Brands Hatch Indy. NGRRC Round 1.
Arrived at Brands on Thursday afternoon and got set up in Garage 13 (unlucky for some) for the weekend with Rab (Rob Lavender), Martin (Watts) and Gerry (Simpson) for some weekend action.
Friday: ACU Test day. Even though a dry few days were forecast, we started the day with some annoying drizzle in the first session. By the second session the track was drying and coming out of Clearways on full throttle meant wet tyres are starting to overheat! The rest of the day dry so plenty of laps getting used to the new Translogic Shifter fitted by RJS Superbikes.
Saturday: Round 1. Practice session with a drizzling Brands Hatch saw me forget to put the transponder on.. oops! No times recorded. Next; 15 mins Qualifying for the Main Open Class and with a greasy track and a wrong tyre choice there were a few bum twitching moments! But we stayed on the black stuff.
Photo Credit: The Bike Insurer.
Next; Powerbike Qualifying Race saw me placed 3rd on the grid, yes a front row start. EEEEkkkkkk! Lights out and we are off, no sooner were we heading down paddock hill bend those horrible scraping noises as 3 bikes dropped in front of me with myself hitting 1 bike but staying on. Red Flag and race re start. No drama this time and a good race. The afternoon saw the Open race with a good mix of BSB boys trying their new machinery out. A good solid final race of the day and another good finish.
Overnight a good fettle of the bike; A good water flush, oil and filter change, new Renthal Grips and some new SBS brake pads all round, not forgetting a Chinese to fettle the Hamster!
Sunday and round 2: Practice session was steady to bed the new pads in. Open Race 2 was another solid race. Qualifying Powerbike Race, no dramas again. Main Open good race again. Final race of the weekend was the Powerbikea and a nice rhythm following a good start saw 6 tenths off my pb and more importantly my first 3 points of the season for 13th. Like I said, Unlucky for some!
Thanks again to all our sponsors; Arbonne energy drink for keeping energy levels up all day and RJS for an awesome Quickshifter.