6 May 2010
First ypm race meeting report, Pembrey May 2010
YPM`s Pembrey May 2010:
So off we trucked all 330+ miles to south west Wales and it was raining when we turned up after 9 odd hours!
On Saturday morning we awoke to more rain and a really muddy campsite and gazebo set up, luckily I had pulled an old rug out of my neighbours skip prior to leaving that was spot on for standing the bike on, Matt on the other hand used some boarding that formed the side walls of my van!
I missed my first track session and to be honest was not that bothered, I had a new bike to get used to, a new track, an engine to run in, new brakes to bed in, tyres to learn and to top it off it was still raining. Once I had finished the last little bits of prep on the bike I ventured out on to a wet track only to find the TZR was not that bad to ride but there was a long way to go to get some confidence on these dry tyres in the wet.
Once the afternoon was upon us we managed to get two dry track sessions, by which time the tyres were scrubbed, brakes bedded in and the engine revving to the max.
It soon became apparent that there was going to be a few things to get used to before we would be pushing at the front of any races. You see the last bike I raced was my old SV650 mini-twin which Matt Hinnells is now running, this was back at Snetterton in sept 09 and that requires a different riding style, has different brakes more weight and power.
Saturdays racing saw me having to start in 25th place that was the last slot on the grid as I had no championship points. From there it was going to be fun finding out how fast I could be or how far up the grid I could climb. I think a good start was made and that saw me get up to a mid pack position in the early stages and after a good battle with some more established YPMers and Sqwelch who was forced off track in the early laps I finished my first race just outside the top ten in 11th.
From then on it was clear that my lap times were ok but needed to improve if I was to climb any further, corner speed and track knowledge I thought were the biggest things.
Race 2 saw a really good battle for the last few places in the top ten with me finally managing to claim 9th but only after Paul Norris ran his TDR onto the crass exiting the final hair pin but hey I thought I would have managed a move exiting the kink any way?
Sunday races were really good fun with me managing an 8th in race one after a run to the line between myself and Bike magazines Tony Hoare, Tony coming out on top with 7th place with a 0.055 of a second advantage. (I should not have tried to go for 6th gear ! I should have just revved the tits off her)
Race 2, well I sort of went backwards, after a mega start I was running in 5th close enough to the front to see Mike Smith hop out of the seat and take a trip across the grass! I ended up in 10th but was not unpleased with this as the time I had with the quicker riders has retrospectively allowed to me work out what I,am not doing on the bike, lets hope it works next time out.
YPM racing is a right laugh and in no way slow.