, I didn't get a place. so we arrived Friday
mid afternoon to set-up. The weather report for Saturday
was rain early on and drying. To cover both
eventualities, I fitted a dry rear and wet front so I
knew I would only have to change one wheel on Saturday
morning.
Scrutineering was done on Friday night so I only had to
sign on in the morning. It felt great to be ready and
also meant we could sleep in a bit on Saturday.
Saturday
Practice
As I wasn't able to get a place on the Friday track day,
I did the best I could to learn the circuit in the 10
minute morning practice we are given. With little
warm-up time, I knew I would have to rely on
concentration and race craft experience.
Race 1
My plan was to use the race to continue learning the
circuit. Starting from 20th on the grid I took it easy
and just followed the bikes in front. By the penultimate
lap, I felt more confident in some corners but still had
to work on others. I knew that one of my rivals, and
fellow Adopt-a-Racer member, Shaun Gilbert, also
learning the circuit, had been following me closely for
5 laps of the race. I thought I had beaten him when on
the last lap, he made it past me. Even so, I was happy
enough with my 22nd place finish.
Race 2
My plan for this race was the same as in the first; to
learn more about the circuit. I had a grid position of
22 and once again, Shaun Gilbert (who is a few days
younger than my son) was my target to beat. He got a
much better start while I was pushed back to about 28th
position. I gradually built up my speed, taking more and
more places during the race and continued to keep Shaun
in sight. My partner confirmed there were only three
bikes between us on the last lap and I had made up 8
places but the results sheet showed five bikes in front
of me.
Still, I couldn't complain as I finished the race, felt
far more confident with the circuit, had easily
overtaken a large group of racers to finish, according
to the results sheet, 22nd and had knocked a couple of
seconds off my lap times with the last lap being my
fastest of the day.
Sunday
Race 1
The weather had taken a turn for the worse giving me yet
another full wet race. I was really hoping for a dry
race to use my previous day's learning to push myself
and the bike to its limits.
I now had to re-learn the circuit in the wet conditions,
so my plan for the first race was to get a slow start
and concentrate on learning the track bit by bit. This
worked quite well as I passed a number of bikes towards
the end of the race and kept improving my lap times to
finish in 24th place with the 15th fastest lap time.
Overall I had a productive race and felt a lot more
confident.
Race 2
The plan for this race was to get a reasonable start and
try to stay in with the faster bikes, which was going to
take some doing as I had a grid position of 24. I had a
good start and began to reduce my lap times far earlier
in the race.
I was passing a lot of riders on the faster corners and
holding my own on the slow corners. There were a number
of riders who fought back really hard when I passed
them. One rider kept fighting back at me and only gave
up when I went around the outside of him at the
Gooseneck. I overtook another rider very fast around the
outside on the entry to the first corner after the start
straight. He stayed with me and re-passed me on the last
lap. I didn't realise he was still close otherwise I
would have pushed a bit harder on that lap.
There were a few crashes during the race and sadly one
of them was Shaun Gilbert, who was having a fantastic
race and in second place when he went down. My finish at
10th was the best so far this year and I also had the
10th fastest lap time and it was all due to me riding
better.
Overall, I was happy with my results, consistency and
progression. With finishes of 22nd, 22nd, 24th and 10th,
plus my lap times being 26th, 22nd, 15th and 10th
fastest as the weekend progressed. Even though it was so
cold and wet on Sunday, I felt my riding had improved
and I felt more comfortable by the last race of the
weekend.
My goals at the beginning of the year were to make it to
being a regular midfield finisher by the end of the
season, especially as the Supersport 600 is such a
competitive class. As I am already achieving this, my
new goals are to get to be a regular top 15 finisher
with some top 10 finishes by the second half of the
season. By the end of the season I hope to be a regular
top 10 finisher and score points at each race.
Snetterton is the next race on May 1st and I am hoping
for a dry race. As I know the circuit a lot better than
Brands, Croft and Cadwell, I hope to be in the top 15
for all my races. The first one will be the most
difficult as I need to learn how the bike behaves when
pushed a lot faster than I am used to. Due to budget
limits, I may be on the old tyres again but they should
be (just) ok for the first couple of races.
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