First practice went reasonably well as I reached my target lap time of 1.36.5.  I made a plan with Brains for the afternoon qualifying session before lunch but it didn’t pan out exactly how we discussed!  

I planned to do four 4-5 lap runs which would cover the 45 minutes of practice.  I exited on bike two which had softer fork springs then came in to try bike one with a different geometry setting.  

Both worked better so we added the geometry change to bike two along with the softer springs.  It worked a treat and equipped with a new rear tyre I managed two 1.35.8s back to back in the third run before folding the front at the low speed hairpin.  

That was the moment our original plan got an unexpected addition; a ride to the pits on the back of a moped!
 
While I was making my way back to the box my mechanics were preparing bike two for my final run.  I exited on another new rear tyre but I could only manage 1.36.0 as the temperature had suddenly risen a few degrees and the grip had dropped drastically.  

Everyone was in the same boat and no one really went any quicker in the last ten minutes.  I dropped from the second row to 10th position while I was on the back of the moped which was still a good result.  The top eight all tested here last week and Robbin Harms just pipped me for ninthth so I’m happy that we’re right where we should be.  

I hope to edge onto the second row tomorrow afternoon.  If I manage that then I reckon I can go with the front boys in the race on Sunday.  

Catch ya tomorrow!
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