Friday – Sunday, 28th – 30th September 2007
Round 9 &ndash Triumph Cup, Brands Hatch Indy
First DNF of the year
A very wet practice day saw a couple of the Cup bikes go down in the slippery conditions, but was a quiet day overall. As the rain got heavier, most people decided to stay in the paddock rather than going out and risk dropping their bikes on a practice day.
The rain had stopped before our first qualifying session but the track was wet enough to require our full wet tyres. I've always been comfortable in the wet, only needing a few laps to get my head in gear and start bringing my times down with each lap. The 15 minutes flew by and after the first qualifying session, I was 8th fastest overall, which would of put me on the outside of the second row.
The sun came out shortly after and to my disappointment, the track quickly dried up before our second qualifying session. Within the first few laps I started struggling with the handling as I started to push a bit harder. The rear started spinning up and the front kept giving the feeling it was going to tuck mid-corner. By the time the 15 minutes were up, I lay 15th fastest placing me on the 4th row of the grid.
Got a rubbish start away from the line and got bottled into the Paddock Hill. I nearly ran into the back of Adam Kemp a couple of times when I tried to move up his inside heading into Clearways. He didn't see me there and turned in, unknowingly chopping my nose off and the front tyre let go, which left me sliding on my back into the gravel trap. This was my 1st DNF in a race all of this year so I was very disappointed not being able to finish the race
Malc, Iain, Pat, Yvonne, Sheila and Dad got straight to work on the bike to have it repaired in time for the extra race since the Lydden Hill round was cut short. Front mudguard and RHS footpeg was replaced, tank and airbox were taken off as well to make sure no gravel had gotten in. Huge thank you to all of you!
Very quickly into the extra race, I realised the bike didn't feel right. The stanction had twisted in the triple clamp in the crash and screwed up the handling. Only after I got in, I also realised that when the steering damper was put back on, we didn't turn it back on/up to my setting. I was glad to see the chequered flag as I crossed the line in 9th place in Michelin Young Guns, and 12th overall.
Yvonne made a few changes to the front and rear suspension as they weren't acting together and she reckoned that was why the rear was spinning up and why I didn't have much confidence in the front end. She was spot on, and the bike started feeling good during warm up on Sunday morning. I didn't improve on my time but my confidence was slowly coming back. 7th fastest overall for warmup
Race 1 saw another poor start and getting bogged in with everyone around me. With all the battling going on in our 'group', we quickly lost touch with the guys in front. On the 9th lap, Adam Kemp out braked himself going into Turn 2 and the red flags were brought out to declare the race a result. 13th place overall, and 8th in the Michelin Young Guns.
My team noticed I had poor lines going into Clearways, and also Paddock Hill, so my plan for the final race of the season was to work on them and hopefully my laptimes would drop. With a bit more confidence in the bike and the front end, I pushed a little harder whilst working on those two lines and my time dropped by another 3 tenths of a second. I was very disappointed with how the weekend went for me, but I'm taking consolation that we started going in the right direction with the set up and my times started to drop.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of my sponsors and to everyone that donated to the AJH Racing fund during the course of the season! I would not have been able to follow my dream and race in the UK without all of your support!
Huge huge thank you Yvonne, Pat and Iain for all the work and support over the weekend! I would of been completely lost without you!
Sheila, Malc and my dad were exceptionally great like always, giving me good advice, putting up with my bad moods and still making me laugh. I've really enjoyed myself this season even though I haven't finished where I'd hoped to. To wrap this up... Bring on 2008 and what ever it holds in store for me!
AJ