boxer racer project

with practice out of the way, it's a quick check over the bike, add 5 litres of fuel, [just enough for the warm-up and 8 lapper], it's warming up now so i check the tyre pressures and drop them a few pounds, clean my visor and the tannoy calls us to the assembly area, we are race two and i make my way down through the pit area, girl on the gate checks my number and shouts into my helmet,  'grid number 8, white number's' the white number's are for the solo's the red for the sidecar outfit's, we are let through onto the grid as the last rider's from the previous race are making their way off the track, as i sit on the bike all my nerves are gone, the last few hours and i was actually shaking with fear, apprehension and nerves but now, i just sit, gently rolling the throttle and concentrating on watching the flag, there are nine bikes on the grid, there's usually around fifteen but the last meeting was only two weeks ago, crashes and mechanical mayhem have taken their toll on the numbers along with the fact that it's the summer holidays and people just don't have the spare cash to go racing in these austere times, we are flagged off for the warm-up lap and i know i'm in trouble straight away as everyone else dissapears into the distance at a great rate of knot's, back on the grid and we reform for the race, it's a flag start, not light's and the union flag seem's to hang in the air forever before the girl drops it in a second and away we go, i briefly hang onto the back of the pack as far as the first chicane and then there gone, i just concentrate on trying to get my lap times down and learn some racecraft, i keep it as smooth as possible and keep my head buried behind the screen as much as possible, six laps in and i get lapped by the first three riders, no wonder the big, bad 980cc beemer, 'helga' ridden by ron maul, the 1144 laverda jota and a litre moto guzzi leave me for dead, i manage to hold the rest off and almost as soon as the race starts i get the chequered flag, ninth out of nine, but it's a finish so that's cool with me, back to the van and i'm so dry i can barely speak, i get out of my leathers and get changed and i start to work my way around the bike, checking fasteners, measuring the fuel level and topping it up to the five litre mark for the next race while dangerous makes us a brew, i had trouble down shifting on a few laps and the exhaust is marked where the lever has been hitting it, we strip the adjusting rod off the bike to adjust the lever height and i pull the helicoil out of the mounting plate, bollocks, the helicoils are just about the only thing i didn't put in the van, typical, i sort through the fasteners tin and find a 6mm domey, just enough clearence between the lever and plate, nyloc nut to the outside, job done, not pretty but we have a functioning gearchange again, second bear's race goes like a carbon copy of the first, again i'm just trying as hard as i can but i'm struggling with about 50 brake against the big jota's 115 italian stallion's and the other bikes with anywhere between 75-90 bhp, i'm on a hiding to nothing and need a big power injection in the closed season, but, i already knew that and it's all about getting some time on the track and shaking the bike down under race conditions, the last race of the day is the novice race run on a handicap basis with the formula bantam's, seriously quick little two strokes, there's fourteen bikes out in this six lapper and i've drawn grid position 12, warm up lap and the flag drops, i get a good start and i'm into the first chicane in fourth, this is more like it, the bantams are buzzing around me, two lads stuffing me everytime into the chicane and i'm re-passing them on the left hand kink before the back straight, the big laverda comes howling past, he's a novice too, and i can hear the triumph t110 and the manx norton behind me, the triumph gets past down the straight on lap three and although he's in my sights i can't catch him, the manx is quick down the straight's but i have the measure of him at the hairpin and the park bend and pass him on the brakes, [i've got twin discs he's on a twin leading shoe brake drum], all good fun and we have a really good dice, last lap flag comes out and i go for the out brake at the last corner but he makes himself wide and i haven't got the legs on the dragrace to the flag, i get fourth in the novices and seventh in the handicap, so, that's race day over, i get changed, take my transponder back to the race office and we are home, the bike back on the bench and we are drinking cold peroni's by 2000hrs, what i've learned is that i need more horsepower to be competitive in the bears series, that i have a long, long way to go and that i'm already counting down the day's to cadwell park next month......