Day 4… Hottrax Qualifying

My first thought today was really how tactical endurance racing is… it’s not won on the first corner like the sprint races sometimes are. But hey, you still don’t go into it without the fire, that’s for sure. The talk of the day was tyres… you know, tyres, tyres, what you’re gonna use and why. But I gotta admit, I try not to get caught up in that, i just kinda sit back… it’s no great tactical move but what can you do with the weather? If it’s coming over, it’s showery, clouds are coming, there’s spots of rain and whatever… what the fuck can you do about it? So really, all you need to know is when are you out, and have you got enough time to put a set of wheels on it. And so we sat there, no wheels on the bike… we knew it was changeable so why take a set out? Sent Paul out there, and I was lucky to have a set of inters with me… mr all the gear and no idea that’s for sure. So yeah, we threw them on the bike… i mean literally as Paul was doing the last 2 laps, we’re putting the wheels on the bike. So there’s me, with my lid on helping put the callipers on and do the wheels. We left the setting a bit soft on it, which kind of made the bike pump a bit, and made it really work… The bike was moving around and i quite enjoyed it, cos when i nailed it on the start finish and back straight the thing was bucking and weaving; got some nice wheelies out of it, I was fucking buzzing, enjoying myself, it was like a ferocious back lane ride in some respects. So yeah I went out in 18th and made up 7 places and that’s a good feeling… if you’re catching people and overtaking them it obviously makes you feel good. The bike felt good underneath me, it was shaking around a little but I think for a novice rider thats a good thing, to feel the bike really moving. So yeah, really buzzed with that. The more I do it the more I love it… cos when you’re new to something, everything new, all the faces are new, you don’t know how things pan out, where to be and when… you feel like a fucking new kid at school you know what i mean…? But the more I sink into the paddock and blend as well… I mean obviously people know who I am and that has it’s ups and it’s downs, but everyone I meet is fucking bang on, mint.

So end of the race, I could see this black cloud approaching as I went down the start/finish straight. And fucking hell you’re tipping on at the fucking end there, you’ve got it on the  stop… and i knew that at some point I was going to be barrelling into that bend and it was gonna be wet. So on the last couple of laps, all I was doing was doing was looking at the marshals post, waiting for that red and yellow flag to go out, and i saw it… literally knocked it off a bit… and fucking hell, lucky i did cos i just rode into a fucking downpour. I mean it was just pissing it down, and then the next 2 laps were in fucking mind blowing wet… it was dark and you could feel the wind come in… in just seconds it changed. Anyway, the chequered went out and i crossed the line… and I’ve got to say, the feeling was fucking phenomenal, that’s why you do this… it ain’t all about riding round in circles and burning a bit of petrol. The emotion of that was fucking wicked, you know what I mean? There’s no buzz like being in the band , thats for sure… so for me, i have to go out there and find stuff that lights me up… there’s no fucking around, life’s too short. I have to have something that puts the fire in me… and then it kicks back out when I’m away with the boys… and that fucking stirred me up, I’m telling you. I fucking loved it.

Flinty

Team Traction Control had another amazing day on track today; we started the day today with the weather just not knowing what to do…we had a blue sky, grey sky, blue sky… and Keith as a rider today learnt so much about track conditions; as I did myself. Before we had the qualifying this afternoon, I was looking at the bike, looking at Keith, what are we gonna do, the weather was changing… and we made a brave decision to put the intermediates on for the qualifying session. It rained solidly for 20 minutes before qualifying and Paul went out and did a very good job on full wets, which was the right call; I think Paul rode a bit in the safety zone… as in the last couple of rounds he’s struggled a bit and I spoke to him beforehand about just bringing it home. Keith has been peaking after a good couple of days in the wet… but then it started drying out just towards the end; but still enough water around to go out on wets. So it was about 5 or 6 minutes before Keith was due out that we put intermediates on… and Keith had to get his hands dirty by actually putting the callipers on, which I was a bit worried about but they stayed on anyway. And we made the right call, he went out there and was amazing, fantastic. He pulled us from 18th all the way up to 11th… and if we’d have used our head a little bit better we probably could have ended up 10th. And we were quite lucky as it started raining with just one lap to go… and he used his head, putting the traction control system to full; whacked it right up and kept it upright and brought it home. And hey we’re on the grid tomorrow in 11th place and I think as a team we have a good chance of putting it on the podium. So let’s see.

Mark