Anglesey - It's All About the Bike

Did the Ti shoe work? Hmmm... kind of. The heel was good, but the design of the front part was flawed. It cought the dirt on the first session and nearly got ripped off. Haven't inspected the boot/shoe since Saturday... so more on Ti shoes in  a few weeks time...Right... back to Anglesey 2 1/2 weeks ago...

Drove up to my mate Ian's cottage in North Wales on Friday afternoon after work. A good catch up over some Guinness and hit the hay. Up early and left for Anglesey at 07h00.

Gale-force winds were whipping through the paddock and the clouds looked omnious. No worries... out for practice. Entered the Ducati Desmo Due (2 races), Supertwins (2 races) and Allcomers (1 race) races... so I got 2 practice sessions on a greasy track before the races.

Anglesey Coastal circuit is brilliant... a bit like Cadwell Park without the trees... a smaller version of Donnington Park. No Mickey-Mouse chicanes!

Race 1: Allcomers (80-660cc)

We get out to the grid... I'm on the second row (no idea how they worked that out...). It starts to rain lightly. Warm-up lap and someone slides off on turn 2. Red flag - they declare a wet race and send us back to the paddock to change wheels. I don't have any 'wets' so just go put some Rain-X on my visor and wait 15 mins.

(thanks to Lambosport for the pic)

Back on the grid... half the field doesn't turn up... some turn up on wets but most of the grid are Desmo Due bikes. It's raining steadily now... the wind driving it horizontal.

Lights on... revvs up... lights out... clutch slips and I lose about 5 places by the time we are into the first corner. I dive into turn 2, making a place back. I feel around on the first lap... holding my position. It's wet...

 the rain really comming down now.

Into the second lap, tyres are

 3 degrees warmer now and I feel I have a handle on conditions... time to move up. I take 2 places around the outside on turn 1, another into turn 2. Coming out of turn two I gas it up... the rear slides out a few inches, but

 just hold the power... taking a tight line to aviod collecting the rider infront of me. I drive past him and my momentum carries me past the next two bunched-up riders. Mabe the lead rider missed a gear or something... I rocket past them.

I look up the track for the next victim. The track is clear... I think "Jeesus! Someone's in a hurry.". Gingerly feel it through turn 3 and the not-so-straight straight is ahead of me. Deserted. A clear track. By the time I brake hard for the blind left over the hill I realise I'm in the lead. Blimey! The first time I've ever lead a race! Yeeeeeha!

After getting around another two turns, I calm down and start to think: "They must have red-flagged the race". I squint through the rain at every marshal post for the next half lap... trying to see a red flag. All the marshals are huddled in the huts... watching. I fly over the start/finish line

Feck! I'm in the lead! I couldn't believe it! "Just keep on doing what you're doing"

I chant to myself. "Just keep on keeping on...".

(thanks to Lambosport for the pic)

I have always got my best results in the wet. I don'r ride amuch different to the way I do in the dry... I just get off the bike more (keeping the bike as 

upright as possible) and concentrat

e on fininshing my braking before tipping it in. "Smooth" is the mantra.

I want to win this one! I imagine another rider right on my ass... so I keep pushing just a teeny bit more each lap. The rain is pelting down now and there is standing water everywhere. The rear is spinningup a lot coming out of turns... but I just keep it steady... "Smooth...smooth...".

I see the last-lap flag, drenched, clinging to the marshal's rain-soaked arm. I just keep on keeping on... imagining another rider on my six.

Ninety-six seconds later and I cross

 the line again...  a grey lamb kofta is held out horizontally. It's the checquered flag!

I won!

I won!

I can't beleive it. I look behind me. No-one there. Even my shadow has taken shelter from the rain! 

I bumble around the cool-down lap. I still can't believe it... "Yeeeeeeeha!" I yelp in my lid. Only the little monster I'm riding hears me. I give her a pat. God, this feels good!

It's a bit surreal. The track is deserted and water-logged... even the day-glo clad marshals can't be seen in thier huts. By the time I finish the lap, no other riders have cought up to me. Is I peel off the track I see the first person... the assembly area guy... waving me off. He applauds as I go past. I still can't really believe it.

I ride through the paddock. Deserted too. No-one to be seen. I park up next to the Chevy and give another huge "Yeeeeha!".

I look around... my paddock neighbors are huddled, three abreast in thier van. Sipping tea and chatting away. They don't hear me over the driving wind and rain. I sling my leg off the Monster... thank her, give her a hug and a kiss. I climb into the back of the Chevy... lay down... "Yeeeeeha!".

Weird, surreal... like a dream.

(thanks to Lambosport for the pic)

After spinning a pile yarn on Race one... I'll spare you and flick through the rest of the day.

Race 2: Desmo Due

Clutch slipping off the line. Some catching up to do... I finish 3rd in Class A. 

Race 3: Desmo Due

More clutch-slip. Another 3rd!

(don't know who took these... but I have a grandstand seat as a rider goes down in turn 2...)

(Target fixation... what NOT to do. Ouch!)

(Turns out they are boyfriend & girlfriend! Both landed in hospital... her: badly broken femur and mabe pelvis... him: collar-bone. Get well soon.)

Five and a half years of trying... and my first three trophies in one day! Just weird man!

Ian and Karen arrive that evening and we have a few victory Guinnesses.

Hotel Chevy that night. The next day I just want to get my final qualifying race done (for the Manx) and come home without incident. I take it easy and just ride around enjoying the racing. I qualified only 13th on the grid and the clutch slips like mad off the line. Ileave myself with lots of work but have a fun time battling with the other DDers. I use Mike's tactic of catch-pass. I get two 4ths! Allcomers I get a 7th.

I didn't bother with the Supertwins races... with a 100 horsepower deficit I'd get drilled  and felt I didn't really need the track time. As Hayden and Edwards say... unless you're giving it 100%... you're just wearing out the machinery. 

The bike was handling sooo sweetly... I could put it just about anywhere on the track... this made overtaking fun! Thank's Mike and Ant for the magic number!

Who said flat-trackers couldn't run well on tarmac?

(as I found out last weekend... it's road racers that can't run well on dirt!)

So... I got my first podiums, my first win and qualified for the Manx at Anglesey... god I love that place!

(Flat-track Monster takes the siverware!)

Forget what Lance Armstrong says... it's all about the bike!