Photo courtesy of
AE Photography
An
Unfitting End to the Season
BMCRC Nationwide Supersport 600 Championship
Rounds 17 & 18 - Brands Hatch - September 3 & 4
SUMMARY &
RESULTS
Saturday Race 1: Grid 16 – Finished 9th
Saturday Race 2: Grid 9 – Finished 15th
Sunday Race 1: Grid 15 – Finished 15th
Sunday Race 2: Grid 15 – Did Not Finish
Championship Points: 77 = 19th place
HIGHLIGHTS:
RACE REPORT
As the last race in the BEMSEE championship and with the
bike running well, I was looking forward to a good last
weekend.
My goal for the weekend was to try to get back to full
race pace, and to score championship points.
We arrived at Brands on Thursday evening to get set up
and to be ready for the Friday practice sessions.
Friday practice went well. In the initial sessions, I
was just trying the bike out and keeping everything
calm. In the later sessions I started using my head a
bit more to ‘think’ my way around. It felt good and my
times were acceptable for the day.
Phil Seton had tuned the bike and Gary Smith of SDC did
the fuelling set. The power increase made a far better
bike than before, but it was still rideable.
Saturday Practice:
The practice was only used to scrub in the new tyres
kindly supplied by John Sanders (from the first round of
the year). Nice easy session.
Saturday Race 1: Grid 16 –
Finished 9th
This race was to be used to get up to a reasonable pace.
The start from the fourth row was fair and I made up
places over the first few laps to settle into a
comfortable ride. The result was reasonable but still a
fair way back from the lead.
The weather was hot and dry, making it a really good day
to be out racing.
Saturday Race 2: Grid 9 –
Finished 15th
For this race I was hoping to up the pace a little and
was even feeling a little nervous at the start. My start
was fair, only losing a few places, and then making up a
few to finish the first lap in 11th place. At the end of
the straight my brakes failed going into Paddock corner;
the throttle housing had rotated and the throttle cables
had fouled the brake lever. Luckily by pulling the brake
lever really hard it moved the cables and I survived the
corner. I had to slow down to keep checking the problem,
and was thinking of pulling in, but found that I could
manually move the cables out of the way before putting
the brakes on, so I kept going. This needed to be done
at every corner so my lap times were not great and I
dropped back a fair bit. I was really happy to have
finished in 15th place.
Sunday Race 1: Grid 15 –
Finished 15th
With the throttle fixed I was determined to make up
places in the race. On the sighting lap I got the best
start I’ve had so far, so was feeling very confident for
the race. The race start was a disaster – I nearly
stalled off the line and everyone passed me putting me
in last place into the first corner. For the rest of the
race I was overtaking all the time. Eventually I came up
to a tight group that was running around 9 to 14th place
and could not carve through that easily. My finish
position was fair considering my start and I felt I was
riding a little better.
Sunday Race 2: Grid 21 –
Finished 22nd
As the last race of the season I was keen to do well. I
took it easy on the start for the sighting lap, to save
the good start for the race. My start was fairly good,
possibly making up a couple of places leading up to the
first corner. Just as we were starting to turn in a bike
on my right veered hard left and knocked my front wheel
out from under me. I went down hard and took another
bike out in the crash, but luckily only two of us went
down.
The bike took a fair amount of damage as it barrel
rolled through the gravel trap. I bounced quite a bit
and damaged the ligaments in my shoulder, initially
thought to be quite serious. Luckily after a day at the
local hospital the x-rays showed the damage not to be
that serious so it looks like I won’t need surgery.
General Comments:
This was a weekend to be looked forward to and it turned
out quite well. There were a few problems and the crash
to end the season wasn’t the best of ideas, but we met
up with all the great friends and had a few good nights
and some fantastic racing to watch.
It was good to see John Sanders again at a race meeting
for only the second time this year. He had some really
good photos of the China MotoGP race compiled into a
really nice booklet.
Phil Polden was the highlight of the weekend when he got
the most deserved first win and the Rod Harwin rider of
the day. That race alone made the whole weekend worth
being there.
Shaun Gilbert had worked long hours to get his bike back
and running to make the race. His bad luck continued by
being taken out and then another engine blow up. But
true to his form he was still out there riding an R1 for
the first time and still helping others out.
A special thanks goes out to Phil, Shaun, Lindsay and
Fraser for helping to pack the van and move the caravan
to a holding area, and to John for driving Kailah and me
to the medical centre.
Next year is going to be a good year. I will be doing
the Supersport 600 Championship again and I’m really
looking forward to having a fully competitive bike to
get the best position in the championship.
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