Easter Monday, 13th April 2009
Round 3 &ndash National SS600s, Kirkistown
When will it end?
Iain worked on my bike on Easter Sunday to get the sticking/heavy throttle fixed, which he did a great job on. The throttle was as light as a feather which was great. Got the bike scutineered no problem and got the tire warmers on for un-timed practice. Like Bishopscourt, I haven't been up here in three years so was a bit rusty. Wobbled my way around in free practice familiarising myself with the track again. Nearly had a very similar incident to Friday's race at Bishopscourt as someone clipped my bars in Fishermans, which sent me off into the grass, but thankfully I was able to scrub off enough speed, stay on board and get her back on the track without any damage.
Qualifying came and I pushed harder trying to tag onto the back of some faster riders. 50 people were trying to fight for the 30 available positions on the starting grid. Beating my personal best lap time around the 1.5 mile track, I qualified by the skin of my teeth at the very back of the grid in 30th position. Three seconds separated the first 30 riders, which shows how competitive the National Supersport 600s really are.
The first race was red flagged in the opening lap for Richie Ryan highsiding his green Triumph 675 and been clipped by another rider. Thankfully he is ok and got away lightly with a bruised knee. His bike isn't too badly damaged either, which is great to hear. Heal up soon Richie and see you at Mondello.
On the re-start, I got a decent start away from the line and found myself behind Alan Hill in 20th position. I was catching Alan a lot on the brakes into turn 2 and Fishermans but I was messing up my line through the chicane onto the back straight which let him pull away from me a bit. I was going to try overtake him on the last lap for 19th, but my 675 had other plans. As I coming up into Fishermans, on the brakes, the revs started dying fast. As I got through Fishermans heading towards the chicane it did the same but the engine started giving off a bad sound, so that was the end of my race. I pulled the clutch in and cruised around the rest of the lap pulling in and parking the bike up.
I thought my days racing was over at this stage, I was out of my gear and started packing up my stuff when Iain told me to get geared up again as I'd be taking Paul's wet bike out for the second race. Very thankful of this, I geared up again, Robbie, Iain and Myles swapped my wheels and fairings around and got me ready for the second race of the day. The exhaust gasket at the headers was gone on this bike so was making a horrible noise, but I didn't care as it was a chance to get back out and get a few SS-Cup championship points instead of going home with nothing at all.
Race 2 started and got by a couple of people in the first half of the opening lap, but as soon as we got onto the back straight, they all blasted back pasted me. As we got around to the home straight, they'd pull further and further ahead. There wasn't much I could do about it. Paul's wet bike doesn't have the same spec engine as our dry bikes and it was very noticeable coming out of the corners onto the straights. The race was shortened down to 6 laps due to the amount of red flags during the day, and when the race was over, I had finished in 9th position in the Supersport Cup and 21st overall.
With a long break before the next round in Mondello Park (23rd-24th May), it gives us time to get my engine looked at and fixed. Also to send off my new RST leathers to get repaired. Hopefully this might be the end of my bad luck. I can't believe the amount of problems I've had since the start of the session. Without doubt, it is my worst start to any season I've had. It can only get better.
Big thanks to Myles Sheehy for coming up with me and helping me out all day with the bike.
Cheers
AJ