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Sunday, 9th July 2000 - Cadwell Park Arrived at Cadwell (via stop in Louth) at 9.30p.m. Parked up the van and walked the course with Ann. It's 2.170 miles long, full of hills, bends and is very tight, bit like a roller coaster. The armco is a bit close to the track too... ...don't fancy it much at all, the woodlands section in particular. Got up for scrutineering at around 8a.m., signed on and went out for practice, it started to piss down (again!), had trouble with my visor steaming up, had put some Bob Heath visor spray on the inside to help with this, but I obviously hadn't done it properly as my vision was distorted - not too handy when you don't know where you're going... ...but fared OK, only wish I could have done more than the allotted 4 laps. It's difficult to expect to get a result against riders who have been there before when you've only had 4 laps in the rain! Anyway, was looking forward to it more than I had expected. This was my first event without my orange jacket. So I had to get a top half finish or it would have been a wasted journey, priority is to get one signature per event. There was chaos on the grid in Race 1 (my first one also), the rows on the grid weren't marked, as they are at every other circuit I've been to, so riders were all over the place and on the wrong rows... It got sorted eventually. It had also started to dry up and there was a dry line appearing. I was on the 6th row and Juan was on the 7th. Remembering what Juan had said to me, "Don't wait for the green light to come on, go when the red light goes off", this I duly did (as did some others, particularly Juan), only the green light didn't come on at all. The local boys had all been allocated the first three rows and they hadn't moved and a big crash ensued, with about three bikes going down! I was penalised for jumping the start, and was sent to the back of the grid. Totally pissed off, and dead last, the lights turned green. I got blocked more times than I care to remember, but started to settle down and enjoy myself... it's much more enjoyable when you are doing the passing! I started to learn the course a bit, although my lines could have been better, went on the grass at the bottom of the mountain section, anyway I finished 11th... HOORAY - a top half finish! I would have settled for that before the event, but I knew that, if I hadn't lost so much time in the first couple of laps, I could have been in the top ten. I was well revved up for the second race... signature obtained... YIPPEE! The second race was completely dry, but overcast. The rain was on its way, I just hoped that it would hold off. I was on the sixth row again and Juan was on the seventh. Lights went green and I got a good start, had to roll off to avoid somebody into Coppice, Juan barged past and made his way to the top of the field, I tried to stay with him, but nearly had my front wiped out by someone and could see the leaders pulling away. Got out-braked into Park Corner by a 250 (it's amazing how late you can brake on one of those!) but passed him on straight back going around Chris Curve. Settled down and was really enjoying it, had a 10 second cushion on the rider behind, so I rolled off a little o the last couple of laps, no point in falling off, and finished 6th (4th in class) and Juan finished 4th. Beat loads of blokes that had kicked my arse at Mallory a couple of weeks earlier. So I was well happy, after only 15 laps in total (and I had walked one of those!). Just missed out on the prize money: 1st = £50; 2nd = £40; 3rd = £30; 4th = nowt. Fingers crossed for next time.... Packed my van up soon after, just in time for torrential rain, glad my day was over. Juan did really well in the wet 600 race - he won it.... Way-hay, his first win - stuffed it up all the local boys, I think they're starting to take notice of him, he said he got a few nods when he looked around in the holding area. Anyway, next up are Aintree and Cadwell again next weekend... So tune in next time for another exciting episode of Tommy Clucas Racing. Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire. Circuit length: 2.170
miles (Full), 1.476 miles (Club).
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Copyright © 2000, 2001 Tommy Clucas Racing.
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