REPORT:

Greville is ready for the big race off !! Photos Courtesy Jennifer Edwards

Having not done much racing during 2005 following an injury I felt that I needed to have some proper winter track time to try to get up to speed for the 2006 season

On Boxing day 2005 I flew to Murcia in Spain with a full 5 days track time ahead with Racedays.net at the Cartegena circuit that basically involved some high level instruction from very experienced racers including Mike 'Spike' Edwards, Dean Ellison, Jeremy McWilliams and Leon Haslam.. I had arranged to share with some friends and fellow Bemsee racers in a villa that turned out to be very nice.

The first morning session out was track familiarisation and we were pared off into groups of two. I had been to Cartegena earlier in the year and mostly knew my way around, so I Iet my partner follow Mike Edwards, our instructor, until I was waved past. After a couple more laps Mike wanted me to take the lead so I upped the pace a little. He was a little surprised at my speed until I reminded him when we got back that I had been there before !

Discussing his style with instructor Mike Edwards Photos Courtesy Jennifer Edwards

From then on we had one-on-one tuition that involved following our instructor for a few laps and then being waved past so that they could observe us and analyse our riding for a number of laps until we were waved in to the pits where everything could be relayed to us.

The next session we would concentrate on improving on the areas that had been highlighted and so the process continued for 3 days. The final 2 days the instructors were free to assist whoever wanted further help. This included Jeremy McWilliams and Leon Haslam which was a fantastic opportunity although I spent most of my time working on the areas that had already been identified.

For most of the time we had an open pit lane, meaning that there were no specific sessions and we could go out onto the track whenever we wanted.

Unfortunately on the first day there were quite a few crashers and a large oil spill which meant that I did not get out as much as I wanted as there were big queues to get onto the track. I was also using tyre warmers - I don't go out without using them because I don't trust myself to go slow on cold tyres - which cost me queuing time but I wasn't too worried as we had another 4 days.

On the second day the instruction took the same format but in the afternoon there were qualifying sessions for all the races. There were 4 sessions based on your speed up to that point. Slowest first and fastest last. I was out in the third session.

It was the first time that I was out with fairly similarly paced riders and with a bit of clear track managed to get my head down. Up to that point I had only managed 1.52 second laps although I knew I would be faster with a clear track as I had been doing 1.50s the previous time I was there some 7 weeks earlier. I had previously lent my bike to the European Superbike School, and on when I got it back they told me told that one of the instructors had managed to do a 1 minute 44 second lap on it. Following my first trip to Cartegena when I only managed1m50s it was suggested by some well respected people that 1m44 would not be possible on a 400.

However, I still thought it was by comparing times to the lap records from other classes, as I know how much slower I am than them on UK tracks. When I came back in I was very surprised and pleased to have got into the 1m46s and I knew there was more to come.

That put me 11th fastest as at the end of the third qualifying session. I knew that I would drop down as the fastest session was still to be completed. I was very pleased to have ended up qualifying 23rd overall from about 180 people for the Open race, and that mostly included larger bikes. It put me 10th for the COM (Crazy Old Mans Race) Race and on Pole for my class, the Mixed Race.

The morning of the following (third) day was spent with more sessions with the instructors and preparing for the COM race. I did find that there was a banging on left hand corners which I could not work out what it was. I thought it was my knee slider at first hitting the kerb or a bump, but it kept doing it. After a few sessions of this, when I came in I noticed white dust on my left boot, I discovered that I was scraping, hard, the left hand fairing and engine casing which is something that I did not think was possible, I can only put it down to the fact that there are not many left hand corners in the UK, but Cartegena has plenty so I was obviously getting the hang of left handers. I'm still not sure and can't get my head around 4th gear full throttle left hand corners with the engine scraping the track, very odd thought at the moment !!

I got a good start from the third row, managed to get past the 9th place bike and got to the left of the track alongside most of the second row. Unfortunately, and probably expectedly, I was pushed wide in the first corner so gained no advantage from the good start. All the bikes both in front and behind were of much larger capacity which is why I needed to get in front of them to avoid them holding me up in the corners. It was always going to be a difficult race to at least to hold my place let alone let people past. I held them off for most of the race but 3 got past me with their superior power, I got one back which he obviously didn't like and decided to try a bit harder to pull a gap. At this point there was no point in pushing any harder, I had nothing to gain trying to beat much faster bikes, besides I had my main race the next day. I ended up 14th.

We had some more sessions with the instructors including some filming which enabled us to see for ourselves where we were going wrong.

The next morning consisted of more testing and trying to do, and practice, what I had been told.

The afternoon was to be the main event for me - the Mixed Race.

I pulled up to pole position on the dummy grid to find two 125GP machines next to me that I dwarfed, and a minitwin in 4th. I knew the 125s would be a problem, but, with what appeared to be kids on board, I knew my work was really going to be cut out.

They should be much faster in the corners and able to carry the speed on the straights, I knew a quick 125GP rider would be capable of 1m38s. Although these guys weren't up to that standard they could easily be quicker than me. It was imperative that I got a good start and into the lead so that I could try to hold them up in the corners.

We had two warm up laps, so I used them to practice a start, try to see where I would have to brake for the first corner and to get up to race pace immediately. It took a bit of time for everyone to come around for the start, but I felt up for it.

I got a good start but felt a presence to my right so just braked as late as I could and turned in a bit early to try to squeeze anyone that may have been there out, it worked. I got my head down and just kept at it. The plan was to try to build a gap whilst the others took time to get on the race pace. I had no idea how far anyone was behind me for about the first 4 or 5 laps, but the way the circuit goes you can glance back across the track and I could see no one.

I was desperate for a pit board at this stage and tried signalling to people that I knew on the pitwall but they didn't get it. I just kept my head down. On the 5th or 6th lap I started approaching backmarkers and as this was not a "championship" race I felt that I shouldn't take too many risks getting past. I felt that I had been held up a little, and was right, as one of the 125s got past me.

There were also plenty of yellows out which made it very difficult to get a spot to overtake them back, but I was surprised at how slow they were in some corners and knew I could get them.

On the 7th lap I came out of the last corner and practiced to see if I had the power to get them on the line on the last lap. They were a few bike lengths in front of me but I was able to get past about two thirds of the way down the straight. If I was right behind him on the last corner it would be very close to the line. However at that stage I had already gone past them - I drifted wide on the exit of the first corner as I knew they would be around the outside, but for the second corner you need to stay tight to prepare for the third, left hand corner and that's where they got me back and upset my line into it.

Once again we were amongst backmarkers and yellows and they had seemed to back right off, so as soon as the yellows disappeared I was planning to be past the 125 on the power, I stuck to it like glue, we past the accident spot and going into the third from last corner there was another backmarker, the 125 went around the outside so I just dived up the inside expecting the 125 to be around the outside of me, but the exit is uphill and I knew I would have better midrange drive, to my surprise they were nowhere to be seen and I was relieved to see the green flag as I thought it would be a bit close on that front.

I held a tight line going into the second to last, left hand, corner to block their exit, unfortunately there was yet another backmarker ahead, my instant decision was to go up the inside of them into the final corner forcing the 125 either to stay behind or try going around the outside, but I would be drifting wide on the exit to stop that. Also unfortunately, it got a bit tight, you normally take a wide entry and hit a late apex, but you can go in early and hit a first apex, so I relied on the backmarker to be leaving a bit of space, they obviously didn't see me and closed the door and we came together, fortunately gently, they picked their bike up letting me on my way, and I just nailed it to the line for the win

It turns out that I had about a 5 second lead before I came across the backmarkers and yellows and the 125s took advantage of that to close the gap. It also turned out that the close shave in the last corner forced the backmarker very wide, straight into the line of the 125 rider who had to back right off having got baulked. They just gave up which was a bit of a shame as it would have been a great finish but they also claimed I overtook under yellows. I admitted it was close, but as the marshals did not report it, I took it to be a fair move.

The next "open" race was straight afterwards, and as I had no chance, and was absolutelyt exhausted having just finishing a race I decided not to bother.

The final part of the day was a free track again and Mike Edwards was circulating on a minitwin over 1 second faster than the very accomplished racer who owned it.

When Mike came back in, I asked him to see what he thought of my bike, within 3 laps he had beaten my best time by almost thre quarters of a second - it just shows what a very experienced world class racer can do !

He suggested some rear suspension adjustment which later worked a bit but I was not able to get near his time again before the week was out.

On the last day there was a 4 hour endurance race arranged for the afternoon which I decided not to participate in due to my lack of fitness and my bike being highly tuned for short races, I just did not fell it was worth pushing me or the bike against much faster machinery. I just settled for a few sessions in the morning and felt very satisfied with my 5 days testing.

New Years Eve was spent in a lovely villa in the company of Leon Haslam and his girlfriend Ollie plus Jeremy McWilliams and his family, who were the guests of Gerry and Susie who are the Racedays.net UK organisers. A fantastic and memorable time was had and rounded off what was a superb week.