Oulton Park, Cheshire - 4th - 6th May 2002

2002 MCN British Superbike Championship - Round 4 - MB4U.com Supersport Championship

Saturday 4th

Picked my Spannerman up for the weekend, Graham 'Geller' Gell and headed off for the Ferry at 0600hrs, as we were booked on the 0700hrs 'red eye' to Liverpool…… Was hoping to have more help than I had, and you would think of a weekend away at the British Superbikes, with free entry, grub and beer would appeal to your mates…… but apparently not…… although had my mate Seany Sean turning up on the Sunday, with my Team Manager Chris, coming for Race Day (Monday).

The ferry crossing was like a mill pond, which was nice and handy and it didn't take us long to get to the track, arrived there at around 1100hrs…… Met fellow racer, and top bloke Chris Platt and his wife Claire, whom I've met a few times before, then found the other Manxies in the paddock…… Juan Kinnish and Neil Muirhead, and their crews who were parked together right by the scrutineering bay, so squeezed in behind them, and me and Geller put the Awning up…… the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a top day. Juan had picked my No1 bike up from V&M en route and there it was sitting there in all its glory, minus the fairings, which I had with me…… it had just had the motor refreshed…… with new large end bearing shells, new inlet valves, inner and outer inlet valve springs, new clutch, new 3rd & 4th gears, new starter motor sprag gear, oil seals, gaskets and serviced…… they also ran it in on the dyno, and it was ready to go with a whopping 121.2 gee gees at the back hoop……… Coooool.

Put the fairings on it and lashed her through scrutineering, which was only wanking distance away, signed on, and got my kit checked…… they seemed to be pretty thorough, did the usual fettling, and whilst doing so, found that the subframe was twisted from my last yee-ha at Cadwell Park, so straightened that, put a new set of tyres on it, adjusted the ride height to make the steering sharper, as it felt a tad slower than I would have liked and changed the gearing to what V&M had recommended……… Also fitted a transponder (provided) to the fork leg of the bike, was only the second time I had one of those on. Sammo took me to meet the Pirelli blokes, which was dead handy, so now all I had to do was turn up and they would bash my tyres on for me and let me book tyres to Sammo's account, so I got a new set of wets, (needed after I had banjoed the last set in the dry at Jurby)…… which were brand new profiled ones new out that day, manufactured after David Jefferies had tested them at the last round at Donington, and a new set of Intermediates, kindly paid for by my Team Manager, Chris…… after he saw me struggle without them last weekend in the comedy weather conditions we had at Jurby. Also went to see the Aria Helmet blokes and thrashed out a trade deal with them…………… Quality.

The schedule for the weekend was, first qualifying was a 20 minute session at 1620hrs on Saturday, a half hour Final Qualifying session on Sunday at 1710hrs, with a 10 minute warm up at 1000hrs and 15 lap race on Monday, with that kicking off at 1425hrs. Had to go to a newcomers briefing which took about 20 minutes, so after that it was just hanging around till it was my turn out on the track. Found out that everyone has to run on a regulation unleaded race fuel, which they sell at the track…… £55 for 25 litres, which equates to £11 a gallon…… bargain…… and that's the cheapest option, there's other stuff for £75 (£15 a gallon)…… I chose the former……… If anyone would have told me that after only 2 years and 1 month after starting this racing lark, I'd be on a V&M bike at the British Championships, I'd have asked for a pint of what you were on……and I'd still be laughing now, but here I was, and here we go………

Calculated that the qualifying time was going to be around the 1 minute 45 second area, so knew that I could qualify, again it was all about where…… to tell you the truth, the targets I had set myself were, firstly, to stay on the bastard, then to qualify, beat my previous best time, and to get into the top 30 in the race. So had to be happy if I had managed all of that…… also it would be nice to beat Juan…… but we'd have to wait and see on that one. Was soon called out, and as I was putting my helmet on, it started to spit with rain…… I would have put money on that happening, but it didn't seem to be wetting the ground much…… wanted to follow Juan to see if he could drag me around, but he got out of the holding area at the front and was gone before I got round the first few corners, so that was that idea buggered…… Had a steady first lap and my lap timer indicated 1' 47.53 and a couple of laps later I had it down to a 1'44, so that meant at least I had qualified, caught up with some traffic, so slowed to create a gap in front of me, Geller told me later that he thought I had fallen off, cos I never came past the pits when I should have done, that lap was nearly 2 minutes, then I got my head back down again, was getting quicker each lap with a 1' 43.59 then a 1'43.10……… 1'42.89…… 1' 42.56 then I was back in the traffic, so slowed again, until there was a huge gap in front of me……… tried a hot lap and f*****d it up at Cascades, so that meant I may as well cruise round for another go…… which all the while was eating into the 20 minute session, on my last lap, the Championship leader, Stuart Easton on his Monstermob Ducati roared past, so thought I'd have a go at chasing him…… kept him in sight all the way round and crossing the line the chequered flag had come out, so that was it over for the day…… After each qualifying session, all the bikes were held in Parc Ferme for half an hour, in case anyone lodged a protest, Geller was waiting there with my rear stand, checked my lap timer and it indicated a fastest lap of 1' 42.56, which was inside the best lap I had done at the MRO round here on April 1st……… well got to be pleased with a new PB. Went and checked the official time sheet and after the first session I had qualified 20th with an official time of 1' 42.536…… which I was quite chuffed about…… Juan had qualified 27th. (1' 43.123)…… there was only a second between 12th and 24th place…… Jesus, pretty close this championship racing…

Gave the bike the once over, fuelled her up, charged the battery, and changed the gearing, this time I went up a tooth on the rear sprocket, as I was only just hitting top gear, as soon as I did, I had to change down again…… the gearing V&M had given me might have been 'bob on' if my name was 'Moodie'…… but alas, its 'Muppet'…… Went to the pub for a meal to celebrate Platty's Birthday, but I'm not allowed to say how old he is, but this celebrating is thirty work…… ooerr, I mean thirsty. Retired to my wanking chariot at around 11pm……… rider perfectly okay, (but stiffening up a bit).

Sunday 5th

Got up at 0930hrs, there was no rush as I wasn't scheduled to go out till 1710hrs, which made a nice change, no need to go through scrutineering again either, so it was all pretty relaxed…… the sun was cracking the pavement, which was great an all, an that. Everyone was at least changing their rear wheel, as with these Pirelli Supercorsa's, the fronts last twice as long as the rears…… My front had only done the previous day, (12 laps at Oulton), but the rear had done the same plus 6 laps at Jurby the previous week, felt really hard at changing it, as it looked okay, but at this level, you need all the advantages you can get…… ummed and aaahed for ages, but Juan clinched it when he said if I was doing that, my head wouldn't be right, so just put a new one on, as I would be kicking myself if it went 'off' halfway into the session and it started sliding around…… so I changed it…… also knew that I would need another complete set for the race tomorrow, so in all that would be 4 ½ sets of tyres (including the wets and Inters)…… a cool bag of sand (grand), just for tyres…… don't think I'll be doing many more of these events. Watched Juan qualifying for the Ducati S4 Challenge, which is all on the same bikes, with the keys plucked out of a hat, and he went out and clinched pole position……… nice one, it was pretty funny that he was on pole on a Ducati with his green Kawasaki leathers on…… which I don't think went down to well with the Ducati people……

Seany Sean turned up early afternoon, earlier than expected, after spending the weekend in Liverpool on his mates stag night…… it was good to have another pair of hands available. Watched young Neil Muirhead in his Qualifying, and into Old Hall corner, his arse end was bouncing all over the place, so when he came in, I offered to lend him the Ohlins rear shocker off my No2 bike to see if it would help him……… and it did. Did a lot of stretches because I was so stiff and not long after got ready to go out in my Final Qualifying session, and went out behind Juan, Platty etc in this one, but we were all holding each other up, so again, I slowed and let them get away, opening up a clear gap for me…… was getting a little worried as I was starting to struggle, and was really fighting the bike as it was flapping its bars like mad over all the crests and rises, which was pumping my arms up, something that hadn't happened to me in the first session yesterday, also felt like I still didn't have the gearing right as I still wasn't in top for long enough, was starting to breathe through me arse and after 10 laps pulled into the pits, to notch my steering damper up a couple of clicks, stretch, my arms (again) and get a drink…… as I went back out on the track…… Juan, Platty and Lloyd Hopkinson went past, so thought that was handy, let them get a gap on me, and then set about hauling it back in…… was keeping the gap constant, gaining in some places but losing out in others, then Easton on his Monstermob Ducati came past me again…… some boy him…… chased after him again, he caught up with the other three, but was getting held up, I posted my fastest 2 laps chasing them, with a 1' 41.78 and a 1'41.98 indicated on my lap timer, but had to ease off, because I was really struggling by this time, could hardly keep a hold of the bars, so had a rest for a couple of laps to get a breather, then my last lap was a 1'43……… Pulled into Parc Ferme again, but although I'd gone faster, it felt like I had gone backwards…… hard to explain, but that's what it felt like. Got the Official timesheet and I'd qualified 24th on the grid (6th row) with a time of 1'42.015, which was slower than my lap timer had indicated…… weird. Juan had qualified 25th…… (7th row) with a 1'42.057, which was only a gnat's nudger away from my time, but I think it was a toss up to who was struggling the most……… I knew it would be a different story come race time. I was well fed up, Sammo had his hands full fettling Juan's bike, and I knew that to go quicker I needed help with the set up on mine, but both me and Geller didn't know our arses from a hole in the ground when it came to that…… Sammo suggested a couple of things, but if I knew what he was talking about, it might have helped, so while he and Juan were fettling his, I changed the wheels with new tyres and gave mine a clean, didn't want to go backwards by doing something wrong, although knew my forks were pretty much bottoming out, so went one click harder on the compression and rebound damping…… Hoped for the best…… I think I've got to a stage now, whereas I need the help of someone like Sammo to go quicker……… Had a shower, sommat to eat, then went for a look at the bar, which was chocca……… there was a funfair, loads of stalls and really shit burger bars…… if you want to imagine what they were like, queue up for an hour in your kitchen, then drop a burger on the floor, wipe your arse with it, half cook it, slap it between two stale slices of bread…… and charge yourself five pounds…… Got me noggin down at about 2300hrs again, Seany Sean slept in the Awning.

Monday 6th - Race Day

Was awake loads again in the night, the noisy bastards in the campsite, were popping their bikes off the limiter and had the music full blast, which I suppose they are entitled to do as they are on their Jollies, but its not much fun for those who are trying to kip… Got out of my work bench (bed) at about 0745 and it had been raining, Seany was already up, but Geller was still zedding it… Was out for my warm up at 1000hrs, it was still overcast, but at least the track was dry, felt like I was going okay, slow but okay, all my laps in the 1' 45's…… my shoulder and finger were sore again, as I've not been giving them chance to heal, though me arse cheek is healing up nicely, that's only taken 8 weeks…… went down cascades on my 4th lap and someone on a Kawasaki had binned it……… it was No12, not 35, so at least it wasn't Juan, even at the slower pace the bike still was well flighty and the gearing still wasn't right, but I didn't have a chain long enough to go up another tooth on the rear sprocket, but in hindsight, maybe I should have gone down one on the front…… but was too late really to try anything now, so kept it the same. Noticed how many people that were here, especially up Clay Hill where it was packed, my bike was at its worst here, shaking its head under protest every lap…… pulled back in the Awning, Seany Sean and Geller put a new set of hoops on the bike, and I had to borrow 6 litres of fuel from young Neil, as it wasn't really worth buying another drum…… so left the bike the same, gave it the once over with a cloth and was ready to go…… I was 31st fastest in the warm up, but I wasn't trying that hard, no prizes up for grabs in that.

Went out to watch a few races, and unfortunately Neil crashed at Knickerbrook in the Junior Superstock race when some numpty fell off in front of him and he couldn't be avoided, and some tosser on the tannoy (Rob Orme I think it was), informed everyone that he could be seriously hurt, not what his pit crew needed to hear…… and no mistake. Fortunately, it turned out he was only winded, but his bike was a bit bent…… he had managed to go 5 seconds quicker than he had been doing, mostly down to the suspension…… he re-fitted my shock to my No2 bike with the help of Ago Murphy after getting the Ohlins suspension lads to check it first…… was glad I was of some help. My mate Ian MacRae from EPS Pumps Ltd turned up from Sussex, with his mate Simon to cheer me on, and as I was getting ready for my race my Team Manager, Chris turned up with his son Chris Jnr, and his mate Adam again…… cool…… got some support.

Jumped on the bike and headed for the holding area, and went out for the sighting lap and was pointed to my spot on the grid…… 24th spot (6th row), was bit disappointed to find that the grid was then swamped with pit crew and everybody's bikes were put up on their stands and tyre warmers on…… I just sat there on me own, didn't know that happened…… the grid cleared after a few minutes and we set off for the warm up lap, and a couple of minutes later we were all back on the grid…… the lights went red…… then switched off and we were off…… saw Juan come past me and barged his way up the inside at the first corner, Old Hall, made a few people sit up and we all pretty much wobbled round jostling for position, cos of the volume of bikes, felt like I was getting held up, and was careful to avoid everybody around me, as I rounded Island Bend was thinking of an out braking manoeuvre into Shell Oils corner, but two bikes crashed in front of me and went into the gravel trap, that put me off doing it so it was head back down and carry on……… hard on the brakes into Foulstons Chicane, some nobber had a go at me on the anchors, and lost the front………… his bike hit me with such a clout that it actually went underneath mine, and I rode over his front wheel and forks, my feet also came off the footpegs and one of them stabbed me just below my right knee, I was off it that much…… I still can't believe even now that I managed to stay on…… I think if that happened another 1000 times, I'd definitely be off in 999 of them…… thought I was lucky to get away with it and got my head back down and haired down to Knickerbrook flat out…… but when I grabbed the brakes there was hardly any there which put the shits right up me…… threw it round Knickerbrook after stamping it down an extra gear to scrub some more speed off and made it round…… just. Noticed that the Pace Car flags had come out because of that incident, and it was on the track when we all bunched up…… was thinking of pulling in to check my bike, as I thought my front brake hose must be damaged…… but as we tootled round behind the pace car, the brakes had come back, checked the wheel all the way round and couldn't see any fluid or anything, so decided to give it a go…… noticed Juan 6 places ahead, and on the third lap behind the pace car, it had its lights off, so knew that it was pulling in on this lap…… we all haired over the start/finish line and into Old Hall the brakes were only just there again, had to pump them, and they came back again…… this was really worrying, as at the time I couldn't understand why, still thought it might be losing fluid, but reckoned if it was fluid all over the front, I would have fell off it by now, so against my better judgement, and the fact that this might be the only British Championship round that I do, decided to carry on…… The problem didn't get any worse which was the only pleasing point, every time I pumped the brakes there was a solid lever, so, was feathering it all the way round, trying to get the lever solid before I got to the corner, which didn't always work…… After a few laps, Geller swung my pit board out and it said P21…… Lap 10, was still thinking of pulling in, but I was in 21st place, and with the problems I was having, thought that was not so bad, so still carried on……… was braking earlier that I should have been doing to be safer, and lost a couple of places over this, but was still in a group of five with me at the back of it…… was starting to struggle a lot, with the way the bike was handling I was gripping on so tight and having to pump the brakes, it was taking its toll on me, and my arms felt like lead…… would have been confident of passing all of these blokes had things been different, I reckon, I was losing at least a second a lap, could still see Juan in the distance at various parts of the circuit…… but just wanted to get to the finish in on piece…… the last lap flag eventually came out and I stayed in the position I was in, there was only half a second covering me and the two blokes directly in front of me by the last corner, and would have out braked them for sure, had they worked properly, but decided on finishing rather than ending up in the gravel trap, and got to the finish in…… 22nd. Would have taken that before I had arrived, but was rather disappointed, knackered, and breathing through my arse…… my major result was that I had stayed on it. Geller and Seany Sean met me in Parc Ferme and put the bike on its stand…… I hopped off and looked at the front of the bike…… couldn't believe how much rubber had been left on my bike from the other blokes wheels, it had damaged my fairing, and the whole bottom fairing was completely black, as was my wheel…… it had also bent my front right hand brake disc which, because it was wobbling, was pushing the brake pads back into the caliper as the wheel was rotating…… that was why the brakes weren't working properly…… looking back, I should have pulled in, cos it could have been nasty. Hadn't enjoyed it as much I should have done, even though I had hit every target that I had set myself…… posted a fastest lap of 1' 41.832, had qualified and finished in the top 30…… but after all that effort, knew I could have done better…… a top 15 had been a definite possibility. Juan had Finished 16th…… but never spoke to me much.

As we were on the late night ferry, there was no rush to pack up, so went to watch some of the other races, and witnessed the big crash in the Superbike Race at Cascades that abandoned the rest of the meeting…… said ta-ra to Ian and Simon, never saw Chris and the guys again though… Went to pack up all my stuff and when we got there, Juan and his crew had buggered off already…… Packed up had a shower, then battled through the traffic for the first half hour then headed off up to Heysham via Liverpool to pick up Seany Sean's luggage that he had left in his hotel…… Doh!

Got me noggin down on the Ferry, and slept all the way across, but it got in earlier than expected as it was as smooth as a baby's arse…… makes a change……

Got to Peel, dropped the boys off, and went to work early…… they took the day off…… jammy buggers…… Decided on having a month off, as the Jurby South Road Race has been cancelled, and I couldn't get an entry at the North West 200…… and I'm absolutely skinto…… this had been an expensive one…… it will also give my injuries time to heal, although may have to have an op on me little finger, will find out for sure this Friday at the fracture clinic…… Next up for me is the Post TT Steam Packet Races on the Southern 100 course at Billown, followed by the Dundrod 150 in Northern Ireland on the Ulster GP course……… cool…… a couple of Road Races…… this is why I had started racing in the first place…

So, tune in for another very exciting, double-qualifying, bar flapping, 4 ½ sets of tyres episode of……………………… Tommy Clucas Racing