Well people, sorry to have taken soooo long to update since the last report! Holiday and works gets in the way of all the fun!
Well...... Anglesey.... long old drive for me to get there - much delay on the way and a road closed didn't exactly help things along!
The last hour or so was quite a nice drive though along the coast, i was tempted to stop, but just wanted to get there !
Friday night I walked the track, and wow! What a track it is. It's almost as if the circuit is made up of the best elements of several other circuits.... even a mini Laguna Seca corkscrew bend! The 10 degree banked bend looked like it was going to be fun, the main 'straight' (technically a very long curve actually) rose uphill to a blind crest left hander, swiftly followed by a right hander, and a short straight to a right hand bend at the highest part of the circuit, dropping back downhill if you had sufficient time to actually see it there was a superb view straight out to sea! dropping down the corkscrew to another short straight, then a nice left hander back to the start straight you then had another left hander to return you to the banked bend for another lap!
All in all it was a superb circuit, very smooth, however its downside must be its exposure to coastal weather....... which during Friday night / ealry Saturday morning arrived with a vengeance!
The paddock was just littered with broken and bent awnings! The wind and rain had been wild and it was deemed too dangerous to race!
Now I knew rain had been forecast, but unfortunately I had no wet tyres! Carl neath was getting me some rims and Martin Hylands of JustLambretta was going to bring me some Sava Monsum tyres... but unfortunately his bike is still not playing so he did not go. Steve Wright came to the rescue and picked me up some Sava's and tubes from Rayspeed alongwith the new rims for Carl to give to me! So whilst we were sat waiting (hoping) for the wind to drop, I built the wheels and tyres together... a little bit of filing of the stud holes and they eventually fitted together! So then i sat filing the surface off the tyres to 'scrub' them in...... thankfully Phil Bevis walked by and came back with the monster super sharp file that helped take the surface off ( alongwith several bits of skin from my fingers!)
Captain kroozer jealously looked over as he'd also been sat for some considerable time doing his with wet and dry , possible even a girls finger nail file even (!) Actually - apologies Capatin for that comment ( he's a big fella !)
Anyways eventually after half two in the afternoon, we eventually got on track, but racing was cancelled and it was just going to be a practice session for a couple of hours.!
So....... baptism of fire time, as after 13 years away this would be my first wet session! funnily enough I really never felt bad at all about it in fact i actually felt more comfortable in the wet than I had in the dry! In fact I felt so comfortable that after pulling onto the track, the first bend is the banked 180 degree bend, I just went straight round the outside of three of the vintage bikes who were very gently tip toeing around it!
in that first twenty minute session I managed to pass quite a few bikes which was great fun! Just as I thought i was actually going pretty well, the Conneely brothers came by me round the outside with Bert having his knee down! ( Didn't anyone tell him it was wet? )
So the afternoon passed with me going out on track for as many sessions as I possibly could - (I really need the track time) but after a couple of hours the sea mist came in and took away the visiblilty, so it was game over for the day!
Time to pack up and get changed, which was when i realised basically everything was soaking wet! My one pair of shoes was absolutely soaked! Only one thing for it - so I took a drive into Hollyhead to try and catch the shops before they shut! I managed to just grab a pair of dry shoes just as the shop was closing..... and wearing them was heaven!
I picked up a chinese and went back to the circuit to eat it...... and very welcome it was too! Now i don't know what they eat down on the south coast, but Kat and PJ had never eaten banana fritters before!!!!! So of course I shared some with them, and Kats face was a picture as she tried fritters for the first time..... decision..... well...... plain weird she reckons! PJ was quite clear in his assessment though ( doubt he'll be eating them again lol)
Saturday night, and a few drinks and a hot dog standing in the cold with the Hardys, Pollits and Woods's before settling back for an uncomfortable night in the back of the HG van.
Sunday arrived windy again, but dry, which to be honest I was disappointed about as after how I felt on saturday I would have loved it wet again! So as it was my second race in 13 years saw me pootling around, not troubling the front runners, but closer than I was on my first outing at Mallory. The second race saw Charlie Edmonds drop it into the start straight chasing Stuart Day, which was a shame as i reckon the spectators were due to see a Battle Royal between them two! its a rare occurence for Charlie to throw his bike down the track so it was a real shame. the second race I was closer again and it was near the end of the race before the leaders came by (!) which was a big improvement......
So... all in all, I really enjoyed Anglesey, I just need to get lots of track time to get comfortable and quicker, at 45 I'm not going to be troubling the front runners , but I look forward to net being lapped as my first target for improvement!
The scooter ran really well again, with no mechanical gremlins, which i have been really pleased about!
I'm not able to make the next meeting ( Lydden Hill) but am looking forward to Cadwell Park which is at least in the same county as I live in!
Now...... if it rains at Cadwell........... hhhmmmmmm theres a thought!
Thanks to Captain Kroozer for the fuel, Carl Neath and Steve Wright for sorting me the tyres and rims and the Hardy posse for sausages and beer! Steve Pollit for entertainment as always ( and don't mention the tumble!!!!!!!)
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