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KNOCKHILL 12/13th JULY

Back to Knockhill but this time to share the paddock with the British Sidecar Championship competitors and some seriously quick outfits. We got down sharp on Friday night worried that we might get held up by T in the Park. Thankfully the roads were quiet, until the tyre on the lorry blew out! Never a dull moment – on the long straight towards Ballinluig there was a sharp bang and we all thought the worst. Jen got out to kick the tyres but none of them seemed to be deflating. Proceeding to Knockhill we went to the bottom of the paddock and parked up. The list on the lorry gave the game away the inside rear passenger side tyre was indeed blown out and, now flat, all the weight was resting on the outer one. Kerr got out of the cab and was instructed to go and find some help. He came back after a short while with Team Shand who, used to dealing with much larger wheels on their World Championship trips in their truck, had the wheel changed in a flash – thanks boys!

It was a two day meeting again so we prepared for an early start having not made it down early enough for the Friday evening signing on and scrutineering. With that all done we checked the sidecar over ready for first practice and qualifying. Qualifying felt quite slow but turned out we had still done a 59 s lap and were placed 10th on the grid. First race on Saturday was after lunch and we were raring to go as the weather was still fine and dry. It was great to have the opportunity to watch the British Sidecar contingent out doing their stuff and their timed practice looked more like a race to us!

First race saw another fantastic start – when the lights went out this time! There was a fair bit of shuffling at the top of Duffus dip until we found our place. There’s been a lot of improvement in the way we get round Knockhill, aided by our frequent visits this year. Michael Keenan and Gordon Shand, both experienced drivers, have been imparting little tips as the season progresses and we seem to be taking them on board as 59 sec lap seem to be the norm. We certainly have a better driven line round Clarkes at the back of the circuit and have picked up a bit of time there. Jen had a couple of ropey descents over Duffus as the increased speed sometimes snatched the outfit, throwing her off balance just when trying to go left – not a pleasant experience but need to get used to going over faster. We finished the race 10th not losing any places on our qualifying spot – but not gaining any either. Better luck next time.

The second race was called in the afternoon – once! ‘First call for sidecars ‘ never saw a second or third over the tannoy. On the first call we jumped into the sidecar and made our way up to the holding area. We were a little bemused to find no one else there, we couldn’t be first up, Dave and Jane had left their awning just ahead of us, but the chain was up across the exit. We looked around and Phil Bell and James Neave drove in followed by Scott Lawrie and Jim Connell. The man at the exit came over apologising and told us that we couldn’t get out the sidecars were already on track and making their way round to the grid. There was no point protesting here it wasn’t his fault. Upset doesn’t come close – we had heard three calls over the tannoy all day. We always leave the awning after first call and always sit with our engines off waiting for the preceding race to finish. We returned to the awning and Jen set off with steam coming out of her ears to find out why the procedure had been changed without warning. She didn’t get much of a response from Hugh Ward from the Kirkcaldy Club. Seems we were not alone and many solo riders had been caught out too, including the pole position man for the Superstock race. We wouldn’t be caught like that again but a bitter lesson was learnt.

On Sunday we were determined not to fall foul of the tannoy and were in the sidecar as soon as Richard left the awning for the race before us. We were first to the holding area all day with the rest of the sidecars close behind. I think everyone was ready before they ever made a second call. We stood our ground again in the first race not getting such a good start as the grid was laid out so that a sidecar sat nearly straight ahead. Dave and Jane got away ahead but we managed to get them back as they span at the hairpin and we were away. At the finish, in parc ferme Steve Charlton told Kerr he was holding him up in the corners but that he couldn’t keep to us in the straights. Kerr was not impressed and was determined to prove otherwise in the next race. The motivation worked – we set a hot pace Steve Charlton was nowhere to be seen and the result, a 58.9s lap! That’s us into 58s it’s coming down.

It was good to see sponsor Martin Gill on Sunday, taking a rare break from farming and lorries to get out on his bike. Certainly taking the long way down via Tomintoul and home by Glencoe!

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