I was really excited to be getting to the track after a long break over the summer to avoid the heat and work on the bike. My first time out on the bike at the beginning of the summer left me with a list as long as the front straight at Suzuka of things to fix. From the leaking petrol tank, ****** suspension and brakes, to the grip which almost came off in my hand mid-corner.
The day was promising to be cool but by the time we were suited up and ready to go it was already hotter than I care for. Out on the track the things felt good, and after the suspension and brake work it was like riding a completely different bike. For the first time (bar monkey bikes at Sendai) I found that I had the opportunity to pass people, but this needs practise and instructin on this as I was told that I got a bit too close on occasion, although I was only aware of this once or twice.
I got into the groove almost right away and was really enjoying watching the big bikes fly past me on the back straight, then braking deep past them again on the last turn, slingshotting out onto the front straight and racing for the first turn, then sweeping round the outside of people at the left hairpin. The NSR is still a poor comparison to the RS125 but I was getting some of the thrill of it. One of my pleasures of the day was the other two-smoker who started out by passing me at the beginning of the session, but who I got past later on; I saw him looking for me and deliberately lining up behind me for the second session.
Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to follow him through some lines or chase each other around. The first session was heavy traffic the whole time, and I didn't have a single clear lap, although it was fun to finally do some passing and chasing. At the start of the second session before the packs spread out too much I saw a good length of empty track before me and decided to go for it and try to run a good clean lap. At the end of the first lap I got a good shot out of the last turn and thought that I'd be well set up to pass the finish/start line at speed and get my best time of the day on the second lap before hitting traffic. I've always struggled with turn one, but just figured out that this was partly due to the fact that I was not looking all the way to the exit of the corner from the very beginning, but started out looking through the starting radius, then changing to look for the exit half way through the corner. After my good start on the front straight I came well into turn 1, cranked my neck all the way round and saw the exit which pulled me on a much better line than I usually take, not getting on the gas too early as I usually do. Brilliant! I'm acing turn 1, there's the exit in front of me Bam! Nail the throttle wide open ...
... hold on a minute I'm not getting kicked in the backside out of the corner ... and now the back is coming round, and rear is spinning up ... strangely the bike still feels under control, just gently ... gently ease off the ... bike, track, sky, track, billboard, rumble strip, sky. What the fu$%???
We came to rest on the edge of the track by the rumble strip. I leapt up and turned the key off, saw the clutch lever was pinned back to the grip, and bailed over the barrier. The marshall sent me back out and I got the bike off the track and behind a padded shield, he asked me if the bike was running and was going to send me back out but I knew the clutch was jammed open.
Damage to rider was small scrape on elbow and new helmet required, I was surprisingly unhurt, and subsequent soreness has been minimal, not even a slight headache. Damage to bike was lots of scratches, one fairing mount bent, rear peg very bent, and clutch lever wedged open (but it loosened up with a bit of yanking about).
Here's a video from the tail, you can see the black streak left by the tyre followed by me, upside-down, passing the camera.
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MC28 SE -sold-
MC21 with RS250 engine -for sale-
MC21 race bike -soon for sale-
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