Jen Crosby's Racing Blog

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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