Thursday 11 June 2009

Round 2/3 Three Sisters

The next meeting was a two day event at Three Sisters at Wigan. Now this circuit is a kart track that is tight and slow and the surface is very worn. I do not like this track because of this so I went along to make the best of it. On arrival the weather was ok but soon turned to heavey rain and hail. We managed to set the camp up ok and got ready for the races. All the bikes were fixed and running fine so it was just a case of putting in some steady laps and salvage a good grid position for the next day, or so i thought


Practice went well, nearly all of the bikes survived ok and we all were fairly happy that it would be racable. Jim did fall of in practice but not seriously.

Race1 solo. A good start from myself put me up the front but i did get squeezed out a bit on the infield sections. Martin is still struggling with engine setup but is making a more competative push and Jim is still learning the track so is hanging on at the back but doing ok. The end of the race came and that is where it all went wrong. The last couple of laps were too much for my clutch and it started to slip, still finished 7th overall and 4th in class. Martin fell halfway through the race and the bike landed on his foot and broke his toe DNF. Jim held in there and came in at the back but not last. Bloody hate this track.



Whilst waiting for the first race in the sidecar i was frantically trying to chang a clutch, Martin was on his way to hospital and Jim was walking round a bit dazed as i had just informed him that with Martin out of action, he was going to have to sit on the sidecar.



Race1 sidecars. A good start put us well in the running but with jim being a novice at a very demanding circuit we just cruised round and collected the points for finishing. (thanks Jim) It was also very wet so i did not risk crashing out.



Race 2 solo. Martin is still at the hospital at this point but word came back that its not too bad. Jim is ready to go and the clutch in my bike is changed (only just in time). The race was still in the wet so a frantic change of tyres saw us get to the holding bay in the nick of time. As the scooters went out on the warm up lap i struggled to get the engine started. In the panic to change the clutch i had not adjusted the cable and could not let the clutch out fully. As the flag dropped everyone screamed of and i slowly pulled away as if on a Sunday ride out. This meant that i could not get past quarter throttle and as a result came in at the back. Jim got away better but half way through the race he had a massive high side and fell. No injurys but the bike took a hammering. I came in 16th and Jim had a DNF. It was all going a bit wrong. Former Coventry rider and Performance Tuning splitter Steve Conneeley did well though getting a second in class, Steve is one of those wierdos that likes Three Sisters in the wet.



Jim doing a brave job in the extreme wet.

That night i put a new clutch in the sidecar as well as it started letting go in third gear and we set about fixing Jims bike. Steve and i changed the headset but we had to wait till the next morning to borrow some cylinders in order to straighten out his exhaust. It all got done in pleanty of time but with the fall he had, Jim did not want to go on the sidecar as he was a bit sore. I managed to get rent-a-passenger in the guise of Phil Bevis.



The sidecar races did not go smoothly with good starts being penalised by Phil leaning the wrong way through the esses. It did not make for fast laps but it was entertaining. Phil leaning the wrong way and me screaming "get over the other side before you f***ing kill us" must have been amusing to the marshalls on that corner just before they dived for cover. Needless to say we finished last on both races Sunday but thanks anyway Phil.


If nothing else, we looked fast.


The solo races went much better and i got a blistering start in both of them. I fought my way from the back of the grid through the tightest corners and salvaged the weekend. Both races were pretty similar but the last race gives you your grid position for the next round. I came in 11th but as luck was on my side, two 10 second penaltys were handed out for a false start and that put me into 9th.



A rare pic of Jim still upright.

Martins fall on investigation was due to his engine casing snapping and throwing him off. Jim fell in the wet due to having a road compound tyre and not a race one so all the problems are fixable.

So what about the paddock gossip? Well not much this meeting but one of the riders did fall off in the holding bay in full view of everyone.

Tune in next time when we shall be at a propper circuit again and we may even get Martins bike fixed (if he is recovered in time)

If you would like to sponser our team please get in touch siredward@btinternet.com