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EAST FORTUNE 15/16 SEPTEMBER 2007

The head gasket was changed on the number one engine but we refrained from putting it back in as the forecast was for wet weather at East Fortune and the extra power would be pointless. We arrived on Friday night and got settled in with the awning going up and getting kitted out in record time. We were up early and signed on Saturday morning ready for scrutineering. We had added some exhaust wrapping on Friday night as one of the down pipes was causing Kerr’s right foot to get a bit too hot.

Time for warm up and as we drove up to the holding area there was a whiff like hot candle wax. We went out but after a couple of laps there was a red flag and a blackboard with number 44 on it held out at the start line. We pulled over immediately. Alan Shand and the marshals grabbed Kerr and whisked him out over the front of the bike as plumes of smoke curled out from under the fairing. They had seen the smoke, realised it didn’t smell like an engine problem and quickly took action in case Kerr was on fire. They had him out of the outfit, placed gracefully on a plastic chair and handed a cup of coffee within seconds while apologising for cutting short our practice. We would like to thank them all for their vigilance and quick response as it could quite easily have been more serious. Thankfully it was the ends of the exhaust wrap which had been coated in wax to stop them fraying that had melted all over the exhaust and caused the reek we decided to take it back off.

Kerr concentrating – without the smoke screen this time!

The sidecar entry was much better than Knockhill with 16 sidecars going out for qualifying. Unfortunately David Paton’s weather forecast at the rider’s briefing had come true and the weather had deteriorated. We plumped for wet tyres all round and at the last minute changed our minds for intermediates. Should have stuck with wets! We realised this as soon as we went out on track as the outfit slipped and slithered its way round the track. Every move Jen made on the back made it lose grip and slide about. This didn’t make for a good position and we were place on the fifth row of the grid. We prayed for dry races…

On the start line

It worked and after lunch the weather brightened up for racing. We lined up for the first race and tried to make a good start. To our right George Kennedy/ Colin Smyth stalled and was hit from behind by Alan Warden/Peter Burgess. As we took off to the first corner we wondered if the race would be stopped but they quickly cleared the line before we came back round and we kept racing. The leaders had broken away but we were right in the thick of a battle with James Neil/Ian MacGeorge and Alex Johnstone/Kyle Young. Kerr had found his form and where we might have previously been out manoeuvred from Railway through to the Esses we were pulling away.

East Fortune looking at Railway corner

We crossed the line in 5th to the delight of many (including ourselves). Stephen Rhoden had been timing us and met us back at the awning to tell us that he thought we were doing 1m 10 sec laps. Could that be right? That would be 2 secs/lap quicker than our usual lap time. It was- the results sheet confirmed we had stepped up the pace considerably.

We decided to pop into the tyre shop next door for new front and rear slicks:

Express Tyres lorry conveniently next door

We got them changed and scrubbed them in as best we could in the warm up lap of race two. They took a few laps to get a proper grip and James Neil/Ian MacGeorge and Alex Johnstone had got ahead while we tried in vain to dice with Steve Charlton/Jason Miller on their F2. That wasn’t the end of it though Kerr was on sparkling form and one by one caught them up and passed them to finish in 6th. Stephen came in with his stop watch to tell us that we were even faster – surely not! The results sheet confirmed it again we were down to 1m 9 secs/lap. 3 secs/lap quicker than we have been all year.

James Neil/Ian MacGeorge trying to get back lost ground

What an excellent end to the day. There was obviously not that much wrong with the second engine and it was loosening up nicely. The little oil leak was also located and fixed that night so there was no need to put number one back in.

The weather turned over night, the lorry rocked and rolled and the awning flapped and bumped. Sunday dawned with torrential rain. No one was very optimistic. We decided not to go out for the warm up laps as it would have soaked us for the rest of the day. The 18 lap Express Tyres race was hanging in the balance with a £500 prize fund and a new set of tyres to be won. The day wore on, the Production bikes went out for a careful race and then they suspended racing till after lunch to see if it would dry up. It didn’t, it just got worse and sadly the Melville Club succumbed to the weather again. We all looked like drowned rats packing up that afternoon and we got back home for tea time.

Looking forward to the final round of the Scottish Championship at Knockhill in two weeks with the prestigious Jock Taylor sidecar race attracting a prize fund of £2500 and some first class sidecars from further a field.

The end…

Best wishes to you all

Kerr and Jen

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