Anglesey hasn't changed very much...not as much as I 'd expected it to in 35 years but its closer to that paradise now..Because now it has a race track...perched on a hill in that bracing wind watching the sea as it taunts it from the beaches below...It's not the wind blown desolation you'd expect in that location either, it nice, really nice ...a smooth tarmac paddock, pit garages, club and national layout's, 'facilities' and camping...but this time, anchored to that Welsh rock with sandbags and water weights, this time, its a ''team name adorned' race awning...not a '70s frame tent.. :)
It's time to go racing again;
Alex, 'the Boss' of Darvill racing had arrived during the day on Friday and set the team awning up next to our partners for this MotoE series, 'Zongshen racing' from China. We're using their 'number three' satellite bike and as such enjoy their extremely efficient services in prepping and making changes to the bike. (if not the performance of the factory bikes)...The weather was perfect and the North Glos' club welcomed us into their midst with enthusiasm...The format for this weekend was more familiar than the Nurburgring set-up; A morning warm-up had me as fastest Chinese bike followed by an afternoon qualifying session. which ended with me as second fastest Chinese bike, 4th overall as the Number 1 bike of Chun Kay Kwok (real name!) found 4 seconds after morning warm up to take 3rd spot, Chris Purdie on the Siaetta Agni with the inimitable Daley 'Daisy' Matheson taking top honours, as he would all weekend on the University of Nottingham's high powered monster.
I'd asked for changes before qualifying that improved my lap times, they were pretty conservative so for the first race on Sunday I asked for even lower gearing and another click of rebound damping to clam the slightly wallowy feel in the middle of the long corners. I didn't want to overdo the suspension changes as the soft rear Continental slick was starting to wear out and it may have been covering an issue I couldn't feel as the grip reduced..I had to make it last the weekend...Which unfortunately means we're at a disadvantage to those on an 'unlimited' tyre contract from Michelin. High corner speeds and worn out tyres can be a recipe for disaster but I was getting massive confidence from these tyres...the warnings were gradual and progressive giving me plenty of time to rescue any slides...
Race 1, the morning 'sprint race' was superb...Zongshen had made the changes I'd asked for and the bike felt good...Despite the gearing changes it was still a slow get away for me and I got balked behind the fast starting Graeme Smith on the Brammo street bike...with a six speed gearbox and sit-up handlebars it's a pretty wide old bus to get around and Graeme was holding the fast line, It wasn't until the fast back straight that I managed to slipstream Graeme and squeeze past into the up hill hairpin. A lap of extremely 'spirited riding' had me find the limit of the wearing Conti's and I hooked onto the back of a 3 bike battle for third, me and the other two Zongshen bikes..We diced heavily for 3 laps, I knocked nearly 4 seconds off my qualifying time, but as my lack of power began to over come the gains made by the magic adrenaline kick, the tyres joined in and although I was able to stay in front of the the number 6 Zongshen piloted by Nelson Choi I had to watch as Chun Kay Kwok seemed to find his groove and chase down the second place bike ridden by Chris Purdie..
I was over the moon that I was able to mix it with the other guys for a few laps if a little frustrated that I didn't have the performance to join the scrap for second...
Race 2, the second longer race was my chance to manage my available power and perhaps use the more frugal set-up to enable my race-long pace to be higher and perhaps out-fox the others if they got distracted in another battle...It's usual to turn the performance down for the longer race to prevent over-keen riders forgetting the need to conserve power for a longer race but I asked Zongsen to leave the performance the same and let me try to manage the output for the long game...This request was either ignored or lost in translation as it was immediately clear as we left the line that my performance was much reduced from race one. not only that but in an effort to ensure the Agni bike was pushed off the podium the performance of the tiny number 6 bike with half the weight and only one motor (to the other's two) was turned right up which had the unwanted effect of burning the motor out, gifting me a position but preventing me from fighting for that 2nd or 3rd podium spot..Frustrating to say the least!
The next race is Cadwell, familiar territory for me but no camping stories :) ... lets see if I can 'influence' some changes in my favour, a podium is possible with the right motor management but with the return from injury of last year's championship winner, Ho Chi Fung I'm not sure where I might stand in the overall Zongshen plan...Hopefully I'll have my boy Bobby with me again he's very motivating to have around and I always feel better when he's with me..
Huge thanks again to our friends at I2V and our sponsors every little helps...
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