dseered
New member
Well, where do I start ?
I know, I will go from the Wednesday night before Raceday.
Wednesday night and I rushed the seat unit and nosecone down to Chris and Ivan at CM Signs - all the graphics were cut and it was decided that it would be better for them to apply the numberboards, I had said I would do it myself, bloody glad I didn't as it looked like a right pain in the ass to do.
While I was there Ivan put the numbers on aswell. Job done I rushed back to Kendal and into Paul's workshop where the rest of the bike was, he was going through the final checks, lockwire and stuff, he had run the bike upto temperature again just to check for any drips, there was none so we rebuilt it with all the bodywork in place and applied the remainder of the graphics.
We loaded the bike in the van and checked through the tools and spares I was going to be taking.
Thursday - I left home about 3.30 and set about the trip to Brands Hatch, M25 was a daunting prospect to me as I had never been on it before and expected some mahoooosive freeway type affair - what a letdown LOL !
I spoke to Domski a fair bit on the way down and met up with his and Lily's crewchief Chass when I arrived - Stella was taken and craic was had - I arrived at Brands Hatch at about 9.30 PM so a fair old drive !
Friday
Up bright and early and drove from the lower paddock up to the garages to meet CK&AK and their riders Bones and Hawk, I was going to be 'lodging' with them for the weekend and it was great to do the trackday with them aswell. Unloaded the bikes and was joined by Murrey and his Mrs Bev also Raller and Jon, I didn't like Brands Hatch on the trackday but my laptimes improved.
I say Improved - I didn't know I was been timed until I got a wink and was told I put in a 1.01.01, I was very happy with that, it all went down hill from there and I was doing consistent 1.04's.
That was that, trackday over and Stella was on the menu, CK and Bev had been setting up camp down in the lower paddock so vans were packed up and off we went - CK had been busy with the Chilli, we were busy with the beer - a great night of banter, beer and food followed, no worries on the drink front as we were not racing til Sunday.
A steady influx of racers turned up throughout the evening and we were camped up opposite "Team OD2" with Chass, Freak, Lily, Domski and crew - Freak had had his fair share of Magners and was really quite hilarious, not much urine was extracted for him binning it
Saturday, was mostly spent having a laugh, meeting new people and watching the racing, also applying yet more stickers, checking oil, tyres, chains and almost every nut and bolt on the bike, Jon (Freak) and I also made some modifications to my pegs as it had become clear that I was riding on the very end of the footpegs, as the stoppers were made of Nylon they were slippy so out came the hacksaw !
Sunday
All my banter and craic was gone and I was a jibbering wreck, well not so much jibbering, just a wobbly mess, CK was forcing the water down us, getting her lads ready aswell as making sure myself and Franco were ready to go.
Alot had been spoken about our qualifying session as both class A and class B would be qualifying together - yep 59 riders out on track together for 10 minutes - holy @@@@ I was kackin 'em.
We all waited in the assembly area and every move the marshall made resulted in at least 30 revving engines, all adding to my anxiety, I was terrified. At last the gate opened and everybody lunged forward, I was last out of assembly after making a 15 point turn to get onto pit land, must look at the steering lock !
I had passed a few riders by the time we arrived into Druids and got some good space and about 10 qualifying laps in - this could of course be bollix as I really don't have a clue how many laps we did, all I know was that it was very frantic - all anxiety had gone though and I was riding on the track, with racers and spectators - buzzing now !
In we came and back to the Gazebo, helmet off and the bike was up on the paddock stand before I knew what was happening and water was thrust into my hand - I was a wreck again and had to sit dowm, adrenaline had got the better of me, I was worried for a second or two about myself as I had nothing in my legs only jelly !
Shortly later and the timing sheets arrived - I had qualified 18th out of a grid of 32, yes I was a very happy boy, well chuffed.
So that was that - next came the big one, race 1 for me, OH MY FECKING GOD.
DD Class A was called and the roar of Ducati engines could be heard from all over the paddock, we watched their warm up lap from the lowere paddock and then got kitted up as we were out next, riding from the lower paddock to the assembly area was the longest ride of my life......
Grid slot 18, how the feck am I supposed to find that ??????
Class A came in and this was it..........
.........everything that I had been building up for, all the money, time and worry that has been taking over my life since Christmas and long before, it was now, this was it..........
......I am going to be a motorbike racer, it was a mixture of excitement, anxiety and also some anger crept in, I was overtaken by emotion, I thought of my Father, how proud he would have been of me, about the rest of my family and what I must be putting them through by racing a motorbike..........then that bloody steering lock again, I nearly binned the bike before I even got to the grid
I found my grid position and tipped my visor once more, warm up lap so at least I can have a chilled lap to get my eye in once again - warm up, warm up, they were having a laugh the whole pack shot off like scalded cats - oh christ here we go I thought, now Brands Hatch Indy is not a long track so we were soon lining up on the grid again - slot 18, I'm here - OMG.
I don't know how many times I checked for 1st gear, it was alot I promise you, while the starter man was stood with the red flag, best check 1st again, yep its in first, best hook neatral and then try first again - yep its in.
Red flag dropped and out of my peripheral vision I was watching the lights, revs were high RED lights, RED lights, RED lights - NO FECKING LIGHTS OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE, 32 bikes head for Paddock Hill bend, I can only guess I was in 19th position at that point as I didn't get passed after that nor di I pass anyone although I was hot on the heals of bike no 44 who in turn was hot on the heals of bike 99, what an amazing experience, words cannot describe the sound of those bikes off the grid and being amongst was an experience I will never ever forget.
Race 1 - position 19th - Avg 69.03 mph - fastest lap - 1.02.21 @ 70.96mph
(Winner = Avg 73.10 mph - fastest lap - 0.58.76 @ 75.12)
Both our best laps were on lap 5.
Wow, job done and I am officially a bike racer and it feels gooooooood, very gooooood, unlike any buzz I have ever experienced.
Back to base and the same people are around the paddock, cheers Katana you are a star. Water, food, water, food, water, food and so the cycle continues !
It ain't long and race 2 is upon us, much calmer this time as I half know what to expect and take a wide line out of the assembly area ! Grid position remained the same so I found it OK and it was off on the warm up / banzai lap, lined up and awaited the start procedure once again.
Much better this time and actually my asshole was not closed quite as tight this time, Paddock passed without incident and we were racing, soon upon the same suspects from race 1 only in a different order, this time I was chasing bike 99 and he was with Bike 44 - at times I was giggling in my helmet as we chased each other, having a ball - I like racing !
Much better result for me with a 16th place, avg speed of 68.30 and best lap, on lap 4 at 1.02.22@70.95 mph.
Race was red flagged on lap 6 and the winner was taken from position on that lap - get well soon Jon Williams who had a big accident at Paddock Hill.
It was then a case of back in, load van and feck off as it was to be a long drive home, I watched the awards and prizegiving, I even won a spot prize of some oil
Many thanks to all that helped make the 2007 Desmo Due series possible for me.
Visa
Mastercard
Suicidegirls.com
Ducati Leeds
Ozz
Budget Tyres
Midac Body Repairs
Paul Ainsworth ( PA Racing )
CM Signs
Ducati Sporting Club
and of course CK&AK, Bones and Hawk without whom I would have been an even bigger mess !
Chass, Freak, Lily, Domski, Murray, Bev, Cleggy and the list goes on, the Desmo Due paddock is a very nice place to be and I am very proud to be a part of it.
I know, I will go from the Wednesday night before Raceday.
Wednesday night and I rushed the seat unit and nosecone down to Chris and Ivan at CM Signs - all the graphics were cut and it was decided that it would be better for them to apply the numberboards, I had said I would do it myself, bloody glad I didn't as it looked like a right pain in the ass to do.
While I was there Ivan put the numbers on aswell. Job done I rushed back to Kendal and into Paul's workshop where the rest of the bike was, he was going through the final checks, lockwire and stuff, he had run the bike upto temperature again just to check for any drips, there was none so we rebuilt it with all the bodywork in place and applied the remainder of the graphics.
We loaded the bike in the van and checked through the tools and spares I was going to be taking.
Thursday - I left home about 3.30 and set about the trip to Brands Hatch, M25 was a daunting prospect to me as I had never been on it before and expected some mahoooosive freeway type affair - what a letdown LOL !
I spoke to Domski a fair bit on the way down and met up with his and Lily's crewchief Chass when I arrived - Stella was taken and craic was had - I arrived at Brands Hatch at about 9.30 PM so a fair old drive !
Friday
Up bright and early and drove from the lower paddock up to the garages to meet CK&AK and their riders Bones and Hawk, I was going to be 'lodging' with them for the weekend and it was great to do the trackday with them aswell. Unloaded the bikes and was joined by Murrey and his Mrs Bev also Raller and Jon, I didn't like Brands Hatch on the trackday but my laptimes improved.
I say Improved - I didn't know I was been timed until I got a wink and was told I put in a 1.01.01, I was very happy with that, it all went down hill from there and I was doing consistent 1.04's.
That was that, trackday over and Stella was on the menu, CK and Bev had been setting up camp down in the lower paddock so vans were packed up and off we went - CK had been busy with the Chilli, we were busy with the beer - a great night of banter, beer and food followed, no worries on the drink front as we were not racing til Sunday.
A steady influx of racers turned up throughout the evening and we were camped up opposite "Team OD2" with Chass, Freak, Lily, Domski and crew - Freak had had his fair share of Magners and was really quite hilarious, not much urine was extracted for him binning it
Saturday, was mostly spent having a laugh, meeting new people and watching the racing, also applying yet more stickers, checking oil, tyres, chains and almost every nut and bolt on the bike, Jon (Freak) and I also made some modifications to my pegs as it had become clear that I was riding on the very end of the footpegs, as the stoppers were made of Nylon they were slippy so out came the hacksaw !
Sunday
All my banter and craic was gone and I was a jibbering wreck, well not so much jibbering, just a wobbly mess, CK was forcing the water down us, getting her lads ready aswell as making sure myself and Franco were ready to go.
Alot had been spoken about our qualifying session as both class A and class B would be qualifying together - yep 59 riders out on track together for 10 minutes - holy @@@@ I was kackin 'em.
We all waited in the assembly area and every move the marshall made resulted in at least 30 revving engines, all adding to my anxiety, I was terrified. At last the gate opened and everybody lunged forward, I was last out of assembly after making a 15 point turn to get onto pit land, must look at the steering lock !
I had passed a few riders by the time we arrived into Druids and got some good space and about 10 qualifying laps in - this could of course be bollix as I really don't have a clue how many laps we did, all I know was that it was very frantic - all anxiety had gone though and I was riding on the track, with racers and spectators - buzzing now !
In we came and back to the Gazebo, helmet off and the bike was up on the paddock stand before I knew what was happening and water was thrust into my hand - I was a wreck again and had to sit dowm, adrenaline had got the better of me, I was worried for a second or two about myself as I had nothing in my legs only jelly !
Shortly later and the timing sheets arrived - I had qualified 18th out of a grid of 32, yes I was a very happy boy, well chuffed.
So that was that - next came the big one, race 1 for me, OH MY FECKING GOD.
DD Class A was called and the roar of Ducati engines could be heard from all over the paddock, we watched their warm up lap from the lowere paddock and then got kitted up as we were out next, riding from the lower paddock to the assembly area was the longest ride of my life......
Grid slot 18, how the feck am I supposed to find that ??????
Class A came in and this was it..........
.........everything that I had been building up for, all the money, time and worry that has been taking over my life since Christmas and long before, it was now, this was it..........
......I am going to be a motorbike racer, it was a mixture of excitement, anxiety and also some anger crept in, I was overtaken by emotion, I thought of my Father, how proud he would have been of me, about the rest of my family and what I must be putting them through by racing a motorbike..........then that bloody steering lock again, I nearly binned the bike before I even got to the grid
I found my grid position and tipped my visor once more, warm up lap so at least I can have a chilled lap to get my eye in once again - warm up, warm up, they were having a laugh the whole pack shot off like scalded cats - oh christ here we go I thought, now Brands Hatch Indy is not a long track so we were soon lining up on the grid again - slot 18, I'm here - OMG.
I don't know how many times I checked for 1st gear, it was alot I promise you, while the starter man was stood with the red flag, best check 1st again, yep its in first, best hook neatral and then try first again - yep its in.
Red flag dropped and out of my peripheral vision I was watching the lights, revs were high RED lights, RED lights, RED lights - NO FECKING LIGHTS OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE, 32 bikes head for Paddock Hill bend, I can only guess I was in 19th position at that point as I didn't get passed after that nor di I pass anyone although I was hot on the heals of bike no 44 who in turn was hot on the heals of bike 99, what an amazing experience, words cannot describe the sound of those bikes off the grid and being amongst was an experience I will never ever forget.
Race 1 - position 19th - Avg 69.03 mph - fastest lap - 1.02.21 @ 70.96mph
(Winner = Avg 73.10 mph - fastest lap - 0.58.76 @ 75.12)
Both our best laps were on lap 5.
Wow, job done and I am officially a bike racer and it feels gooooooood, very gooooood, unlike any buzz I have ever experienced.
Back to base and the same people are around the paddock, cheers Katana you are a star. Water, food, water, food, water, food and so the cycle continues !
It ain't long and race 2 is upon us, much calmer this time as I half know what to expect and take a wide line out of the assembly area ! Grid position remained the same so I found it OK and it was off on the warm up / banzai lap, lined up and awaited the start procedure once again.
Much better this time and actually my asshole was not closed quite as tight this time, Paddock passed without incident and we were racing, soon upon the same suspects from race 1 only in a different order, this time I was chasing bike 99 and he was with Bike 44 - at times I was giggling in my helmet as we chased each other, having a ball - I like racing !
Much better result for me with a 16th place, avg speed of 68.30 and best lap, on lap 4 at 1.02.22@70.95 mph.
Race was red flagged on lap 6 and the winner was taken from position on that lap - get well soon Jon Williams who had a big accident at Paddock Hill.
It was then a case of back in, load van and feck off as it was to be a long drive home, I watched the awards and prizegiving, I even won a spot prize of some oil
Many thanks to all that helped make the 2007 Desmo Due series possible for me.
Visa
Mastercard
Suicidegirls.com
Ducati Leeds
Ozz
Budget Tyres
Midac Body Repairs
Paul Ainsworth ( PA Racing )
CM Signs
Ducati Sporting Club
and of course CK&AK, Bones and Hawk without whom I would have been an even bigger mess !
Chass, Freak, Lily, Domski, Murray, Bev, Cleggy and the list goes on, the Desmo Due paddock is a very nice place to be and I am very proud to be a part of it.
