Arrived at Cadwell on Thursday 9th April ( to get a good spot near a tannoy
)bugger me there was only me the wife and kids and Holbeach tyres there,thought
it was going to be heaving with it being bank holiday weekend.Anyway setup camp
( not the same without Bill being there )Friday came and there was a trackday on
quite busy all racers turning up now by saturday morning the whole area was jam
packed right up into the rear fields.
Saturday was test day for me the weather was not quite wet not quite dry but
there again not quite intermediate weather it was cold enough to see your
breath.Went into the paddock after trying to decide what tyres to go out on (
wet front / dry rear ) only to find every other one in the paddock was on full
wets,thought to myself have i chose wrong tyres or have they ? went out on my
first lap a bit cautiously to say the least got to barn corner and everyone
vanished out of site - these guys were on it, did a lap with no slides but
wasn't pushing to chase them so i came back in and put my rear wet on for the
next session.Track still looked like it was so i knew i would be on the same
tyres as everyone else.Went out in my second session and got into a steady flow
to get a feel for grip- plenty or so i thought, a few laps in my rear let go
exiting the old hairpin-but gripped again and off we went again, made some
passes and got passed.The rest of the day i decided to save my tyres as i didn't
want to rip up a new set of wets.
Sunday 1st race day and qualifying,people were falling off in each
class.Qualified 19th ( 7th row on the grid )with a time of 1.43.502 not too bad
seeing as though i thought i was going to be at the back of the grid 34th being
last.
Sunday 12th April - Race 1:
Went on warm up lap and being a bit eager people had jumped grid positions so i
ended up being on row 10 in 29th position , not to worry i'm up for it got a
great start past loads on one wheel first corner uphill into COPPICE there was
the usual barging but ok with that,one guy pasted me on the inside going up into
Charlies 2 and i thought no way pal ( i was right he just lost the front - ha ha
)got on pace as quick as possible and it took a lap but i was sat in a train
going around from PARK CORNER all the way around to start finish , i made some
great passes and got over took , chased the guy in front of me ( at times the
wheels were virtually touching trying to make up a bit more ground for a good
clean pass i was faster into some corners but a tad slower in others compared to
him - BIT LIKE WHEN RACING BILL ( no joy had to settle for finishing 19th .3 of
a second behind the guy i was chasing, and 19th was where i should have started
on the grid instead of 29th - 3 rows back )Nothing gain but nothing lost RESULT.
Went to the office and complained and they made sure it didn't happen again.
Monday 13th April Raceday 2:
Had warm up session times had dropped slightly 1.45.505 ( 25th fastest ) arsed i
know i can go faster so bring it on.
RACE 1 :
19th on grid , again made a great start passing people, got myself into a good
group and we were flying it was so level pegging for most of the race got in
front of the two guys at one point then ended up behind #133 chased him then
tried braking a fraction later to gain some ground going into the CHICANE but i
got out of shape and rather than trying to peel in i went through the straw bail
run off bit ( that was my first mistake - the second being i had enough ground
to get back in behind him exiting the Chicane without dropping a position but
like a dick i looked over my shoulder to see the other lad #22 was on the gas
exiting the chicane aswell so i decided to drop in behind him) thought i may be
able to pass him exiting BARN onto the start finish but just couldn't manage it
finished 20th were were lapped by #2 LEE JACKSON fook me he was fast ( i later
found out he was on KENAN SOFOGLU'S bike from last year ).
Race 2 :
Started from 19th again, got a flying start and made some ground up, got into a
pack that were fast and they pulled me along then the guy infront of me started
dropping off their pace and so caused me to end up trying to get enough on him
to get onto the back of them so i could get pulled along as i was at ease with
the pace , but the guy just slowed me down and i ended up racing him and trying
to fend off the ones behind me, eventually got passed him but the others had got
enough on me to keep them insite but not gain on them still fending off the guys
behind me i got my head together and got on with it , second to last lap the guy
behind tried to shove it up the inside going into CHARLIES 1 - no way pal this
is my track i thought to myself.
Last lap came and i approached the blue flags started being waved and i knew the
#2 Lee Jackson was coming but didn't know how close he was, so as i ran
uptowards Charlies 1 i looked over my shoulder stayed wide and waved the bike i
spotted past - SHIT it was the guy i had been fending off with Lee Jackson
inbetween him and another rider BOLLOCKS i thought got so i got straight back on
it to try and make a pass but couldn't get close enough to pass ( 3rd mistake of
the weekend )could only manage finishing .3sec's behind the 2nd guy and only .4
behind the 1st guy i had let past by mistake - so again not too bad i suppose ,
19th instead of 17th been kicking myself about it - but i will not make these
mistakes again LESSON LEARNT.
Big thanks to Jules Croft , great guy and he say's hello to you Bill , who
unfortunatly crashed out in race 1 while in 4th i believe, he qualified 8th -
but ended up going home early due to damage on his bike.
Also thanks to Tony Rainford for getting me a great tip for going into the goose
neck .
Hope this report is ok for you just edit as you want.
Watch out on MOTORSTV 7pm ? on the 23rd of this month for the
"slowboy/kakaracing " R6 missile.
PLJ PHOTOGRAPHY WAS THERE SO THE PIC'S WILL BE ON HIS WEBSITE SOON.
Jeff
slowboy
