Loton Park is the second longest hill track we race. It’s a good mix of slow technical corners and butt-clenching “straights”, like Cedar Straight which is anything but! As a bonus, the track is set in a lovely wooded area and an ex-Military War Camp that was used to serve many of the local aerodromes.
I was kindly chauffeured to this meeting by my friend Stu in his rather large centrally heated motorhome, something that was to become very welcome!
We arrived just before dark on Friday, after a 4.5 hour drive and a McDonalds pitstop just off the M5 passing Shrewsbury. Having put the kettle on in the cold, but dry, paddock, I wandered off to walk the track. There were a large number of Tarmac repairs made over the winter, and a couple of corners had been totally resurfaced. That was a welcome sight as some areas were getting tired from countless slick-tyred cars over the years. All the kerbs had been repainted, and the local deer establishment had great fun leaving white hoof prints everywhere up the track!
Many of these repairs consisted of foot wide bands around the inside and outside of many corners with a worrying 3” line of tar overbanding all the way around the corners. Unfortunately they leave the flexible bollards in for the bikes which prevent us from hugging the curbs and instead puts us right on the line of this overbanding…
Saturday morning arrived to an overcast and rather windy day, I tucked into my diet porridge in a pot while Stu and his wife ate a lovely fry up in front of me. Got the usual pre-race ablutions/scrutineering/signing on out of the way and headed down for first practice. Saturday is the non championship day, so not the time for heroics !
After waiting for the newbie’s to stop throwing themselves on the floor and giving the marshals a quick lesson in semaphore flag waving I rolled up to the line for my go. Gave the rear inter a quick burnout on the sides to get a touch of heat into it. It was a damp track so a fairly ginger run, just to check the gearing and try a different gear here and there. I had a couple of little slides but nothing serious.
Second practice I threw the rear wet in to see if it gripped a bit better on the cold track, it did and knocked 3 seconds off my time and put me into 3rd place 5/10ths behind the leader.
Then it pissed down and all hell broke loose for the timed runs. Remember the new overbanding mentioned earlier, well it was lethal in the wet and quickly became a track suited to the supermoto’s with their leg out style. I was loosing the rear everywhere and on the last corner the front tucked, by some miracle I wrestled the Renthals and it came back. Back in the holding bay everybody had similar stories. The 2nd and final timed run was much the same with everybody putting their sensible heads on and going slower ! Somehow I managed to only drop one place to 4th overall and 3rd in the over 500cc class, first non supermoto bike and first Trophy of 2013 for my efforts.
We retired into the comfort of Stu’s motorhome and tucked into homemade chilli and rice. Early to bed and spent about 2 hours listening to the antics of the revellers outside before I finally nodded off.
Race Day:
Sunday was race day and the championship round. The rain continued from Saturday, but now with added gale force winds. Anything not on wheels was cartwheeling down the paddock and a few bikes were blown over. Plus a few more of the quick guys had turned up overnight, so it was going to be a tough day!
1st practice was wet again, and after Saturday’s antics I decided just to get it safely out of the way – and then nearly didn’t! The final lef-hander at the end of the 4th gear straight is normally taken in 2nd, but after some slipping on the shiny new Tarmac, I only managed to drop back one gear before I tipped in. Although the bike now has the grunt to pull a plough, when I started to feed in the power just past the apex it instantly came right round and fired me into the air. Thankfully it was at low rpm and easy to save – one of the benefits of a V-Twin – even if it was right in front of the other riders in the holding bay. I could hear the word ‘cock!’ well before I rolled up after finishing.
2nd practice was wet again and with an even stronger headwind up the straight. That raised my hopes as I’ve got enough power to beat the wiz bangs, and I took on the full-committed 3rd gear downhill left-hander. So far I’d managed to miss the overbanding around the apex, but with my new brush guards tapping the marker posts, the front wheel touched it, and again the front started to fold.
It was going to be a big one, but again it came back. I’d just started thanking everything when I saw the rapidly approaching curb on the outside and the second stage of sphincter contractions started. Still with too much speed and lean angle I was on the curb trying to balance everything, as I didn’t dare steer or brake. Having ended up on the grass at the end of the curb I was at least upright, and able to climb back on the Tarmac, just in time as the track narrows where it crosses a bridge!
After much effing and jeffing about the state of the track to anybody that would listen I tucked into more of last nights reheated chilli/rice to calm my nerves.
1st timed run came and although the rain had stopped and parts of the track were starting to dry, I decided to leave the rear wet on. This almost went to plan until the 3rd gear blind crest followed by a slight left before the finish. As the front went light the strong wind caught the bike and pushed me off the inside of the track onto the grass. With The tarmac coming back to me I just kept it pinned and crossed the line in one piece.
I was sitting 5th or 6th in the standings by this stage and desperate to get a clean run. With the track continuing to dry I gambled and threw on the rear inter. By the time the HGV’s were due to run, the track was pretty dry and I could see the times of the quick supermoto boys in front getting lower, so I knew it was getting grippy. Shit or bust, I needed to get a decent time to make the Top10 run offs and vital championship points. I warmed the rear tyre to an inch of it’s life for the final timed run. The bike hooked up perfectly off the line and although there was a few damp patches under the trees it felt quick and no moments anywhere, at last a good run which qualified me 4th and took the class win.
I dashed back to the van for a quick splash and dash of fuel and headed down to the holding area for the top 10. The weather was threatening to rain and we were keen to get underway as the marshals were dragging a car out of the undergrowth somewhere.
Qualifying 4th meant I was 4th from last to go. A few deep breaths on the line to expel the nerves and the lights went green to give the OK. A good launch and much more aggressive this time. I hit the downhill left hard using all the track as I knew the overbanding was dry this time and it stuck. Through the Triangle complex in front of the spectators and it was feeling very planted. Carefully feeding the power in round the long left 3rd gear curve leading onto the straight I started to pick the bike up onto the centre of the tyre when it suddenly let go and came around to what felt like right angle to the track. I was fired up into the air clinging to the bars for dear life as the bike flicked one way then another before I landed perfectly back on the seat. Without time to think just got straight back on the power so I didn’t loose anymore drive up the straight. Convinced I’d blown any chance of a good result I was amazed to hear I’d got 3rd place and my best time of the weekend !
So 8 championship points in the bag and another trophy !
I’ve never had so many near crashes in one weekend as was amazed to be going home in one piece.
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