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Saturday, 15th July 2000 - Aintree Race 1 - 15th place Left the island on Friday night this time, as the track is only 10 miles from the boat. Juan's girlfriend, Dawn, came with me as we were meeting Juan, who had arrived there early evening. I had nobody riding shotgun for me this time, for one reason or another, so it was "Billy No-Mates" this trip. Got to the track about 12.45 a.m. and parked next to Juan's van. Got my head down in the back of the van. Got up around 8 a.m., it was scorching..... makes a nice change. Scrutineering was about 10 yards away, so flew through that and then signed on. Went out for the first practice session (of two) and did about five laps trying to learn the course as this was my first time around. Took Country Corner faster than I should have done a couple of times as this is a 90 degree left hander and overshooting is easily done. There's also a bump going around the fast right-hander that is Beechers which sends you into a bit of a wobble, and then there's the back straight that goes into Club Corner which tightens up faster that you'd expect, this is quite a dodgy corner. Anyway, first practice fared OK. Went straight out for the next practice session, and tried to go quicker this time, passed Juan going down the back straight and was well cranked over going into Club Corner. Just at the point where the corner tightens up, there was a really slow rider in the only racing line, so instead of hitting his back wheel, I had to go around him. Unfortunately, I ran out of track and headed for the grass, before I could straighten up the front end tucked under and I was off.... didn't have far to fall as I was well over anyway. Banged my right shoulder as I skidded over the grass. Held on to the bike as I didn't want it to flip. Got up and checked the bike over. Couldn't believe it hadn't broken anything until I saw my brake lever missing. Had a spare one in the van so I started her up and went back to the pits. Noticed when I got there that not only had the lever gone, it had broken the front brake master cylinder.... bloody typical, that almost never happens, it's just the lever that goes. So my day was over unless I found a replacement. Found my brake lever intact in the grass, with half the brake master cylinder still attached to it. Asked around the paddock and was pointed in the direction of Stu Jones, and sure enough he had a spare, he lent it to me, top man! Got back to my bike and Juan had already started to strip it, so we banged the new one on, then bled the brakes. Dawn cleaned all the grass off and we were set for the first race. Shoulder starting to hurt. First race pulled 25th on the grid, no warm up lap. Lights went green and we were off, same as usual happened, made up a few places and got blocked. Got passed by a few and passed a few back, on the 3rd lap, noticed a load of riders on the grass going into Beechers, one of them being Juan, who just happened to be the only one still upright. Anyway he rejoined to finish 13th and I finished 15th. Shoulder still sore, could hardly get my leathers off. The second race I pulled 6th on the grid, got a crap start, the front wheel wouldn't come down, so was quite happy when the race was re-started. On the re-start, got a better start, but had a bit of a fright at the first corner.... the bike went completely sideways, I thought I was off, the front and back locked up, the front because the forks are way too soft and the back cos I stamped on the back brake. Hitting the bump around Beechers, wrenched on my shoulder a bit but carried on regardless. Lost a few places cos I was struggling to hold on to the bike and finished 12th..... not bad out of 40. So signature obtained (12 so far). Can feel I'm getting quicker, just need the bike to perform better. Also need the brakes to be more efficient. Under heavy braking, the forks seem to be bottoming out and all the braking force is being transferred to the front tyre and it feels like it's skidding. Can't really tip into a corner when the front is doing that so I'm having to brake earlier to avoid this, but sometimes you can lose a few places, so this is an area I'm going to have to address soon..... or I'll be going backwards. The 3rd race I was 16th on the grid, just kept my head down and was behind the same bloke for the entire race. Could have got past him once or twice, but didn't want to risk falling off, so I settled in behind and finished 17th. Didn't do the last race as, by this time, my shoulder was too sore. I knew I had injured my collarbone but didn't know to what extent. I also knew that I wouldn't be able to go to Cadwell, as I was stiffening up more and more. The clever thing to do was to call it a day. So I transferred my boat ticket from Monday morning to Saturday night. Left Juan and Dawn to go to Cadwell and I drove my van back to the boat. It was a hell of a struggle cos I could hardly use my right arm. Anyway, made it and was back home just after 9 p.m. Just got in the house when Dawn sent me a message on my mobile saying they had just arrived at Cadwell. Oh well, one signature instead of two, bit disappointed to say the least, but it could have been worse. Went to the hospital for a check up, and it was confirmed by X-ray that my right collarbone was broken..... disaster, also got a bruise on the inside of each knee.... don't remember getting them. Got the forks taken out of my bike and sent them to Maxton Engineering, they are going to get re-sprung, re-valved etc., going to cost around 300 quid. This should help the handling no end. Also got the brake master cylinder taken off and sent that back to Stu Jones. He was good enough to lend it to me, the least I could do is send it back to him ASAP. I ordered a new one. So next up are Jurby Airfield on 5/6th August, hope I'll be fit in time, there's money in this one, and hope my forks are back. Will be repairing the crack in the fairing and giving the bike an oil and filter change and a good going over. I'll also be needing new tyres again soon. All contributions welcome........... So tune in next time for another very exciting episode of............... Tommy Clucas Racing Aintree Circuit, Near Liverpool. Circuit length: unknown
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Copyright © 2000, 2001 Tommy Clucas Racing.
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