thundersprint, darley moor

ey up, sorry for lack of posts during the past couple of week's, i've been a tad 'under the weather' and talking of weather, well, what can you say about the rain at the thundersprint? cat's and dog's? check, stair-rod's? check, torrential? check, all present and correct, add in a very cold, stiff wind into the mix and you get some idea of the conditions. but, we're british so a little damp and wind wasn't going to spoil the fun now was it? stiff upper lip and all that old malarkey chaps! we actually managed to get a couple of good practice sessions in on saturday, ok, the track was damp in places, but not too bad really, then it started to rain and i mean rain, after the third practice session the marshalls called a halt to proceedings and we stuck the bike back in the van and headed home for a decent nights sleep. sunday morning and it was still raining.only heavier than before, tea quaffed and first practice called, push the bike through the muddy, puddle strewn paddock into the holding area and warm the beemer up, ten minutes later as the rain gets even heavier and the light fades, the marshall draws his hand across his throat to signal us to kill our engines as the track is waterlogged and just to throw some comedy into the proceedings someone has dumped oil right on the racing line around the hairpin! old friends turn up, barse, gordy, cliff, lee, gaz and mucker marsh as well as a few new ones, andy, from the benchdonkees blog and ian webb, who is parked next to us and is racing a lovely little 500cc honda single, we all crowd into the back of the van to shelter from the elephants,[ i'm sorry, i meant to say elements, but with the size of the raindrops it sounds like elephants to me!] i'm reminded of that scene in 'father ted' where their doing the riverdance in the caravan, i'll try and remeber to post it up so you get the idea, the van is slowly sinking into the mud in the paddock. practice is cancelled, so, they decide to let everyone onto the track at the same time in a cavalcade to try and dry out the track, what a hoot! we are governed by a pace car, just like in b.s.b when the safety car comes out following an incident, there's supposed to be no overtaking but that soon goes out of the window and we get a solid twelve laps in. back to the paddock and refuel, quick check over to make sure nothings come loose and the p.a. calls our group, it's raining, big-time. i go as fast as i can, i really don't mind riding in the wet, i suppose it was all the practice i used to get when i rode a bike backwards and forwards to work everyday, back into the paddock, wet leathers off and wet shorts and hoody on, i nip off for a pee whilst dangerous makes a brew and run into john mcguiness, what a great bloke, we slowly wrap it up and stick the bike in the van and sort out the gear, there are vans and caravans marooned in the mud and awaiting a tow from a tractor or 4 x 4, me and dangerous have a walk around the paddock and have a pike at the remaining bikes, [more photo's to follow] we eventually arrive at race control and i enquire about my time, bloody hell! i've only got third fastest in the modern classic's unlimited class! well, as ian dury once said, 'knock me down with a feather' i'm presented with a nice trophy by formula one tt winner nick jefferies, you could say i'm chuffed to say the least! all in all, a great weekend despite the weather, thanks to the organiser frank melling and his team who kept the meeting running, the marshalls for looking after everyone and all the racers for the crack, oh yeah, got a copy of the results e-mailed to me this morning and i was actually lapping quicker than mcpint! [ok, so he has concussion and a hand held together with titanium and he's trying to get fit for the tt], but, i can still dream can't i..............