Snetterton Thundersport Test/Race day

As it was a weekend a few of the local sponsors could attend we put in a late entry for this round and got the last spot on the grid – the weather forecast looked grim but that nothing new this year!

Saturday morning and the weathers holding off and dry/overcast, we don’t have any fresh rubber for the meeting so we are on scrubs and know we will not be challenging too far up the grid but we might still be able to get in the mix for a top 10 if we crack it right. First Qual is only ten minutes and I am held for noise test before they let me out so I only get 3 laps in! never mind – saves on tyres I spose – needless to say we weren’t too far up the grid. But this is where the weekend takes a bit of a change of direction, I get speaking with my fast friend Peter Baker who rode a stock K7 in 2007 and kept his notes on set up, over a discussion about how the bike was handling he offered his assistance and said why don’t we try his settings just to test – after all it’s not my championship, we don’t have the rubber and we can’t afford test days so why not experiment – after all you don’t get quicker if you don’t try new stuff. Game on I thought lets do it.

The settings were pretty different especially on geometry – in fact we couldn’t run the same settings because of slight differences in the bikes, but we had time to change a small few things before next qual.

2nd Qual and I’m one of the first out and get me head down a bit and pop back into the tens which considering the rubber is a good start to the changes, spinning up a bit but otherwise not so bad – we get 14th on the grid 12th powerbike I think as the grid is shared with the sound of thunder race.

Before the next race we make some big changes on the front end of the bike just to get closer to Pete’s settings, it doesn’t seem right but hey – it works for him and Jeremey Mcwilliams told him so who am I to argue? We don’t do the whole change in one sitting as it would be too much.

I get an ok start and kinda hold station into the first corner but then a swarm of bikes blast me down the straight – arse – its gonna be one of them races. I pick a few off and then catch up with an ex hawk BSB that was a good few seconds in front – no worries I think - nip past him and on the next pack – how wrong I was!!! It was pulling – at a guess – 20 bike on me down the revet and I was close again by the bomb hole and all over him by russels – then it was off again and out of site till sears, I passed a few times but could not break the tow. It was a long race – 18 laps - I made the pass stick on about lap 15 and it started to rain!! I’ve been on my ass a few times this year and didn’t fancy it again (slicks/not my championship etc) so I backed off, after 2 laps of tip toeing I thought sod this and with the intention of pulling in, a lot of bike came past and I was about to pull in after a walking pace lap (1.20!!) when I saw the blue flags out – which means I was about to get lapped, so I let him passed and followed him over the line to get the finish anyway! I think I crossed the line 13th powerbike although I had been running in 9th, times were slower but the bike felt really good – and I’m sure if I hadn’t got stuck and held up in places I was running a quicker pace on more knackered tyres so I felt good about the changes. Also with better rubber and more drive I may have been able to keep closer down the straights.

That evening I was having a chat with Pete and his Motec mechanic who freelances to bsb boys and jet sets around, and he drops a few hints on how to improve the bike in other areas, and we make some more big changes to the front end as we thought we were going in the right direction with that, the motec man fiddled with some jiggle valves and we take in all he says like he’s teaching me how to become a millionaire or something, apparently had he known he was gonna be putting an appearance in our garage he could have had a jiggle with the ecu aswell - but that’s another story for another day…

It rains over night and we are on for warm up at 9.30, as the changes made could affect the running (or not) of the bike I go out anyway – the track is drying but would chew wets so we left the slicks on from the Saturday, the good news is it runs ok – the bad news is I can’t stop it now!! so before the first race we come off on the throttle settings but go further with the forks.

Come the first race I get another ok start, same story down the straights but we have gone too far on the forks and I can’t get it stopped or turned like before but the grip is better from the rear, but this time I can’t make up the time on the brakes and the bike is definitely much faster at the bottom of both straights so it amplifies the problem, not sure where I finished and I got disqualified for not attending park ferme anyway to the joy of the guys behind me!! well – no one told me!!! not that it mattered.

For the second race we come back on the fork settings and front is super glued again, however the weight transfer was more than we thought and I was sliding by lap 4, then got stuck behind the hawk Kawasaki again, although this time he did eventually pull on me and break the tow. Quicker than race 1 but still slower than we have been round – however I am sure we have a better setting now – and with a small change to the back to get the grip back I think it will be much better than when we arrived, just needed another session to test it!

We made the sorts of changes that I would not normally dream of making on race day – but given the situation (and lack of test days) we thought it was a good idea and I think we benefitted from it. I think I am pretty switched on with suspension and my settings were certainly good (and in fact we went faster on mine, althoughwith new rubber) but I certainly know more about the bike/suspension now so would really like to thank Pete Baker from Motorcycles Direct in King Lynn http://www.motorcyclesdirectuk.com/ (plug plug) for all his help and words of wisdom – even after destroying his own number 1 bike at corums. I am sure if we can raise the money for the next round the set up will be much better.