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Steve
THURSDAY
We turned up at Cadwell mid afternoon on Thursday to watch my brother Ben, and mates Tim & Kenny go round on their damp trackday. We finished off putting up the awning up as Andy, who drove up with the others the previous night, forgot to take the canvas bits. It was quite amusing to turn up and see them all inside the framework of the awning but still getting wet! The good point though was they had setup on tarmac which at Cadwell, is in short supply. It was good to be at the track and have time to rest from being on the road most of the day. That evening we all went down the local village pub ‘The Green Man’ for a couple of drinks.
TEST DAY FRIDAY
I woke to the sound of light rain on the roof of the van. It didn’t last long but found I could not get back to sleep as usual so I woke Jen up to take it out on her by annoying her. After getting up and signing on, I went out on track for the first session.
For this meeting I had the same engine from Snetterton in my no. 1 chassis, and had Jen's bike as a spare. I went out on Jen's bike for the first session but the brakes barely worked and there seemed to be a lot of vibration when I pulled the lever. I came in after one lap, and we all gave it a look over. When the lever was held on, it would slowly pull to the bar. We checked it over but couldn’t find a leak so decided that the seal in the master cylinder had had it. We changed the whole front brake system for my spare ones and bled them. I decided to take my no.1 bike out and forget about wasting a session checking the brakes on the spare, as I wanted to get stuck into the track and not worry about bike problems. I went out and it was fully dry and I remembered how much I loved the circuit. I felt good through Hall bends but had to work on some of the other corners including Chris Curve, which had now been resurfaced. I was still doubling up on pain killers for my hand and knee that were injured from Snetterton. I had been concerned that I wouldn’t be able to ride to my full potential as the thumb still hurt; but I'd had it x-rayed and it didn’t appear broken. After the first session though, I knew the injuries wouldn’t affect racing. Throughout the day I altered what gears I use for the mountain section and found it was faster. Ben was recommended by Rob Hoyles to model some leathers for Two Wheels Only magazine and acted on my bike for the cameras, which was amusing. Red & Andy were testing and racing this weekend too, which was good as it can get a bit lonely when theres only Jen & I at the track like at Snet, although there’s always your fellow racers to bore to death. The second from last session saw Andy go out on Red's bike to check her gearbox was acting as it should so I used the session to test the spare. The brakes were ok but they needed a bit more bleeding. After that session I put a new rear tyre on thanks to John Sanders’ A&R voucher from Brands and got fully scrutineered before they shut for the day. I figured I didn’t need a front tyre as the one I had had only done 4 dry races and a couple of qualifying sessions. The rear I bought was one of the new Diablo SuperCorsas. I watched the last session and felt that the only person that was up to speed (in that last session at least) was Adam. We went down the bar with Rob Hoyles & Tom Dean then headed for an early night.
SATURDAY
QUALIFYING
We were out quite late for qualifying compared to the first two rounds, and we were held for quite a while in the collecting area as there was an incident beforehand. When we were let loose onto the track, I considered the first lap a tyre warming exercise. Onto the second lap and the new rear tyre felt good, getting better drive out of the corners and giving me more confidence then on the testday. I had a clear track ahead so decided to try for a good lap as I figured I wouldn’t get many clear laps. I put in a decent lap but went in too early for the gooseneck which cost me time. Starting the next lap I still had no-one in front of me. Halfway through the lap I was sure this was gonna be a flyer, but entering the mountain section I could see Stephen Murphy ahead and was praying I wouldn’t catch him before the line. Into Hall bends and I was closing in, through no fault of his own he was about to ruin my lap. I decided I was gonna dive up the inside at the old hairpin from a little way back. I managed to get alongside but was carrying too much speed and ran out of track on the exit. The grass at the old hairpin slopes away from the track, so I was doomed and the bike tipped over as I tried to turn back towards the tarmac. I was gutted but it wasn’t too bad as it was only qualifying and I was sure my second lap would put me on the first two rows. As it happened, I qualified second but may have been able to depose Adam from pole had I not slipped off.
Race 1
“GRASSTRACKING”
Race one was full of drama. We were held in collecting
area for ages again, and on the warm up lap I found loads of cement dust on
the racing line at the bottom of the mountain left from a broken down MZ -this
was the reason for the long wait. Anyway, the lights go out and I got a pretty
lazy start but managed to get around Phil at Coppice. I swooped round Charlies
where the bike didn’t seem to pull well. Phil came past and at that point
I realized in all the excitement that I had changed up not down for Charlies2
and was in 6th gear all the way to Park corner. I caught Phil back up again
and he made a bit of mare of avoiding the cement dust. I banged it down a gear
and fired up the mountain alongside him but he managed to come back alongside
and we both ended up going for the same piece of tarmac into Hall Bends. I had
nowhere to go and ended up punted him onto the grass on the left as I took the
slightly greener grass route on the right. I rejoined in front of Phil before
the old hairpin in about 8th place. Last year my main overtaking place was Park
corner, but this year Mansfield was my best corner for overtakes, I felt confident
on the front end there. I managed to pass Simon Braby, Colin Martin & David
Scott throughout the second lap. On lap 3 I passed a now flying Stephen Murphy
at Mansfield and set about chasing Mark Parbury in third place. He made a slight
mistake on lap 4 through the gooseneck and I managed my pass again at Mansfield.
The leading two of Adam & Max were slightly ahead but I had a good rhythm
and now clear track ahead, but at the bottom of the mountain where I was taking
a tighter line into the right due to the cement dust, I lost the front (I think)
on the exit. I was trying to keep my usual corner speed but with more limited
room it was too much for the tyres and I slid off onto the grass up the hill
to the left of the mountain. I had lost the brake lever so turned the ignition
off and got behind the barrier to hear applause from the spectators in the grandstand.
At the time I was still upset about the first lap shenanigans with Phil but
we were both fighting for the same bit of track and are both to blame for having
a never say die attitude. Thankfully MSV had removed all the trees from Hall
bends a couple of years earlier ? I watched the rest of the race feeling extremely
gutted.
After the race, I learned that Adam had nearly crashed at the same point as
me but managed to stay on and take the win. In between the races I helped him
adjust his preload on his rear shock.
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