Friday – Sunday, 25th – 27th May 2007
Round 3 &ndash Triumph Cup, Pembrey
Good to bad in one corner!
Pembrey in Wales is the only track thats in the 2007 calendar of the Triumph Cup that I've previously raced at, so naturally I was expecting good things from this weekend.
Last time i visited the welsh circuit, I highsided in qualifying but recovered from the weekend with an 8th, 7th and 5th in the Supersport 600 class.
First session out on track and I familiarised myself with where I was going. Back out for the next session and I started to bring the pace up a bit. I felt I was riding well within my capabilities and was going by quite a few of the Triumph Cup riders. 3rd session out and I brought the pace up a little bit more starting to push a bit, linking the corners and carrying more corner speed. Everything felt good and I was quietly confident for the weekend... thats until the second last lap that is. I came down the back straight, going up the gears until 5th, rolled off the throttle a little bit and threw the bike on its side, then opened the throttle all the way again. I hit my apex and just as I wanted to start lifting the bike back up, I hit a bump. Without warning, the front washed out (in excess of 130/140mph). Both the bike and I slid across the track and as soon as she hit the grass, started barrel rolling, wheel over wheel. By the time I stopped bouncing, and rolling through the grass, what was left was only the remains of what once was called a Triumph 675. The nose cone was 10 feet to one side of the bike, the screen, exhaust, rear unit, a side of the fairing and other bits were scattered all over the place.
I was carted off with the medics as I had worn through the finger of my glove, and grounded off a couple of mm off my little finger on my right hand. My ankle took a knock as it was fairly sore to put any weight on it. Sods law.. it was my left ankle (gear change foot!).
By the time my finger was cleaned out, and bandaged up, the remains of the bike were dropped back over to where we were parked up. It didn't look good that I'd be getting back out after that. The subframe had snapped in several places. Undertray / battery holder had also broken in a few places. Exhaust can is now an expensive flower pot, screen broke, nose cone and rear unit needed replacing along with the air intake, brake lever, both handle bars, tank, bracket for the clocks, and the battery needed some work on it as a contact had broken off. I was very very lucky to walk away from that with as little injuries as I had!
Dad got straight to work on the bike, stripping off anything that was damaged and needed replacing, whilst I went over to Tony Scott with a shopping list of parts we needed. Thankfully he had practically everything bar an undertray, which we got from Ricky Chadwich. An absolutely massive thank you to my dad (the magician) as he completely rebuilt the bike from the written off state it was in, to practically brand new when he was finished! I wrapped up my ankle before I went to bed in hope that it'd reduce it from swelling up too much, then it was off to sleep.
Awoke early Saturday morning, and brought the bike through scrutiny without any problems. Back to the truck and got the tyre warmers on.
When I was out for the 1st qualifying session, the bike didn't feel right at all and it was uncomfortable hanging off the bike. It turned out the forks were twisted in the clamps and I didn't have much confidence in the bike. My best time was well off the pace and I ended up 14th fastest. I brought the bike over to Steve Jordan and he checked out the forks for me. Turned out they were twisted and he straightened it all out for me.
Went back out for the second qualifying session and the bike felt a lot better. I managed to take another 9 tenths of a second off my best time, but it was still miles off the pace of the leaders, and I didn't improve on my qualifying position of 14th.
Made a couple of small changes to the suspension before Superpole, which gave me a bit more confidence in the front end mid corner. A decent start away from the line and an improvement on my laptimes, saw me cross the line in 8th place overall, which was 5th in the Michelin Young Guns Championship.
When we awoke on Sunday, it was raining really heavy. I got to work and changed over the wheels to the wets. Got a decent start away from the line but took a few laps to settle into a decent pace. 10 laps later and I crossed the line in 7th place overall, and 7th in the Michelin Young Guns.
I got a better start in the second supersport race and quickly found myself in 6th place by turn 2. A lap later saw me move up to 5th position as Josh Caygill lost the front going into the last corner. Improving on my laptimes in race 1, I started closing in on 4th and 3rd. I got right behind them by the last lap, but an aqua plane lost me a second and I couldn't close the gap again before the end of the race. Outcome was a 5th position overall, also a 5th in the Michelin Young Guns.
All things considering with the crash on friday and the injuries I was carrying for the rest of the weekend, I'm pleased with my results. 5th place is my highest finish so far, but I hope to improve on this as the season progresses and I become more familiar with the tracks.
Its become a regular occurance, but a big thanks for the Wainwrights yet again. Helping out where they could, and helping me get my head together for the races!
Can't thank my dad enough for the magic he did putting the bike back together again for me. He didn't give me any grief at all about the accident, and that meant not putting any pressure on me for the rest of the weekend, which helped big time!
Next round is at Lydden Hill on the 16th and 17th June. Another track I've never been to before, but I'm told it's fairly easy to learn.
Until then...
Cheers,
AJ