it's going to rain on Sunday....

There had been only two weeks between the last round and this one and there had been no time to get the bike back up to Colchester to enable Phil to run it on his dyno to get the jetting sorted out. It was decided that between Phil and myself we would rejet it at the circuit on the Friday practise day. We left Worthing at mid-day on the Thursday as it was about a 5 hour drive to the South Wales circuit and space in the paddock was expected to be tight. We arrived in plenty of time to get setup in daylight in a great position.
Friday morning was spent setting the bike up, changing the jets and needles in the carbs, and after a couple of sessions it was working a lot better. The afternoon sessions were a lot better and I managed to beat my previous fastest lap by a full four seconds.

Saturday race 1

The starts at Pembrey are always a little tricky with the first corner being such a tight hairpin. We did actually manage the first lap incident free but going into the first corner for the second lap it was mayhem. Unfortunately one guy was t-boned at some speed which bought the yellow flags out. I saw him afterwards and was nursing a possible broken wrist and his bike had a split back wheel! I enjoyed the race though with my new found performance and managed to finish in the points for the first time this season in 15th place with a fastest lap of 1.08.3

Saturday race 2

After my relative success in race one I was looking forward to the second. I had a good race with a couple of guys which was felt great to be able to do battle with them and do some overtaking. I finished this race in 18th place with a slightly slower lap of 1.08.5

Sunday race 1

From the very start of the weekend, everybody was saying it would rain on Sunday and they were not wrong! I was woken up early Sunday morning by the wind and rain battering my tent. We had only one option today, full wet tyres.
Our race was second of the day so after a quick 3 lap warm up it was preparation for the first damp race of the day. As it was so cold and wet I was having trouble getting the bike warm enough to allow it to run correctly, so the only solution was to tape two thirds of the radiator up. It really wasn't a race, it was more about survival and staying on the bike and circuit. There was some massive puddles just before the last 'Honda' corner on to the front straight that made braking and turning in quite treacherous. I survived to take 18th place with a slow damp time of 1.21.8


Sunday race 2

It was pouring down with rain, the wind was getting stronger and I was not looking forward to putting all my soaking wet kit back on after getting drenched in the first race of the day. I had been following another rider, Andy Needham, whose entry into the final bend involved going straight through the puddle and washing me head to toe! I had been given some advice by Liam Lyon, one of the Seton Tuning riders, who said that there was a less flooded line out wide. He was correct and this enabled me to get closer to Andy again in this final race of the weekend, eventually crossing the line just four tenths of a second behind him. This gave me my best points finish so far of 13th position with a best slow lap of 1.19.4.
With the weather this bad we were really glad that my race was one of the early ones so that we could get packed up and get on the road a lot earlier than we had been used to.