Wednesday Practice Report

Practice three started slightly cloudy but dry. I decided that starting the session on my ZX10, James pushed the bike at lightning speed to the line and got me away with the front runners again. This is a big help, following these guys helps massively. Some changes to the rear suspension damping had again made big improvements to the bike. It was much more stable over the bumps which was refreshing after the instability issues on the first night. Finally I felt like I could push the bike without worrying that it was going to break into a tank slapper. On my second lap Ian Hutchinson passed me  around the Gooseneck and I managed to keep him within a few seconds by the time we crossed the finish line. I was so pleased to find that I’d set my best lap of the week 124.3mph, which is only a couple of seconds slower than my personal best. There is still more to come from both the bike and I, both laps we’re far from perfect on my part!!

 
I then got my earplugs in and went out on the Norton. A real privilege and it feels like the world is watching as I line up on the start line. The bike was an improvement on last night although its first lap was a real shakedown, now I was trying to push, it was highlighted that the rear shock was a bit soft. I added some damping after the lap and went back out. Again an improvement but there is no substitute for the correct rear spring. We’ll get this sorted for the next practice and see what we’ve got. So far I think we are on target to qualify for the race which is the goal. I’ll do my best and thanks to everyone supporting the project.

Mackers

Posted: May 31, 2012