Back on the Castings Technology Yamaha R6 and Suzuki SV650, we arrived on Thursday afternoon to a windy Anglesey and got ourselves set up next to good friends Lee Geary and Paul Wilkinson of TSS Leicester after he recently serviced my suspension on the V650.
Friday’s test day was a write off for most people with 40+ mph winds all day.
It looked a struggle out there for most as the wind wasn’t predictable.
I wasn’t booked on and so only went out for the one session on the twin to check the new suspension, which was spot on.
Saturday came and the wind was just as bad as Fiday which was going to make the day rather difficult.
I managed to qualify the R6 in 9th, which I was fairly happy with as needed to work on the set up.
The SV650 qualified 10th which was rather disappointing as I got a lot of traffic in the session and had been hoping to be a lot closer to the front group.
Race one in the National 600 wasn’t my best performance. I was struggling with getting the bike to do what I wanted and the high winds didn’t help.
I got away well and tagged into a group battling for 5th.
I stuck in until I made a mistake with two laps to go and got dropped off with a large gap back to 19th.
I came home 9th, overall 7th in class.
Race one on the minitwin and I needed a good start here which thankfully I got round the outside into turn one and down the inside at turn two and I was back with the leaders I should be battling with.
After a race long battle with Max Tayor, David Stiff, and Paul Metcalff on his RS250 passing each other at every opportunity, I got beaten up with two laps to go… again making a mistake and running wide into the braking area trying too hard and came home 5th overall, 4th in class and very disappointed.
Sunday morning and what a different day. The wind had dropped, and the sun had decided to make an appearance.
Race two on the R6 started P9 and got a good launch and got away with the battle for 5th. I hung on for six laps and then the mistakes started to creep in, trying too hard to hang on.
I set a new PB in the closing laps of 1:13:2 and so was very happy, as my target was to be in the 1:13 by the end of the weekend.
Finishing P6 and very happy with the bike working more as I want.
Race two on the twin starting P4.
I got another flying start and got stuck in with the same group as race one.
This time I didn’t make the same mistakes getting flustered when we got to the back markers. I used them to my advantage to take P3 overall and P2 in class.
Race three on the R6 and Anglesey being so close to the sea saw mist which made riding difficult with water on the visor. But it didn’t settle on the circuit so I was still on drys and staying away from any kerbs.
Started P6 and got a great start straight into P4. Got the elbows out and rode well for the first five laps.
I managed to stay in forth for six laps but with tricky conditions at this point I was getting caught by the group behind and just couldn’t manage to hold on to forth, dropping back to sixth by the end.
But I am still very happy with the progress I’m making since stepping up to the 600.
Race three on the twin. Starting P3 I knew I needed another good start if I had any chance of sticking with Liam Wood, who has been great all year so far.
Also, with Ashley Beckett starting futher up the grid after a crash in race one, I knew he could be in the mix and make the group a five man battle for second.
The start was good but, as suspected, Ash got a better one and shuffled me back to fourth.
I couldn’t take any time in getting back past if I stood any chance of staying with Liam so I made a good clean pass through the corkscrew into third and then made the same move a lap later on Paul on his 250.
With Laura Ingham on the pit wall giving me signals of the gap behind I felt I was riding well and keeping the gap to Liam about the same for most of the race to finish a solid P2.
Another new PB of 1:15:1, half a second quicker than I managed on the same bike last year.
I can’t thank everyone enough for their helpd so far this season.
Richard Cook – Castings Technology
Simon Rossell – Sign Right Creative
Kyall Nugent – Charnwood Paint Specialists
Clairty Window Cleanig Services, Derbyshire
GR Motorpsort
TITEK
MotorcycleRaceParts.co.uk
Paul Wilkinson – TSS Leicester
The wife, Laura
We are still making progress and getting closer to the front in both classes.
I feel a win on the twin and a podium on the R6 aren’t too far away.
Roll on Brands Hatch Indy in a few weeks for round five.
