No Limits Endurance Round 7 Cadwell Park
So Andy’s weekend started way before Jase and I (Gemma) set out for another great event with No Limits Racing as he arrived at Cadwell in time for testing!
By the time we got there Friday evening he had accomplished a test day, fixed a misfire on the naughty Ducati that was causing him trouble (with the help of Cat Touchin, who I think actually did all the hard work in tracking it down to a traction control sensor) and managed to set up the new "purple-people-eater" team tent with a flag so tall, air traffic control were concerned for the safety of any low flying aircraft that weekend.
Saturday morning came around and I learned a few things about the logistics at Cadwell......
Everyone knows there is no power so that was a given but that means generators. However, the no generators early in the morning or late at night rule works really well and you can get your much pre, or post, race rest sorted!
The toilets have plug sockets in them so you can charge your phone or boil a kettle whilst you spend a penny.
The hill down to pit lane is absolutely fine going down and completely knackering coming back up, (so when doing the Endurance this means you spend a lot of time going up and down and up and down – good job I’ve been topping up on the cardio).
The café is good and the bar is reasonably priced.
Oh and the track itself is a bit special and mental-fast! 🙃
After scrutineering, we set ourselves up in our garage in pit lane, once again blessed to be next to the Iron Maidens (best pit-buddies in the world ever) and got ready for qualifying.
Andy needed to qualify for his sprint first so went out and scored himself a great position on the grid subsequently getting three thirds and a second in the sprints over the weekend.
Endurance qualifying was next so as he was already set to go Andy was first out for the Mistfits. Then disaster struck, Andy crashed! Coming around the chicane on the first lap the Ducati went down hard, dumping Andy in the middle of the track and severely winding him, meaning he couldn’t move until the marshals could drag him out of harm’s way.
The bike was damaged and Andy was definitely bruised but they were both stuck at a point of the circuit where they were unable to get back to the team. Jase and I took our turns to qualify but with our star rider stranded and us having very limited experience of the circuit we qualified dead last.
Jase Leese / Gemma Viles: Endurance start / Cadwell Park 2018
The Endurance start was set for 15:00 and as Jase is our bestest runner (the Flying Pikey – origin of this nickname to be included in a later race report) was persuaded to take the Le Mans style start yet again for the Misfits.
The flag dropped at 15:05 and Jase got a great start as usual picking up a good three or so places off the start. Jase put in some great lap times and his 40 minute stint flew by, with me rolling out next.
After my turn it was time for our bruised and battered Andy (Hamster) to get out on circuit. Andy was flying but you could see from his body position he was in pain, he came in at the end of his session clearly suffering and Jase went back out, making great progress. Andy was clearly broken so we made an executive decision to let Andy rest and leave Jase out for almost an hour with me doing the last 30 minutes. As it turned out Andy had broken his ribs!
Jase Leese / ARB Racing MisFits Cadwell Park.
My second turn and as Andy swapped the transponder from Jase’s bike on to mine, a tap on my leg to signal I was good to go and I was off. I was happy to be able to tag on to a few of the quicker riders, and even managed a pass or two. There was some proper scraps going on around me as the big boys battled for the top spots but I knew I just needed to get back in one piece and not mess things up with a DNF! In the last moments I managed my best lap time of the weekend.
When the chequered flag came out I realised why so many people love racing. We may have only finished 11th in class this time round but the standing ovation you get at the end of a race from the marshals and the people trackside is brilliant, you feel like a superstar! And of course the amazing people you get to ride alongside are the icing on the lovely-racing-cake.
As we leave Cadwell with all three riders getting personal best lap times. Misfits are 9th in the championship standings with just one round to go, looks like it’s all to do at Donington in October if we are to keep a top ten position in the 2018 Championship.
Andy Booth / ARB Racing MisFits Cadwell Park.
An extra special mention to the Birthday boy Paul Rennie and to #alexjamesphotography for the awesome BBQ (complete with mini-gherkins)
Big thanks to the wonderful ladies of #IronMaidens for being our buddies yet again and for the YouTube advice, I think it actually worked.