The second round of the Wirral 100 championships took us to our "local" circuit of Oulton Park. Despite the circuit being less than 30 minutes from our front door we are infrequent visitors to the track, which often means that our lack of circuit knowledge leaves us at a disadvantage - so we watched a few onboard videos prior to attending. Speaking of onboard videos, the final instructions forbid cameras being carried at this meeting so we don't have any video coverage from this event...
The weather gods were shining on us for the weekend and we saw clear skies and sunshine across the event. The overnight clear skies meant that we awoke to frost on the van windscreen, but this soon melted off! Our scheduled on-track action saw us in three sets of back-to-back sessions, with the qualifying sessions opening the day and then two sets of races completing the action.
The weather gods were shining on us for the weekend and we saw clear skies and sunshine across the event. The overnight clear skies meant that we awoke to frost on the van windscreen, but this soon melted off! Our scheduled on-track action saw us in three sets of back-to-back sessions, with the qualifying sessions opening the day and then two sets of races completing the action.
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First up was the Supersport qualifying. We took a casual approach and reacquainted ourselves with the circuit layout and got quicker and quicker until the red flag was shown following a crash at Lodge corner by Chris Mort. When the session restarted we found a gap and then pushed for a lap time. On reflection it may have been better to relax and try to let the lap time come to us, but we managed to put in a 1:52.125 which put us 3rd in class and 18th on the overall grid. Our Personal Best lap time on the Supersport machine was a 1:49.763, so we didn't feel too far away from our pace.
We were then directly out into the Twins qualifying session where more laps helped us to relax into the circuit. After 5 laps we had beaten our previous Twins Personal Best lap time of 1:54.003 (set on the Kawasaki ER650) with a 1:51.919 lap time. With our hands beginning to feel numb - due to gripping on too tightly - we ended our session early. We were 7th in class and 8th on the overall grid.
After refuelling the bikes (and rider!) we were onto the races, starting with the 8-lap Supersport Race 1. Despite some riders around us jumping the start we managed to get a good and clean start but were swallowed up on opening lap. We took a cautious approach to the opening lap and the other racers penalised us for that! Once things had settled down then we set about picking off riders one by one and recovered the majority of places back and managed to reduce our lap time to a 1:50.246. We finished 6th in class and 21st overall.
After refuelling the bikes (and rider!) we were onto the races, starting with the 8-lap Supersport Race 1. Despite some riders around us jumping the start we managed to get a good and clean start but were swallowed up on opening lap. We took a cautious approach to the opening lap and the other racers penalised us for that! Once things had settled down then we set about picking off riders one by one and recovered the majority of places back and managed to reduce our lap time to a 1:50.246. We finished 6th in class and 21st overall.
Photo by Rich CJ
It was then immediately time for another 8-lap race with Twins Race 1. A good start saw us gain on our grid position and then through the race we passed Alun Brooks and were passed by the 'ride only' Calum Beach. We found ourselves in open space and managed to set a new Personal Best lap time of 1:49.979 on our way to a 6th place finish (7th on track). When we got back to the paddock we were exhausted - and dreading the pair of 9-lap afternoon races!
After a long break we were ready for action again and headed out for Supersport Race 2. We got an OK start but once again (despite trying to learn from the first race!) we were swallowed up on the opening lap. This time we managed to get through the traffic more quickly and we set a fantastic new Personal Best lap time of 1:48.719 on the Supersport machine. At the end of the race we crossed the line in 15th position on track. This was 4th in our Pre-2011 class but we actually lapped quicker than the riders that finished in 3rd and 2nd positions - showing just how important the opening lap(s) can be!
Photo by Rich CJ
It was now time for the final race of the day, Twins Race 2. We got a good start and were running 5th in class at one point. We managed to set another new Twins Personal Best lap time of 1:49.874 but then began to run low on energy... Ian Mackman was the first to come passed us on his 250GP bike and then a few laps later Mike Bampton came through too. We tried to latch onto Mike but within a few laps he had made a gap on us - and then - the gap to Mike started to reduce and we suddenly got ourselves a little burst of energy!
By the final lap we were in Mike's wheel tracks and with the addition of a few backmarkers in the final half of the final lap there was a potential opportunity to retake the place. Mike and I went either side of a backmarker at the entry to the fast Clay Hill corner, then did the same to another back marker on the exit of Druids Corner. The run down to Lodge corner was neck-and-neck and Mike braked late. We tried to setup an attempt for a run to the line (difficult at the best of times) but in the excitement had missed a gearshift so came out of Lodge in 4th gear. We crossed the line 7th in class (assuming that Ian on his 250GP was classified as a points-finisher) and were exhausted! Having given it our all, we were glad to take those hard-earner points!
By the final lap we were in Mike's wheel tracks and with the addition of a few backmarkers in the final half of the final lap there was a potential opportunity to retake the place. Mike and I went either side of a backmarker at the entry to the fast Clay Hill corner, then did the same to another back marker on the exit of Druids Corner. The run down to Lodge corner was neck-and-neck and Mike braked late. We tried to setup an attempt for a run to the line (difficult at the best of times) but in the excitement had missed a gearshift so came out of Lodge in 4th gear. We crossed the line 7th in class (assuming that Ian on his 250GP was classified as a points-finisher) and were exhausted! Having given it our all, we were glad to take those hard-earner points!
No trophies - but still big smiles all around!
At the end of the second round, the championship points tables look as follows. Our consistency appears to have kept us in the Top 3 of each championship.
Twins Championship Standings
Scott McCrory 45
Louis Dawson 35
David Carson 33
Alfie Davidson 30
Andy Herd 29
Pre-2011 Supersport Championship Standings
Rhys Forrest 42
Tom Harrison 37
David Carson 33
Matthew Perry 31
Sam Grayson 24
Our next outing will be at another venue that we haven't visited for years - Aintree - where there is a test day on Wednesday 1st May, following by the opening round of their championships on Saturday 11th May.
Twins Championship Standings
Scott McCrory 45
Louis Dawson 35
David Carson 33
Alfie Davidson 30
Andy Herd 29
Pre-2011 Supersport Championship Standings
Rhys Forrest 42
Tom Harrison 37
David Carson 33
Matthew Perry 31
Sam Grayson 24
Our next outing will be at another venue that we haven't visited for years - Aintree - where there is a test day on Wednesday 1st May, following by the opening round of their championships on Saturday 11th May.
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