Cartagena Test 2009
February for 5 days in the sun to get to know the Honda RS125 that I'll be racing in the Relentless GP125 British Championship.
Honda RS125
is being provided by Kinpac Racing.
The Story So Far...
Stuff from Superteens, Metrakit and Minimotos.
Niall's Blog
BSB, Thruxton, 29/30/31 May 2009
I didn't realise that Thruxton was an active airport until we arrived for practice on Friday. We were set up at the end of the runway and had cracking views of the light aircraft coming into land. Some of them were so low they were almost touching the roof of the race truck. Fascinating! The forecast was perfect for the weekend so I was looking forward to some good racing.
Stephen couldn't make it this weekend but my Dad enlisted big John O who was made welcome by the Kinpac Crew. First practice was ok but I thought that the gearing wasn't quite right in 5th and 6th. The Honda didn't want to pull from Noble all the way to Club and I was getting passed easily around this stretch which was pretty much flat out. We messed with the gearing for the next couple of sessions but didn't make any progress. We decided to change the 5th and 6th internals for 2nd qualifying but Dad didn't torque the front sprocket up enough and it fell off before I completed the 2nd lap. Everyone was going quicker and my Q1 time didn't even get me to within 10% of pole. Fortunately the grid wasn't full and I was allowed to start the race.
We decided to change the gearing again for the morning warm up but this time Dad over tightend the front sprocket bolt and it sheared off. Doh! We tried to remove the broken bolt with little success. This mean't the gearbox had to come out again to fit a new gearbox shaft. Dad, George and John didn't get to bed until 2am. Earlier, Pete had a big off during qualifying which was unfortunate as he was running in 2nd place at one point. He was a bit sore but was hoping to be ready for the race after a good night's sleep. Morning warm up was disappointing for me as I found the gearing was far too long.
However, it was even worse for Pete as the doctor didn't pass him fit to race. We tried a different gear ratio for the race but it was too far in the other direcion. From being far too long it was now far too short and the bike was revving out before I got to Church. I stuck with it for 5 laps and then pulled in as I knew the engine couldn't take that much punishment over full race distance. Everyone was completely gutted but we need to put it behind us and be better prepared for Snetterton in 3 week's time.
See ya.
Niall
