We had arranged to catch the ferry on the Wednesday evening so that we had a day to chill out before the racing got underway and then to come home on the following Wednesday so there was a bit of a rest before we drove home.

The drive to Hollyhead is a long one indeed and it took us 7.5hrs from Fleet in Hampshire to the ferry terminal at Hollyhead where we arrived around 7.30pm to catch the 9pm ferry. The scenery is pretty good in this part of the country (very mountainous) and we found a really cool castle built into the hill side on the A55 (see picture below).
 

It appeared that most of the superbike brigade was on this ferry as we spotted most of the big names on board.

Three and a half hours later we were in Dublin ferry terminal where we all followed each other like lost sheep (Baaaa......Baaaaa.....) around the city in an aim of finding a sign that pointed us in the correct direction. It was no easy task and there was much late lane changing. It was like an unofficial Superbike race and we even managed to overtake Glen Richards, although Paul Young was difficult to catch. Finally we followed the Virgin Mobile HGV to the circuit.

When we arrived at Mondello we quizzed the guy on the gate about the lack of signposts to the circuit and he replied, "Oh, the signposts are going up tomorrow." Hmmm, that's handy, no wonder it was hard to find.

When we arrived they were still erecting the perimeter fence for the spectators. A bit last minute that.

On first impressions the circuit looked fine, new garages, new race control tower, new fencing, yep a lot of money had been spent to get the BSB circus over there for the Irish fans to visit and I guess it would make a change for the Irish riders not having to catch the ferry to go racing.

A quick walk with Penny around the circuit and it was obvious this is going to be hard work. Very undulating with lots of corners to keep the speeds down and it also looked very technical. Some of the track surface did look a little worn in places and I wondered if grip would be a problem if it rained. This was later confirmed by Ron Haslam who said, "think of an ice rink and then times the degree of slipperiness by ten and you will be somewhere near the wet grip level of Mondello Park....GULP! Let's hope it stays sunny.

I spent most of Thursday messing with gearing and changing the engine oil which involves the removal of the entire exhaust system along with the radiator which is a pain, but it kept me busy. It had pissed down in the night and the paddock was like a river, but without the fish.
 

Friday 1st Practice
We awoke pretty early (7am) and made our way to sign on, however we were not listed in any of the paperwork or programme as I had originally not indicated that we were going to go to Ireland. My mistake, but all was put right as fast as possible. The bike was passed through Technical Control and I then collected a transponder for the weekend from MST.

There were no less than 40 riders in the Superbikes, 24 of these were privateers, and out of these there were at least 10 Irish Wild Card entries, so we were due for a full grid and a difficult time of it trying to learn a circuit that the local lads knew very well.

My old 250GP sparring partner, Hilton Hinks had also come out to play on the Castrol Honda Ireland Fireblade. He has held the outright lap record at Mondello Park on his 250GP bike for years, so he was a definite contender for the privateer cup wins.

I have to admit that I felt extremely slow in this first session. It was obvious that although officially the BSB regulars had not raced at Mondello Park they were not struggling with it as we thought they might and it appeared that a few test sessions had gone before this round to enable to top teams to be so fast so soon.

Again, I am still learning the bike as well as learning the new circuit so it was a double whammy of difficulty for me. The undulations had the front wheel in the air more per lap than in contact with the tarmac. It is great fun.....no really, if not sometimes scary when accelerating in 4th for an entire 200yds before the front eventually hits the ground. And that's only because you have throttled off to hit the brakes. Bit like riding a raging bull with Tabasco sauce rubbed around it's ring......if you know what I mean.

I ended up 36th fastest in this session with a 1:55.164s lap. Shane Burn was fastest at 1:43.817s. No surprises really as I am learning to ride this beast at an alarming rate.

Friday 2nd Practice
We changed the gearing as it was way too tall in the first session.

This was better as the bike was now offering harder acceleration out of the turns, although I was struggling with the front end as it never felt planted. In fact I think it spends more time aiming for the moon than on the tarmac. I had so much faith in the front of the 250GP bike it is hard to ride with no confidence in pushing the front, especially on a circuit that is so twisty and demands that kind of committment.

This session offered my first fright as I eventually decided I could carry more entry speed into Birannes Bend which is a tight right hander leading onto a left hander. Ooops! Maybe not, I had to hit the brakes, get it upright, hit the brakes as hard as possible before exiting the circuit and taking to the grass. A few seconds fighting the front from washing out on the grass and I was back onto the circuit without hitting anything. Phew.............new pair of pants please.

On the next lap I was passed by Shakey only to see him exit the circuit into Turn 7A and into the gravel, although he too managed to keep it upright.

My pace was getting better and I finally posted a 1:52.357s lap which put me to 37th place, out of 40.

Friday 3rd Practice
Another dry session and I finally reduced my time to 1:51.012s, however John Reynolds had now take the top spot with a 1:41.936s lap so I had a bit of work to do yet to reduce that gap. Top privateer was Hilton Hinks with a 1:45.057s lap.

During this session I was Black Flagged. During the 2nd lap I saw my number being displayed with a Black flang and Orange circle so I exited the circuit at the nearest opportunity. It appeared there was concern with the bike smoking on the closed throttle at teh end of the start finish straight. A quick look over by the officials confirmed there were no leaks so I went back out and the problem appeared to dissapear.

Thanks go out to Pete Turnbull who helped me to iron out any engine problems and I have to say it was obvious what to look for, but it never even ocurred to me at the time. Cheers mate for putting my mind at ease.

We decided the gearing was OK, although if I had a 14 tooth front sprocket we may have changed it again just to gain an extra tooth in the gearing. The average speed is very low at this circuit, under 80mph.

After three 3/4hr test sessions I was now feeling a few aches and my hands had developed a few sore spots which required the use of an extremely cold can of scumpy jack to hold onto the effected area. I later went to the medical centre to get some patches put on my palms to try to stop the gloves digging into my hands so badly.

Later, we sampled a pint of the local Guinness and I have to say it tastes a little less bitter than at home and appears to be a little smoother. Mmmmmmm....nice.

That evening the local road workers were out laying new tarmac on 'Holiday in Ireland' corner. No really, that is it's name. Corny or what? The surface on this corner had started to some apart on the inside of the corner so they repaired it and to be fair they did a good job. Apparantly they were painting white lines and spilt a can on the track, so they used thinners to remove it which did the job, but also started to melt the tarmac. Sure to be Sure Shamus.

Saturday Free Practice
Just before we were due on track the heavens opened and it rained cats & dogs. A quick wheel change was executed and we went out to try our luck. It was slow progress with all those poodles...........I mean puddles.

Within no time at all the track had started to dry, as I was on full wets which were already pretty worn I decided to stay out and wreck them properly. Most of the other teams made their way to pit lane to change wheels or bikes if they had a spare bike.

As I was still on wets on a dry track there were no surprises to see me at the bottom of the list on a 1:09.648s lap and Gary Mason on top with a 1:43.619s lap. We just put this one down to having a nice wet practice and were not out to set the best lap we could just to look good on paper. Well, that's my excuse anyway.

Saturday Qualifying
The sun had it's hat on and was out to play for this session, however during the first 15 minutes my hands started to go numb. It was really odd and I have never experienced this before (well, not without sitting on them first). Maybe the sores had gone deeper and the swelling was now hindering blood flow to the fingers. Whatever it was I had to come into the pits to let the blood circulate again as it was getting a bit dangerous.

Back out on track and things were getting better with regards to suspension and the overall feel of the bike and I set a lap time of 1:50.489s which was well within the qualification maximum of 1:52.083s. This left me 36th on the grid and was also set on my last lap. Unfortunately for Mark Buckley, he was on his way home having not qualified. The fastest privateer was Dennis Hobbs on a 1:43.794 which was faster than three factory bikes and had him in the line up for the Super Pole. Nice one. This is the first time a privateer has ever made Superpole.

The top time was set by Gary Mason on a 1:41.894s lap, just ahead of Reynolds and Byrne.

We retired to Mike Walkers camp and had a few laughs with them for the evening, however during the course of the weekend  there had been a number of thefts. Tom Tunstall had a set of wheels stolen, John pearson had his Brembo master cylinder stolen off his bike in the night and three camper vans had been broken into and robbed which put everyone on edge.

We now realised we were all targeted for theft of some nature to the extent that an official memo was issued to all teams warning to be extremely careful as to what is left lying around.

This is such a pity as the minority ruin it for the majority and the other unfortunate thing is everyone we saw looking in the awning were treated as potential thief's. Not exactly relaxing or welcoming.

Our helper for the weekend, Derek, had hired a car for the weekend so he could get from the airport and he rushed over to check it was still there, only to return laughing saying any car without alloy wheels had their hub caps stolen, and believe it or not, the dust caps too. How sad is that? It appeared nothing was safe.

On this basis Derek stated he would sleep in the awning that night to ensure nothing was stolen off the bike during the night. Cheers mate. He later confessed as he turned in his sleep his hand would reach out to the bike to check it was still there and even go through a process of checking levers, calipers etc. Heee...Heee....nice one.

The only way to resolve this problem would be to close the paddock off to all spectators outside the pit lane walkabout times. This has been done in the past and worked very well, although it is a shame for the spectators as they only get a glimpse of the paddock over the whole weekend. The only other way would be to employ more security staff, although you have to ask if they were in on it over the weekend as how do you not notice two wheels being removed from the circuit? Maybe they had big pockets?

Sunday Warm Up
This was interesting in so much that now everyone would probably be on race rubber, rather than qualifying tyres and they nearly all went 2 seconds a lap slower than yesterday, including me, however we were on knackered slicks just to get us through the session as we do not see any value in using new tyres for a warm up, unless we are in the fight for the championship and need the phscological advantage.

Today was an early start (again) as pit lane walkabout was scheduled for 8.30am.
 

It felt like an eternity waiting for the first race, although the race distance had been reduced from 22 laps to 18 which was nice as this circuit is very physical.

The worst thing ever for me was there were now approximately 19,000 spectators swanning around the circuit and just three toilets to use. Two of these were soon out of order so I had to go outside the paddock to use one of the spectator toilets that was a good walk away. Not very good by any means when you are desperate.

The toilets in the paddock were also the bar toilets so you can imagine queuing in line with guys that are well pissed was not exactly ideal. I think this ought to be given some attention in readiness for next year. Even the ladies had a huge que, not that I tried to get in there. Honest.

Sunday Race 1
We fitted new tyres for the race and as I circulated the bike already felt better. There were a lot of people out there watching. We spoke to a few spectators on the grass bank near our awning who had ridden 180 miles from the North to see the BSB event as they had only ever seen it on TV and just had to see it for real.

We have to be on the grid at least 10 minutes prior to the start. If we miss the 10 minute cut off, we have to start from pit lane.
 

After completing the warm up lap we lined up in our grid positions, someone up front had a problem and the start was delayed for 5 minutes. Once sorted, we were then sent off for another warm up lap and the race distance was reduced to 17 laps.

I always find the warm up laps weird as it all seems so slow.

Back on the grid and it was time to watch the Red lights. Off they go and I had a great start into the first turn which is a hairpin. I then rode around the outside of a few bikes on the exit of this turn.The first lap always seems very lame compared with the 250GP class which was far more frantic than Superbikes and almost feels like easy pickings to start with.

I settled down behind a pack consisting of Mike Walker, Jamie Patterson, Paraic Dooley, Derek Wilson, Matt Niland and Paul Jones, however I was slowly but surely being dropped off the back of this group until eventually I could no longer see them. This was frustrating as I knew where I was loosing time I just had a lack of time on the bike to risk pushing a bit harder to see what would happen.
 

I was now circulating on my own with a huge gap behind me and a 20s gap in front to Paul Jones. Within the closing stages the Blue flags came out to warn me the front runners were coming. I was caught up with them for a little while and apparently got some good TV coverage, although I do run wide so they have an easy time of it getting through.

I crossed the line in 30th place which was 16th in the privateers battle. This was a bit gutting as I really wanted the £ 175 for finishing in 15th spot. I did reduce my lap times though to a 1:48.541s consistently which was good as that was 2 seconds faster than my qualifying time.

As soon as I got back to the awning I started drinking water as it was very hot out in the sun and the circuit is so twisty it's a killer on the upper body and you loose a lot of fluid through sweating so much.

With the undulations you are constantly fighting wheelies and the occasional wheelspin. I was asked what it was like to ride at Mondello Park by a local. I replied by saying, "After the race I parked the bike up in Park Ferme with sweat oozing out of every follicle. As I walk away from it I look back and it's air intakes breath smoke out like a wild bull with a ring in it's nose, it turns to face me, spits a huge greenie in my direction and says, "Now Fuck Off and come back when you think you're hard enough to ride me properly". That's what it feels like at the moment."

As you can imagine we had a right laugh about that explanation.

It is not an easy transition from the 250GP bike as the 600 Supersport was. The 600 was revvy with only a little extra power, but the weight made it feel slower and you were always banging it against the rev limiter. This bike has a similar weight to the 600 if not lighter, but it has a lot more power which makes the corners appear rather faster, in fact, when 4th gear is on song it feels like Mr Sulu has gone to warp factor 10 already. It's a lot of fun, but will take some learning to get the power down faster without the wheelies, wheelspin, tank slappers and demonic laughter that accompanies it all. Very adictive though.

Sunday Race 2
Another set of new tyres and we were ready for action in Part Deux.
 

Red lights off...........and this was a far better start, and the same plan of action had me round the outside of a number of riders.I was now well up on my start position and instead of hesitating to pass I was right in there like a mad thing possessed.

Making our way into Holiday in Ireland bend (a long left hand hairpin) there was mayhem......all I saw were bikes moving all over the place and then I was confronted with a silver GSXR on it's side sliding. I hit the brakes and as I went to manouvre around it I was hit from behind. This pushed me to the edge of the circuit where I nearly came to a stand still. All I felt was bikes passing, so I gave it a large twist of the wrist and the front wheel went into orbit. Ooops! remind me never to do that again in 2nd gear.

Every man and his dog had passed so I got my head down and chased them back down. After a few laps I had passed John Nisill, then I passed Rob Butterworth. Over the next few laps I closed down on Paraic Dooley and Ian McCallister. McCallister passed Dooley, however this gave Dooley a 2nd wind and he suddenly increased his pace. It took a while but I finally made a pass and chased after McCallister.

After a few laps I got him too going into Turn Three (a fast entry through the first apex, then hard on the brakes to turn into a tight right hander that also goes up over a rise). I was now in view of a Silver GSXR which I chased like a rabid dog after a holiday maker. As I got nearer I realised it was Jason Davis. This would be a good scalp as he has been in Superbikes for a number of years and had also done well in the 250GP class.

It wasn't to be as the Blue flags started to be waved. Again I yielded where I could to let the faster guys though with minimum drama, but I had noticed that Jason kept his head down and I lost a huge amount of time by being polite to the front runners.

Finally Mark Heckles came past on the SP1 along the straight to Turn Three. This was funny as I could hear a V twin besides me but I was wheelying flat in 4th and he was besides me slowly driving past with both wheels planted. He got by and I managed to stick within spitting distance of him for 1/2 a lap on the last lap which was encouraging. The place I appeared to loose most time was getting on the gas onto the start/finish straight which was hairy as it was off camber and raised so you could loose the front going in, loose the rear getting out of the turn and also wheelie for England on the way out which made you head directly for the pit wall. Difficult to get right and many went grass tracking on the exit spraying up dust and stones Rossi style.

I tried in vain to close the gap to Jason but it was too big a job before the chequered flag came out and he finished 7s ahead by the end.

I finished in 26th place overall which was 12th in the privateers, so at least I made some money and a few points. I am now running 18th in the championship after just two rounds so it is looking good for the end of the season and I am sure this position will be bettered by the end of the year.

After the days racing we stayed on that evening so there was no rush to pack up to get to the ferry, although it was deserted when we woke:
 

We are out at Oulton Park on 8/9/10th August so keep an eye out for us.

At last, a circuit I know.

Don't miss it!