We arrived by van at 3am Friday morning, so we were a bit late to book into our digs. We left midnight on Wednesday and spent 24 hours with detours and traffic jams getting from Kettering to Brno airport to collect two team members.
Friday saw signing on, setting up, and tech control, a nice easy day to take it all in. Got the R6 out of the van and paid her some attention. Not ridden her since October and not raced since on my R1 in Macau November- so a bit rusty!
Pavel, the local Mr Fix-it guy, helped with some of the translation issues but more importantly drove me around the 5.15km or 3.21m course in his own car many times. At lap two he asked if I wanted more laps I naturally answered yes and after picking up Mr. Morgan and Mr. Smyth he gradually picked up his speed, lap by lap.
We did about eight laps and now I knew where I was going, it only seemed to sink in after four or five laps once the traffic became lighter and he drove quicker, in his Skoda…. loads of them out there.
By about 4pm we packed up, and headed off to our digs to book in, have a meal and, sample the local beer. My dedicated team this time were Bruce, Mitch, Charlie, Brother John, Double O and Moral Support Officer Nadya. Charlie couldn’t hold his drink that night, tried getting into bed with me twice, was sick on my clothes and wanted to air his opinion loudly that he ‘was the Fking DADDY’… What with John’s machine-gun snoring we didn’t get that much sleep! I did though, boring old me went bed at 10:30.
Saturday morning, we rushed to the paddock before roads closed and to get those tyre warmers on, the weather was beautiful and I was up for learning somewhere new. Two practice and qualifying sessions for me, only one bike so the rule out there is only one race, however it was a different rule for the locals where three or four of them were definitely using their 600’s in the 1000cc class race which was legal if you had two bikes. So the downside for me not to get two races in was that I would only receive half the practice times, and I needed as much as possible as a newcomer!
However, I learn tracks pretty quick and once I’d worked it out they split the 600’s up into two heats as there were 59 of us, so all odds in one (24), and all evens (25) in the other. I realized that the track wouldn’t be so congested come the race.
Last year’s lap record was by Mr. Pearson 2:21 and after my first 25mins I was sixth fastest in group and 11th fastest overall with a time of 2:31.89. Second and final qualifying in the afternoon saw me improve the most of all riders in the top 20 to fifth in group and seventh overall on time by 6 seconds to a 2:25.94 out of 59 riders… well happy.
So I thought second row start in seventh... NO, they pick the first and first from each heat to create a race grid up to 40 which saw me ninth. Oh well… rules are rules.
That night we missed a raunchy Hells Angel’s party in the woods which we were all gutted about but instead gauged ourselves in a local bar in Horice square with five beef Goulashes with bread dumpling. A local cuisine, and very nice too, every plate was clean. Couple beers later we headed back for an early night.
Sunday 15/05/11 and it was Race day. It was wet. Didn’t mind that and only eight of 40 went out for morning warm up where I was third fastest, and the word was if it stayed wet the local Czech guys didn’t like the rain, like cats in a bath. So the visitors would clean up what a prospect this now became.
But it dried out, so we reinstalled the dry settings we had developed in our 50mins experience of the place and watched the first four races of the day pass by, including the consolation race for the 19 slow 600s.
Race start: launched well, knuckled down to about 10th in first few corners, squeezed two more spots then the red flags came out, a guy behind me had flipped it off the start line and spewed organic matter on the track!
Restart: A better launch and up to eighth, I was concerned about the minimal safe passing points it took a lap or two to reach seventh, I was sure I was quicker than the bunch of three or four in front of me but the laps were slipping away and passing was difficult. I had made a mistake lost ground by 20metres or so earlier but I got it straight back within a lap so once I’d passed this lot I would be in third. But the red flags came out again.
This time proved the worst and subsequently our race was cancelled, then the meeting abandoned. It was very sad for the locals as it was two of their own riders.
For me, I was comfortable, improved my lap speed to a 2:24.24 in race and was the third fastest guy on track. I searched for 2 seconds after qualifying for the race and achieved 1.7secs, bearing in mind I was the fastest newcomer in the 600cc class and the sixth fastest out qualifying riders ahead who all had previous track experience. Those 2 secs would see me third or fourth and possibly a podium. Well, ya gotta strive…
No celebrations, it was wrap up, clear off and head for Prague…. Hometime….
Next outing is at Snetterton 300 3hr Endurance in a month, with a friend, for fun. Special thanks to Pazzo Racing and Rock Oil again for making these events happen for me – I’m very grateful.
