Intro
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| Gavin Heggs |
Anglesey is a relatively new circuit, basically
in the sea, on the north west coast of Wales on its own self titled
island.
It is easily one of the best looking circuits in
the UK with stunning panoramas of the Irish sea and Snowdonia looming on the
horizon. This is something you rarely get to enjoy whilst racing however as you
are either far too in the zone to care and/or it is all hidden behind some
variant on precipitation.
The RAFMSA classic racing team have a history of
coming here with high hopes and returning with broken machines and riders so
the team came to anglesey with reduced numbers but high hopes to buck that
trend. We shall see how that went.
Superbike 1/Formula 750
#45 Brown
Having been on a track walk with Dave on the
night before, trying to absorb all of his track day knowledge, I knew I’d need
to push a lot harder than my limited brain would like. Going into a wet
Practice 1, I was quite content in qualifying last in this class, as I am using
this class as track time. However something clicked as I was really able to
push the bike, qualifying 13th of 25.
Unfortunately my new found confidence led to a
crash in the Production practice so I missed the first race. I started
the second race very tentatively, my only goal was to finish, having just
repaired the bent XJ, now with a lowered front end, FZ clip on handlebars (and
beautifully reconstructed footpeg, courtesy of my chief mechanic Heggs), the
bike felt very different. A fellow nervous rookie allowed me to finish one
place above last, which I was more than happy with.
For the final two races my only goal was to get
faster with the new XJ lay out, which I did. However; I don’t know if it was my
weight now more lent over the front because of the lowered handlebars, but the
bike wallowed just before I changed direction before rocket which was a bit
unnerving. Overall extra track time gave me a good boost For the production
class.
600 Junior Production
#61 Williams
Having enjoyed the track day on Friday I
had decided to race the FZ and not the VFR which still has some handling issues
that I am ironing out.
Soggy practice went well and a wet race with the
750 saw me in a small group of FZ 600’s in the middle of the pack.
With the circuit drying I was looking forward to
the Production. Unfortunately on the first lap as I tipped into the blind
Rocket-in there was a bike and rider on the deck right on the racing line. I
had nowhere to go and hit his bike sending me cartwheeling. The “fun” wasn’t
over however as another rider hit me which resulted in a painful hospital visit
and the end of my racing weekend.
#45 Brown
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| Gavin Heggs |
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| PJM Photography |
Post Classic 250 air cooled
#74 Heggs
I made the decision to
only ride the RD250 at Anglesey to reduce my workload a bit and (hopefully)
have a bit more fun whilst not confusing myself with the different machines.
Doing all this will clearly result in me finally being propelled to the top of
my game and everyone else scabbling for the positions I leave behind me…
My last experience of
Anglesey was wet, miserable and frankly horrifying so I won't pretend I was
very excited about coming here. A 9 hour drive to get here didn’t do anything
to excite me either but I had to give it another go, at least the sun was out.
Race 1
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| Gavin Heggs |
Qualifying was held in
the rain (shocker) so I put in some sensible laps resulting in me making the
back of the grid look a bit better for the start.
The track was still wet
with the rain starting to subside a little for my first race. I started well
and opted to keep it sensible for this race knowing it was supposed to dry
through the day.
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| Gavin Heggs |
Among them I saw John Warwick go down then Graham Acott and started to wonder how many riders in my class were now in front of me. As it turns out there was only one and in holding my position and managing to finish (unlike many others), I crossed the finish line in second!
Race 2
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| Gavin Heggs |
I gradually built up
speed as I gained confidence in my knowledge of the circuit and the adhesion
levels that is could offer on its slowly broadening dry line.
Race 3
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| PJM Photography |
After a good start I was a couple of bikes behind the front pack
but slow pace through the second corner (a wide hairpin called Banking) ensured
I couldn’t hang on to them and fell in with a Honda ridden by our paddock
neighbour Roy Hook. Where I lacked in skill, I made up for in power. This
allowed me to howl past him from Bank through to Rocket in where I would
fumble and generally get in the way till he inevitably got past me again. We
exchanged position a few times but we had however managed to clear the pack
behind us so I decided to tuck in behind him and sort out some of my slow
riding skills. This was hugely advantageous so when the last lap flag dropped I
breezed past him and held the position with my new found skills till the
chequered flag. I had made up 10 places, managed to finish third in class and I
was feeling pretty good about it.
Race 4
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| PJM Photography |
I coaxed the bike round for a lap trying to decide if the problem
was serious enough or not, dropping places as I went. On the way through the
corkscrew the second time I decided to pull in. It was fortunate that I did as
the brake lever went to the handlebar with no effect as I pulled in so I was
glad I had stopped racing or that could have been an interesting entry into the
last corner!
In Closing
#45 Brown
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| PJM Photography |
Personally a good
weekend mostly, quicker and more comfortable on the bike. To take away, refit
XJ handlebars, also in the last couple of races the carbs started to draw air,
so a niggle to sort for Donnington. Finally thank you to Gav and Dave for their
help with polishing out the XJs wounds.
#61 Williams
I am on the road to recovery after my spill. I
will not be attending Donnington park and it could well be a little while
before I return whilst I recover.
I would like to extend
my thanks to the many well wishers who passed on their thoughts and assistance
in my hour of need. I would also like to thank the marshalls and medical staff
who scraped me off the track and kindly didn’t cut my leathers off.
#74 Heggs
A bit of a crazy weekend for us all. I surprised
myself by enjoying the circuit once things had dried up and managed to do
reasonably well. It was a bit of a pity that the front brake gave up on the
last race (works fine now so guessing I boiled it) but I can’t very well
complain with the sheer number of fallers this weekend. I hope everyone
recovers quickly and want to extend my thanks to the CRMC staff and stacks of
wellwishers but most importantly Jerry and Graham for helping us with Dave
Wiliams.
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| PJM Photography - Dave Williams recieves care from an unamed marshal |
You can keep catch up with our ups and downs
with these race reviews which closely follow each race on our Blogger account. You can also Stay up to date with our
goings on as they happen on Facebook and Twitter.
The Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) offer live timing and have race results going back years so if you can’t make it to come watch the action
you can still stay up to date with the help of
We race under the banner of the Royal Air Force
Motorsports Association (RAFMSA). If you are serving and wish to get involved
with motorsports you can find all the contact details you will need on the RAFMSA website.
Finally special thanks
go to the companies who continue to support us:
MCA Leicester, Spencer Racing, Tony Salt Tyres, Witham group Motul, Speedsnap All photography individually credited with special thanks to PJM Photography.
and individual sponsors:
Andy Green: New Era Restorations
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