This was one of the best BHR race meetings we have had for a long time. The weather was fantastic for all three days (Friday was a classic track day which we used for testing), and the grids were full to bursting. There were over three hundred entries and the place was buzzing all weekend.
Me and Phil turned up on the Thursday night ready for the Friday track day. Phil's van was losing a lot of water on the way up, more on this later. Friday morning briefing saw the pair of us in the fast session for the day and there seemed to be a lot of quick Jap bikes there but after the first outing we were happy to be in that group. I was having problems with power loss on the 500 metisse that I put down to fuel but after a word with Phil we pinpointed a loose ignition lead and all was well again. Phil spent the day on the 350 Triumph and after adjusting the valve timing a couple of times, found the setting that gave him the quickest lap times and kept it at that for the weekend. Phil was also pleased to get a compliment about his smooth riding from Roger Moss who was out on his Scott.
Now a quick write up from Chris.
Good to see old friends at Cadwell Park when arriving in the pits, stopping briefly for a fish supper in Wragby. Colin my passenger had arrived with the Westlake Triumph and a really old Cyclomaster pushbike for a bit of fun.
On the Saturday, practice went well on the Triumph outfit (Ming) with Colin my passenger, and also the Westlake, after a few laps I started to lap quicker but still off the pace of Miki and Phil by a full 10 seconds. Saying that, the outfit was flying. With full grids I had my work cut out, and we both worked hard to stay midfield in the first race. Second race in the Formula 750 I finished midfield, I knew I was going quicker up the mountain by the wheelie resulting from the extra speed... I enjoyed that, but unfortunately ended with mechanical failure. I still managed to finish the race though.
In the evening the club was buzzing with good music and a good ole singsong, many beers later we retired to be Trevored, with night caps.
On Sunday the Westlake refused to run and was retired, but the outfit ran well in the first race with some brilliant racing. However it started to misfire towards the end of each race, as well as in the over 50s race, and so was retired for the last race. Overall a brilliant weekend and some excellent racing, with no major machine failures.
Thank's Chris. I will just add that despite the mechanical setbacks here at Cadwell, Chris and Colin still managed a very respectable 4th overall in the 2014 championship. Well done guys!
So to Phil and the Bantam. Phil rode the lc Bantam for the weekend which went well but was a little underpowered compared to normal. He still gained some much needed points with finishes around 7th place and ended up 4th in the 2014 Bantam championship which is a good result.
Lenny's 350 Triumph was going really well as usual with Phil at the helm. Phil's best position of the weekend was 5th and there was some close racing. In Saturday afternoon's race Phil finished 100th of a second behind Paul Matravers! Once again it was a 4th place in the 2014 championship for Phil and Team Wildcard.
So now it is me (Miki) on the Triumph Rickman Mettise 500, on loan from Robert Burke. I have only been able to do half of this year's race meetings due the the pressures of work, so I was really looking forward to Cadwell. I finished three races throughout the weekend, missing one due to the tailpipe blowing off in the assembly area! My first finish was 10th, followed by a 6th and then a 5th. The bike is still in early stages of development and I know it will be going a lot quicker next year. I finished 6th in the 2014 championship.
Me and Phil had a little side bet going on at Cadwell for the fastest lap of the meeting and that was a close run thing indeed. I finally stole it by 0.35 of a second!
So that was Cadwell, one of the best meetings we have had for ages. Back home now to strip the bikes ready for winter rebuilding. Test day is on March 27th 2015 (Phil's birthday) so we had better get on with it.
I will be blogging our winter progress as much as possible.
See you all soon.
By the way, Phil had major engine failure in the van on the way home so he has more than just bike engines to work on now!
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