 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Brands GP Meeting Race Report |
BMCRC's annual meeting on the Brands Hatch GP circuit is certainly not one to be missed and full grids for every class proved that point. With the British Superbike meeting being held on the same circuit some two weeks later we found ourselves sharing the grid with many of the British Superstock riders.
The main aim for this meeting for myself was to "find" another 2 seconds. During the beginning of 2008 my best laptime was a 1.39 which I was not happy with, at the second outing on the GP circuit in 2008 I had reduced this down to a 1.36 which I felt was very respectable although still not where I wanted to be. I knew that to enter the British Supersport I would have to be down to a 1.34 as a starting point and did know that I would have to work hard over the Bemsee weekend to make this possible.
This is where Simon comes in. Simon was introduced to me by Mike Edwards as he had been working with Matt Bond at the British Superbike meetings. Simon is currently doing a masters in physcology and has ridden as a coach himself. I know that my bike is great and inside that I really can do it, its just the final link has been missing now for a while and I needed to complete it to go quicker. Simon worked with me during Saturday working on visualisation and focus and it was worth every minute.
I worked hard in qualifying and the bike needed no extra setup. I had decided to run an SC1 rear all weekend to give me the confidence to improve on my mid corner throttle response and knew that id need every bit of this to qualify well from 43 entrants. I had a good run in both sessions and was placed 12th on the grid with a 1.35.9 setting a personal best.
Going into the first race i worked hard on my focus for the start as I knew that I would be mugged pretty quickly if I got this wrong. A good solid drive off the line and into and through Druids defending a pass from Dave Shelvey gave me the chance to quickly tag and follow the quicker riders in front. The race was over too quickly though for me..a personal best of a 1.35.4 and 11th place or 3rd if you discounted the British Championship riders. I was very happy.
Race 1 Sunday went equally as planned although Dave Shelvey did sneak past this time and I gave chase. By doing this I had got down into the 1.34's and was feeling very comfortable. About lap 6 I notived the bike getting hot which caused me to loose concentration and be pushed back 2 places. Eager to make them back I started planning a move back past only for the red flags to come out due to a faller at Graham Hill. I was happy though another PB and an 11th place.
Race 2 was pretty much a non starter. It started raining but not enough really to properly soak the track. We had gone for wets, a gamble that could have paid off but it didnt. I also found my discs on my wet wheels to be warped so rather than risk an off after such a good weekend I pulled in.
So overall very happy with this weekend.
I have now put in my entry for the British Supersport at Brands Hatch on the GP circuit to be held on the 7th-9th August. |
| Race Date: 29/07/2009 |
| Back To Reports |
|
