Back from the MotoGP

It’s always nice to take part in a big event and in terms of motorcycling in the UK they don’t come much bigger than the MotoGP. Unfortunately I am not writing to inform you that I got a call to from Yamaha to replace Rossi for the weekend, but that we had an entry for the ACU 250GP race that was to be a support class. Our good friend Sean Kelly had asked if we would like to take part in this event on his Honda RS250 and who can turn down the chance to ride at the MotoGP?
It is about 10 years since I last rode at Silverstone and that was on a different track layout as we would be using the full GP circuit this weekend, in addition I hadn’t ridden Sean’s bike since the Gold Cup at Scarborough last year so we knew we would have our work cut out for us.
As we arrived at the circuit it was great to see the full MotoGP paddock laid out in front of us, with all the fancy trucks and hospitality suites. The good old Iveco Daily van fitted in just nicely, thank you very much!
As you can see from the photo Sean’s Honda RS250 was beautifully turned out in the team colours, even when the weather was dull it looked like the sun was shining when it was out on the track. Looking at the programme showed that over 55 riders were entered for the 250GP race so we had plenty of people to try and beat.
On Friday we had a free practice session and were hoping for some good weather to help us learn the track. This did not quite happen as about an hour before the session was due to start the heavens opens and the rain came down. With the wet tyres slotted into the bike off we went to try the new circuit. I have to say the new Silverstone GP circuit is absolutely fantastic to ride, it is very quick and flowing, even the slow corners link up well. After feeling my way round the circuit for the full 25mins we were quite happy to find ourselves 14th quickest out of 51 riders that had ventured out. Speaking to a few of the other riders it was quite apparent that a few had done a test day a week earlier so already knew their way around, this made our position even more promising. A strip down of the engine showed that everything was working as it should and then it was off to watch the England game on the big screen!
Saturday came and the weather had improved, so in went the slicks and out for qualifying we went. It was great to be out on this fast circuit with near ideal weather conditions. As each lap passed we improved our times as I got more confident with the bike and the circuit. I got a good tow from Dan Jackson towards the close of the session but I got a little baulked by some slower riders towards the end of the lap, but the time was still good enough to promote us to 7th place on the timing sheets. With a couple of minutes remaining in the session a few riders posted a quicker time and we finished qualifying in 11th place which would put us on the 3rd row of the grid. Not too shabby at all. If we hadn’t been held up on our quickest lap I am sure we would have been on the 2nd row. Sean was over the moon with this, always a good thing to keep the bike owner happy! We checked the detonation counter and it showed that we were running a little bit lean on the carburetion so if the weather conditions were to be similar for the race on Sunday we would have to put in slightly larger main jets.
Race day came hoping to put a display equal to or better than the GP boys we lined up on the grid, it was at this point that I realised I had not done a practice start on the bike and was therefore a little unsure as to how it would go. Holding the revs at around 10,000rpm, the light lights went out and we were off. To my amazement I got a cracking start and was up in to around 8th place as we headed out of the first corner. After a couple of laps I found myself embroiled in a battle that went from 6th place to 12th. Everywhere you looked there were bikes trying to overtake and it was great to be part of. The bike was running well but it didn’t quite have the speed of the kitted Yamaha’s but we were not far off. On lap 4 the Dutch rider Henrik Voit crashed his Aprilia right in front of me at Luffield corner, this slowed me a little and I lost a couple of seconds. I found it quite easy to catch the group back up as our speed round the fast corners was very good. A couple of laps later I was exiting Woodcote corner right on the back of the rider in front trying to get a slipstream down the start and finish straight when to my surprise we both ended up running on to the grass. This was at approximately 130mph with the bike sliding and bouncing its way along, to add to this the bike in front kicked up some stones one of which hit me on my neck, the bruise from which you can see on the photo. I lost about three places due to this excursion and had to work very hard to make these back up. The race seemed to be over in a flash and we took the chequered flag in 9th place only a second down on 6th place. Considering our lack of track knowledge and limited time on the bike we were very happy with the result. A good weekend all round.

A big thank you to NG Road Racing Club for organising and running this race in a very slick and professional manner, a job well done.

As things are a little tight at the moment it is looking likely that we will have to miss the Cock o’ North at Scarborough and Aberdare meetings in July. This means our next meeting will be Cadwell Park on the 7th/8th August, but we may get a bit of testing done in the meantime.