Sunday – Monday, 26th – 27th August 2007
Round 7 &ndash Triumph Cup, Mallory Park
toughest weekend yet
Due to it being a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, Round 7 of the Triumph Cup was held on the Sunday and Monday instead of the usual Saturday and Sunday.
But unlike all of the other rounds, there wasn't any practice day so I had to learn the track during qualifying.
First qualifying seemed to go by very quickly as I found my way around. 13th position overall was the best I could do with a time of 1.05.349. I picked up the pace in Second qualifying as I had a rough idea of where I was going, but everyone else went faster too. 1.04.465 was my fastest lap, which still placed me in 13th position on the starting grids.
I got a decent start away from the line in Superpole but the silly first chicane saw a lot of fairing bashing and Josh Caygill hit into the side of me forcing me off line. Coming out of the chicane I was 4th from last! Going into turn one on the first lap, I went up the inside of Pete Middleton but I soon lost the place as I out braked myself into the Bus Stop Hairpin. I was struggling to get the bike stopped going into the chicanes throughout the race as I was getting really bad chatter. It wasn't until the 5th lap when I made a pass stick on Pete going into the hairpin. Started reeling Josh in and on the last lap out braked him into the Hairpin. Crossed the line in 11th overall, which was 7th in the Young Guns. Fastest lap was on my last lap with a time of 1.04.175. Pleasing to see I went quicker again.
Took a click of Rebound off the rear shock before the first race on Monday morning, but it didn't feel as if it made any difference to stopping the chatter on the brakes going into Edwina's. Boothy and Ben Cater had a coming together going into the first chicane on the opening lap, which put Ben out of the rest. I hope the elbow heals up quickly! Had a fairly lonely race and crossed the line in 10th position overall, 7th in the Young Guns again. Delighted to have gone quicker again with a laptime of 1.03.424. I felt at this stage that if I had of had some track time here previously to this weekend, I'd be a lot stronger and probably could of found a better set up for the suspension.
Race 2 was red flagged due to Adam Kemp hitting into the back of Richie Welsh and saw Richie needing medical attention. We were given another couple of laps warm up and it was back to the start grid. I got a good start away from the line finding myself in 8th place coming out of the first chicane but my poor set up quickly saw me fail back to 9th as Adam went by me going into Edwina's in lap 2. Found myself on my own for the next 6 laps until Gary Thwaites went by me, again going into Edwina's. I did all I could to stick to the tail of his bike and on the last lap, I out braked him going into the Hairpin but ran a little wide. Gary kept it tight as we came out side by side but I had the inside line going into the Bus Stop Chicane and beating him to the line, finishing in 9th place overall, and yet again in 7th in the Michelin Young Guns.
It was a very tough weekend but we are pleased that I kept improving as I got to know the track better. Special thanks to Gavin and Terry, for their help over the weekend and also for buying me a Pit Board! its greatly appreciated, also Dee for making the journey over from Ireland to cheer me on. As always, a huge thank you to my dad, Shils and Malc for all their support and words of encouragement.
Back to Snetterton for the eight round in 2 weeks time. Until then.
Hope to see you there.
Cheers,
AJ