Donington Park

 

I think it is fair to say that on the whole, it was a very successful weekend.

Although there had been heavy rain Friday night, we woke up to showers and strong winds. Thankfully, the wind helped in drying out the track, so by the time we went out for practice the circuit was pretty dry.

Practice went well, trying to learn the circuit and get up to speed ( having only raced there once before about ten years ago on a bike which had developed a running problem).

Due to lack of entries (an increasing problem) we were out in a race with several other classes, which meant that we were at the back of the grid.

Race one, I started from 33^rd on the grid which was on the outside. The lights went out and we were off, a pretty good start but by the time I got to the first corner I was being pushed out wide, I could see several Earlystockers getting through on the inside, it was mayhem, getting cut up by 650 super twins, formula 400’s and GP250’s, all in their own battles in there respective classes but doing me no favours whatsoever!

I thought it best to try and keep out of trouble (I didn’t want to be apart of someone else’s accident).  By the second lap it had calmed down a little so I started to pick off riders one by one or two or three at a time where possible! By lap 4 I had got past most of the guys in ‘my race’ (who had got through on the inside on turn one) and I could see Jon ahead, he is usually the  front runner in Earlystocks, so I knew I must be near the front. I managed to pass him on the brakes going into the chicane and that was the last I saw of him.

By the end of the race I had managed to gain a good lead over my rivals and won both my class and finished 1^st overall in the Earlystocks class, not bad for my 1^st (completed) race!

 

We then had showers followed by a heavy down pour, which thankfully didn’t last too long. As our second race was after lunch, we were fortunate enough for the strong winds to dry the track out and by the time the start of the race came around, the circuit was all but dry.

 

I started race two from 15^th on the grid, which was ahead of the other guys in my race. I got a good start and a far better first corner, as I had got to the inside and ahead of the main pack. The race was pretty uneventful as I didn’t see anyone else in my class, in fact I was pulling 3 seconds a lap on them all!

I had a couple of good battles with some ‘modern’ bikes, and nearly out braked myself at the end of the back straight, but just about kept it on the track. As I have only just built the bike, this is obviously a year of development and learning, which also includes learning how far I can push things and I think I found the limit as far as the brakes go!

Once again I finished 1^st in class and 1^st overall in the Earlystocks class, so I couldn’t have hoped for a better start.

 

Day two, was a different story, as showers and rain continued throughout the day and without any let up so it was definitely going to be a wet race.

The first thing I did on Sunday morning was to change tyres, as we are not allowed to use race ‘wets’ as stated in the Earlstocks rules, it is a case of trying to find a decent tyre for the wet conditions. I had got a heavily treaded tyre which thought should be good as I had one which looked almost identical that I had been using on my FZR in the wet and that worked really well, the only apparent difference was that this one is ‘road legal’ meaning it was within the rules to use it!

Went out for race one, still raining, and it was immediately apparent on the warm up lap that this tyre was not at all the same as the one’s I had used before.

As the race started I was being rather cautious as I didn’t know how fast or slow I would be able to go, it wasn’t many seconds before it became rather apparent that it was definitely going to be the later!

The back end was sliding all over the place, every corner it was trying to let go, even on the straights I had no grip, it was just spinning up, it was as much as I could do to limp round trying to salvage some points. The race seemed to go on forever, each lap on the start and finish straight I looked up hoping to see the last lap flag, but it wasn’t there, as it turned out we had longer races on the Sunday but I hadn’t noticed that in the program!

The race finally came to an end having been lapped by several of 650 super twins and formula 400’s (as they are allowed to use wets).

 

I was very disappointed with the way it had turned out, but that’s racing! And as I said, this is a development year and a good time to learn what works and what doesn’t, as I think next year will see more competitors joining this new class.

Once back in the garage, I changed the tyre back to my Pirelli ‘dry’ tyre (it couldn’t be any worse!)

Race two and the rain still coming down, I was 31^st on the grid but felt a little better on the warm up lap as the back wasn’t trying to let go everywhere!

I got a good start and cautiously tipped into the first corner, so far so good. I gradually built up speed as my confidence in the tyre grew, slowly started picking off my rivals one by one. On lap 4 I caught Jon so I knew I must be near the front of our race, I managed to get passed him coming out of Macleans and although he tried to stick with me, by the next lap I was starting to pull quite a lead. I had several ‘moments’ especially around Redgate, which seemed extremely greasy, but managed to bring it home in 1^st position.

 

Some great results and lots of progress, we now know that the bike is basically very good and also where we can make some small improvements, not to mention that I can race on the Pirelli in the wet if need be, but I will persist in finding a better alternative, needless to say the ‘wet’ tyre is now going in the bin!

 

Once again a big thank you to all my sponsors and supporters: KJD Motorcycles, Mid Norfolk Mouldings, HiFlo filters and Simply Stickers for all their continued help.

 

Next round Darley Moor 21^st July.

 

Keith 221