Wild, Windy and Wet at Snett

Hi all, before a racing weekend begins you often to come to wonder, if once the dust has settled and you are on your way home will I have enough to write about to fill a newsletter? Well so far this season this has definitely not been the case and once again I apologise in advance if this instalment is slightly longer than you anticipated but there is a lot to get in.

We headed off to Snetterton which is a circuit in Norfolk that was originally an airfield between 1943 and 1948, this means that it is quite flat and as such, does get its fair share of wind blowing across it. Match to this the fact that the circuit has some of the longest straights in the country and a very sketchy weather forecast and we were in for an entertaining weekend.

I wasn’t booked in for the Saturday morning practice as this is an additional cost that we can ill afford at the moment. For me then it was straight into qualifying on Saturday afternoon. This weekend we would once again be riding both Birdy’s GP2 bike and the Smith Sisters Supermono so there was plenty to do. Unfortunately Birdy could not make it this weekend as the ‘thumb’ he was under started to exert a considerable amount of pressure from which he could not escape!

Our first qualifying was out on the Kawasaki ZX-RR, as our best engine exploded at Pembrey we were still using the 400cc motor which was perhaps not the best suited as previously mentioned Snetterton is a very quick circuit and rewards ‘POWER’ as Jeremy Clarkson would say! Out on to circuit we went and I quickly made my way through to the front of the pack, after about 6 laps the pitboard was reading P2 and I decided that would be enough for a front row position on the grid. As I sat up and looked behind me I realised that I had been dragging a freight train of all my competitors around the circuit thus allowing them to all get a good lap time in as well.

It was then out on the Supermono, as I went to the collecting area the bike stalled and try as he might Gary could not kick the bike back into life. Mick James came to the rescue with his starter and this fired the bike back up. I rolled out onto the circuit and after only a couple of laps the team were displaying ‘IN’ on my pitboard. Not sure what the problem was, I rode steadily around the circuit and down pitlane. The reason that I had been called back in was due to the fact that we had not changed the transponder over from the GP2 bike to the Supermono bike and therefore our lap times would not have been recorded. The transponder is an electrical gizmo that transmits a signal to record the lap times as we pass the start/finish line but at around £300 each we cannot justify having two of these. Gary just shoved the transponder down my leathers and sent me back out on track. After only 3 laps the chequered flag came out and the session was over. Despite only completing a handful of laps we had managed to qualify the Supermono in 8th place on the grid. Bernie in the Thundersport office did comment later that the transponder should be fixed to the bike and not down my pants but sometimes needs must!

Sunday morning came and the weather had not been kind, due to the wet conditions I decided to sit out the second GP2 qualifying as there was no way anyone was going to improve on their lap times from the previous day. As we had not had much time on the Supermono we thought it would be a good idea to just get some laps in even if it was in the wet as we needed to bed some new brake discs in. This did not go to plan and coming up to the ‘Bombhole’ the front tyre just lost grip and put me straight on my bum and skidding across the grass. The bike was not too badly damaged but it was not what we needed. The Sisters were once again ‘spot on’ taking it all in their stride.

Our first race was the GP2 and we all assembled for the start on wet tyres, the lights went out and in the words of Murray Walker it was ‘Go, Go, Go’. I managed to pick off a few people and after 4 laps myself and Will Hodgson had managed to pull away from the chasing field. I was pretty confident at this point as Will was running wide on a lot of corners and looked as if he was riding on the ragged edge. My chance was not to come though as on lap 7 the red flags came out whilst I was leading due to Maria Costello crashing out at the Russell’s Chicane. The result was taken from the end of lap 6 and therefore Will won with us finishing in 2nd place. Not a bad start to the weekends’ races.

We missed the first Supermono Superpole race as the Sisters were still getting the bike back in one piece following the crash earlier in the day and also this would allow us to concentrate on the next GP2 race.

Out on track we went on the GP2 bike but this time the track was dry. I managed to get a pretty poor start and came out of the first corner in about 8th place. Over the next few laps myself and Alec Collinson managed to pull ourselves back up to the leaders and actually make a break out front of a couple of seconds. This nearly ended in disaster as the two Aprilia’s of Ben Gautrey and Will Hodgson came careering across the grass and heading straight for me and Alec forcing us to take avoiding action. Clear of the attacking Aprilia’s we had a last lap showdown, I managed to pass Alec going into the Esses and went through the Bombhole and Coram’s as fast as I could, we managed to cross the line in front by just over a second and set a new class lap record of 1m15.5s to boot on the last lap, not bad for a 400. Job done!

Monday morning came and it was clear the weather was going to be changeable throughout the day. As we all gathered in the collecting area for the first of the days GP2 race the heavens opened and a short shower came down. We were given 5 minutes to allow tyre changes but in this time the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. Based on this we took the decision to keep the slick tyres on our bike. As we lined up on the grid there was a dry line starting to appear on the track and I was quietly confident we had made the right decision. I looked around the grid to see that most of the other riders had elected to go out on full wet weather tyres. The lights went out and off we went. Things were looking good until after a couple of laps the heavens opened again and we were soaked by a torrential downpour. Obviously this was not ideal for me being out on slick tyres! The team put ‘IN’ on my pitboard for the second time this weekend but in my infinite wisdom I still thought there was a chance of getting some points. This proved to be the right choice as a few riders crashed out whilst others pulled in, this meant we managed to come home in 10th place and collect 6 championship points. It was worth staying out for but it felt like the longest race of my life with the bike sliding everywhere.

If you have never heard the grid set off for a Supermono race it is one ting you have to go and listen to. Full grids of singles with there deep booming sound make an incredible noise unlike any other in motorcycle racing. As I pulled onto the grid I was moved up to 7th place due to an earlier withdrawal and was set to improve on that. Off we set with a noise that would wake the dead, fabulous! I managed to get a good start and held 5th place for a couple of laps. The wind was very strong and our bike was being blown all over the track. A few times the front end had slid away from me and I felt our set up was not quite right. I lost 2 or 3 place over the course of the next few laps and then the bike started to lose a little power. This was later traced to a split in the exhaust. We took the chequered flag in 10th place, not the result we were after but I could not ride how I wanted.

In the last GP2 race of the weekend we were once again caught out by the weather. Just as we were called for the race it started to rain. A quick wheel changed ensued but we did not make it in time to take to the grid. This left me to start from pitlane. The grid roared off and I was given the all clear to start. Just as I had got rolling the bike cut out, not sure what was wrong with the bike I tried to bump start it but it just would not fire. I gave it one last go and it did finally come back to life. This though meant I was in last place by a hell of a long way. Not wanting to do anything rash I rode a steady race to eventually finish in 7th place. Not too bad a result from where we were.

In the GP2 class we are now only 4 points off the lead in second place from Alex Heaton who had a bit of a weekend to forget, but as people say ‘it is a long season’!

For the time being due to financial constraints it is my intention to concentrate on the GP2 class as we are in a very good position in the championship. Therefore at my request the Smith Sisters will be asking a couple of other riders to take the saddle of their Supermono for a few rounds. Don’t worry this is all totally amicable and you will still find us all in the same awning or garage at the meetings it is purely a reflection of current state of affairs.

Thanks to Glyn Richardson for the photo's.