Matt Bond, 05/05/06 – 06/05/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 2
Friday – Free Practice.
After Valencia I felt a lot more comfortable on the bike, and rolling down pit lane for the opening practice I definitely felt more confident and more able to keep up with the guys in the top half of the field. Out onto the track and from the exit of pit lane you can barely see the first chicane; the distance between the two is massive! A few laps in and I began to feel my way round the circuit and it was about four laps in when I realised just how fast the track really was. It was crazy just how quick the straights are! And most people think Thruxton is quick! Despite not catching a tow off any other rider for more than a few turns I was feeling quite good and began to push that little bit harder into each turn and then decided to see how late I could brake for the opening chicane. Needless to say I totally overshot and took to the service road, but at least I knew I had to brake before the 200 board! The rest of the session was fairly uneventful and returning to the pits I was fairly happy with everything and didn’t really need a huge adjustment of any part of the bike. Ending the session 23rd fastest was quite pleasing, despite I did hope to be higher up if I’m honest!
Friday – 1st Qualifying.
Qualifying was awful in a word. The weather decided to totally chuck it down, and despite my love for wet conditions, I just didn’t feel happy out there at all. The bike hadn’t been altered to the set up I requested and it was just almost un-ride-able. It eventually resulted in me high-siding out of the first chicane and landing on top of the bike, fortunately with no injury other than a bruised ego. It was annoying for me as I knew it wasn’t my fault, I hadn’t even got on the gas and the rear just decided to jump round on me. I had no feeling whatsoever to what the bike was doing. As I sat out most of the session on my arse I saw the entire field get faster and faster, leaving me outside the qualification maxima as a non-qualifier. Despite the major muck up I wasn’t too worried, knowing that there was another qualifying session on Saturday, where I’d get the chance to put in a decent time.
Saturday – 2nd Qualifying.
Unlike the previous day, the sun was out for qualifying and what a scorcher it was. I was riding harder than on Friday, but the times were just not coming and I just continued to stay down the bottom end of the field. I just couldn’t make up any extra time at any point on the track. Without a decent tow it was always going to be hard and I found that out, ending the session well down the grid in 29th place. It just seemed to me that I was losing out on the straights to every other bike out there. Later I realised it was just down to me, but at the time I think I just didn’t use my head properly. What was more annoying was that Daniel Beretta, who I was battling with at Valencia had managed to qualify in 13th place, over a second faster than what I managed!
Saturday – Race.
The plan for the race was a simple one, get away from the line well, be really careful not to get wiped out at the first few turns and then get a tow and pull through the field. It sounds easy, but at Monza, when you have groups of seven or eight bikes altogether for the first few laps, it’s far from simple. Anyways, the lights went out and I remember getting another good start (I have no idea how it keeps happening!) and jumped the row in front of me, only to look beside me and see Chris flying passed, the cheeky bugger! Up in front and all hell broke lose as five riders hit the deck, including championship leader Xavier Simeon. It was a case of sit up and beg through the opening turn, but I got through safely, with Chris right alongside. The next few turns were a bit of a blur as I just passed people left, right and centre on the brakes and through the opening lap in an attempt to get with the fast group just in front. It was all working perfectly until the end of lap 2 when the red flags came out. Someone had blown up round the back of the circuit and dumped oil everywhere and with Mathieu Gines still on the floor from the first corner incident, so the race director had no choice but to stop the race.
Gutted is one word I’d use to describe how I felt, but for Chris it was a different feeling, one of the gravel kind. He’d got taken out at the Parabolica, damaging the left of the bike, and had yet still managed to get it back to the pits! I was amazed to say the least! Seeing the team work on the bike so efficiently was reassuring and Chris’ desire to get back on and ride the thing, even if it was missing a foot peg was somewhat inspiring. Back onto the grid for the restart with a full field (minus Gines) we blasted off into turn one and this time we all got safely through, even though I had to take to the grass on the way out. The first lap was manic and everyone was jostling for a position at every turn. Thanks to another good start I made up a few places on the opening lap and entering the first chicane I took a huge distance out of the group in front. I was determined to pass all of them through the chicane, wrong idea! I got shoved back onto the grass and ended up losing a place. It didn’t take long to get back onto the bunch though and within a few laps I was back in with them, slipstreaming all the way down the main straight.
After a few more laps and at about half distance I had lost the tow and the guys behind began to catch me. It was about now that I began to get some major brake fade and became enthralled in a battle with Barry Burrell and some Italian. We swapped position at least three times a lap and I eventually found a way back through and began to break away, but it didn’t last long. With two laps left I had almost no brakes left and the lever was coming back to the bar every time I anchored up. Luckily I could balance it out with extra rear brake but soon the standard pads began to overheat and entering the last lap I lost two places on the brakes at turn one. As it happened I thought to myself just to follow them and out brake the two at the Parabolica, whether I had brakes or not I was going to beat Burrell and be top Brit, well that was the plan. I lined both Burrell and the Italian up coming into the Parabolica and pulled out of their slipstream just in time to see yellow flags being waved, bugger! With no way through I tried to out drag the duo to the line, but I couldn’t get any extra drive and ended up finishing third in our little group and 17th overall. The result was good, and once again I jumped 12 places from my grid slot and improved my lap time by well over a second and could still see the top ten as I crossed the finish. It was a relief to get back into the top half where I know I belong, and knowing that once we get the brake problem sorted I can challenge for points on a regular occasion. Hopefully Silverstone will see me get a decent qualifying and an even better result in the race!
Thanks to –
- MIST Suzuki Racing
- T&J Commercial Repairs
- Steve Jordan Motorcycles
- www.givemethekeys.com
- Racedays.Net
- Mike Edwards
- Steve & Sarah Jordan
- Alan Brown
- All the teams sponsors and supporters
- All my friends and family who watched back home on the internet!
- Mum and Dad, sorry I smashed the bike up but thanks for everything
NEXT UP SILVERSTONE, FIRST OF THE HOME ROUNDS!