2013
This year i will be racing a Yamaha R6 in the Wirral 100 pre injecton class. With no pre season testing on the 600 and no experience of riding a bike with that much power and that much weight, im sure this season will be full of new and exciting things to learn. I will be doing as many PDMCC events at three sisters as i can afford to do, because it will be a very challenging track to ride the 600 around, and the club is so friendly that its hard not to come back and race with them!
2013 race dates:
Sunday march 24th - Anglesey (coastal)
Saturday April 27th - oulton park
Saturday June 29th - Anglesey (international)
Sunday June 30th - Anglesey (international)
Saturday July 27th - Anglesey
Sunday July 28th - Anglesey
Saturday Sept 7th - Three sisters
Saturday October 12th - Anglesey grande
Sunday October 13th Anglesey grande
2013 race dates:
Sunday march 24th - Anglesey (coastal)
Saturday April 27th - oulton park
Saturday June 29th - Anglesey (international)
Sunday June 30th - Anglesey (international)
Saturday July 27th - Anglesey
Sunday July 28th - Anglesey
Saturday Sept 7th - Three sisters
Saturday October 12th - Anglesey grande
Sunday October 13th Anglesey grande
Pre season test on the 125 at anglsey (international)
This was the first time i had ridden since October so please excuse the rather rusty gear changes! Here is an onboard few laps of the second session.
Anglsey round 1
As you can expect, jumping on something that has twice the power and more than twice the weight of the 125, was a bit of an eye opener! Track conditions where less than perfect with the temperature as low as -2 and highest being only 4-5 degrees, so the test day was spent getting used to the bike and learning a track layout i had never ridden before.
Race day started with a steady practice session, still unused to the way the bike handled, the extra weight seemed to make it very difficult to turn into corners. Race 1 started with grid position 17 and ended in position 10, which considering i was still struggling with the bike running wide, i was very happy. After the race we decided that dropping the forks through the crown was going to help the bike turn in and hold a tighter line, that done i lined up for race 2. As i sat in my newly gained 10th grid spot it started to snow, not enough that the race was seemed to be dangerous, however after one sighting lap i pulled in, deciding that i wasn't going to learn anything or particularly enjoy riding at a reduced pace.
Race day started with a steady practice session, still unused to the way the bike handled, the extra weight seemed to make it very difficult to turn into corners. Race 1 started with grid position 17 and ended in position 10, which considering i was still struggling with the bike running wide, i was very happy. After the race we decided that dropping the forks through the crown was going to help the bike turn in and hold a tighter line, that done i lined up for race 2. As i sat in my newly gained 10th grid spot it started to snow, not enough that the race was seemed to be dangerous, however after one sighting lap i pulled in, deciding that i wasn't going to learn anything or particularly enjoy riding at a reduced pace.
Oulton Park track day
I managed to be able to afford to do a trackday at oulton park a few weeks before the W100 where i really got to grips with the bike a lot more and learnt the track after only riding there once before in 2012 on a ducati 600ss. One of my friends was taking photos so thanks to Chris Webb for the following shots
Oulton park round 2
The test day had done wonders for my confidence, the changes we made at Anglesey had made a massive difference to the handling of the bike, it was now much easier to turn into corners and was holding tighter lines whilst under acceleration. Although the weekend was full of mixed weather i was very lucky in my races to have an almost dry weekend.
race 1 - starting from grid position 18 i managed to climb up the order on a dry track with a wet front tyre, i gained 9 places in the race to finish 9th overall. Happy with my progress i went into race 2 confident i could improve my pace and get into the top 5.
race 2- starting from 9th position on the grid i fought my way from a great start up to 4th by the first corner, i managed to squeeze my way through on the inside of another rider up to 3rd and held 3rd for a while, unfortunately i just could not run the pace of the top guys and over the course of the race even though i was getting faster every lap, the pace increased and i was slowly demoted to 7th still within reaching distance of the top 6 riders
I took a lot away from the weekend, i am much happier on the bike, i know with a bit more time on the bike i can be up with the leading group. Many thanks to the wirral globe for an amazing article that followed the meeting http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/sport/10386792.Tricky_conditions_for_Oulton_Park_s_Wirral_Hundred/
and thanks to all that have helped me get this far!
i am now looking forward to the next round at anglsey, where i have a bit more track experiance and a new found confidence on the 600!
race 1 - starting from grid position 18 i managed to climb up the order on a dry track with a wet front tyre, i gained 9 places in the race to finish 9th overall. Happy with my progress i went into race 2 confident i could improve my pace and get into the top 5.
race 2- starting from 9th position on the grid i fought my way from a great start up to 4th by the first corner, i managed to squeeze my way through on the inside of another rider up to 3rd and held 3rd for a while, unfortunately i just could not run the pace of the top guys and over the course of the race even though i was getting faster every lap, the pace increased and i was slowly demoted to 7th still within reaching distance of the top 6 riders
I took a lot away from the weekend, i am much happier on the bike, i know with a bit more time on the bike i can be up with the leading group. Many thanks to the wirral globe for an amazing article that followed the meeting http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/sport/10386792.Tricky_conditions_for_Oulton_Park_s_Wirral_Hundred/
and thanks to all that have helped me get this far!
i am now looking forward to the next round at anglsey, where i have a bit more track experiance and a new found confidence on the 600!