I spent all weekend like this... in a coat!!!!
I have to say before I go any further how impressed I was with what the circuit owners have done since I was last there, if you watched back in 2008 you'll recall the big crash I had at turn 1, quite literally the instant I touched the brakes I was off and after sliding down the track I hit the curbs, took off and flew straight into the tyre wall, well now they've really opened that section right out so when you do have a moment or run straight on you can spend more time getting stopped before needing to turn which is much better, they've also built a proper pitcomplex with garages too which was somewhat of a necessity, also not that you can see it but they've done a whole load of drainage work too to stop all the rivers that run off the track in the wet turning into oceans so like I said I was well impressed!!
I've got to admit that we didn't exactly drive ourselves mad during the first days practice sessions, I went P1 pretty much as soon as I got out on track and stayed there both times until the last few minutes or so, we knew we had a pretty good wet setting from Thruxton although that said due to the nature of Knockhill and the drop in grip compared to Thruxton in the wet we had to soften the bike off a little bit more just to get some feeling, the biggest problem was actually rear corner entry grip, basically everything was cool until you peeled into a corner off the throttle and off the brakes then just as you thought all was cool the rear end would try to come around all on it's own making things a little bit tricky at times, especially at turn 1.
Using all the track in the wet, this would catch me out in Superpole!!!
Final free practice went well, the track had pretty much a dry line the whole way round, I really enjoyed the session which actually got extended due to ever improving conditions, I was quite comfortably fastest even though I concentrated on a few little issues, I knew we still had some time left both in me and in the bike too so this was positive heading into the next sessions which obviously were for grid position.
To be honest with you with you by this point all I really wanted was some full on dry time on track, I knew we could be competitive in the wet but with race days weather forecast being dry we needed to be sure we had a decent dry setting to, this however wasn't to be and the drizzle slowly but surely started to return.
Head down and tucked in!!!
We managed to blast through the first session easily using intermediate tires but it was going to be a race against time to get through all the sessions in this manner, I got straight though superpole 2 too also on the inters but there was no way that was going to happen in the final session when the rain started to come down far more heavily.
Quite a cool shot that!!!
We changed the bike back to a "wetter" setting and I headed out feeling positive, Hopper was about a second or two up the track and I planned to follow him using him as a marker, I did one flying lap basically just to get a feel for the circuit and the conditions then on the start of my next lap I thought right this is it, lets get on it, I had a good run down through turn 1, then the next couple of turns too, then a good drive up to the chicane, changed direction, picked up the throttle then BANG, down I went, I literally just caught the edge of the white line with the front tyre at the same time as the bike transferred a bit of weight towards the rear and that was it the front tucked and down I went, what a dick, that was all I could think as I barrel rolled through the wet mud and gravel, such a rookie mistake but at the same time a mistake that I’d gotten away with throughout the first two superpole sessions, gutted, nothing like making things difficult for yourself, mind you on a positive note at least I lasted all the way through to the final session this time around!!!!
Morning warm up was by far the driest the track had been, again it was a fun session and one that went pretty well for us, all we had to do now was sit tight and wait to see what the weather was going to do…
Well, the weather got drier, and drier, to the point where the track was completely dry for race 1, we had to gamble a bit setting wise and went with a setting very similar to the one that we used at Croft, obviously I couldn’t risk trying the settings we wanted to test that I mentioned at the beginning of this Blog but we figured we’d go safe and then try to make any necessary changes for race two.
Starting form the third row of the grid at Knockhill was never going to be easy, its completely different making up time and places somewhere like Thruxton compared to Knockhill, the latter being pretty one line in a lot of places with just the one big passing opportunity at the end of the lap into the hairpin.
As the lights went out for the start I rode straight down the outside towards turn 1, I got a fairy decent run through the first couple of turns and made up a couple of places to slot in around 6th I think, I had Josh Brookes just in front and lined him up in a few places before making a move a couple of laps later into the hairpin, the only problem was that when I passed I got a bit crossed up and had to let the front brake off a bit to get straight and with that I ended up running wide and costing myself a load of time, a couple of laps later I made the pass again and that time made it stick, then it was a case of trying to bridge the gap up to the guys up front. With Knockhill being such a short lap it took a good few laps to catch and pass Gary Mason and with about 6 or 7 to go I passed him down into the hairpin and then immediately set about bridging the small gap to John Hopkins, I think my 2nd to last lap was my fastest lap of the race and I did indeed manage to get on his back wheel, he was making a few little mistakes and I thought I would maybe be able to sneak 2nd from him but in the end he held me off, luckily for me though my run through from 9th earned me the 2nd fastest lap so at least for race 2 I’d be starting from the front so I’d have half a chance of a good result.
We made some small changes to the bike for the 2nd race as we’d really struggled for rear grip exiting the hairpin, it was so difficult to put the power down to the ground so we needed to work on that as with a good exit from there you can sometimes make a pass up over the start finish line.
I got a pretty good start and slotted immediately into 2nd through turns 1 and 2 before nipping up the inside of Hopper into turn 3,
from there on in I tried to pull the pin and pretty much immediately opened up a second gap, I remember thinking bloody hell this is going to be a long old race, 30 laps with no margin for the slightest error, then a few laps in the course car came out, initially I was gutted because that broke my gap but when the lights went out on the course car I lined up for a good exit from the hairpin and managed to hold my lead, after I crossed the line though I saw the course car flag again and initially thought the marshalls must have not put them away yet but at turn 1 they were waving and as I dropped through turn 1 I saw Hopper trudging through the mud, this obviously made a big difference to the championship as he’s 2nd to me at the minute, with racing resumed again I changed my start again by this time not nailing it immediately on the exit of the hairpin and instead waiting because I didn’t want anyone getting the jump on me, this plan worked too and I held the lead for a good few laps more, Tommy then passed me down into the hairpin but I got him back just driving back out, I lead again for another couple of laps and exactly the same thing, I just managed to get back passed on the run down to turn 1 but the third time Tommy passed me he held me off, he and I had already bashed fairings the whole way up the start finish straight a few times and with Hopper out I decided 2nd and 20 points plus 2 podium credits was the best option, the Yamaha’s just seemed to be working that bit better than our bike at this track, to be honest it’s exactly what I’d expected and not every track is as stop start as Knockhill so things will even back out for sure, Tommy got about 2 seconds on me which he held but I had my hands full with the other Yamaha of his team mate M Lav, he kept me honest right until the end of the race so I ended with a 3rd and a 2nd which was far from dreadful but somehow things just don’t feel the same when you don’t win at least one!!!
After the race the team told me about Jason’s accident and it sounded pretty nasty so I had a quick shower and headed straight down to Dunfermline with my team boss to go to see him, unfortunately though it was pretty bad and when we got there he was being prepared for his initial operation to have his spleen removed so we didn’t get to see him.
The next morning though he was awake so I nipped in to see him before we headed off back down south, he was in good spirits if not a little groggy, he has to wait a few days to stabilize before they fix his broken leg and ankle so I guess the way to finish this blog is A to say a big thanks to HM Plant Honda for all their hard work over the weekend a B to say a massive get well soon to Jason. Take it easy guys and girls, Shakey #67
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