Jen Crosby's Racing Blog

Thursday April 19, 2007

Few things going on...

Tonight Red and I are heading off to Cadwell for a trackday tomorrow where we're both instructing on the 400s.  I haven't been to Cadwell for a while, and it's not one of my strongest circuits, so I'm looking forward to some quality time on it.  I suspect my performance on track tomorrow will dictate whether I put an entry in for next weeks race round there.  What I really need to get out of the day is the "grin factor" - I'm hoping some time in the fast group with Red will spur us both on!

 In other news, I've also now got myself a road bike!  Yes, after two and half years riding solely on race tracks, I'm back out in the big bad world of cars and road furniture.  I haven't actually ridden it yet, I'm getting it MOT'd on Saturday, and all going well it will be whizzing me up to work on Sunday morning.  The bike is a Honda Bros 400 - very, very kindly supplied by Toby, who is, as usual, the bestest. :o)  I'm looking forward to having a bike again, although I am a touch apprehensive about my road riding skills now it's been so long.  I'm hoping it'll come back to me easily, like er, riding a bike.

I also managed to get myelf over to Poole Quay last Tuesday, a big bike meet that goes on every week in the summer.  I went with a friend, Justin, who's just passed his test and bought himself a Hornet 600.  It was cool wandering around looking at the bikes, brings back memories of Boxhill in my younger days.  It's probably a good place for me to go meet people too, I'll have to try and get there again when I can.  Next time hopefully I'll get to actually go on a bike!

( Apr 19 2007, 09:14:22 AM GMT+00:00 )

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Wednesday April 18, 2007

Snetterton Report - spectating, not racing :o(

It was with slightly mixed feelings that I set off for Snetterton on Friday afternoon with Ben – I was really looking forward to a weekend's racing, but I knew once I got there and saw it all I'd be wanting to get out and race. Whatever though, I was determined to have a good weekend – the weather forecast looked great, and the racing was bound to be good, and for once I'd actually get to see the boys at the front of the Superbike400 do their thing instead of missing it all while racing myself.

We picked up Toby en route and arrived at Snetterton pretty late on Friday night, so after a quick run up to the bar to say hello to everyone, I got my bed setup in Greg P's van (thanks Greg!) pretty quick so I could head off to sleep.

Saturday morning saw the circuit covered in mist, but it soon cleared and turned into a gorgeous sunny day! All of the usual guys were set up near each other – Nick, Greg, Oli and Pat in the garage, and Andy and Steve in an awning just outside, and everyone seemed to get out in practice and feel reasonably good out there. The 400s were out in race 2 – and it was all of the 400s, SBK, Clubman and Rookie, so there were a lot of riders I wanted to see! Andy had asked me to do his pit board – I've not done one before so was a bit apprehensive. I asked Vikki to help me out, which turned out to be very amusing throughout the weekend as she had a bet on that Pat would finish ahead of Andy in all of the races, so it all got a bit competitive between us!! Doing the pit board turned out to be quite tricky, especially as so many of the changes in track position happen in the last corner, not giving a lot of time to get the board changed! So I apologise to Andy for the number of times I got it wrong! It was kinda fun doing it though, although the downside was I seemed to miss everything else that was going on, as I was concentrating on where Andy was each time! Race one saw some good results for our guys, 3^rd for Pat, 4^th for Steve and 6^th for Andy.

By lunchtime it was pretty hot outside, and everyone was out chilling in the sunshine. I love meetings like that – the sun just adds to the atmosphere, and the mood in the paddock is just brilliant. We were all sat in pit lane just reading magazines and chatting, it was great! Having said that, I was desperate to be out on track – if I'd had my bike there I would have paid my money there and then to enter!

Race two had everyone worried, as a sidecar had dumped oil round from turn one, all the way down the back straight, on the racing line for both turn one and two. It showed in the lap times that it was causing problems – everyone was a bit slower. It was a good race though, with Pat grabbing another 3rd, and Andy and Steve battling it out for 4^th and 5th. All of the riders seemed very unimpressed with the oil spill though, it always kinda ruins things.

Saturday night we all piled into Pat's van and drove into town to get some food in a local pub. It was a good night, everyone seemed to have a laugh and enjoy themselves.

Sunday morning again brought the mist, but by 9am it had cleared and was already getting warm. I'd caught the sun a fair bit on Saturday, and it was obvious it was going to be a scorcher Sunday, so I made sure there was some sun cream to hand! Steve decided to take his spare bike out for a run in practice after making some changes to it having put it on the dyno on Saturday, but came back in having had it cut out on him for some unknown reason – we were hoping he wouldn't have to end up riding it! Everyone else seemed happy enough, and ready for the days racing, although the oil line was still there from the day before, and was still causing grief.

Race one saw Andy finally get the better of Pat (unlucky Vikki! ;o) with Andy getting 4th, Pat 5th. Steve DNF'd due to a problem with the bike – it was only firing on 3 cylinders, so the boys all set about working on the bike to try and find the problem. After hours of work, they still couldn't work out why it wasn't running right, so they dropped out the engine and gave it to Bob Farnham to look at during the week. Having had problems with the spare, it was a little worrying that Steve would need to now ride it, but with little choice he lined up on the back of the grid on it. I was pretty occupied with Andy's pit board again, and a proper good race was developing between him and Pat again, causing me a Vikki to get silly and competitive again! Steve made a blinding start, but it wasn't until much later in the race that I realised how much ground he'd made up! He'd got his way up to 6^th, and had he had another lap would have almost certainly got Phil Polden for 5^th – absolutely blinding ride Steve! He also managed to smash his best lap time, putting in an impressive 1:16.7. Not at all bad for the spare bike which seemed not to be running properly in the morning! Meanwhile, Andy and Pat were properly battling it, and swapped places on the final couple of laps. Approaching the final chicane on the last lap, Pat was leading Andy, much to Vikki's delight, only to be outbraked by Andy on the entry to the sound of my very loud cheering(and Vikki's groan of disappointment!) - he definitely had it into the chicane, and was looking spot on for getting fired out, but then just gave it too much gas on the exit, and lost the rear!! I couldn't believe it!! Thankfully he got up and was ok, but what a race! It was a real shame, he'd done all the hard work to get the place, only to lose it at the last minute – gutted for you mate! It was a fantastic race though, I really enjoyed it! Greg P didn't have much luck either – his engine went bang (again!) in lap 2, can't believe it's happened again, that sucks. :o(

Other congrats go to Radka, for getting 3^rd in the Clubman 400 on Sunday afternoon; Max for taking a full set of Rookie wins again, and also getting high up enough to have scored SBK points – good effort, especially for your first time at the circuit! Also good results from Simon too! Well done to Greg for putting in some great lap times before the bike blew up. Oli took a whole heap of trophies home from the Clubman 600 too, and Nick was flying, despite not being allowed to complete the races, he looked like he had a blast! Also massive well done to Shaun Jones for his debut races in the Minitwins – Shaun is the guy who I donated my rookie bib too, and he did himself absolutely proud picking up his first championship points having started the weekend in 36^th on the grid. I'm very proud of you, and the grin said it all!!

So all in all, a great weekend – I really enjoyed myself. I've come away with a half decent bit of a tan, and a new need to get back out on track. Next outing on the bike is Cadwell where I'm instructing on Friday. While I'm not currently entered for the following weekend's racing there, I'll see how I get on on the trackday and make a decision from there. I am definitely feeling the need to race again now...I don't like missing rounds much!

( Apr 18 2007, 07:08:41 AM GMT+00:00 )

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Tuesday April 17, 2007

Late!! Lydden Hill Race Report

I've put off writing this report so long – partly because I've been stupidly busy, and internetless at home, but perhaps mostly because I didn't fancy reliving the weekend much. I'll try and remember the details...

I actually quite like riding Lydden; it seems to be one of those love it or hate it circuits, but I find it quite a lot of fun. The test day was no different – I had an absolutely fantastic day! The sun was shining, the bike was running well, and I felt brilliant riding it. I started off fairly steady, the track was really cold to start with, but gradually worked my way through the morning sessions feeling more and more confident. By the end of the very first session I'd managed to knock a second off my previous best lap time around the track, and by the end of the morning I'd managed to put in a few 45s, a full 3 seconds quicker than last year! I was flying, and feeling amazing on the bike, and I was massively excited about racing on the weekend.

We all had Friday to chill out, and Pat kindly let us head over to his house to grab a shower and watch some telly. It was a welcome rest, but I was properly chomping at the bit to get out and race now I felt so confident.

Saturday morning came, and I headed out for a cold practice session. I was hoping it would dial me straight in, but it really wasn't a great session at all. I don't know whether it was just that it was cold, but I was only putting in 48s, and just didn't feel as confident for some reason. I tried to put it out of my head and think about the race ahead.

Gridded 16th, so not too bad, although I wasn't too happy about being on the inside for turn one. The track was damp, it had started to drizzle but it definitely wasn't worth putting on the wets. Lights on, lights off, and I made a pretty good start off the line, and managed to dive up the inside of lots of riders, getting myself in the middle of the pack nicely. Made it round turn one and headed into Chessons, but two riders went down in front of me. They were out of the way causing me no trouble, and I saw a space ahead which I needed to head for quick. Too quick. I whacked open the throttle, and before I knew it the back was round on me and I was sliding across the grass. My first thought as I was sliding was for my collarbone: I'd not gone down on my shoulder thankfully, and I could feel as soon as I stopped moving that I hadn't hurt it. I'd gone down on my arse a little hard though, and I'd managed to slam my hands into the floor too, so they were tingling a bit oddly. I got up behind the tyre wall and watch as the marshall collected my bike, but I couldn't really see the extent of the damage as it was on the other side. I was feeling a bit shaky, and shaken, but I was perfectly ok, and on the plus side, it meant I got to watch the race! I realised the crashers in front of me had been Adam Lyon and Greg P – his first ever crash! Thankfully they were both ok too though :o)

I was properly annoyed with myself for stacking it so early, and not allowing myself to utilise all the good work I'd put in on the practice day. The bike was looking a bit broken as well – apparently it had caught in the grass and flipped a bit. Obviously the fairing was all broken, the screen, the fairing bracket was bent, bent exhaust, broken clipon, broken throttle parts, and worst of all, my nice shiny lovely PVM master cylinder (very kindly lent to me by Rob) didn't look in too good a state either. I started to try and get things off to assess the full extent of the damage, and see whether I had enough spares to try and get out again in the second race. Before I knew it, Aaron was on the case, and pulling bits off to fix – what a superstar! We changed over the brakes for a standard master cylinder, and swapped all the rest of the broken bits. It was looking increasingly unlikely that I'd get out in time for the next race, but Aaron persevered despite my protests – in the end I think he and about 5 others were working on my bike to get me back out in time! I owe a massive thanks to Greg P for lending me his spare fairing, and to Steve for lending me the throttle parts from his spare bike. And thanks to everyone who helped on the bike – but the biggest thanks has to go to Aaron for being a proper amazing superstar. Seriously, you're incredible mate!

We got the bike down to scrutineering, and I went straight to collecting from there – that's how close it was with the timing!! It was definitely wet by now, and the bike had the wets on. I don't mind riding in the wet really, so I wasn't worried, although I was a bit flustered from trying to get myself and the bike back out in time. Starting from the back, I made a pretty rubbish start, but was ready to try my best and try and get a good race out of it. It was going ok, but my visor started to steam up really badly – to the point that I really couldn't see, particularly coming into the braking zone for the left hander. I was torn – I was finding riding really hard, I couldn't see, and to be honest my head was more messed up than I'd thought it would be from the crash, but I didn't want to let everyone down after they'd worked so hard on the bike! I pulled in in the end, I just couldn't end up crashing for a second time, especially with Greg's fairing on. Very disappointing though.

Saturday night we all went out to a local pub to celebrate Red's birthday. It was a cool night, enjoyed by all I think! And thankfully, being Lydden, racing didn't start until lunchtime on Sunday, so we all enjoyed a lovely lie in.

Sunday was dry, and the sun was threatening to shine. I really needed to get my head sorted and show what I could actually do but I wasn't sure how I was going to achieve it. Starting from the back again for race one, so no pressure off the start. I took off chasing Rob Pragnell, who I know I can beat round Lydden, but I just couldn't seem to ride. I just could not open the throttle properly, presumably scared of losing the back like I did on Saturday morning. It was ridiculous – I knew what I was doing wrong, but I just couldn't seem to put it right, it was so frustrating. I trailed around at the back, racing no one, and nearly got lapped. It was absolutely horrible. Race two in the afternoon was pretty much the same – I rode like a complete ****.

I'm not even going to bother with more details than that – after such a fantastic start on the practice day I was bitterly disappointed with my performance. Definitely my worst race weekend to date.

I decided not to race the next round, at Snetterton (report to follow – as a spectator of course), partly because of my head, but to be honest mostly because I'm skint. I'm not 100% sure when I'll be out again – I'd like to get out at Cadwell in two weeks time, but I really don't know how possible that's going to be. Watch this space, I'll let you know...

( Apr 17 2007, 07:12:46 AM GMT+00:00 )

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