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Well, I am back from Brands after a long night travelling, and I have a reasonably big smile on my face. It’s obviously a big blow to only get 5th after such a good result at Brands. But to come from 18th on the grid to 5th in the end, it’s an achievement in itself!
Free Practice
Basically, we used free practice just to set the bike up and sort out the gearing. And to be fair, we weren’t too far off anyway. I put in a few good lap times, and felt very good on the bike. We had old worn tyres on so it was hard to go fast, however I managed to shave over 1.5 seconds off the time I did in qualifying on board the Kawasaki. The session seemed to pass very quickly, and I ended up in a very respectable 5th position.
Morning Warm-up
The temperature in the morning warm-up was getting increasingly hotter. We decided to pop old tyres on for half of the session just to test the ground when the tyres are worn out, just to see how things would pan out in the race. After completing several laps, I popped into the pits and had a new rear tyre put into the bike, I needed to see exactly how the suspension reacted to the change. I did around 4 laps on new tyres and topped the time sheets with a time over 1.5 seconds quicker than in free practice. The bike was feeling really good and I was all revved up for the race!
Race
Starting very low down, I knew it was going to be a tough call to get even a top 10 finish. But I got a fairly good start and managed to gain a few positions on my grid slot. I was lying in 16th position and then the pace car came out. This was a chance for me to gain a few places while everyone was bunched up. Once the car went in, I went as quickly as I could and passed a few people. I got into 12th place, and then I was being held up and found it difficult to pass. The tyres were wearing and the bike was spinning out of corners, it was really difficult to get a drive on people out of corners. I settled down and made a few passes which stuck. I was then in a very lonely 7th position, and I was closing on 6th but very slowly. Then, AJ Venter and Chris Northover had a coming together which gained me a few places. It was then a lonely race in 5th for me. This ultimately was my result.
Summary
Looking back on the weekend, it was a great result in terms of damage limitation for me. I fought my way through the field into a great 5th place finish, it was very frustrating as my lap times were not as fast as I had been in the warm-up, and more people lapped quicker than me in the race. Its obviously good to get a solid finish, however I feel that I would have definitely been able to get a podium finish should my lap times have been like that of warm-up. It’s now onto a one weekend break before Donnington Park. Where we have a fresh qualifying on a bike I know is capable of winning. For now its back to training in the gym and thinking about tactics for the race weekend!
See you soon!
Robbie #43
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