I rolled up to mallory last weekend with a rolling chassis, and assurances that all my parts would be arriving at the circuit on saturday for me. Sure enough, in several vans that arrived in the afternoon, was the rest of a Ducati! We spent a few hours building her on saturday night
Having not been out to do any testing prior to this round, this was more about testing the bike than being competitive. As such, the times were of more importance to me than positions. Last time i rode the bike, i barrel-rolled it across Cadwell, and came to Mallory on the same worn out tyres...
DD qualifying...
Didnt go too bad. 16th on grid, and only 1 second down from last seasons qually. Bike felt ok, didn't want to make any adjustments at this time.
SV qualifying...
Improved by another second to equal my pace from last seasons qualifying. 18th place on the mixed grid of SV's, Hornets and Formula400.
Onto the races... decent enough starts, but lost places in turn 1, i was struggling with confidence in this corner. This ultimately cost me 1 second per lap EVERY lap, but in retrospect, considering the tyres that were fitted, i think i was wise not to push too hard here. I was able to put the Bendix brake pads to the test in the hairpin, and found that i was very happy with their performance through the hairpin and overloading the front end the bike seemed to cope with it well. With JPM and Lily both harassing me during race 2, they would make ground through turn 1 and Edwina's, but i was able to comfortably re-take them at the hairpin and gap them through the bus stop and the devils elbow.
Final race positions
DD race 1 - 12th
DD race 2 - 13th
SV race 1 - 3rd
My fastest lap was 1 second QUICKER than my fastest lap of Mallory last season! And knowing i could have gone quicker still, if i'd had the confidence in the tyres to push through the fast turn 1, i'd say it was a successful day's testing.
