ROUND 1 RACE REPORT: Silverstone 300
Silverstone round 1 was a great experience for me. We had 1 day testing on the Thursday which consisted of 4 track sessions and overall it went quite well. The first session I focused on learning the lines and braking markers during the wet conditions. The second session, also wet, but with a drying line and we all began to start to find pace. With my confidence building I began to up my speed and eventually got up to 14th place, not bad for my 2nd time out on the circuit. The 3rd session was fully dry, however on the last lap of the session my chain snapped, wrapping itself around my rear wheel causing it to lock up just as I was exiting Luffield onto the start finish straight. A very interesting moment leaving a squirrely skid, luckily I controlled it and kept the bike upright running off the track. I suppose I should be thankful that it happened when it did else we may not have known until the following day, because just before the final session the weather came back to haunt us with thunder, lightning and hail, postponing the session and simulated race start until the next day.
Friday came with good spirits and sunshine after our previous wet testing, and we went into Friday nicely prepared for FP1 and qualifying. FP1 I struggled in the technical section of the circuit which ended with me much further down the standings than expected. We changed the gearing for qualifying and went out again to get a decent lap time in, our strategy was do a few laps and if I didn’t improve, pit and change the gearing again, which would of worked if the impact driver hadn’t broken. This caused me to be in the pits for around 10 minutes, unfortunately only allowing me 2 laps back on track to try get a decent lap which wasn’t to be. However what we subsequently found out was that the front brake caliper had developed a problem and had been binding the front wheel causing me to be at least 5mph down in the speed traps which put me in a very frustrating 31st position on the grid. But perhaps being stuck in the pits for longer than expected was a good thing, allowing the front brake to cool down? It could have ended up with me barreling onto a corner with no front brake or worse locking up.
Saturday came and we made more changes to the bike, a new brake caliper, confirmed gearing, and bike weight, which helped big time for the race.
Race 1 – I started well, moving from 31st to 24th on the first lap to the back of the 3rd group, and then up to 21st by lap 3. The group I was in were consistently battling the whole race, I was trying not to get involved but keep my head down in order to catch up to the group in front but the guys behind me were getting in the slip stream and overtaking left right and centre, inevitably holding us all back from bridging the gap to the group ahead. I came 17th making up 14 positions from 31st which was pretty OK all things considered.
But due to the traffic in my way I wasn’t able to get a clear lap in and so had all the work to do again in Race 2 with a lap time of a 1:06.280 putting me in an improved but still frustrating 26th position on the grid for Sundays race.
Race 2 – on Sunday the race went well, I got a good start up to 22nd by the end of Lap 1, 17th by lap 8 and was in a group of 10 riders all fighting for 10th position. Position changing was consistent again throughout the race. Everyone was rubbing, a few dive bombs and overtaking at nearly every corner which didn’t help progress. I managed to work my way forward to 15th on lap 13, but on the last lap got boxed in, having nowhere to go at Maggots and Aintree causing me to drop down to 16th crossing the line. I did clock the fastest time in sector 2 though so what with the issues considered, we were happy with the result.
Overall the team was happy and pleased with my first performance. I did the best I could with the issues that arose.
I’m thankful to all the support that friends, family and sponsors that cheered me on this weekend, and l look forward to seeing you at Donington for round 2 of the British Super Bikes.
