At the start of the season I said that we would not run the little 80 at Snett purely because of the two long straights which would clearly show up the lack of horsepower the little bike has against the mighty F125 Aprillias, well that all changed after Rowans storming form during the start of the season, with Rowan now leading the NG roadracing F125 series by a scant 3 points the decision was taken to forfeit the MRO round running with BSB at Brands and try to minimize the points loss in NG by running at Snett, we thought a couple of 5th ish places would keep Row near the top of the championship so that we could fight on the tracks more suited to the 80.
So with the above in mind a days dyno work was booked with http://www.doubletakemotorcycles.co.uk/ to see if we could squeeze out any more Hp from the bike, a few aero mods were also done try to to give one or two more MPH down the straights. The dyno proved that despite some different pipe lengths, cylinder head designs and different reed block and valve types 22HP is about all we can get out of it! so we pretty much ended up where we started from in terms of engine setup. We also tried to get Row out on a track day at Snett the day before the races, but MSV would not allow us to run the little fella in the Novice group due to the potential huge closing speeds at the end of the straights between the little 80 and and R1/GSXR100's, a decision which I thought reasonable.

So without anymore HP and no practice it was off to Snett on the Friday evening , arrive at 21:15 and set up in garage by 22:00.

Saturday
Up nice and early scruted and sorted, Row goes out and does his first practice, he reappears after the allotted 10mins "no probs Dad" we have a quick de-brief, gearing seems about right ( we a re pulling the longest gears we have all year here) Row says that obviously he can go loads faster yet. The old currant bun is out with vengeance!

RACE 1
Row takes his place on pole for the qualifying race ( he gets pole because he is the series leader) Go - they stream off the line, we crane our necks to check they all get through the first corner safely, they do.
90 seconds later and they come back round, the GP125's scream through first then the 400's, then No116, then Row then Sam, the rest of them stream through, 2nd and 3rd lap show's the same pattern, Thomas has managed to eke out a little gap on Row and Sam who are battling for 2nd, Sam has a little more at the end of the straight, Row can carry more corner speed, They take the checker flag, Row just holding onto his 2nd place!

The bike has 'lost' its silencer, luckily after Cadwell I have made sure I have a few with me. The boys are dispatched to go and find the remains (apparently Sam saw it fall off at the end of the straight), They manage to get the pieces together and I find someone with a welder who fixes it for me!

RACE 2
This is the one that counts - go - Row gets a belter and leads the F125's into richies, but by the time they come around at the end of the lap Tom has once again got the lead (paddock rumors say that his bike makes 34HP) Row 2nd and Sam 3rd, next lap, same order, but Sam is right on Row, next lap same order, apparently Sam managed to get pass Row at the end of the straight, Row got him back at the esses, and so into the last lap, they come around Coram curve, Tom has the win, Sam looks up the inside of Row as they go into Russell's chicane, but he cannot quite make it stick and has to back off, Row gets 2nd place!!

The boys arrive back at the garage, they were having a right old ding dong, which apparently included a few rude gestures to each other!

Row's bike has managed to destroy another silencer, I now have two left, just enough for tomorrow.

The boys go off and get their trophies and caps and the all important signature. I work out the point situation to find that Row is now joint leader with Tom, Sam just a few points behind in third place, its all to play for tomorrow.

SUNDAY
The sky is clear and even at 08:00 its starting to warm up, boy its gonna be hot today, Row manages to get out and do a few laps practice, he is still reducing his lap times, in this session he does a 1:30.2, his fastest all weekend "the bike is going even better this morning Dad"

RACE 1
They line up for the qualification race - Go- Tom, Row and Sam all get equal starts, after the first lap its Sam in the lead from Row then Tom, but there is nothing between all three, on the third lap we see Tom pull into pit lane with a gearchange lever hanging down, Sam manages to extend the gap to Row and that's how they finish, Row reappears in the garage "the bike wont pull full revs down the back straight Dad"
After a bit of head scratching I pull the bike apart but can find nothing wrong, the plug looks oily and dark brown, perhaps its too rich, so I jet it down, I go and have a chat to some of the GP250 boys, they recon that there is now a headwind on the long back straight, so I also raise the gearing by a couple of teeth, Row also says that the bike is making a slight whining sound, I can't work out what that might be....

RACE 2

Tom has to start right at the back of the grid due to his DNF in the qualifier, a nice little cushion for Row, Sam has pole for this one, I am very nervous that the bike may not even make it through this race!
They line up - GO - Row gets a blinder and is up with the 400's into Richie's, then all hell breaks loose behind him, Sam tries for the inside line but gets closed on, he loses the front and goes down, Tom ( who is trying desperately to make up ground) has nowhere to go and has to run into Sam who is sliding down the track, Jed (who is fourth in the championship) fall's off trying to avoid the melee.
The red flags are brought out, and the boys re-from on the grid, we are running around trying to find out how Sam, Tom and Jed are, the re-start is scheduled for 10 mins later, Sam and Tom have been taken to the medical centre, I have to get back to the pit wall and check on Row, he gives me the thumbs up, I point to my head (THINK!!) , as the re-start approaches it is clear that the other boys will not be able to make it, Row has clear track, They re-start their engines, do the warm up lap - GO- They all scream off again, Row comes around with a clear lead over 2nd place, he extends the lead to about 4 seconds then holds and runs out with the win "I knew I had that one Dad, the bike still won't rev" despite the lap times now dropping to 1:34 Row still got fastest lap and so has now extended his lead in the F125 championship to 16 points, the race win whilst nice to have is a bit flat due to all the main protagonists being out of action.

Sam re-appears in the garage he's clearly shook up and in some pain, Tom is O.K as is Jed, who comes over to check on Sam.

So that's it we pack up and head home with two trophies and a couple of Caps for our trouble, what's really nice is the extended points lead, going into tracks which should suit the little Metrakit.

Its the Monday morning 3am, I wake up and rush to the bathroom, My wife finds me a few mins later I had passed out ! lets not go into detail suffice to say I was as sick as a dog! it takes until the following Thursday evening for me to recover (thus the extreme lateness of this report), Both my sister and her husband (Sam's Mum and Dad) have the same sickness, we can only put it down to the standpipe outside our garage which we had used to re-fill a water bottle from.....

Even more strange when I strip the bike I can find no problem with it, well no that's a lie I found one of the stator bolts had come out and was resting on one of the exciter coils, I take it over to FAB-racing and check the dyno figures which have remained the same...... I wonder if the headwind down the back straight was in fact the problem......although we did find that the clutch drum was loose on the spline (wear and tear), perhaps causing the noise Row remarked about and we also replace a crankshaft oil seal

Another source of unhappiness was the £2000 credit card bill waiting for me when I got home.... This racing aint cheap you know, unless I can get us some backers soon.... well you know the story...so if anyone can help or put us in contact with someone............

So this weekend its off to Silverstone for another round of the MRO Superteens, we aren't too bothered about this one, a couple of mid teens places will probably be it, It will be interesting to see how the little bike fares and if we really do have a problem with it, it will be Row's first outing without the novice jacket though, he's now a fully fledged clubman! so we are now gonna start working on the all important National licence.