Castle Combe round 15 & 16

Castle Combe round 15 & 16

Last updated 27th November 2005

Race Report Castle Combe 21 August 2004

After some torrential rain on Friday evening and showers overnight, it was a relief to see Saturday morning bathed in sunlight.

The super stockers were a little thin on the ground - Steve away at the Island, Kieron and Peter in the programme but not in attendance - rumour was that Steve must have blagged Pete’s engine for the Manx!

A bunch of unfamiliar names in the “SS” class made us think that Andrea had been busy recruiting, but it turned out that we were racing with our chums from the early stocks again.

Practice

Unusually for us, practice was timed for grid positions - not so good if you’ve never seen the circuit before, but better than all being shoved at the back end! With over forty riders on track it was difficult to get a clear lap, but Gary hung back to make some space and his 1.19.7 was good enough for thirteenth overall and pole for the stock class. Jes was next up followed by Malcolm, Mark, Ray and Richard, spread around the middle of the grid.

Mark had popped his steering damper and reckoned the OW was almost unrideable on the fast bumps, but everyone else seemed happy enough.

Race1

Gary made the most of his grid position and was the daddy from lights to flag, apart from some brake fade and a close encounter with a Triumph 955. It was all happening behind him though with Malc, Jes and Mark (who had softened up his suspension) all in the 17s, and going hell for leather. Then on lap 6 Jes hit oil at the esses and was off - putting some new scuffs on the RC and bashing his ankle about. Mark had a moment which made him hit a VTR hard enough to break his screen - he kept it together though, and when Malc made a mistake at the chicane nipped through to set off after Gary, who held on by two seconds at the finish. Richard and Ray had to content themselves with a good dice with the faster early stocks.

Finishing order: Gary, Mark, Malcolm, Richard, Ray. Fastest lap: Jes 1.17.01

Race2

Richard was a non starter - he had noticed a loud rattle in race 1 and found that his new camshafts were made of chocolate and had started scuffing badly. Jes had managed to straighten out the bent bits on the RC30 and dispensed with the knackered screen. Malc came to the rescue with the loan of his spare leathers and Jes was on the grid again.

At the lights it was again Gary away with a flyer, but this time Mark stayed with him and got past after a couple of laps. Malc was also in close attendance and having a look at Gary on several occasions. Ray passed Jes at the esses, who was understandably cautious for a couple of laps. Jes soon settled down though and popped out of Ray’s HGV size slipstream to retake the place. Up front Malc was lining up a move on Gary at the chicane who then ran out of brakes - Malc didn’t need to be asked twice and was through and held on for second by a tenth.

To add insult to injury, Gary was hit with a 10 second jump start penalty which put him down to fourth behind a bruised and battered Jes.

Finishing order: Mark, Malcolm, Jes, Gary, Ray. Fastest lap: Mark 1.18.73