2009 SEASON UNDERWAY

 

Winter is finally over and we are back on the road again. We set off for Knockhill in glorious sunshine and twisted our way up the final hill to the circuit through pea soup fog! The new truck is delightful to drive and gave us a very comfortable run down the road. A lot of work has been put into its transformation since last November and it now carries all our equipment and sleeps seven. Just as well it is a mobile motel as we had a full house. Unfortunately Bob stood down as team mechanic due to other commitments but luckily Shaun has returned with some assistance from Neil, Al and Stewart.

 

There was only one practice session for sidecars on Saturday at 5.40 pm so we had plenty time to double check the sidecar, adjust the clutch, check the quick-shifter and run the engine up to check oil and water. Just as Shaun and Stewart returned from a quick test run round the paddock the up-shift button fell off. Superglue would be the answer or so we thought! We got ready to go out, leathers, helmets, boots, gloves, down to the holding area. Kerr tried to click it up into neutral – the button was solid. We tried to free it but it was hopeless. The practice session was abandoned. This was worrying – we hadn’t tested the newly assembled rear hub and it would be straight into qualifying on Sunday morning. The button was replaced and we all climbed into the lorry to get warmed up after a long, cold, wet and fruitless day.

 

photo courtesy of Power Images

 

Up early the next day and the sun was trying to shine. We got signed on and scrutineered then waited for qualifying session six. Now the nerves set in. It was great to finally get back on track and everything fell back into place. Kerr took it easy for a few laps to get warmed up as the track temperature was low, then upped the pace a little before pulling in to get the sidecar checked over. Good job he pulled in when he did as the shiny new golden sprocket was about to part company and had chewed the cush drives on its way off. The technical team set about putting it back together but this time we drilled the bolt heads and lock wired them together (thanks Bryan). We got the results sheet in and were pleased to see we had qualified 4^th.

 

photo courtesy of Power Images

 

Racing didn’t start till after lunch so we had a chance to sort the sprocket problem and catch up with everyone that had come down to support us. We couldn’t wait to get back out for the first race. Lining up on the inside of row two got us a good start. Davie Wrinn and Stuart Clark passed us through MacIntyres but we took him back in the run up to the hairpin and kept our 4^th place to the finish line. Our times were better too with a 59.632s lap.

 

photo courtesy of Ray Clarke Synergy Publishing

 

Second race and we were keen to do well again. Another good start off the second row and this time Davie Annan and Grant Hunter tried passing into Duffus. It didn’t last long and at MacIntyres they were sideways across the track. We hoped Davie had his foot on the brake as we nipped round behind him to take 4^th place again. This was an even better result with a 58.703s lap beating our best time of 2008. We were quite delighted, with good points in the bag for the SACU Scottish Championship.

 

Thanks to Carol, Shaun, Neil, Al and Stewart for all your help at the weekend. We are really looking forward to East Fortune on the 18/19 April, let’s see if we can keep up the pace.

 

Pos	No	Name	Best Time	In Lap
1	1	Bill Davie/Graeme Davie	53.719	6
2	72	Scott Lawrie/ James Connell	53.825	9
3	12	Michael Kennan/ Alan MacKinnon	56.977	3
4	44	Kerr Douglas/Jenny McCallum	1:01.313	4
5	22	David Wrinn/Stuart Clark	1:04.782	2
6	20	Colin Riddell/Christopher Burnett	1:08.421	1
DNS	69	David Annan/Grant Hunter

 

 

Pos	No	Name	Laps	Best Time	Total Time
1	1	Bill Davie/Graeme Davie	10	53.455	9:05.266
2	72	Scott Lawrie/ James Connell	10	54.120	9:10.798
3	12	Michael Kennan/ Alan MacKinnon	10	56.341	9:32.469
4	44	Kerr Douglas/Jenny McCallum	10	59.632	10:32.794
5	69	David Annan/Grant Hunter	9	1:00.662	9:35.121
6	20	Colin Riddell/Christopher Burnett	9	1:03.505	9:49.745
DNF	22	David Wrinn/Stuart Clark	2	1:08.566	2:13.435

 

Pos	No	Name	Laps	Best Time	Total Time
1	1	Bill Davie/Graeme Davie	10	54.032	9:07.293
2	72	Scott Lawrie/ James Connell	10	53.753	9:18.104
3	12	Michael Kennan/ Alan MacKinnon	10	55.314	9:28.999
4	44	Kerr Douglas/Jenny McCallum	10	58.703	9:57.779
5	69	David Annan/Grant Hunter	9	58.745	9:51.571
DNF	20	Colin Riddell/Christopher Burnett	2	1:02.307	2:07.974
DNF	22	David Wrinn/Stuart Clark	1		1:20.482