Castle Combe round has now been and gone, and what a round it was, one way and another.
It was probably the busiest NG round of the year, which I guess isn't really that surprising considering that it's effectively NG's home round with some extra spice and prize money for the "King of Combe," which always attracts a few BSB riders. Having those extra spectators there really does make a difference from my perspective, too.
They also have a " Parade" class at the Combe meeting, which for anyone who doesn't know, it is a non-competitive track time class open to non-ACU licence holders as well as ACU that you "enter" a couple of months before the meeting, and basically get three 15 minute sessions over the Sat/Sunday to blat atound the track on whatever bie you choose.
There were a few interesting bikes out there this year, including this one- Sete Gibernau's 2006 season Ducati Desmosedici -quite possibly the LOUDEST bike I have ever heard
Some cool 60s and 70s 2-stroke race bikes that I never got pics of, and Trevor Nation's 1990 Norton rotary, and the latest (current) derivative of it.
James Hillier was out on Trevor Nation's old bike in the parade sessions, wringing its neck and wheelying it all the way from Camp to Avon Rise, dead cool
Trevor himself was also there, but nothing to do with Norton/Crighton, he was racing along with the rest of us NG lot on a GSXR1000
There were a few other current and ex-BSB / GP racers milling about over the weekend, too, including Scott Redding and Max Cook, and one or two of the current SuperSport and SuperStock racers in the Open/King of Combe races too.
Anyway, on to my racing.
Due to Combe's restrictions on the number of bikes they can have on track on non-race permit days, the usual friday test day was split into two, giving you a total of 3 x 15 minute sessions, which isn't a lot, but is more than the BSB F900 and Sportbike boys get, and TBH, although after last year's Combe round I felt I definitely needed a lot more time there to really get comfortable and properly on the pace, this year I felt more comfortable there from the off, and by the end of Friday, I felt that I had sussed a couple of key areas, and was looking forward to race day.
And although I didn't really need to (as they've only done half a season
), I treated the bike to a new pair of SportSmarts and also whacked some new (Goldfren S33 compound) front pads in too- although I was feeling much better about the circuit than I did last year, I was conscious of the fact that pretty much all of my competitors have done a lot more laps around there than I have, and I need some wins here to be in with a chance of the Gerry Gardner Trophy.
We (the Naked Streetbike class), were again sharing the grid, and therefore qualifying, with the Golden Era Superbikes (ZX7Rs, YZF750s, 750SRADs, early Blades and Millies etc) , and were also once again the first race on the programme.
This meant we were first out for our allocated practice session at 08:40 on Saturday, and then qualifying just after 10:00. It was a bit cold and overcast first thing, but it was dry, and practice went well; the bike was feeling lovely and crisp in the slightly cold temps.
Qualifying came around very quickly and out I went, but |I only managed 3 or 4 laps and the bike was dying like it was running out of fuel, but there was plenty in there. I made it back to the pits, and it seemed to be running normally, so I took the cap out of the tank and blew through the vents, and when I went to inspect the in-line filter between the tap and the carbs, I discovered the problem- the piece of fuel pipe between the tap and filter was deforming when it got hot.
This pic doesn't really show it, but when in place above a hot engine, the slight bend was just collapsing. I replaced it with some much more substantial thick-walled pipe, did my usual nut and bolt, oil & fuel, and tyre pressure re-checks, and waited for my first race to come around.
My problems in qualifying had meant that I was 3 seconds off pole and a fair way further back on the grid than I had hoped to be in 20th, but looking on the bright side, that was still 8th Bandit and 1st Veteran, albeit only just- by 0.04 secs
The lights went out in Race1, I got away well but missed a gear from 3rd to 4th which made it seem like all the bikes around me had a turbo button and I arrived at Quarry in about 25th place, which turned out to be not a bad thing, as it was carnage- Scott, one of the younger Bandit-eers had ended up arriving there far too fast, took to the grass and lost it with his bike flying across the kerbs, snashing the crankcase and ripping the (compulsary) GB Racing cover and ignigition pickup cover clean off along, doing a with a load of other damage and disappointingly deposing a load of oil across the track, so it was back to the gazebo whle they cleared that up
At the restart, I got a decent start, but unfortunately spent just about the whole race fighting a ZX7R- the quick guys on the Goldens really aren't an issue as they just disappear into the distance, but there are a good few of them who aren't that fast, and at a fast track like Combe where on a Bandit you are flat out in 6th for a good 5-10 secs or more it can be so frustrating, and in fact this was without doubt my most frustrating race to date. They absolutely smoke Bandits on the straights, but I honestly nearly hit this particular one on more than one occasion. And so it went for the whole race- I was lapping quicker than him, but due to the layout of the track, I couldn't make a pass stick. It meant that my 2024 nemesis was putting rude moves on me and biting at my heels the whole race, but in the end it didn't matter as I still crossed the line in front of him, albeit less than half a second, but that was 18th overall, 5th Bandit only 1 sec slower laptimes than the 2nd to 4th Bandits and most importantly 1st Vet so 25 points, so job done, yay!
My second of the three races was far more enjoyable- despite getting a shit start, I made up a fair bit at Quarry, the hard braking first corner, overtaking 3 or 4, one of which was the road-block ZX7 from race 1, and then set about hunting down the two Bandit Vets that were in front of me. Within three or so laps, I'd got by them both, and really starting to actually love the circuit- what a change from last season.
I crossed the line 14th on the road, 6th Bandit and 1st Vet, and I was lapping in the 1:21s (my best race laps last year were low 1:23s), so dead happy with that
And that result, coupled with my nearest Gerry Gardner Trophy rival having an off and DNF in his second race meant that I couldn't now be caught- well, by my calcs at least....
My third and final race came around, and although I thought that I got a decent start, Lee Davies (one of my main Vet rivals and the one on No 65 in the pic below) came absolutely flying past me (this isn't the pic of him doing it BTW, just the only Combe pic I have of him and me in the same shot
)
He was 4 places behind me on the grid, so he really had got a flyer (I and he found out at the end of the race that he also got a 10-second penalty for a jump start
), and he really was on a mission. He's previously beaten me at Pembrey once, and we battled hard in the Anglesey races, but he's only got the better of me once to date, and for pretty much that whole last race it was nip and tuck, and we must have changed places ten times or more, absolutely cracking fun!
This race wasn't without incident, one rider went down right in front of me while I was battling with Keiran Barker, Keiran ran over the fallen rider's leg which pitched him over the bars, and I nearly caught him too. Seeing the violence of it, I was convinced there would be a red flag and throttled off, for a couple to steam past me, but no red shown so I was back on it and after Lee.
The last lap he put a hard (but fair IMO- that's what racing is about) move on me into the esses, and although it didn't matter to me points-wise in any of my championships, I was determined that he wasn't going to have this one so I hung back very slighlty down the back straight, got a run on him through Bobbies- it was obvious from the way he was riding that he was expecting a move from me and he kept right going into the (horrible, bikes only with one tiny line only) final rectacell chicane.
I kept it pinned until he stood on the brakes, and shot past him up the left-hand side, somehow making it through without crashing and crossing the line in front of him first Vet, and 3rd Bandit
It was a brilliant last race, and even though I'd got the better of him with what was arguably a semi-rude move, which I thought he might be pissed at that, he was buzzing still, and we had a great cool-down lap with him bouncing his poor old ( very fast) Bandit off the rev-limiter at every crowd and marshall post
All in all, a great weekend, and that's pretty much it for my season
I was seriously considering doing the annual Lydden " Sidecar Burn-up" meeting next weekend, as a number of the DesmoDue boys are doing it, I have good memories of Lydden, ang I think it would be fun on a Bandit.
But other life things do ( sometimes
) take prescidence over racing, so I can't, so thats it in terms of on-track stuff for me this year, but I will do a final season roll-up stats report of my year, and what my thoughts/plans for next year are for anyone interested after the awards dinner/piss-up do at Stanbrook Abbey on 15th Nov, at which I should hopefully find out whether I definitely won the Gerry Gardner!
can clinch it this weekend, there are eight others who could also win it , so I need to finish every race in a half decent position to be sure- I've knocked up a little xls to help me easily work out where we all are as the weekend progresses 
