Saturday, 13th June 2009
Round 5 &ndash National SS600s, Bishopscourt
New personal best
After bike troubles at Kirkistown and missing the national round at Mondello Park on the 23rd & 24th May because I was ill, the 5th round of the championship brought us back to Bishopscourt. I've never seemed to be able to click with this track and new I'd b struggling to find a good pace.
Free practice was only a few laps like normal but because the engine had some work done, I had to take it easy for the first while to bed everything in again. Conditions were dry which was good, but I wouldn't of complained if it rained as I normally do quite well in wet conditions.
Tried playing with a few different lines and brake markers in Qualifying but I wasn't completely happy with my setup. By the end of my 12 lap session, I lay in 20th position overall with a time of 1.14.845. Disappointing as it was half a second off my best time which I set at my previous visit to the track. A quick call to Steve in NDM and I made a couple of adjustments which later saw me go quicker.
I got a fairly decent start away from the line in race 1, but after someone had a nasty accident, the race was red flagged. Struggling to get the 675 up the gears on the restart, I think I was nearly last going into turn 1 and 2. 3 lap dash to the line saw me finishing in 18th position overall and 9th in the Supersport Cup. Best laptime in the short race was a 1.14.532.
Got an ok start in race 2, and got into a rhythm. I found myself catching people in front of me, but struggled to get by them immediately. When I eventually got by, I'd start catching the group ahead leading to the same overtaking problem. Think I'm going to have to be a bit more aggressive with overtakes. On the 6th lap, the race was red flagged and declared a result after a couple of lads had a nasty accident on the back straight. Final position was 16th overall and 7th in the Supersport Cup. Unhappy with my results, but pleased to see I beat my personal best laptime with a time of 1.14.102. Hopefully I can break into the 1.13's next time.
After a long break, the next National round will be held at Angelesy over in Wales which I'm really looking forward to.
AJ