FRIDAY PRACTICE DAY.

We had not visited Oulton Park since 2004, so we booked in for the Friday trackday. The engine and chassis set up has altered substantially since our last trip to Oulton, so the test day would be needed to get the bike dialled in for the weekend.

As usual (it seems), the Friday test was not very productive, as the weather was again very changeable and windy, causing the track to go from wet to damp to dry in about 1/2 an hour. Andy's sessions seemed to be timed so that he caught the wet but drying phase of the track every time. So, in all the day was a bit of a waste, with no usefull gearing or suspension settings being learnt.

SATURDAY - NEW ERA SUPERCLUB - ROUND 2.

Qualifying.

There were 65 riders out on the circuit for qualifying.

The 250GP bikes were out on track with both the 125gp's and also the "Forgotten Era 250gp" class. The session was wet, which is normally not too much of a problem, except this time, the Forgotten Era 250's all seemed to be out on road tyres, therefore their corner speeds were very slow. This made overtaking a very "interesting" experience. Approaching corners probably 20mph faster makes timing an overtake very important.

A crash would have been all too easy, so Andy was forced to take it a little easier than he wanted to and ended up qualifying 11th from 30 on the grid. Not exactly great, but all considered 3rd row of the grid wasn't too bad.

Race 1.

The rain had been coming down all night, with no signs of it stopping in the near future (or the next few weeks). The wet tyres were fitted, and suspension altered to what had been used at the previous meeting at Snetterton.

Andy made a good start, but then exiting the first corner he got involved in someone else's crash. Andy did some grass tracking and eventually found his way back onto the tarmac. Andy finished the first lap almost last.

The rest of the short 6 lap race was spent gradually working his way through the field to come home in 14th position from 29 starters.

Race 2.

In the hour before the race, the rain had stopped and the track was almost dry. It was looking good until about 10 minutes before the start of our second race. Again the heavens opened. Another wet race was about to start.

This time Andy didn't get such a good start, but at least he wasn't forced off the track this time on lap 1. Andy ended lap one in 10th position. Andy was involved in a bit of a group battle for 10th, and after another hectic race managed to come home in 10th, even managing to lap a couple of riders on the way.

Conclusions.

Another pretty disappointing meeting for Team Triple MMM Racing.

We have decided to do remove the WP rear shock absorber that was fitted near the end of last season. Andy is still not convinced that it suits him and the bike too well, so we are reverting back to the standard Honda "Showa" unit which had been working very well for the previous few seasons. If this proves to be more to Andy's liking, then the WP unit will be sent off for a service and possible revalve.

We have now booked in for the Castle Combe "Grand National" meeting on the 10th of June. This meeting is a very prestigious meeting, where quite a few of the top British Superbike teams come race in a non championship event. There will be a very large crowd watching.