Brands Hatch - March 2002
…So the winter was over and spring was here, if somewhat chilly at an overcast Brands Hatch. The format for the weekend was practice on Friday, then racing in the Nationwide on Saturday & the MRO on Sunday.
I had arrived Thursday night only to find the place was already full - and no one was allowed into the lower paddock. Not the brightest move by the powers that be, as at the first meeting of the year everyman and his dog tends to turn up. By the morning all hell had broken loose because the fire lanes had been parked in and the security were going ape-sh*t because of it…they were not going to open the lower paddock gate no matter what! The racers meanwhile had asked why fire lanes were needed at all as “...we can’t get our bikes unloaded to race so we don’t need fire lanes”. H’mm… not how I would have put it but valid just the same. Rod Harwin had been asked to move for a third time and had flatly refused, which had then resulted in him ringing Dave Stewart. Five minutes later Dave turned up and the matter was resolved. How? Simply by unlocking the lower paddock gate, as should have been done in the first place.
So we packed, or should I say I packed, everything up again (Kim & the girls were coming down Friday night) and the big rush was on for the power supplies in the lower paddock and Rod got to stay exactly where he was - Jobsworths!! When I quizzed Dave about the sudden change of heart he simply explained that when he hired a circuit he hired the whole circuit, not the bits that they felt like allowing access to, same goes for the toilets (which had been locked the night before) as they had also been opened. They would get their own back by the end of the weekend!
Practice
Nothing to report as the bike had run like a swiss watch with no problems at all, other than running a little cool which meant having to put quite a few strips of tape over the radiator, and running 190-188 main jets for running in - running it nice and rich. Saturday the weather was moody to say the least, with sun and showers expected. We had put the Dunlop slicks on and the tyre warmers had already preheated the tyres to temperature. We were ready to rock…. But the weather had other ideas as a heavy downpour came, and that’s when all the guessing came in. The previous race, the 600, had been stopped (no change there then!) and the sun was out again so we were in a pretty dodgy position. My other wheels hadn’t arrived yet from Dymag so I only had two pairs with me, one set with soft compound slicks and the other with full wets –if the puddles were deep then I was going to be in trouble because they were part worn & quite old. Ten minutes before the start we had to make a decision. My hunch said use slicks as Brands dries out very quickly, but I sent my brother-in-law up to take a look at Paddock bend. He was adamant that the track was puddled everywhere. So wets it was and while we were in the collecting area waiting to be called to the line the sun really came out. Then to top it all they stopped the 600 race again.Race 1
We knew when we lined up that we were in trouble with tyres, as nearly the whole grid was dry or drying. I looked around the machinery and nearly everyone had made the same choice of rubber except a couple of people who had intermediates.I was on pole position so led the field away on the warm up lap. Paddock was completely dry but Druids was very slippery with only a tight dry line right on the inside - I had to get a good start in this race. Graham Hill bend was the same but all the other bends were nearly totally dry except the exit of clearways onto the main straight. We looked at each other and I caught the eye of Chris Sansome, he acknowledged me looking at the tyres and shrugged his shoulders.
We lined up in our positions and waited for the lights. The lights came up red, I snicked into 1st gear holding the bike at 9000 rpm and the lights went green. I slipped the clutch and the bike’s front wheel skimmed the surface as I hooked 2nd then 3rd for Paddock bend. Lovely start, I’d gotten the whole shot. Two people came past up the hill into Druids, I retook one who I think was Chris Sansome. I was behind Phil Desborough going into Graham Hill but just rode clean round the outside as he was sliding around already. After that I just got my head down. Chris came back past on about the 3rd lap along with Tim Jones on the straight and I sat behind them for a lap before I looked behind and saw the pack on my heels. I got the drive up the hill towards Druids and just tipped it in over their front wheels, and from then on I didn’t look back, convinced they were on my back wheel. When we came over the line I was ten seconds clear. Chris had backed off because he had new wets on and they were starting to chunk. I, on the other hand, had on old wets which were harder because they were older 1999 vintage. Sometimes it pays to be skint.
Race 2
So I was on pole for the third race in a row the 2nd time this year, things were looking good. This time there was no doubt it being a dry race with slicks, this turned out to be one of the hardest and best races of the year with Andy Whittley, Dean Johnson, Phil Desborough, Chris Sansome and me. We changed places 3 or four times every lap and in the end I got mugged on the last lap at clearways, when Dean backed off going into Surtees, and Phil and I nearly ran into the back of him. I ended up 5th, the top five covered by 1.5 seconds; and to think they cancelled the 250GP class from BSB meeting this year because the paying public didn’t like the racing (according to the BMP and sod all else!).MRO 1st Round Brands Hatch
I qualified 9th after a fraught qualifying session that saw me go out for the first time on Bridgestone tyres - over inflated. Both the father-in-law & I had failed to check the pressures, not clever. I started from the 3rd row and worked my way up to 5th, then had a tremendous battle with Dean Johnson, Chris Sansome and co. I was having the same problem with Dean as I had had the day before, where he was backing off going into Clarke curve and I was nearly hitting him. I had a couple of hairy moments where the wind was catching us and I was nearly loosing the front, so I knocked the pace back a little bit - only to get caught and taken by Andy Meecham. I finished 9th, my best result in the MRO.