Trouty does Ducati, Mallory May 20th

Racing
1

well bugger my boots, that was an interesting day… and lady luck must have been watching over me! no rain, and qual’d in 22nd with 1’07 (i was timed at consistent 1’11/12s/13s in the wet) so i had the wrong gearing for the dry, but went with it anyway.

“i’m sure i dropped a quid round here somewhere??”

Race one, got away from the lights well and tipped into Gerards 5th gear in around 12th position. I was carrying a bit more speed into the entry than those immediately in front and either side, couldnt go anywhere so closed the throttle down to bring my pace down to match, when someone ahead touched a brake, the guy in front but slightly to my right stood it up momentarily, his back wheel clipped my front wheel and suddenly i was running off the tarmac at circa 110mph, across the grass, through the gravel and towards the tyre wall. Somehow kept it upright and got it under control about 6feet from the tyre wall… rejoined the track in last (28th) and could see the tail end of the pack already going through Edwina’s. I went on a bit of a mission to catch up. With 8 people that did not finish, and 5 that i caught and passed, i finished 15th. just 4 seconds behind 14th and only 10 seconds behind 10th! Even after my rather sphincter trembling excursion, i managed to lap 3 seconds a lap quicker than my qualifying time!

“right, got me quid, wheres the ice cream van gone?”

Race 2 was ok… good start from 22nd place, went into gerards about 14th, but the race 1 incident was in my mind and i found myself braking for the corner a bit too much/early, also i had a couple of passing opportunities that i decided to back down from as they were a bit too risky. Ended up in a 6 or 7 way battle for 11th but finished 14th. I was ½ sec per lap slower than in the 1st race, but still posting 1’05s.

Trouty stealthily sneaks up to attack from behind. But without Rohypnol this time.

Despite running off the track, giving everyone else a headstart, having the wrong gearing and so on, i’ve managed to maintain 9th place in the championship. It would have been nice to utilise the DNF’s from race 1 and capitalise on those extra points that were up for grabs, but i managed to salvage more from the excursion that i expected.

2

Nice one! I can only imagine the thoughts going through your head approaching the tyres…

Nice wirte up - keep 'em coming!

3

Makes great reading! Love the captions, made me chuckle!!

4

my thoughts were something along the lines of

“**** i gotta hit the grass, back brake only, look cool and fishtail the back end… bumpy grass… nuts… gravel… dont bin it, its gunna break bits of me, little throttle keep the front light… ouch me plums… ****… more grass… more back brake, look cool, dont bin it, i have NO spare parts at all… pants… tyres… ****… that was lucky, now turn it around and get back on track… everyones still watching - definitely do not drop it now… ****, there all miles away… better get the head down and get moving… must…salvage…something…”

or something like that anyway…

if i find a vid clip of it i’ll post it up

5

I you do find a vid try and put your thoughts over it as a sound track!

When d’you race again?

6

We have a demonstration race at Donington on saturday, its a non championship crowd entertainer type thing. Dont know nothing about the race, details have been sketchy to say the least. Dont know if theres practice, qualifying, how the grid will be formed, how many laps or anything! All i been told is that we got 32 minutes on the GP circuit. i was just politely reminded that its non championship and reduced marshalling capacity.

i have no idea what they were hinting at

Then Assen after that, but i’m not attending that one, and again, its non championship anyway.

Oulton Park is the next championship round. Not sure where it is, let alone been there before! Booked a t-day on the day before though. Then Castle Coombe, again, dont know where it is… then donington, cadwell and snett all in there somewhere.

7

This is a good post Trouty, well done! Good performance, love the pictures and quotes! Best of luck for the next round! Bike’s looking good

8

Well done mate and even better for keeping it upright. Not a good corner to come off on is that one.

9

Well done mate. Your a fool for not going to Assen though!!!

10

mmm, yes, and no…

as a sponsored rider, the bike belongs to the sponsors, they pay the entries, repairs, maintenance and so on, i race where they want me to race.

Assen is non championship and non beneficial (whereas donington bikefest is nonchampionship but UK audience). Whilst i’m not going to Assen, we have a month off, which means plenty of development time

and the clutch is well on its way out…

11

oops - had a little lay down at Redgate, Donington on saturday… bike not looking quite so pretty and i need to ost some gravel back to Ron

12

ooopppps!

Well at least your still in one piece dude…

13

Nice 1 Daz…

14

When’s you next race bro?

15

7 july, oulton park. not been there before, so gunna start studying the vids soon. Parts for the ducati are still awaiting delivery, the bike goes into the workshop on saturday for some work, that should have hopefully included powercommander programming, unfortunately the PC111 that i bought has been butchered by its previous owner, so i’ve justy sent it away to dynojet to looka t for me

At least i should have a clutch that doesnt spin up in 4th and 5th

now, where’s oulton??!

16

Its a long way North mate - best of luck…

17

Tis nestled in a tranquil spot amidst the beautiful Cheshire countryside

18

Video now posted on my blog.

www.curzonweb.co.uk

t’is only a short vid, shows the race start and the first corner stuff