I hardly know where to start. What a full weekend we had, with real highs and lows. We managed to arrive in good time on Friday night and so we scrutineered the two bikes and the outfit and spent a very pleasant evening in the bar with Werner and all the rest of the gang. Saturday was dry and mostly bright and me and Phil went out for the first solo practice with no problems. I was looking forward to taking the outfit out in practice as I had just completed a rebore and fitted new pistons and rings, so I was keen to see the results of all my hard labour. I had also replaced a valve spring which I just happened to notice had lost it's spring! During practice however, the outfit started smoking again and back in the pits with the plugs removed it was clear that the chamber was once again oiling up. I drained the crank to find a litre of oil in there! We then tested the oil pump and discovered that the return side was not working, hence the oil in the crank. We stripped the oil pump and cleaned a speck of aluminium from the return ball ( a left over from the blown engine of 2009 ) and all was once again fine.
Meanwhile Phil had taken his air cooled Bantam Josie out in the first race. It still had a misfire even though we thought we had fixed it, but it cleared in the end and he managed a good forth place. Back in the pits he finally found the fault. The coil was rubbing on the frame and had rubbed off the insulation and caused an intermittent short. I was next out on the Rudge which was running well although the carb is still flooding. Then it was out on the outfit. With the oil problem fixed it soon cleared itself and was at last going really well. Suddenly we were black flagged! I came in but I was not happy, I had worked so hard to get out there. It turned out that the back wheel had come loose and was falling off so it was a good job I was called in!
Phil went out in the second Bantam race and put on a real show. The little Bantam was flying and Phil finished second and also put up the fastest lap of the race! My second Rudge race went off without a hitch although I am getting a bit fed up with racing in no mans land in the pre 34 class.
We were still working on the rear wheel of the outfit so didn't go out for the second race but got it all ready for the morning. Werner was helping us in the paddock all day and all three of us had a great time.
Sunday was also dry and bright, so much for the weather forecast! We both did our first solo race of the day but then Phil was approached by Matt and asked to passenger on his big
wheeler for the day. The big wheeler races fell nicely in between our races so Phil jumped at the chance. Me and Werner watched the race which started well for Matt and Phil who were up in third and pushing for second. This is where it all went horribly wrong for Phil. Not knowing the outfit he went out for a hard left and missed his left handhold and got his hand caught in the sidecar wheel. Matt was unaware of the problem and still gunning it and Phil had to kick him hard until he went off the track and stopped. Matt looked down and saw Phil was still out for a left hander and was going to pull away again when Phil rolled off the platform and the problem became clear. It took about 10 mins to extract Phil's hand from the bike and the good news was he still had a hand although it was pretty messed up. We went off to A and E in Wigan where an xray showed multiple brakes, and the flesh damage was self evident. We managed to persuade the hospital to let me take Phil back down to Plymouth hospital and he had an op last night. I saw him today and he now has a hand with 21 pins and 5 metal plates in!
wheeler for the day. The big wheeler races fell nicely in between our races so Phil jumped at the chance. Me and Werner watched the race which started well for Matt and Phil who were up in third and pushing for second. This is where it all went horribly wrong for Phil. Not knowing the outfit he went out for a hard left and missed his left handhold and got his hand caught in the sidecar wheel. Matt was unaware of the problem and still gunning it and Phil had to kick him hard until he went off the track and stopped. Matt looked down and saw Phil was still out for a left hander and was going to pull away again when Phil rolled off the platform and the problem became clear. It took about 10 mins to extract Phil's hand from the bike and the good news was he still had a hand although it was pretty messed up. We went off to A and E in Wigan where an xray showed multiple brakes, and the flesh damage was self evident. We managed to persuade the hospital to let me take Phil back down to Plymouth hospital and he had an op last night. I saw him today and he now has a hand with 21 pins and 5 metal plates in!So Three Sisters turned out to be a full on meeting, the good news being we didn't brake any bikes! I will keep the blog updated with Phil's hand news for those who might be interested.
On a lighter note, Chris should be picking up his new Triumph outfit at the weekend, and it looks as if Trevor is going to go in the chair for a bit so that will be very exciting. That's all for today.
