26th June Jurby ARA Championship
Last Sunday the 26th of June was the 3rd race meeting for me on the SV this year, and it was definitely my best performance to date! I’m feeling a lot more comfortable on the bike, and as my confidence grows I am learning how to get the best out of her on track!
Once again I had the use of the van for the day, thanks to Jock & Laura. I had collected my fuel, loaded the van and was ready to go by the Saturday afternoon. Waking up bright and early on race day to find perfect conditions outside, it was going to be a scorcher for sure.
My good pal Mark has once again given up his Sunday to help me out (Cheers Quilly) I couldn’t do it on my own, no way. We pulled up at the circuit around 8.30am, the paddock was already chocka block. Once unloaded we soon had the bike inspected by the scrutineers, thankfully the SV sailed through. After I signed on it was time to put myself through technical inspection, my leathers, gloves, boots and helmet that is, again all was fine and another sticker was added to my helmet. Before long the race school began their session, a chance for people who want to have a taste of roadracing under racing conditions, unfortunately one of the bikes had a mechanical and put oil down at the bus stop chicane. The marshals did a good job with the clean up, and I would take it easy through that section for the first couple of laps of my first qualifying session just in case.
By the time we got waved off for the beginning of the Twins & Triples qualifying session the wind had picked up and was starting to get a bit gusty, not to bad down the back straight as it was behind us, but on the return back towards the end of the lap it as definitely putting me wide in a couple of corners. After two laps I decided to get my head down and try to put some quick laps in, as usual it was pretty frantic with a bit of traffic to deal with, the stiff breeze pushing me down the back straight caused me to run a little hot into the following left hander on one occasion, after about 6 laps one rider crashed at a fast section and the red flag came out (rider ok), that was the end of that session.
My next 250/400/650 session due out again after the sidecars, so it’s a fast turnaround with a quick splash and dash for another qualifying session, this time I knew what to expect and could get straight into it, the bike was going really well, and before long out came the chequered flag signalling the end of our session, and a break for lunch/brew, and a chance to check out our times and race positions once displayed at race office.
Qualifying times
Singles, Twins & Triples qualified 16th out of 28 with a best lap of 1.21.415
250/400/650 qualified 11th out of 26 with a best lap of 1.21.845
Race 1: Singles, Twins & Triples
Qualifying in front of John Batty must have put me on edge, as I completely cocked up my start with a massive wheelie off the line that put me on the grass, and by the time I re-joined the track I think I was dead last! Feeling really annoyed with the amount of work I’d given myself I did my best to make up as many places as possible, and after lap 6 I crossed the chequered flag back in 16th overall with a best lap of 1.21.504 & 8th in my class, Got to get these starts nailed!
Race 2: 250/400/650
Got a better start this time and had a fairly trouble free run, I tried to keep with the rider in front (James Labdon) but toward the end He was riding really well and starting to gap me, I finished in 11th with a best lap of 1.21.163 but more importantly I got a 5th in my class!
Race 3: Singles, Twins & Triples
Another good start making up a couple of places up to 13th after lap 1, I tried to keep with John Battty on His 650 for this race and wasn’t doing a bad job of it. On lap 4 Richard Brigazzi blasted past me on his steel frame 600, and on lap 5 another steel frame 600 (Steven Allwright) got past me too, not so bad as they are in a separate class to me. I finished the race in 15th overall with a best time of 1.20.886 & 7th in my class
Race 4: 250/400/650
Last race of the day and I was keen to finish on a high, the lights went out and I got another good start. By the end of lap 1 I had managed to nose ahead of James Labdon and was in 8th place. I managed to hold James off for the rest of the race but He must have had a good view of back wheel as He crossed the line 2 tenths behind me on the last lap. I finished the last race 8th overall with a best lap time of 1.20.812 and took another 5th place in the 650 class!
My quickest ever laps and my best overall finishing position’s yet, I’m really enjoying my racing now and happy with my results hopefully continue improving as I gain more experience. Talking of gaining experience I have sent off my entry’s with Auto66 at the Elvington race circuit near York, racing on the 7th of August, and have another one or possibly two races with the Andreas Racing Club before then, depending on funds.
Its going to be a busy month with the already mentioned race schedule, and we have the Southern100 coming up in the second week of July http://www.southern100.com/, race day on the 14th I think it is this year. And then toward the end of August it’s the Manx Grand Prix http://www.manxgrandprix.org/ I will be marshalling for this once again this year, good luck to all competitors!
That’s all from me until the next instalment, a big thank you to all those that have helped and supported me so far, especially my family and of course my good lady Wife for making the butties and generally putting up with me! Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/Bigmitch_racing
