| Snetterton Park II: Judgement Day |
| The day started earlier for me this year as I was up all night trying to sort out the video camera as the damn thing wasn't charging and we were running out of options fast! I finally got to sleep at about 3.30am and we were setting off at 5.45, so I was a little tired when Wayne turned up at 5.20am I can tell you! Pete eventually turned up and then we set off for the track and although it didn't look that cold, it was bloody freezing doing 90mph on the M11 at that time in the morning. We arrived at the track at 8.00am and much like last year the sun started to shine, but this year it was going to be a scorcher! Once the bikes had been booked in and duck tape plastered over the headlights, rear light, indicators and mirrors, we set off for the first of the mornings sessions. Wayne was first out in the novice group and was a little nervous to say the least, but then anyone on their first track day would be the same, I know that I was. He had every right to be though as some dickheads decided that it would be a good idea to drop from the intermediate group into the novice group to boost their egos by blitzing the slower guys? Not big and not clever I'm afraid lads!! On Wayne's pensive return I asked him how it all went, but he just shook his head and said that he couldn't get the corners right and wasn't sure how far over he could go to get round them. We had the first of many chats about this subject and low and behold, by the end of the day he had got his knee down, increased his lap times and was as happy as a pig in sh*t! Well done! Next out was myself and Pete in the intermediate group. I said to Pete before we went on track that I was going to use the first session to get used to the GSXR's performance and its different lines on the track, thus they would be rather slow laps to start. How wrong could I be? After the three sighting laps, I simply started overtaking people and getting faster and faster around the circuit. Each corner was eaten up effortlessly by the big Suzuki, I was braking at the 100 metre mark (last year was 200 metres) and hitting a consistant 160+mph down the back straight. Once we pulled back into the pits, my Mum and Malcolm had already arrived and Malcolm was taking lap times "one minute, twenty four" he said. Exsqueeze me, I mean baking powder?! That's already eleven seconds off of last year's time?! Bloody hell, this bike was the tool I needed to do the job alright! The day carried on on the same trend, although as I got quicker it meant that I was running into the slower riders and getting held up in traffic, but it didn't hold me back too much as a lot of the time, I just rode around the outside of them with my knee and toe slider dragging. Pete had also made up time from last year as he was now lapping at an average of one minute twenty-eight seconds with a personal best of 1:27.73. Good man!! As the day panned out I was getting more and more frustrated at not having some clear track in front of me to get some consistent faster times in, but then on the last session it happened. Pete and I started at the front of the grid and had the whole track at our mercy and I planned to make this one count! We set off and I warmed the tires up on the first lap and clocked a 1:24.46, then I layed down some of the quickest riding that I have done ever? The times dropped straight away: 1:22.89, 1:22.78 and finally I managed a 1:22.56!! And this wasn't with a totally clear track either, I was still running into slower riders but this time I was just pissing past them. Either on the brakes, down the straights or riding around the outside at about 110mph with everything dragging! Oh happy days! Everyone had a great day and I would like to thank my Mum and Malcolm with their stopwatch, as it wouldn't have been the same without Malcolm lap-timing and Mum writing the results down. I would also like to thank Kate, Gaynor and Steve for coming along and making us all laugh with thier nutty antics and of course the riders Wayne and Pete, who both achieved something great on the day. Wayne with his scrubbed-in slider and Pete with his faster lap times and his new ability to dodge rabbits running accross the track?! Most of all though, I want to thank my lovely wife Marisa for coping so well with constant conversations about bikes and the up and coming track day and for being there on the day to cheer me on. May 23rd 2001 was a good day! Click on the 'NEXT' button to see the photo's? See ya! Deano |
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