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Stars At Darley Moor

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Sunday October 7th  |  Stars At Darley Moor  |  Open Class.

First visit to Darley Moor and a busy venue on the day with the likes of John McGuiness, Ian Lougher, Gary Johnston and Peter Hickman in attendance.

Qualifying -With the Peak class and Open Class bundled together for qualifying I didn't feel the slowest however learning the track while using the 15 minutes of qualifying was a big ask.  But with nothing more than wanting to bring the bike home in one piece and gain a signature at the back of my mind I got down to trying to tag onto the fast guys and learn their lines.  Last place on the grid, not to be laughed at in the open class company, the peak class would have had me near the back but not last.  I think maybe I picked the wrong boys to play with on my first visit.

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Race 1 - Only the one race for this event and at the last minute it was brought to my attention that we were racing a national length 15 lap race rather than the 8 or 10 club class length.  Ooops! With my mechanic on other duties it was left to Lucy and myself to sort out the fuel and tyres.  The fuel calculated was for a maximum of 10 laps, luckily my calculations were very cautious as the fuel light came on after 11 laps.  This left me with a few laps left to complete without running out of fuel and gaining nothing more than a D.N.F.  A bit of economic riding and staying out of everyone's way I crawled home, in last place but finishing and gaining the last signature needed for my third circuit.

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 Well that's it, the end of the season.  Roll on 2013!

September 2012 Round 6.

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Saturday 22nd September - Donington.

An 'education' was one way to explain the events of Saturday.

Donington || Saturday - September 22nd || Derby Phoenix - 751 - 1300.
Well my first attempt at Donington couldn't have been more.....of an education.  The guys in my class had experience at National Superstock level racing in Evo and some in BSB.  They were putting in BSB qualifying times so me rocking-up with my EMRA Roadstock class R1 was a little like taking a bag of marbles to an arms fair.  But I didn't qualify last and didn't get lapped until the last lap ha!  It's all experience, but in hindsight I should really have perhaps done a track day or two there beforehand. :icon_pale:  The stock R1 did well considering some of the kit on show but to be honest even with a time machine I couldn't have beaten the front guys.

Not this bike you fool! - My mechanic checks the tyre pressures....on his son's BMX.

Race1 - With the bike stuck in 4th gear my launch from the line was.... lethargic to say the least.  Slipping the clutch got me going but was shortly followed by a trip across the grass at Redgate due to a mixture of over exuberance to make up the deficit of already being two corners down and hitting Redgate stuck in the wrong gear, "still I'm upright".  A bit of clutch lever molestation and frantic revving got me back into the right gear and careful shifting enabled me to change up and down again.  Settling down I most certainly was never going to catch 'that lot' up, but hung it out and finished, albeit a lap down on the top guys.

Urm! Goooooo! - I'm at the front of this little lot.....not for very long mind. These guys were FAST! They were all putting in times in the 1:30's which isn't far of BSB pace and it showed.

Race 2 - Worried about a re-occurrence of being stuck in the wrong gear I rolled up to my grid position selecting neutral along the way.  A much better start and gaining three places before Redgate when a rider went down taking two other guys with him. Luckily I went for the gap between the fallen rider and the two guys glued to the bodywork.   I stuck it out long enough to get lapped on the last lap, measure of success? well I'm calling it a personal win. :)

Looking like I almost know what I'm doing.

Sunday 23rd September - Mallory Park.

Coming back to Mallory despite feeling a little tired from the antics at Donington felt a little like coming back to a well worn sofa.  Well I could relax a little as I knew which way the circuit went. Qualifying earned me a second row position, 8th spot.  Unfortunately for Mallory this grid position placed me on the far right hand side of the circuit, not ideal for the first right hand corner at Gerrards.

Race 1 - Falling to 9th before the first bend was a bitter pill to swallow as a result of trying to muscle my way to the left hand side of the track before tackling Gerrards after the launch off the line, so I set about getting the position back. An undertake into Shaws hairpin on the brakes got me back to 8th. Feeling 8th position breathing down my neck I pushed to break any tow and soon found myself sitting in a little pocket of space all by myself.  At first the gap between me and the 7th position seemed a little too far to breach with only 4 laps remaining but soon noticed I was eating into their lead. Getting my head down I slowly nibbled away which combined with a last minute dive again into Shaws on the final lap bagged me 7th.

Race 2 - Well the skies really openned-up along with the wind, so with a 6th position bagged in the championship overall we figured we'd call it a day. We had a great time and didn't want to push our luck with a number of riders likewise calling it 'a day' a race early. It's always that little bit easier to pack away the kit when it's dry than when it's dripping wet.

Championship Standings - First full season with 5 races unfinished we still bagged 6th overall, not too shabby but we want some of those nice trophies next year. Currently looking at possibly moving into doing more Derby Phoenix rounds next year to gain knowledge of more circuits.

Race results for all classes from the September round can be seen here.

July 2012 Round 4.

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It didn't rain all day, can you believe it?  Some serious kit turned up for this round, just check out this monster.

Do you like my new clothes? That's what the bike wants to know, adorning it's new colour scheme.  Who'd have thought the replacement bodywork would have such an effect.  With little time to get the bike tested before the weekend qualifying was a little like borrowing your big brothers pushbike when you were a kid.  The bike was all over the place due to a front-end change that morning and to make matters worse the bodywork seat unit used the original Yamaha seat which dropped my riding position by over 2 inches.  This forced my heel into the chain guard which then started hitting the tyre and wheel.  With no time to pull-in and get this issue fixed and the 15 minutes qualifying session ticking away I was making mental notes of where I could put my foot to get the bike leant over which made for an interesting time but I qualified although so far back I'd need binoculars to see Gerrards. 

The good news was that spending all this time and effort with KTech to get the old standard Yamaha (as per the rules of the Roadstock race series) – rear suspension to make a rear tyre last a race day was a complete success. 

Race 1.  Whatever position I finished the first race meant that would be the position I would line up for in race 2, so starting from 18th place due to the poor qualifying position meant I badly needed to get a few positions up the grid during the race which I managed to achieve, overtaking four and finishing 14th. 

Race 2.  Now being further up the grid I found it a much busier affair but my stupid oversized feet knocked the ‘quick bodge’ of the chain guard snapping it into the wheel meaning I could feel my heel hitting the tyre now when cornering.  Excuse gained I dropped back a place to 15th, late breaking into Edwinas and Gerrards  kept anyone else from overtaking, (or it could have been the rubber flying off my left heel) – and a 15th was achieved, although I wouldn’t quite class that as an achievement.

Race 3.  Grid positions for this novice race were made from the very first qualifying session that morning so I queued up in 19th on the starting grid.  Some serious kit turned up for this race, including a bike pulling up with what appeared to be the control panel from The Starship Enterprise and 16.5” wheels, slicks etc, but overtakes were made and stuck to get me a 17th position.

A dry weekend, certainly not the best finish but my lap times are staying consistent and at least we’re now running one rear tyre for three races and qualifying.

Race results for all classes from the July round can be seen here.

August 2012 Round 5

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Beautiful weather considering the original forecast was for thundery, heavy showers.  Although the increase in temperature as the day progressed made for plenty of sweaty racers, but I'll take that any day what with the summer we've had so far and all. The R1 was wearing her 'old' clothes this time round, derileect I think they called it in Zoolander.

Qualifying - [10th position].
We were bundled with the Earlystock class for qualifying which made for an entertaining time due to the majority of the Earlystock machinery running between 1.07 and 1.15 lap times when compared to the Roadstocks 0.57 to 0.59.  10th place qualifying position was bagged which was a fourth row grid line-up.

Race 1 - [6th position].
A good start enabled me to make a couple of passes before Gerrards and settling into a comfortable rhythm enabling consistent lap times. All was going brilliantly with another overtake sticking through Lake Esses. However there were a number of riders now bunching when running up to a lapped rider who for some reason wasn’t being shown the blue flag by race marshals. This netted me another place as I took a decisive move around the lapped rider through Shaws hairpin getting past a waiting rider bagging an extra position in the process. A nasty fall by the second place rider as a result of a vicious three way tussle for first ended the race a lap early and netted me a sixth place finish! Best result so far so needless to say I was chuffed to bits, but alas still nothing to put in the trophy cabinet.

Race 2 - [8th position].
This race was a bit like a Coronation Street meets Eastenders Christmas special, everything but rain.  Lining up on the grid in the positions that were finished in race 1 meant my sixth position put me on the second row of the grid. Confusion ensued for a small period as riders tried to work out where they’re position on the grid should be as the grid numbers were missing from the circuit surface. I was a little apprehensive being in the second row as these riders seemed to all want this a little more desperately than where I'm used to at the rear of the grid. Lap one down and one place lost I decided to get my act together and stick with the offending overtaking rider. Sticking to their rear tyre I was dragged through the field and the first lap was soon completed. Catching up with the rider in front I noticed liquid spraying from their bike which I gestured to the marshals along the start finish straight, however this went unnoticed. This made for a nervous number of corners as I could see nothing but what I could only assume was water on my visor and wondered how much of this was making it's way onto my front tyre, needless to say the rider nipping at my heels overtook as I contemplated the possibility of two eventualities for that rider spraying water, engine failure or a fall from water running on the rear tyre.

Thankfully it appears the rider began to slow their pace enough for me to get past without needing to ride close for a long period of time. Before long the bunch came across the lapped rider, (again without any blue flags being shown) - and a place was gained again as I went underneath at Lake Esses. Starting to slowly eat into the bike ahead the red/yellow flag came out as I approached Shaws hairpin so I had a quick scan while approaching and noticed a rider down and some oil on the track.  A wide line meant I lost the time just gained but at least the tyres were on the track and I was still upright.  The final lap was entertaining with a 'coming-together' with a 104 at Edwinas resulting in us both doing a bit of grass-tracking but thankfully both staying onboard our bikes and not losing a place.  We 'came together' again at the Bus Stop as I ran into their rear tyre due to them taking a slower line which made for a final lunge to the line and an eighth place finish. Not as good as race 1 but considering the number of fallers and incidents I'm more than happy. A brilliant weekend, great weather, exciting racing and consistent, quicker lap times.

Race results for all classes from the August round can be seen here.