the novice vest has gone....

Between the Pembrey and Lydden rounds I had fitted a new Micron race exhaust system which may involve some jetting changes. Lydden is restricted to only only being allowed to be used for two days in a row because of the local residents and on Sunday nothing can happen before midday. The practise day for this weekend was therefore on the Thursday which meant I had to leave on Wednesday afternoon to get a decent spot with power. Thursdays practise went fine with the bike only needing one jetting adjustment to work with the new exhaust system, although I was finding the circuit very abrasive which was destroying the tyres rather quickly.
Friday was a quiet day off with no race engines allowed to destroy the peace and quiet. I had nothing that needed doing on the bike so I spent the day relaxing , reading and walking the track in the sun.

Saturday race 1

In contrast to Pembrey, at Lydden we were way down the schedule. The conditions were perfect but for some reason there had been a lot incidents, one of which had involved the air ambulance having to pick up one unfortunate rider. I, being new to this circuit, still hadn't really found the secret to this track but I had a decent with a few other guys. I finished in 20th place with a fastest lap of 48.8 secs which was slower than I had been going in practise.

Saturday race 2

After a lot more strange incidents and hold ups, we finally got on to the grid for race 2. It was very much a rerun of the previous race and was getting frustrated that I was improving. I couldn't even blame the R6, it was running perfectly. I finished this race in 22nd place with an identical lap time of 48.8

Sunday race 1

As there were local restrictions on the circuit to it's start time, and because the Rookie 600 race were way down the order, there really was no panic on Sunday morning. More and more hold ups caused by a lot of crashes kept the hard working marshals and medics busy all day, which had the knock on effect of us not getting out until mid-afternoon. On lap 2 of our race there was a nasty crash which stopped the race and we had to reform back on the starting grid. While they sorted the rider out we just had to sit there with our tyres getting cold and us getting hotter and hotter. On the restart there was another crash and with this we were sent back to the paddock but only for two races and then we were back out. By then I really had had enough and just wanted to complete the race. 16th was my final position and remarkably I had knocked 0.5 of second of my fastest lap with a 48.3 secs.

Sunday race 2

Under normal circumstances we would have had to miss this race, as time was rapidly running out, but because we had missed out at the Brands Hatch round previously we were bumped up the order. To be honest I just wanted to complete the weekend and go home because this weekend had just been one of those strange weekends and it had sent everyone on edge. Also after completing today I would get my final novice signature which enable me to apply for my clubman licence and lose the orange vest for good. I was glad to finish the what was a very uneventful race in one piece - I think we all had the same thoughts, lets go home. In the final race I finished 19th with my fastest lap of the weekend of 48.1 secs.