Race Reports- Snetterton 23 Sept 2001
Race 1 F400 - Row 2 start, it has stopped raining but the track is wet. I get a good launch but have to back off a fraction as Dave Marsh in front of me spins up his rear and goes sideways blocking my gap. Get back on the gas and dive up the inside following Pete Whiteside into Riches, pass a bunch or riders and am second into Sear Corner. I am working on the principle that if Pete can do it I can follow. Blind faith as I don't know how far I can go. Coming out on to the back straight I run wide following Pete and touch the white line. The rear lights up and I am all over the place. Back of a fraction to get grip and lose contact with Pete. Hoof it down Revett Straight and not knowing where the breaking points are ease up early for the esses - Eliot comes past me on the brakes (don't know how he does it but he is up to 2nd from a row 10 start. I reckon he must start 30 seconds before everybody else). Still not worried as 3rd is good. Eliot runs off the road on the right but manages to get back on before I catch him - shows how slow I was going under the bridge and through the Esses. Go round again again losing time to the front two who are now pulling away rapidly. On the exit of Sears run onto the white line again. I am very slow through the Bomb hole and round Coram Curve and this time breaking for the Russel Bend a Honda 250 comes past. Follow him round and get Dave Irons passing me. Down to 5th not so good. On the start of the last lap I get the Honda on power on the back straight and close in on Dave Irons on the approach to Russel with the intention of out dragging him on the exit on the run to the line. I can hear the Honda coming up my inside as we brake for the chicane (it has what sounds like a dry clutch) so I move over a bit and stick my knee out to defend the line as I don't want him messing my run out of the chicane. The Honda goes sailing past on a Kamikazi braking manouvere and T bones Dave Irons as he tips in. I am hard on the brakes trying to avoid riders and bikes and miracuously get through. Thanks chaps I have just been gifted 3rd. I get my head down and nail it to the line crossing 0.3 seconds ahead of a ZXR400 that had used the chaos at Russels to close in on me. 3rd place, £30 ACU prize money and I now only need a 6th in the next race to get second. I am happy. Of the other KR's John Buchan came in second, Brian Mattock seeing the bikes lying in the middle of the track at the chicane decided to add his to the collection, but thought he would lob it in from 50 yards away? Mark Elkington took third with Mark brown next closely followed by Richard Saunders. This closed the fight for 2nd in the cup as the gap was now down to 3 points. All John had to do was beat Mark and hope somebody else got in between them. As Mark didn't have any wets and if Brian could get his bike going again (which he could) the chances were that John would squeeze it if it was wet. So John set off around the paddock doing a rain dance whilst Brian once he had fixed his bike tried to come to terms that the result was now in his hands - could he live with the responsibility.
Race 2 GP250 - Row 7 start but at the front of the 250s. It is a split grid with modern 250s at the back and the classic bikes at the front.On the warm up lap I get a wobble going through the right in the Esses after the bridge. Odd as there wasn't any oil and the track is drying. Get a blinder of a start and get up to about 6 or 7 by the Riches corner The bike feels odd through Sears but I fly down the back straight then get a big wobble on the right in the Esses. Something isn't right so I put my hand up and move to the side. Crawl back to the pits with the bike getting a real wobble. Back tyre is completely flat!. No problem as the track is drying so it is on with the inters. The result isn't bad as I have got a safe second place in the championship and no damage has been done. No sooner are the inters on then John Buchan's prayers for rain were answered, the heavens open and it pours down. On with the wet front but I can't ride in these conditions on an inter. In fact you can't ride in these conditions and racing is stopped until the rain blows over and the track is allowed to drain a bit. We use this break to check the wet. There is no visible reason why it has deflated so we take it up to 40 PSI and keep an eye on it. The rear inter is out and we delay making a decision on the tyre until the last moment. The Wet is holding pressure so decide to fit that. The track is still soaking wet though it has stopped raining. In the previous two races their were lots of fallers and people pulling out as the conditions were bad. A bit of the track is coned off to make sure people avoid the lake that has formed - not as bad as Superbikes at Philip Island but not good.
Race 3 F400 - Front row start and I get a brilliant launch, then the bike goes sideways and I barely stay on. Made the most basic of mistakes, I lined up on top of a number so as soon as the rear tyre hit it, it lost grip and spun up. I drop back to about 8th or 9th at Riches. John Buchan has got past me and is on a mission. He needs to beat Mark Brown who is on Inters with one other rider coming between them to secure second in the KR Cup. On the back straight I manage to make a place and am upto 8th just behind Chris Pullen's CBR400. At the entry to the Russels John Buchan went down, losing the front end. That puts me upto 7th. Follow Chris Pullen round for a lap. Chris fluffs the exit out of Russels and that gives me an opportunity to out drag him up the start finish straight. There is little between the bikes in the lower gears but once the KR is in 5th then top it starts pulling past. That puts me upto 6th on the 3rd lap. Coming out of the bomb hole I get jumped by the Honda 250 dropping me back to 7th. I am still very poor going round to the Corams but the KR is much quicker up the straight and I get him on power before we get to Riches corner. As I tip in Tom Warner cuts up my inside so I drop back to 7th. I lose a bit of ground as I had to lift up to avoid him. I gain on him down the back straight but not enough to pass. Close right up going under the bridge and through the right. Before losing ground through the bomb hole and round to Russels. Stuart Bedford is about 50 yards infront and we are closing slightly on him. Back up the start finish straight I close on Tom and see Pete Whiteside has gone down that puts me upto 6th. I am tight into Tom coming onto the back straight so slipstream him for the first few gears than pull out as I go into top and go past. Upto 5th try and keep a tight line and keep the pace up going through the bomb hole and know once I am through the Russels that nobody is coming past. Cross the line in 5th which gives me second in the championship. Fastest lap was 1'30" by Eliot Forsey, mine was 1'35" not brilliant but enough on the day. The rear tyre held up and I am in one bit can't complain. Because of the delays the programme has been cut back and the 250 race has been cancelled. In the KR Cup - John Buchan falling out gave second place to Mark Brown. In the race Brian Mattock came in second collecting a trophy and £20, Mark Brown picked up 3rd just pipping Richard Saunders who fluffed a gear change allowing Mark to sneak past.
John Buchan's ( Team T3) report on the day.
It was a dodgy start to the weekend with the team attending a wedding bash on Friday night. Saturday morning dawned with the realisation that I have packed everything except my leathers and had to drive back to Hereford to collect them, and Mark found that his leathers were locked in the leather repair shop that didn't open on a Saturday! Major panic, many frantic phone calls etc., until those nice people at Silvermachine in Wolverhampton lent him a set for the weekend. Mark did have to buy a new set of £200 gloves (but he needed to do that anyway!), still his new gloves are very sexy and he is looking forward to several quiet winter nights-in with them!!! Sunday morning got off to a better start, my calls to the rain gods had worked a treat, looked like it was going to piss down for most of the day! Snetterton is a very fast circuit, the Revett straight (should that be Rev-It!?)is the longest in the UK so we have geared the bikes to give us an additional 6mph from our Cadwell gearing. Practice showed that my gearing was spot-on with it just reving-out at the end of the Revett straight. It seems also that my bike has the best straightline speed as it was quite easy to outdrag both Mark & Brian's bikes on the straight. We need to get these things on the dyno and get some power curves! This is the final meeting of the season, and it is the final conflict! Mark is second in the championship and has a 7 point lead on me! I have nothing to lose, if I dont finish both races I still finish 3rd... now there's a recipe for disaster!!!
F400 - Race 1. The rain has stopped but the track is very wet, and I've got my beloved wets on, as does Brian, Mark however has left his at home feeling that they were so bad at Anglesea that it was pointless even packing them ... I think he almost regrets that!!! Mark is on row 2, I'm on row 3 and Brian on row 4, the red light goes out and we're off, I get a really good start but shut-off too early for the first bend and most of the world comes past ... including Brian! I get my head down, I fugure that if Brian can make it round the next bend then I can too, given that we have the same tyres on. I start chasing him down, we both fly past Stuart Bedford on the Revitt straight one either side (hunting in packs again), I get the better of Brian on power only for him to outbrake me into the esses, Stuart comes past both of us, he might be slow down the straight, but he can carry plenty corner speed! This repeats itself for a couple of laps untill I break clear from Stuart and Brian and finish a comfortable distance ahead of Stuart. Now, it would appear that at a certain point on the entry to Russell's, about 2/3rds out from the inside of the track there is a very slippy bit! It might be overbanding or some oil, I dont know, but alot of people were finding it and binning it as a result, and erm yes, Brian was one of those people! I finished 10th overall and 2nd KR with Mark 4th KR and finishing at the back really suffering with no wet tyres. This result means that the points gap has closed to 3 points! All I need to do is finish ahead of Mark and 2nd place is mine!!!!!
The 250 race was fun, the track was drying rapidly. The TZs and RSs are so quick that you cant even stay in thier slipstream. But did have a good dig at the guy I beat at Anglesea and finished 6th.
F400 - Race 2. Here it is, the championship decider! I'm on the 3rd row and Mark is somewhere near row 10! The lights change and the red mist decends, I've really got some confidence back in my wets and opt for an outside line into turn one and push round the outside on Mark Jordan and a couple of others and I'm 4th overall, manage to nip up the inside of an RGV250 into Sears and I'm 3rd onto the Revitt Straight. I have Stan Stephen's son on a beautifully prepaired ZXR400 infront of me and I fully expect him to disappear in to the distance ... he doesn't! My bike is going really well!!! The RGV gets me on staightline speed but I'm right on him through the esses and the bombhole, into the long right hander of Corrams and I start making a run around his outside, the plan is to get level on the exit, outbrake him into Russell's and cut across his nose, the plan works beautifully I put him under loads of pressure around Corrams, he brakes early for Russells thats just fine, I hit the brakes, but not too hard... excellent its working... ah front wheel has locked-up ... guess what I have found... you know that slippy bit of track that Brian found earlier... yes you've guessed it.... down I go a good 80 meters from the bend, I have loads of time to look around, think "this is fast", see the grass coming up then it all goes earth, sky, earth, sky, earth, sky, earth, sky etc... I get up and stroll dejectedly off to sit on the fence and ponder my fate! I realise that I'm more pissed-off by dumping the bike while running in the top 4 of a 400 race and I could have legitimately beated Mark Jordan, than I am about handing 2nd place in the KR Cup championship back to Mark. Mark deserves his 2nd place, and Snetterton was never going to be a fair fight in the rain. Well done Mark, but watch out next year! This is probably going to be the last team news email for this year so in the tradition of these things we would like to thank everyone that has helped and supported us throughout the year, with really special thanks to Sean Harrison and Terry Barton for thier help! Next year the fight goes on... we have some work to do over the winter and a new frame for me, might help cure some of my handling problems. The KR cup next year promises to be mega competitive with some really talented guys coming out of the woodwork. Now, where's the number for that bodywork shop!!!... Dr Splash.
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