(leaving pits at a change point. This is me; black helmet, white number plates.)Hi all. Martin Balls asked me to ride in this 4 hour team relay on his K3 GSXR750, as well as Steve Butler and Graham Allot (K2 1000). The race is basically a 2-4 member relay; no refueling is allowed on pitlane, so the idea is to relay bikes as well as riders, hence the 2 bikes. We would have ridden the fz750 but it's not quite ready for racing; the rear shock needs improvement and needs racewiring and paint. Greg Dunn (Mr Bones) and Steve's son in-law Mark were crewing...Thanks to PIRTEK NEWCASTLE and Hourglass Photography, partial funding was organised and off we went. Wakefield is in the middle of freezing sheep country, and it rained all week. The track started drying out on saturday at practice, and seeing that Graham and Martin had never raced, if rain was going to be the order of the day, they asked me to do more laps not less... so wet practicing we go.. Intermediates were put on; treaded tracktyres; but well into the first session the back came around for me at about 210kph and while i did manage to drift it around turn 1, and straightened it upright, I ran out of room and went onto the mud. Slide left, bounce right, oops this ain't good! Time slowed down and I stepped off it and pushed it away, not wanting it to hurt me anymore than I expected to be hurt anyway. After the bike flipped mid-air and landed and I stopped sliding (keeping my helmet up to avoid damage) I stood up and was amazed that I was able to! In fact I felt no pain at all! Good old worn out Walden Millers (aust made for MCA about 15 eyars ago?) and the back protector! The bike also looked OK, apart from more mud than I've ever seenon a roadbike, and some obvious cracks in the fairing and one slightly bent handlebar. Yet not even the screen was broken! I checked it over, fired it up and rode it back! Thanks to my gueardian Angel, we both came out of it reasonably ok. Back to the pits, hose her off. Lucky someone brought the fibreglassing kit and ducttape! Thanks to the crew, Martin rode it for the rest of the day! Steve and Graham also went out on the 1000 to get some laps in. RACEDAY: we each had a session to warm up. It was decided that while Steve would qualify on the 1000, Graham would start the LeMans start with help from Martin. After all, this whole exercise for their initiation. And what a way to start racing: leMans start, endurance race, team relays, imminent rain, wetspots on the track, A grade superbikes mixing with many D graders and some first-time racers! Graham made a good start at the rear 1/4 of the field,and settled into a rhythm. good effort considering this was not only his first LeMans start, but his first race start! All went well, everyone was setting slightly faster and faster laps and settling into racing. Steve and Martin all had their stint, and while Martin had a couple of wobbles and ran off the track a couple of times when spooked by fast passing supers, he managed to keep it upright, with some huge bruises around the inside of the knees/thigh to show for it from the bike slapping him around. When my turn came, I picked up some positions and passed people while being passed by the Superbikes. Then a couple of guys crashed and the pace-car came out, so i signalled to come straight in as per the plan. The rider / bike change went smoothly and we had graham out again for his second stint. While the riders were out, we discussed the imminent rain circling around the region. You could actually see the rain a few Ks away, but the clouds kept being blown around the track. I reckon Barry Sheene was giving it his best to delay rain, but ran out of puff with about 20 minutes to go, when suddenly it hailed and poured at the same time, with most riders out on slicks! There was a mad rush on to finish putting the wets on the 750 while graham circulated in torrential water on slicks. What a job! he kept it upright for about 3 laps before coming in and sending Martin out on wets for the first time in his now 3hr 45min racing career :) And that's how it was finished: with rain bucketing down. This was the first time I'd done the 4 Hour relay and I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to do it again next year, but definately on my own retro bike.
