After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally time to wheel the bike out again and blow away the webs.
I had been toiling away in the garage for a while fitting a new subframe and sexy GSXR600 fairings to make the bike look much better. Unfortunately, they were still unpainted and looked a bit rubbish but I was planning on a low key weekend just making sure that everything was working on the bike.
...only the bike wasn't working.
Saturday Practice Day
I had pretty much given up on the bike after trying the get the bloody thing started and had gone through a number of problems ranging from a faulty battery to the tip over sensor but still it wouldn't fire up. So I decided to go to the track anyway and hopefully someone would shed some light on the situation.
I hadn't been there long before Frenchy very generously decided to give me a hand and didn't give up until we had finally found the culprit. Turns out the crank sensor became unplugged at some point after I replaced the battery, this took all of 5 seconds for Chris Osbourne to fix!
So once the bike was running and the Super Corsas were warmed I went out for my first session of the day. I felt more than a bit rusty, which wasn't helped by the fact that I didn't have any foam on the seat and I was slipping all over the place.
For the next session I solved that problem and added some padding to the tank for extra grip and it made a huge difference. I also had my lap timer on for this session and was pleasantly surprised to see the times coming down into the low 1:14s. I didn't feel like I was pushing very hard so I'm not sure it these times were correct but for the next session I was again in the 14s and more consistently quick.
I called it a day and went home to try and get some sleep as I was knackered.
Sunday Race Day
I awoke feeling relatively fresh and after a bit of a panic about the weather I was heading out to the track from Palmy. I got set up and signed in and waited for qualifying. F3 / Pro-Twin QP was up fairly early and I felt confident of getting back into the 14s during this session. Unfortunately my gear linkage had come loose, which forced me to come in early but I had set an ok time which put me 5th on the grid.
I also went out in the F2 qualifying session but was disappointed to only do a high 1:15 lap time in this session. I felt like I was pushing harder than the previous day but the lap times were not as good, which makes me think there was a problem with my lap timer from the previous day. Anyway, I didn't plan on doing the F2 races so my qualifying time from this session meant nothing.
Pro-Twin Race 1
I lined up on the grid directly behind Nick Cain on Ozzy's 450. I knew that this was his first time starting on this bike so I pointed my nose to the right of him to try and get around if it went pear shaped. It turned out to be a good idea as he nearly looped the thing and I still got a bit of a surprise. After the usual antics into the first corner I ended up sitting behind Scott Moir for the next few laps while Jason Easton buggered off into the distance.
Scott seemed to be doing identical lap times to me and it wasn't until the last lap that he slowed enough for me to get past and finish second overall and first Pro-Twin.
My best lap in this race was a 1:15.0 so not the greatest but was fairly happy considering the age of my tyres.
Pro-Twin Race 2
I managed to get a good launch and out-braked Jason into turn one to lead coming out. Going round turn two Jason passed me back and I noticed how much more settled his bike was than mine (something to work on). It wasn't long before Nick Cain came past after getting a better start than last time. I came back past on the brakes but he was murdering me coming out of Higgins and it soon became apparent that I wouldn't be able to keep up. I eased off for the rest of the race to finish 3rd over the line but picked up another win in the Pro-Twin class.
So a good day out and a successful shakedown before the Tri-Series in December.
Thanks to Robert at CKT for fine tuning the rear shock and allowing me to keep running old tyres that just won't die. Also thanks to NWA for providing me with the excellent Pirelli Super Corsa tyres.
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