E2E Racing News
25 June 2012
Traumatic weekend @ Snetterton
Both riders have their ups and downs (literally) at Snetterton..
Lee R.'s report:
The slipper clutch broke in practice on the Friday so we had to put a standard clutch in for the race weekend.
On the Saturday...
I set pole and then promptly crashed in qualifying – just a little front end crash at the hairpin, no real damage to me or the bike.
Had a massive fight with a blinding fast ex Honda Britain RC45 in the first race but beat him in the end and won, however in the 2nd race my bike went pop and I had to retire (I think I’d been over revving it due to there being no slipper clutch - not good!).
On the Sunday...
We thought that was the weekend over, but Nick Williamson (one of my main rival's in the championship) came to see me on the Sunday morning and offered me the Mille he’d just bought as a spare bike - what a top bloke!
It wasn’t prepped or ready to race so we missed warm up but managed to get out for the first race, it was wet and as I was on a borrowed bike, I took it steady for the first few laps and then slowly stepped up the pace.. managed to catch Jason Dixon in 2nd place by 2 seconds a lap, but just ran out of laps and finished 3rd behind him.
The 2nd race was dry and we made a few tweaks to the bike – it really needed a harder spring on the rear shock, but we did what we could with it as it was. Took it a bit steady again to begin with in 4th place and then got the hammer down, caught the leader (Richard Blunt) with 3 laps to go and had a right fight with him, but every time I passed him he just passed me down the straights again (shame he'd just upgraded his motor from a 600 to a 750!!), I ended up 2nd by 0.3 of a second!..
Good finish to a crazy weekend - massive thanks to Nick for lending me his bike (not sure he'll be happy I beat him on it in the 2nd race, so he might not offer again!!) - but thanks again Nick!.. Big thanks to the team (especially Dad and Stuart) who worked their nutts off all weekend and thanks to Peter Baker for some suspension advice.
My poorly bike is off to Griff @ Aprilia Performance - he's bound to give me a bollocking for over-revving it!! and slipper back to Sigma - so hopefully it won't end up over-revving again!
Get Well Soon to my Team Mate "Peaches" - I'll let him tell the story...
Lee P's report:
Once again we were expecting poor weather conditions and we were not disappointed. I had never been to Snetterton but new it had two long straights which would allow me to see what my bike could do.
Friday practise started with a guided tour of the track with Lee R and my initial feeling was good, the track did have two fantastic straights and some interesting corners. The rain and wind kept up throughout the day with only the last session being dry, which allowed my to set a time to beat in qualifying the next day. The time I was aiming for was 1min 25sec, unfortunately the best I could achieve was 1min 27sec.
Qualifying started and I new I had a lot to do, I spoke with Lee R and realised there were a couple of corners which I could take a lot faster. I managed to do a 1min 25sec, but this only put me in 14th position, last place, however the three bikes in front of me were only one second quicker, so I new I could improve in the race.
Race one was a very wet and windy one, I had a great start and was 6th / 7th by the 2nd corner. I maintained this position for most of the opening lap but got beaten up at the end of the back straight and went backwards very quickly. I finished the race a disappointed 14th and new race two must have a better outcome. Race two weather was the same, just higher winds! Another great start and managed not to be beaten up to much. I had a good tussle with two other Millie’s and finished 10th, which was huge improvement.
Sunday morning again brought rain and wind, warm up went well, I was 6th fastest and my spirits were up. Race three was very wet, again I had a great start and managed to keep my pace and position, and I think I over took my team mate at some point?!!! But only for a short while. I finished 6th! Following this I was ready for the last race, this was a DRY race and things looked great. Another good start, 7th coming out of the first corner, however, as we approached Montreal hair pin a green ZX7 crossed my path, I either hit him or braked hard! I chose the latter and crashed out, breaking my collar bone!!! Not the best end to a great weekend of racing.
Well done to Jack and Stu for getting Lee R back on the track and a huge thank you to Lynnette for the flaky pastry burgers and ongoing support, thanks team.
Lee P's broken collar bone.
