| 03/05/2008 | Irish 750cc support championship Round 2 | Tandragee |
| Arrived at tandragee at dinner time friday, had a couple of 'laps' in the van & first impressions were that this was going to be a lot harder to learn than cookstown, the circuit has just about everything, fast sections, hairpins, off camber corners & jumps. This was what i was expecting irish road racing tracks to be like. The afternoon went quickly after unloading, setting up, scrutineering, signing on, and hopping on the newcomers bus. Evening practice started at 5pm, with the newcomers practice out first. As we waited in the holding area the rain came down, but eventually we got out. Not ideal being on dry tyres in the wet, but most were in the same boat, so just concentrated on learning the course during the 4 laps. Unlike at cookstown, at tandragee we had 2 qualifying sessions, one for the first championship race and the second for the non championship race, as becauase tandragee is nearly 6 miles per lap, up to 56 can form the grid, so it does'nt get split into an 'A' & 'B' final. The first qualifying session was mostly wet, and after making a couple of mistakes on the first lap, i concentrated on just trying to learn the track and be smooth, as there are some 'catch you out' corners their, which nearly did on that first lap! I qualified 8th, for a 3rd row start in the first wave, and was resonably happy but certainly glad that i had one more qualifying session, as i felt like i had loads more to come. The 2nd qualifying session was dry, and though i was hoping for a 'tow' from someone, i ended up riding on my own, but managed to qualify in 3rd, for a front row start in the second race, next to pole sitter gary robinson and 2nd place darwin young. After packing the bike away, and having a bag of crisps for tea as the food vans had packed up, i hit my pillow well knackered after having little sleep the previous night with the travelling. Race morning came, as did the rain again, but it stopped and looked like it would dry out by the time our race 1 was due out at 11.15am. However, after looking at the track at 10.30 i had descided to change to wets but just as i took them out the van i was told that race 1 was being called half an hour early so did'nt have time to change. I got a reasonable start but just as i was tipping into the chicane two riders in front went straight on at the chicane so i could'nt tip in and had to follow them. The first part of the lap was damp, and from the bombhole onwards it was wet and after seeing the rider in front on wets get it sideways i took it cautiously as i did'nt have confidence in the front tyre, another rider crashed in front of me on the damp right hander leading onto the back straight, and i basically took it too steady on the first couple of laps. As the track started to dry out i got into it a bit more and evetually finished 6th. The race was won by Gary Robinson who was later disqualified for wheelying over the line, which seems harsh to me given that you are airborne plenty of times per lap anyhow ! So Darwin Young made it two wins out of two and tops the championship table. The sun & clear sky's had come out over tandragee and i was looking forward to starting on the front row for a dry second race, but sadly, it was not to be following the tragic accident in which Martin Finnigan lost his life. Though i did'nt know Martin, i did get to speak to him at cookstown, and have watched him race many times at the TT and on the road race dvd's, and remember him as an awesome racer, probably the most spectactular on the bumps and jumps, and my sympathy's go out to his family and friends. Qualifying 8th & 3rd Race result 6th | ||