Reports & Results

Written by M.Dickinson

I arrived at Brands Thursday evening full of confidence after 3 days testing in Spain, sun bikes & fast lap times were the order of the day at a very technical Cartagena.  A very different brands hatch greeted us, damp, cold & very foggy. I spent most of the day improving the bike setup & steadily getting quicker without taking any risks. At the end of the day we were sure we had enough speed to challenge for the win.

Saturday morning was much the same as Friday except we had light rain aswell now; I knew front row would be critical around the tight & twisty Indy circuit. I decided to use  slicks & do one flying lap, this worked well with a 51-7 & 3rd place, i was knocked down to 4th near the end but front row was good enough. With only minutes left the heavens opened & the track was well & truly soaked. Our race was at 3pm so quite a while to wait & the weather could change by then.
By 3pm it had stopped raining & a dry line was almost appearing, too dry for wets & probably to damp for slicks, not because the slicks don’t grip on a damp track but because it was going to be difficult to get heat into the tyres. At the start i held my 4th place for half the race until i caught backmarkers, that was enough to lose tyre temperature & i struggled for edge grip, by the end i had dropped to 6th but was happy knowing i couldn't go any quicker & i had some decent points.

Sunday morning the weather had taken a turn for the worse & it was definitely going to be wets for the rest of the day, morning warm-up was very wet & i spent the session getting used to the wets again. Race 2 was here & we lined up 6th on the grid, fastest lap times from Saturday determine the grid for Sunday. After a ok start i worked my way up to 3rd & onto the back wheel of bsb super stock rider Dan Hegerty, i dived up he inside at clearways at the same time as Dan lost the front, i swerved to miss him but couldn't avoid the grass & came down to earth with a bang, not the best way to start the day.

Race 3 & the rain was as hard as ever & the temperature had dropped to 2 degrees, this was going to be a challenge. I remember thinking on the start line, just get some points, that went out the window when i holeshoted, race face was on & my head was down, i knew i had the pace to win if i could get away in the first few laps, unfortunately i low sided at clearways, probably trying to hard & not letting the tyres heat up properly, so no points on Sunday but a very positive showing over the weekend. We know we have to work harder to keep heat in the tyre & if it rains the Michelin wets have the pace to run at the front.
A big thank you to all involved: Michelin: Al joinery: Motor Race Spares: D6 Racing Designs & a very good personal sponsor Deck Lilly.

Next race meeting 24-25th march Donnington Park