Round 7 MRO RSV Cup
Thruxton June 3rd.

Wow, it's Fast and Bumpy Thruxton !

Failed Scrutineering.
We arrived on a sunny Saturday afternoon to find the paddock bulging at the seems and all the garages fully booked (they were first come first served last year !) so we squeezed into the back end of the paddock. Paul Johnson had arrived before us and chosen a spot mindful to pick a spot in view of the collecting area to save pacing up and down waiting for our race to be called. Nice touch. We set up and took the bike to scrutineering in an attempt to get a casual Sunday morning by getting the nitty gritty out of the way. Despite breezing through all year so far we failed this time, on the grounds that our belly pan didn't meet the specifications laid down for oil catchment. We needed a 50mm wall at the rear end to act as a dam. Out with the fibre glass kit and up with a wall, on the second attempt we produced one that fouled neither the rear tyre nor the suspension links immediately in front of it. While it set we vacated the caravan and awning to allow the fumes to clear, so took the opportunity to cycle around the track as is the tradition. Last year I managed 8min 30 secs, with a big effort I knocked 30 secs off this and felt confident that I
was a tad fitter last the previous attendance. 

Morning Warm Up.
Sunday morning we got the belly pan mods approved and set off in morning warm up to asses the rebuilt rear shock absorber. Dave had done a fabulous job and the tyres were graining up nicely instead of tearing themselves to shreds. The bike still didn't feel planted and I struggled around trying to learn the circuit which I'd only done once before in the wet on the Bandit 1200. 

Qualifying.
Before Qualifying we put a new pair of tyres on and found the rear spindle nut had stripped it's thread so spent valuable time scanning the paddock for a spare, something no one carried. Charles from Kick-start MC had a spare wet bike and as the weather looked to stay beautifully sunny he offered to let me have the nut off his spare bike, without which I was heading home. Thanks Charles. We dialled in a little more compression damping but left the rebound slightly soft in a bid to get it to float over Thruxton's super fast bumps and dips. Even with the old Steering damper still in doubt the bike behaved much better and I began to push a little at a time exploring both the track and the chassis with equal caution. As the three fastest guys on track came past I tagged on and learnt a few things about Church (the fastest corner in England) and the braking markers for the chicane complex. It paid dividends as I qualified slightly better than expected, 11th of the 22 bikes on track, some 4 secs faster than my Bandit 1200 time. Which cheered me up a bit. We were geared as high as we could go at 16/46, and the spindle was fully back in the swing arm for maximum stability, but we could have gone another tooth higher at the back if the chain was a link shorter. We decided to stick with what we had, go for a known quantity rather than take a gamble for the race.

The Race.
Into Turn 1 - 14th, out of Turn 2 I was 9th !!!!

I lined up on the third row and gave a good effort right from the start, not making the best of starts but soon making up ground and pulling clear of the mess behind me and hunting down the midfield pack ahead. I out braked Darren Jones going into the Campbell Chicane and took a couple more places over successive laps, pulling right into a bunch of 6 riders covering 7th to 12th place. 

We had a great time, swapping places continually, leaping at any weakness and taking gaps whether they were there or not. I pulled into the middle of the pack into 9th and mixed it up with the front two guys for a while before succumbing a couple of places myself as the pace really hotted up. 

I was losing the drag race out of church up the Brooklands Rise towards the final chicane complex, but making the ground up again on the brakes. The laps flew by and I was riding out of my skin to stay with these guys. On the last lap Wozza put a move on me going into the Cob Chicane, and in an attempt to hold him at bay before the left hand flick I used too much throttle and around came the rear end, spitting me up out of the seat highside style, throwing me over the tank face first into the nose cone. Still gripping the bars but convinced I had blown it completely I fell back into the seat and turned the bike for all I was worth. Remaining on the tarmac by the skin of my teeth I got my head back down and pushed as hard as I could but had completely lost the tow form the group in front. I lost 5 secs on that last lap and crossed the line 12th, upset at the result but happy that I had proved competitive and sufficiently aggressive in the heat of battle. 

The tyres still looked good and the chassis had coped supremely (even with a questionable steering damper) so Dave's Shock absorber rebuild was just the ticket. Thanks to Dave and Nick at Manx Cat for the rapid rebuild, and Graham, Jamie, Matt and Eddie for helping out and cheering me on. My hips and neck are aching as I write this, that was hard work on Britain's fastest toughest circuit. I can't wait to get back to somewhere I know and have a good go at these guys again !

We have a break now until Cadwell on 19th August, so are doing the Post TT at Mallory just for the fun of it. We may well slip into a club race here and there to keep the fire stoked and the race face tuned. Maybe we'll learn some more about the bike along the way.