snow, sleet, hail, wind and rain - perfect for racing....


After the months of waiting and preparation the first round had finally come along over the Easter weekend. This year I am contesting the clubmans cup within the Dyno-Pro MRO Supersport championship after completing my rookie year in 2007. For this round there was no official test day but fortunately there was a trackday arranged for Good Friday which was great because I had only ever been to Donnington once and that was to watch. We had planned to pack up and depart on the Thursday lunchtime, to arrive at Donnington at the end of the day and camp the night ready for the trackday in the morning. Unfortunately my plan had gone slightly wrong when I found out that the van I was kindly being lent was still out doing what it was bought to do, work! Alan 'the Princess' Lau was planning to also drive up that evening but being made of slightly less club racer material, he had decided to spend the night in a hotel and follow onto the circuit the next morning. The van finally returned to Worthing at 11pm that night and after dropping the guys off I packed the van ready for an early (5am) departure in the morning - ouch!

Gazza arrived on the dot Friday morning and we were on our way. It was dry but cold and the roads were not so strangely quiet at that time of the morning. We made great time and arrived at the circuit at 8-15am with just enough time to park up, find Alan in the pit garage he had found for us to share with Sarah and Steve Jordan for the weekend and get to the standard trackday safety briefing. My group was out first so I opted to miss the first session and get everything organised, the bike readied and tyre warmers on.

pit garage number 27, home for 3 days


The sun was out but the wind was fierce which causing me a lot of problems down the back straight and dropping in to some of the turns (it kept pushing me up!), but what a wonderful circuit this is with the sweeping Craner curves and altitude changes. On the trackday we were using the complete GP circuit but for the following 2 race days it would just be the National circuit - probably just as well because I was not get the hang of the extra section. We managed three interrupted and rather short sessions in the morning and one in the afternoon before it started to rain so we took the decision to call it a day rather than wobble around on wets, i would learn nothing. Alan and the Jordan's were able to get their bikes to scrutineering ready for Saturday but I was awaiting on a delivery from Charlie at Seton Tuning of some racing engine covers for the R6 which now had to be fitted to comply with the regs. At least we were now able to unpack the van and organise the pit garage for the coming weekend.

All week I had kept an eye on the weather forecast and there had been one common theory all week - it was going to snow! The temperature had dropped Friday evening and when Charlie arrived with the parts I was quite glad to be working and moving to keep warm. It was going to be a cold night in 'hotel van' even with all my sleeping bags and clothing but Gary had it sussed and pitched his tent in the garage!

Gazza's happy with his night time accommodation


Qualifying

Saturday morning arrived rather quickly and I must have slept well, it was probably something to do with only having 4 hours the night before, without getting too cold. 7-30am and I was queuing at the scrutineering bay, it was starting to sleet, great! The bike passed with flying colours and now I could relax for a while as Supersport were not due out for our 15 minute qualifying until around 11am. It was going to be a tough decision on what tyres to run on but we decided to stick the wets on in a hope that I could get them warmer than dry tyres in these conditions. As I left the pit garage it started to sleet and hail - good choice of tyres but this was going to be a bit tricky! As we left the pit lane the first guy out applied the power out of Riches, the first corner, and the front folded on him and he was straight in the gravel. This made me and probably everybody else a little tentative as the weather continued to drop on the track until it stopped and things started to improve, so much so that Alan pushed it a little to hard and high-sided at Craners, a fast left hander, but he was up and ok. I qualified 27th which was just fine for me considering the number of riders that had crashed. Back at the garage Alan returned with his bike, both of them covered in mud but he was fine and the bike although not quite looking as pretty as before was easily repairable. I looked down and noticed oil all over my left boot and on further investigation it was also over the fairing, swingarm and starting to get on the rear tyre which could have caused me to lose grip and crash. A quick call to Phil Seton and within minutes he was in the garage and the problem was found and solved.


Saturday race 1

Tyre choice was going to be tricky and we left it until the last minute before deciding which ones to run. The track had been drying all morning but the clouds were building up again although there was only one choice, it had to be drys. I was all prepared with helmet and gloves on when it was announced that Supersport 600 would be after lunch - damn! Half an hour later we were on the grid and ready to go, and it was still dry! Somethings don't change and I made my usual hash of the start leaving me in dead last position before the first corner but with the usual bunching up going into that corner it enabled me to catch up on the brakes and get back in the pack. I had small battle with Steve #64, whom I had raced against last year and managed to get the better of him to the finish. I finished 28th overall, 13th in class with a fastest lap of 1.29.8 secs

Saturday race 2

The second race of the day for us was the last race of the day and at the time I didn't realise how late we were going out until I felt the temperature and saw that the sun was almost set. We started at 6pm and after my now traditional bad start, each lap down the back straight under the Dunlop Bridge saw the sun get lower and lower which gave me problems seeing my braking marker. I returned to the garage freezing cold, unable to feel my fingers. Finished 24th, 13th again in class with a slower fastest lap of 1.33.7 secs.

Sunday race 1

I woke up at 6.30am and peered out of my sleeping bag to see the snow covering the vans around me - that would explain why I was so cold! At 7.30am I was woken up again by some kind soul starting his generator and why I do not know as he was so close to the garages where there was ample power. There wasn't much to do this morning other than wait to see what the weather did or if there was going to be any racing at all. After a tannoy announcement we knew the score. There would be no morning practise (no great loss in that weather) and we would have 2 warm laps before the first race. I wasn't envious of the first classes that had to go out, it was cold and very wet with snow at the side of the track.

perfect track conditions for racing!


By the time the first Supersport race came up, the track was bone dry and the conditions were as good as they had been all weekend. My start was better than the previous days efforts which only meant I held my grid position. This race was a 9 lap race but after 5 laps the sleet started to come down and the track became greasy. Several riders crashed not expecting the track to be so slippery and the race was stopped because of debry on the track. I finished 23rd, 13th in class and a fastest lap of 1.29.7 secs

Sunday race 2

Race 4 of the weekend and the conditions were dry again for what was the final race for all classes of the weekend. By now a lot of the paddock had emptied out and had started to make their way home. The race started at about 5pm so the sun had dropped as far as it had on Saturday but it was still very cold. My start was better than it had been all weekend and I finally felt as if I was getting the hang of a couple of the more mysterious to me corners. I finished 21st overall, 13th yet again in class and managed my fastest lap of the weekend with 1.29.0 secs.

Donnington had been a difficult weekend, starting with our plans going wrong on the Thursday, then with the trackday not being great and then with the weather causing havoc with the timetable and races. I'm not sure I really clicked with the circuit but enjoyed it and would love to go back in the summer and learn it properly. MRO Supersport is a jump up in class and the standard is very high which means I will have to push harder. Bring on Brands Hatch GP circuit which is next. It's a circuit I have always wanted to do but have never been around - should be interesting!












Alan's new R6 was considerably warmer than his GSXR and he didn't fall off this one.