This weekend it’s rounds 3 and 4 of the Preston and District series at Three Sisters, Ashton near Wigan.
It’s a 2-day meeting, round 3 on Saturday and round 4 on Sunday.
This will be the first time I’ve raced since breaking a tendon when I crashed at Aintree a few weeks ago. My thumb’s still got a couple more weeks splinted up, but it should be fine. Still got a few jobs to do on the bike bit it should be ready in time (in true ‘Team Never Prepared’ style).
I’m entered into three classes - Classic 250, Open 250 and Single Cylinder. I think I got 3rd places in all three classes in round 1 (maybe 4th in Single Cylinder) but missed round 2 due to injury.
For each class there are 2 races per day (qualifying and final) so that’s a practice and six races on Saturday and the same again on Sunday (assuming both the bike and myself are still in one piece!). A busy weekend.
Hope to see a few of you there. It’s always a good atmosphere with plenty of good racing (20+ races per day).
I’ve not settled down to do a proper write up on last weekend (and I’m probably not going to get time now) so the quick summary is:
Saturday – Preston and District Round 3, Three Sisters.
Found a broken spoke in rear wheel prior to scrutineering so switched to spare wheel.
Track was wet in the morning – handling very poor, old back tyre on spare wheel has gone hard with no grip.
Had some moments in 250 qualifying (both feet off the pegs at aone point).
Crashed in Single Cylinder qualifying (a bit of a high side) so didn’t get out in Classics qualifying.
Repaired the bike (more or less), got good tyre swapped over onto spare wheel for the afternoon – handling OK again.
Decided to miss out the Single Cylinder class and just concentrate on Classics and Open 250 classes.
250 final went OK.
In the Classics final I started from the back (due to missing qualifying race), good start, up to 5th overall, had a really good race with the Suzuki 2-stroke twin who’s leading the Classic 250 championship – couldn’t get past him but had a good scrap.
Sunday – Preston and District Round 4, Three Sisters.
Classics and 250 qualifying both went OK as did the finals.
I stayed sensible and finished with good points rather than trying too hard and crashing.
Not as exciting as Saturday’s Classics final (or as quick) but necessary to secure good poitions in the championships.
Picked up a couple of trophies over the weekend and one more signature towards upgrading my Clubman license to a National license.
With one more round to go with the Preston club I think I’m in 2nd place in the 250 Classics (the Suzuki has secured 1st) and 3rd (or possibly 4th) in the Open (modern) 250 class.
Have got a bit of work to do on the bike before Anglesey this coming weekend. Rearset footpegs are suffering on both sides. New front brake lever required. My ‘good’ wheel is having the briken spoke replaced and the rest checked. Fairing damage to repair as well as fairing brackets. I’ll get a new screen at Anglesey (I ran without one after Saturday’s crash) and hopefully I’ll get to drill, cut and fit it while I’m there.