Well didn't round 4 start well, Knockhill it's fair to say is a fair old way from from Kent but fortunately for me my team boss Birdy booked me a private plane to fly me up from my local airfield, that definitely made the trip a bit easier lol!!
I have to say I was really looking forward to racing north of the border again, last year the track was real good for us with a double win and whilst you can never take anything for granted I was certainly hoping for more of the same this weekend.
The strange thing was that whilst I got straight up to speed and was lapping pretty flipping fast immediately I couldn't seem to get comfortable on the bike, I seemed to be struggling a bit with feeling for the front tyre, I wasn't panicking as we as I said were fast and ended the session 1st or 2nd so I figured we'd look over the data and get things sorted for free practice 2 later that afternoon..
Little did I know this feeling issue I was having was somewhat more terminal than I'd anticipated, we tried some things to fix it and ran in to various other problems but at the same time we were under my lap record pace and lapping so consistently it wasn't even funny, things were, how should I say, looking very well on the outside but feeling not very good at all on the inside..
After a night to pore through all the data we'd gathered throughout the first days practice we went into free practice three hopeful of a cure for my issues however, and trust me this is going to start sounding like a broken record, whilst we fixed some parts we made others worse, for some unknown reason we just couldn't find a setting that would let me push the bike, sure I was giving 100% but it was 100% as hard as the bike wanted to go which I frustratingly felt was only about 80 odd % as hard as I felt I could go if we got things sorted..
Going into qualifying we found ourselves still chasing a set up that would give me the confidence to push as hard as i knew i could, we’d be thinking we’d sussed it then after a couple of laps realise actually we hadn’t, it was bizarre to say the least as like i mentioned before we were going fast, just not happy doing so!!
For the final qualifying i was hopeful of an all out attack, i knew what lap time i thought i’d need to do in order to fight for the front row and to be honest a big part of me was surprised i hadn’t already achieved it but regardless with the feeling i had i knew i’d need to dig deep, as we headed out for the final session mother nature had a bit of a sense of humour failure and decided now would be a good time to throw a bit of rain our way, i pushed on as much as i dare and came round to see a lap time WELL off where i knew i’d need to be, i never actually checked my position but i couldn’t help but think there’s only 10 of us out here, do i need to be firing it at the scenery for the sake of a row or two… after another semi steady lap to try to establish what was going on the rain stopped and it was time to dig, i pushed hard and did a few decent laps but my team mate followed me and done a time to go faster but fortunately i kept pushing and got a better time to end the session front row in P3, that’s absolutely fine by me i thought to myself riding back in to the collecting area!!!!
After going through all the data from qualifying and explaining what i was looking for the boys and i spent quite a while going through the data searching for an answer, the problem was that all the changes we were making were not big at all but were having such big effects on the way the bike was working… It’s definitely a little window that my baby works in that’s for sure!!!
Morning warm up was pretty cool temperature wise, we tried the bike with a different setting again then during the session i came in to try to modify it further, all things considered my rhythm was real strong despite the fact we used old tyres so while things weren't perfect we went with the settings fro race 1.
Knowing how many years i’ve been racing now i can’t believe i made such a rookie mistake during the start of race one, talking to myself waiting for the lights i was like “come on Shakester, we need this start” but looking up i could’ve sworn the was a problem with the lights, they were taking ages to come on, i panicked a little and looked at the starter Anabelle then noticed a set of lights on her hut just over Josh’s shoulder, as i clocked the lights they went out and i totally blew the start then got a bit ruffed up in the first few corners dropping me down to 5th or 6th, i was so angry with myself as i knew i’d need to be right at the sharp end to have a chance to fight, it took me quite a few laps to get through to 2nd and once i did i pushed hard to try to bridge the gap that Kiyo had already built at the front but all i could do was match him but he was 2 seconds up the track and the harder i tried the more problems i was having with the front of the bike, so many times i felt like i was going down but stayed on, eventually i took a 2nd which is far from a bad result but i was annoyed with myself for letting the win go away, one consolidation was that i had the fastest lap in race 2 so i’d start from Pole position for race 2…
We once again sat and had a long chat after the race about how to make the bike better as i knew there was no point in going with what we had again, the boys came up with a plan and before we knew it we were lining up for race 2, i wouldn’t be making a mistake this time off the start, that’s for sure lol!!!!
As the lights went out i got a great start and lead from the word go, let me tell you 30 laps around any track is almost enough to make you dizzy but when it’s 30 laps around a track as technically demanding as Knockhill it’s even worse.. the place just grinds you down as there’s literally not a seconds rest around there, nonetheless i kept my head down and pushed as hard as i could the whole race and despite a pass from Kiyo whom i managed to re pass a lap or so later it was 30 long laps leading but the right result at the end, i.e. a win so i was chuffed to bits with that, i think we learnt a lot as a team that weekend, we struggled a lot more than our results showed so to come away with a 2nd and a win was unreal, i was that happy i even brought Michael Rutter and Stuart Higgs a beer in the airport that evening lol!!!
Anyway, now it was onwards and upwards, well downwards depending on how you look at it to my home track, brands hatch, i can’t wait!!!
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