BEMSEE Silverstone
We travelled to Silverstone on the Thursday afternoon. When we arrived we were amazed to find that the Silverstone circuit were tightly controlling access - they advised that they would not let any BEMSEE riders into the Wing paddock until 7pm, so a series of disorderly queues formed whilst waiting for 7pm to arrive. Once we were allowed access, a "land rush" occurred with each racer rushing to grab their paddock spot for the weekend :-)
In the first race, we got a good start and were making good progress, before a light rain shower occurred during the race which upset our rhythm. We finished the race in 10th position (which was what we were aiming for) but felt that there was still further improvement to come.
Darley Moor Round 2
Once we had arrived at Darley Moor (after avoiding a partial road closure on the M1), we setup and had a decent night sleep. With the Monday morning qualifying sessions being the first chance to test the new engine in our Kawasaki ER6 Supertwin, we did a few steady laps to check all was OK before putting in a qualifying lap. The track was dry but it was very windy. We qualified in 2nd position in both the Formula Darley and Mini Sound of Thunder classes, just 0.1 of a second from pole position.
Whilst waiting in the assembly area for the start of the first Mini Sound of Thunder race, the race before us was red flagged due to an accident. After a short delay, we formed on the circuit and started our race. We got a fantastic start but then the unfortunate Gary Henriksen highsided his Sound of Thunder machine at the first chicane, which brought out the red flag for our race.
We now have a bit of a "summer break" whilst the Isle of Man TT takes place, so will look to rebuild the engine that broke at Silverstone.
Our next race meeting will be Darley Moor Rounds 3 & 4 on Saturday 18th June and Sunday 19th June.