Race Day

What is it with some people , to make you start at 6.30 in the morning!
Well I got there , only after a bit of drama.............

The night before, all was sorted , bikes running , tested all ok , gear packed all ready,,,,,,,,,, one final start ...Cr ok ....Enfield ...Crack, snap ,,, no kickstarter . The pawl had gone.

Well , as the compression is so high, you cant bump start the thing , so you need the kick starter . There was nothing else for it but to strip the gearbox. Done, fixed, working ok .

All arrived ok the next morning, out for final practice , both bikes ok , track wet and clay ( which means if you stuck behind a bike you get a face full of HARD clay. which hurts .)

Heat one for the Honda. I got the holeshot and was leading into the straight , when I forgot to pull the clutch in enough and stalled , as all the field went past ,,, well I restarted and had to work hard to pass all the back markers , crashing once into a corner by losing the front .Still 4th place .. (I think , have to wait until results are published ).

Heat 1 Vintage class .

Line up well in advance of the race , Start bike pull clutch in , doesn't feel right , let clutch out ,pull in and now I know something is wrong , Clutch centre nut ( apart from welding the thing in ,, I must have a look at Why it comes loose .There is another reason, I suspect its the mounting on the shaft ..)

push back to the pits and with spanners flying and the sweat dripping, I make it to the start line ( note to self to apologize to wife for all the new words she learnt )

Midfield start due to lining up on the back of the grid, doing ok when I get punted up the rear end by someone failing to stop , this pushes the exhaust out of the head and she runs hot , of which I know nothing ... it stops a few laps later .

Still she was hustling along , sounding great and even over took more modern machinery , Lost the front end a few times but all good fun.

Heat 2 Honda .

This time I got the holeshot , carried a huge amount of speed round the berm , and which gave me the clear line , and I was gone , THIS time I pulled the clutch in , and basically lead for most of the race , UNTILL I saw a wheel creeping into my rear view ... I was held up by a back marker , he took the better line and he was gone ,,, Poo. Never mind I caught him , saw the lines he was taking and passed him , only for him to do the same to me a few laps later . Well second is ok , we both were happy with the results , ( I know he worked for it ).

Mixed results I think . On the one hand, second is good and I won a crash helmet , 50/50 on the Enfield going pop , hope that isn't to serious . Next time I will run the Enfield in the last race .

Fitness wasn't a problem , hydration was ok ( just ) nor were the suspension settings on the Honda , Pit tent needs work . Overall great fun


Photos will come later

Stephen