Round 9 Brands Indy 2019
Weekend Review, Brands Indy.
Ok so it is two weeks after the event now and most of you will be aware of how my weekend ended but I thought I would do a quick write up covering off the racing aspect of the weekend touching on the accident and hospital care.
At the last round, Round 9 Brands Hatch Indy of the BEMSEE calendar I finally got the Honda out for a run. It has taken me over twelve months to get this bike working to my desired standard including replacement forks, new wheels, a full engine refresh a rear shock service and electrics work.
We arrived at Brands on Friday morning with a sorted bike, all nuts and bolts checked and the engine run a few on the dyno. I set the cams to give more torque low max hp and upon compliance checking at the track found it to be a few hp down on the power to weight ratio but I didn’t need to add any weight which is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
First up was qualifying for Thunderbike Extreme, a second class I entered to get more track time over the weekend and more bum in seat time on the CBR. That went well considering this is the first time I had ridden this bike. My first couple of laps were just make sure everything was going the right way and then on the fifth lap I got my head down. I set my fastest time on my tenth lap which was a 54.5 second lap, four tenths off my fastest time round here on the SV. This placed me in P9, third row for the start of the extreme race.
Next up was the Thunderbike Sport qualifying. This is my main class and was the one I wanted to score as many points in over the weekend to boost my final position in the championship table. After my earlier twelve laps I was getting used to the bike now and set off again. Again I took a couple of laps to warm everything up, mainly my knees, and then attempted to get my head down and we had a red flag. We waited for the red flag incident to be cleared and started again. I lost a few laps to being careful and finally got on with it. I still couldn't match or beat my earlier time in the extreme qualifying and ended up with a 56.3 second lap which placed me in tenth place on the grid for the first race, a fourth row start.
Extreme Race one, by now I had changed the tyres on the CBR to slicks and lined up on the grid. The race was pretty uneventful and I spent my time beating my times. I finished seventh and beat a number of bigger bikes including a few Honda Fireblades and Suzuki GSXR750’s. Seven of my ten lap times were in the 54 seconds and three were slower. I was now one tenth outside my best ever lap of this circuit.
Sport Race one. I lined up on the grid in seventeenth on the sixth row. Not a great place to start but this grid is very full and competitive. I set off, got my head down and starting picking off places. After two laps I was up to fourteenth, after 8 laps I was up to thirteenth and finally finished in eleventh. My new fastest laptime was now a 53.9 second lap set on a bike had now ridden for 43 laps of the Brands circuit.
Extreme race two. I lined up on the grid in nineteenth on the seventh row. I set off trying to hold onto the group ahead. The bike worked well and I got up to eighteenth, eighth in class. I nearly got taken out by the leader into druids but fortunately for him and his win, I saw him out the corner of my eye and gave him room. More fast times as I got down to 53.8 seconds.
Sport race two. I lined up in eighteenth on the sixth row of the grid. I set off in full attack mode and made a number of quick passes on the first few laps only to get stuck in a battle with an R6 and SV. Last could of laps we caught back markers and they didnt fall kindly for me. I crossed the line in fifteenth 0.06 seconds behind a R6 and .5 infront of an SV.
At this point I thought the day had gone well and was preparing for some wet races on sunday. Over night the rain hammered down on the roof of the van, it stopped raining some time early in the morning. I decided to go out on the bike in the warm up session as the track was wet and I want to get the hang of riding the CBR on a slippery surface. It didnt really help to be honest. By the time my first race came around the track was drying and I decided to run a wet from tyre and a slick in the rear.
I lined up on the grid for the first extreme race on sunday in position seventeen row six. I completed the warm up lap and made the start. The first lap was fine, the second lap and in my haste to chase down the guys in front I arrived at Paddock Hill going a lot quicker than I had on the previous lap. Paddock Hill had a wet line running across from the outside of the corner to the apex and down the hill. As I rounded the corner maybe half a meter wide I just felt the rear tyre break traction and slowly rotate around the front wheel. At this point there was little I could do apart from gracefully slide into the gravel trap. When I hit the gravel I got flipped over and did a little roll eventually digging my feet into the gravel and breaking both the Tibia and Fibia in my left leg. I knew straight away I had broken it and my first reaction was to look for anyone following me into the gravel. The bike flipped and rolled a few times and needs a new frame. The race was stopped and the medics were with me within about 20 seconds. They stretchered me to the ambulance and took me to the medical centre and then off to the hospital. And that is how my 2019 season ended.
Now I have two broken bones in my leg and two broken bikes to fix.
Once I'm back up on my feet, I will be repairing the bikes but at the moment 2020 looks like a quiet feet up kind of season for me.
Thanks to everyone that has helped me this season and to my wife who is always there to spur me on and kick me up the bum when I'm sulking
TBS Championship points:6
TBS Total points:77
Extreme Championship points:17
Extreme Total points:17
Vince
Thunderbike Sport
Qualifying Time: 56.383
Race 1 Fastest Time: 53.954
Race 2 Fastest Time: 53.283
Race 3 Fastest Time: DNS
Race 4 Fastest Time: DNS
Fastest Thunderbike Sport time this weekend:50.045
Official timing
Championship pg1
Championship pg2
Championship pg3
Thunderbike Extreme
Qualifying Time: 54.549
Race 1 Fastest Time: 54.230
Race 2 Fastest Time: 53.822
Race 3 Fastest Time: DNS
Race 4 Fastest Time: DNS
Fastest Thunderbike Extreme time this weekend:50.688
Official timing
Championship pg1
Championship pg2