I’ll admit, I was a little aprehensive going into this race meet. I mean, these guys are serious, national racers with fully sorted and trick machines. What will they think of two numpty’s rocking up in a smurf van with bikes that look like they’ve been cobbled together from left over parts in the garage? I needn’t have worried and all my fears were allayed within the first 5 minutes of meeting the BEARS racers. They’re actually just as crazy as us.
For the first time ever, I managed to get to Pete and Jo’s before it got dark on the night before practise, giving us a chance to put some time into working on the Monster. Seeing as how the engine actually started this time, the most important task was to fit the Ohlins rear shock. We were in what could only be described as a state of confusion when twenty minutes later, the new shock was fitted and we were sitting around scratching our heads looking for things to do. We settled on drinking beer.
Ed was a bit late to Friday practice. Apparently, a hot cooked breakfast, a haircut and a packed lunch were his priorities that morning. Yes boys and girls, Ed rocked up to the race track with a neatly packed lunch, a vast improvement over our usual canned tuna and stale bread rolls. And wasn’t he proud of it too?
Most of Friday was spent trying to relearn the track, but I’m pleased to say I knocked 1.4 seconds of my time and set a new PB of 1.14.0. Finally, my laps are measured in minutes and seconds not the lunar phases.
Qualifying on Saturday morning taught me another valuable lesson. Always, always, always check you have fuel before you go out. I managed to make one lap before the engine cut out, leaving me with the indignation of the walk of shame back from Turn 2.
Race 4 on Sunday was when it really started to get interesting for me. Ed, still having clutch problems, got off to a shocking start but managed to reel the pack in over the first few laps before taking a rather unorthodox line into turn 8 and inspecting the new (and as yet unopened) track extension. I was right behind him at this point and I will admit to a sense of relief when I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about our personal tussles for the rest of the race. With two laps to go I decided that despite making gains on the motard in front of me, I didn’t have enough laps left to catch him. So I backed off a little. Big, big mistake. Ed had managed to pull a rapid u-turn and was back on the track hunting me down. I was only a couple of corners ahead of him going into the last lap and thinking all was sweet with the world, but Ed was under the influence of the red mist and was determined catch me. I really had no idea he was anywhere near me, until I saw his front tyre as we came out of the final corner onto the straight. If you want to see what a margin of 0.026 seconds looks like from on board, check out the video below.
I’m told that Ed and I provided much entertainment for the crowd over the weekend with our late braking manoeuvres into turn 1. I will neither confirm or deny rumours that we were sitting side by side on the straight at 100mph, looking squarely at each other (not the rapidly approaching corner) waiting to see who was going to brake first.
I ended up with three 4ths, a 5th and a 6th putting me 4th overall for the weekend in Formula 5. I’m happy with that and all in all it was a fantastic weekend of racing and plans are afoot to catch up with the BEARS boys at the Phillip Island round at the end of the year.
A mention in despatches and my heartfelt thanks must go to:
Cus – For picking me up on Thursday and sending me on my way with the mighty Kia van and an Ikea bed jigsaw puzzle.
Pete & Jo – For giving us a bed, feeding us beer and chilli liqueur and putting up with my hopeless darts playing abilities. For the record, I will not hear a bad word said about Jo’s cooking, it was absolutely delicious.
Dean & Paul – For putting up with our antics in the next pit bay and kindly replacing my fuel cap which, for some strange reason, I had decided was superfluous to my requirements.
Timmy