Oulton Park 18th April 09

With Liam (Corky) out of action due to a broken bone in his hand from a crash in March at Anglesey, it was down to five FJ Racers to take on the Forgotten Era.

Back on the seen for the Oulton races was the 2006 champion Dennis Sholicar riding his super fast Ex-up.

Race 5; Forgotten Era; Grid position race

After the warm lap up we lined up on the front row, Dennis 1st, Tony Rainford on some old Triumph 2nd (don’t ask me what he was doing there), me 3rd and Steve Cave 4th. Both me and Steve Cave had massive wheelies off the line but I manage to get to the first corner, from their I lead for the first lap. The plan was to let Dennis pass and follow him to see what challenge his was going to give me, so I was short shifting at 8500 revs, a full 1000 revs short of the red line. It worked and by the second lap Dennis had passed. I followed him for the remaining of the lap noting that I had perhaps a bit more corner speed but Dennis was quick out of the bends. By Druids the red flag was out and we at to form up back on the grid again.

After what seemed a long time we was told, one warm up lap and four race laps. Shit! Would my bike make it with my 6 litres so I at to make another plan. So long as I was on the front row it gave me a chance for the main race, so after again leading into the first bend I backed off trying to keep the revs to just 7k. It wasn’t long before Dennis and Cave had passed me but as I looked behind Steve ‘Who’ was gaining, so after a blip I manage to pull away from him. I was gently dragging my bike around praying the bike wouldn’t run out of fuel. On the last lap along Island Bend I noticed Dennis was coasting (he had ran out of fuel) so across the line went, Steve Cave 1st, me 2nd, Who 3rd, Thrush was 6th, Mura 7th.

Luck less Giles ‘Toad’ had to pull in due to a massive oil leak from the sump. It was traced to a centre sump bolt vibrating out, the drain bolt is still wired locked in, thank god!

Race 12a; Forgotten Era Championship and Trophy race.

Dennis was place 20th on the grid but knowing Dennis was a demon starter it wouldn’t be long before he was up to the front. The plan was to do a ‘Stoner’ and lead from the front. From the first bend I didn’t look back and kept my head down knocking out some quick laps. By lap four I looked back exiting Shells and notice Steve Cave was just entering Shells so I had a safe margin but I could see Dennis was gaining on him. As it worked out Steve Cave and Dennis had a battle on and in Cave own words “Bastard! I got past Dennis on the brakes and should have done him to the line but my Lorenzo impersonation ruined that plan. After downloaded the telemetry off the data logger, apparently it was a traction control problem.”

Told you these Ex-up are high tec.

So I won by 9 second to Dennis who got 2nd.

‘Who’ had a fantastic race clocking a seriously fastest lap of 1;56.7 to make a 3rd.

‘Thrush’ was a super hero by getting third. Remember he had not even ridden around Oulton prior to the track day on the Friday where I showed him around, let alone it was his second race on the FJ Racer, and to make him even more of a hero, he did it on my old 2006 spec engine.

‘Toad’ due to him being placed right at the back of the grid because of his DNF, made a gallant recovery to make a 6th placing in the race and 5th in our class.

‘Mura’ was only slightly behind by 1 second to take 7th, again must be pointed out this is only his fourth race and had cut 2 seconds off his lap times from the last time he was here. So a great result for him.

Power Bike Race;

To gain experience we all enter the Power Bike aka ‘Axe Murders’. This sharpens are skills to dice with the fast guys. Its great fun and the best we did was my 17th place out of a grid 29th.

April 18th – Oulton Park; Round 2:

1st Philip Hacker

2nd Dennis Sholicar

3rd Steve 'Who'

4th Nick 'Thrush'

5th Giles 'Toad'

6th Steve 'Mura'