Monday 11 May 2009

THREE SISTERS MAY 2009

Well, where do I start. We had a very eventful weekend, one of the most enjoyable for a long while. Phil had spent many hours over the previous two weeks rebuilding the lc bantam and finished just in time. We both went up in my van for this meeting, with the bantam and my two rudges in the back. Sat. morning started dry and with all four bikes through scrutineering ( Gav had come with the ducati ) we were hot to trot. I wanted to go out for practice on the ducati, as Gav had done a lot of work on it and it had its proper barrel and piston back on with new rings, but we couldn't fire it up so I went out on a rudge and Phil took the bantam out. Three sisters is a very twisty circuit, basically a fast go cart track, and makes for some very tricky racing. I was out in race one on a rudge in the 250 championship and managed a 7th but Phil did a lot better in his first bantam race with a good third place. Phil was also out as a passanger on a big wheel outfit which ended up causing quite a stir throughout the weekend! The bike wasn't running well all weekend and never finished a race but did provide some exciting viewing during it's time on the grass and particularly in it's just failed attempt to mow down a nest of marshals.
I managed a couple of third places on my other rudge in the pre 34 race and my first time out on the ducati saw me in forth. The afternoon saw the rain come in and the track get slippy. Quite a few bikes went down, and I came a cropper on the rudge at luna, but come away undamaged as did the bike. Phil took another third on the bantam. My second race on the ducati didn't go so well as the bike was suffering from sudden and major clutch slip, so I backed off and nursed it home for a ninth place.
Sun. started out damp but dried throughout the day. I got another 7th in the 250 race but then retired both rudges due to major fuel leaks. Phil got two fifth places on the bantam which ran well all weekend. Gav had fitted another clutch in the duke and I got another forth place in a very tight race which had a few close calls. My last ducati race saw me in sixth place.
The weekend seemed to fly by with so much going on that I forgot to get the camera out so no photos this time. We are both looking forward to the next meeting at Mallory in a few weeks.