Monday, July 5, 2010
Heavy Weather
The XR1200 teams heading north to Knockhill had a weekend full of promise ahead of them. Firstly, with a slightly diminished pool of bikes and riders, there would only be 18 bikes on the grid, meaning everyone was in with a decent chance of scoring points. Secondly, with two races scheduled, the opportunity to learn from the first race and go out and do better in the second would make for an enticing prospect. Incidentally, a lot of work has been going on - the chief focus has been on suspension and the time-consuming process of adjusting the springs and damping to cope best with each rider's weight and riding style. There was a lot resting on this weekend!
Sadly it wasn't to be - during an early morning warm up session in heavy rain on Sunday, some riders put in only a couple of laps and as the bikes piled back into the Harley marquee to dry off, the older riders were shaking their heads at the conditions. There was a vote amongst the riders and the first race was cancelled.
A couple of hours later the rain had lessened and it looked like the afternoon race might go ahead – but a fresh torrent of rain and gusting wind put paid to any chances of the XR1200s getting out on track. So, it was back to the trucks for the bikes and the teams and time to head home.
Disappointing for us – but even more gutting for the teams, the event organisers and the fans who turned up and braved the deluge. Still, we are assured that the cancelled races will be rescheduled at future events and we’ll update the blog as soon as we know the dates.
As you'll see from the photo, Saturday's qualifying session was dry and bright and the action on track was competitive and great to watch.
However, the weather forecast was appalling, with heavy rain predicted for race day, but wet weather racing is always interesting, requiring subtly different skills - and some of the guys lower down the field after qualifying session reckoned they would be in with a good chance of some good points in a wet race.
Sadly it wasn't to be - during an early morning warm up session in heavy rain on Sunday, some riders put in only a couple of laps and as the bikes piled back into the Harley marquee to dry off, the older riders were shaking their heads at the conditions. There was a vote amongst the riders and the first race was cancelled.A couple of hours later the rain had lessened and it looked like the afternoon race might go ahead – but a fresh torrent of rain and gusting wind put paid to any chances of the XR1200s getting out on track. So, it was back to the trucks for the bikes and the teams and time to head home.
Disappointing for us – but even more gutting for the teams, the event organisers and the fans who turned up and braved the deluge. Still, we are assured that the cancelled races will be rescheduled at future events and we’ll update the blog as soon as we know the dates.
With the next round at Brands Hatch on 8th August there should be time for race leathers to dry out and we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed and praying for some dry weather.
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