Race 4 results;
Rider . . . . . . . . Racetime . . . Fastest lap

Fontyyy . . . . . 14.05.08 . . . 1.02.94
Racer38 . . . . . .14.05.10 . . . 1.02.99
Watfordhorn . . .14.05.36 . . . 1.02.86

Yep, less than 1/3rd of a second over 13 laps and 13/100ths of a second for best lap time seperated us.

Race 3 Leigh beat me by 2/100ths and ran an impressive 1.01.58.

Race 2 (wet), I ran off, got back on dead last, ran fastest lap (of us 3) but didn't quite catch Leigh though I could see him "coming back to me", Tom's got no wets, looked scary.

Race 1 I crashed, Tom missed the start (mechanical), Leigh "won".

Practice I seized, lap 2 session 1, I therefore claim the first seizure of the 2008 DP F250 campaign in the name of Honda, I also claim (with proof) that second hand base gaskets, piston clips, front heads on rear cylinders, sub 60 bhp bikes and 120/160 tyres on NSR rims all work just fine.

Brill - Dan Williams excluded from all results for not being on the same lap
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Practice was a baptism of fire for me, two laps in the bike died and I had to come in, I think it was a fuel problem as it started again and I went back out, then the first lap back out I was slowly going round druids with cold tyres when someone went round the outside of my and clipped my handle bars, sat me up and I ended up going all the way down the hill on the grass - very scary but managed to keep it upright.....just. Great start before my first ever race!

Then my first race Fontyyy did not mention he crashed trying to take me out cos I was in front of him!

I did my biggest school boy errors in a race within a race; having got past both Tom and Fontyy on what I thought was the last bend on the last lap and crossed the finish in front, I slowed up down paddock hill bend thinking the race was over really chuffed with myself only for them both to fly back past me - it hadnt finished at all! (I was so determined to get past them both ducked in behing the fairing I didnt look for the flag). Quite pleased I got back within a couple of tenths of a second but its still haunting me! Going into 6th gear coming out of Graham Hill bend didnt help either, thought I had seized it as it lost all power, raised my hand to stop only to see I was at about 3k rpm . All in a days racing I suppose!

Had a cracking time and looking forward to the next one, where are we going to race?

Big thanks to Wayne, Barry and Maxim for all your help and encouragement on our first race day.

Well done to you all, it was good to see so many NSR's out on track.
Sounds as if you had a good time - results are here
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/teamsparrow/results/f250_2008.xls

Sorry i couldn't make it Leigh,glad you all had such a good meeting.
Cheers Rob

I'll miss Croft but will be doing the triple at Cadwell, Sat 3rd May Retford MC club, Sun and Mon (bank holiday) with DP.
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fontyyy! have or do you race at darley moor!!

fontyyy wrote:

Practice I seized, lap 2 session 1, I therefore claim the first seizure of the 2008 DP F250 campaign in the name of Honda,

And you can claim first crash of the DP F250 campaign

It was a really good weekend.
I think we would put HRC to shame with the smooth way our team ran
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banshee, Darley Moor is close to me, 26 miles to be precise.

But it's rubbish track and actually more money to race there;

Darley Moor, £90 per day, prob get 16 laps (2 * 8 lap races) so pay £5.60 per lap.

DP Brands Hatch £280, get 54 laps (2*12 lap races first day, 2*15 lap races on 2nd day), £5.20 per lap, discounting Aintree that's the cheapest racing in the country.

Short races are rubbish, fluff the start and it's all over, run off track and it's all over, there are more crashes as the first lap is so critical. A decent length race asks more of you physically and mentally yet is more forgiving and probably safer at the same time.
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Last edited by fontyyy on Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:58 pm; edited 3 times in total

The six of us sat round in a circle chatting in the pit about our strategy must have put the wind up the other competitors!

Fontyy could nearly claim to be the first person to write off two NSRs in one move!

Well done lads. Sounds like you enjoyed yourselves.
Don`t be worried about grass-tracking, shows you`re trying!
Would say I`m jealous of you, seeing what the weather was like, I`m not that upset about missing it!

Races 1, 3 and 4 were dry, 2 was wet.

To say what was forecast we got away with it I thought.
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Darley is a scary track to race at, as the run off is tiny. It's the track that wrecked my ankle, thumb, head and my mates bike I'd borrowed!
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It's true, tyre walls and odd bags of stuff line a lot the track and where they don't there are launch ramps to jump if you miss your braking marker, the entire place is worse than Barn at Cadwell, as for the size of the gravel trap at the hairpin, you've got to laugh, it wouldn't stop you if you were on roller skates, this this an old photo but it's no better now.

Quite possibly the worst track in the universe.
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Wow, I had a great time at Brands. I'm glad I've finally managed to get my first race completed, since the last attempt in 2004 ended in 'ground-sky-ground-sky' and a catalogue of injuries. Big thanks to NSRwanye for helping out all weekend. I was so glad someone was there to assist in the mad rush to get ready for each race and help with paddock stands and the like once we pitted again.

The bike ran well, if a little rich, but I was happy to sacrifice power for the comfort of knowing that it wouldn't nip up whilst cranked over on the power. Besides the James Bond oil spray ejected from my pipes only served to cover any pursing riders visors in two-stroke!

Both Leigh and Fontyy failed to mention that the 'wet' race was actually conducted under winter conditions. Hail, snow and ice winds all helped to make my first ever race quite interesting. Not having wet tires also didn't help with the overall experience. They'd slide on the way in to a turn and slip on the way out.....nice! I found I could almost ride around the outside of people in certain places but every time I touched the throttle it wouldn't grip and they'd get better drive out. As Dave Egley said.....why would you want to race in winter and I'm inclined to agree!

The biggest problem I had with the racing was a serious lack of fitness. The 12/15 laps races just killed me and I found that despite making my way through the field in the early laps as I became tied I started to make mistakes and slipped back. The most severe was when Dan Williams came under me at Surtees (giving me plenty of room) but a momentary lapse in concentration just at the wrong point saw me take to the grass. I managed to stay up right, but that let Fontyy and Leigh through plus a few others and with only 1.5 laps to go I just could catch em.

The last race was probably the best as Leigh, Fontyy and myself were quite close all the way round. We all changed positions several times and had a great dice. By far the best race for me.

Anyway enough drivel.......the Forum Racer's first outting went well, normal service will be resuming soon with the Stig taking his rightfull place on the grid.

I think I've got a way to go yet, a 16y/o girl (Stephanie Waddelow) ran a 57.224 on the 8th March this year.....on a 30odd bhp 125 Superteen Aprilia

Even more horrifing 16 others ran faster than me as well. Unreal, I wouldn't have got a point riding a 250 against a bunch of 125s!

I'd like to take some comfort in the fact that Taylor Mackenzie (who did beat me at Donington) is 3 seconds slower than me at Brands but I can't.

Must try a lot harder.
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