Race Report:
Due to university commitments we had been struggling to get our new bike ready in time for this meeting and we almost were unable to go with an ignition problem that we finally rectified the night before the race.
The meeting started badly for Double RR Motorsport with a ratchet strap failure in the back of the van which resulted in both bikes (road and race) falling off their stands but luckily no damage was caused. The new bike went through scrutineering no problem which was a relief and we got the warmers on and bike running to ready for qualifying.
Due to a lack of testing the new bike (new forks seals in the night before) I thought it would be best to ride the bike round the paddock a bit before going to the assemble area for qualifying, all felt fine although the brakes took a while to heat up due to their new race compound pads. While sitting in the assemble area I put the bike in neutral and had a little look around and a chat with other riders. I then found looked back to find all my lights weren’t working and the engine dead. OH DEAR.
We quickly diagnosed the problem was that the wiring loom was earthing out at some point and blowing the 30A starter relay fuse. Despite great efforts from friends and fellow racers we couldn’t rectify this fault and eventually decided If we could borrow a bike to qualify on then we would have enough time to prep my road bike that was in the back of the van to race on. (this was the bike I had previously been racing this season).
Thankfully Simon Bradley agreed to lend us his spare Kawasaki ZXR400 to go out in the Minitwins class and qualify on. This was my first time on a IL4 and compared to my v4’s power delivery the bike felt very strange but one thing I knew this bike was quick, a point confirmed on the first strait when I almost effortlessly powered past 3 650’s. Sadly I believe this may have annoyed one of the 650 riders as they decided to come up the outside and cut my nose off into the Club Chicane. As I result I had to brake and on cold tyres the front tucked and down we went.
The good new was no-one was injured and I got up and walked away fine, the bad was due to it being my first flying lap I did not qualify for the races and my weekend was over, and also that Simon’s bike was looking decidedly worse for wear.
Id just like to say thanks again to Simon for offering to lend me his bike, sorry again and a massive thanks to Colin, Peter and my Dad Rob for all the help over the meeting, again it wouldn’t have been possible without you. And thanks to my all sponsors, sorry I wasn’t able to represent you on track this time.
Ours eyes are now turning to 2010 and we will soon release our plans for the coming season so stay tuned.
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