Zimbo's Desmodue report from Castle Coombe

Zimbo · 31-07-2007, 11:36 AM

The first official outing of the Dukes of Havoc Road Race team!

I had taken part in the Monster Owners Club trackday at Mallory Park on Friday, taking both the DD bike and my road 900 monster. The DD bike was ready for a new set of tyres, being half way through the season, so I had them changed at Mallory and did a couple of sessions to get them scrubbed in ready for Castle Coombe, completing the day on my road bike.
I was fairly tired when I got home and had an early start on Saturday to get to Castle Coombe so I didn’t bother unloading the road bike (deciding it would make a useful paddock bike at the circuit!), I simply threw all the extra equipment needed for the race weekend (Gazebo, cooking facilities, mattress / duvet etc) on top of the bikes and set off for Castle Coombe at 6 am Saturday morning. It was lovely and sunny on arrival though the grass was pretty wet. I found a large clear patch of soggy grass and staked our claim on it, parked up, unloaded the bikes and equipment and started putting up the lightweight gazebo I had brought whilst waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.
Gilps finally turned up just before eight along with Scrumpster and Chappers, by which time I was sat comfortably in my deck chair waiting for the tea to arrive. Harriebird wasn’t going to make this one, she was stuck home in bed back in Essex with some nasty bug or other.
We got Gilps unloaded, then climbed into our leathers and started the long trek to the scrutineering shed, pushing the bikes up the long hill (scrutineers tend to object to being presented with a hot bike to inspect, and if you burn your scrutineer the chances of your passing are minimal!!). Having passed on both bike and clothing we needed to subject the bikes to noise testing (something Castle Coombe is very strict on, max 105 dB at 4200 rpm) and then signed on at Race Control.
Entries were down for this round (possibly as a result of many injuries at the previous few rounds!) so the two classes (620 injected and 583 carb) were being combined on a single grid, 23 620 class A bikes and 20 583 Class B. This would mean starting well back on the grid as the 620s are much faster, around 63bhp compared to our 50.

Untimed practice was just after 10, half a dozen laps to get used to the circuit. Fuelled up, tyre pressures checked, I took this session very easy, not wanting to crash this early! The circuit is very fast and very bumpy, I had geared the bike for the long straights on 15/45 and I wanted to see how it was on circuit. All seemed well, one crasher but it wasn’t me so I wasn’t at all worried! Time for breakfast!
Timed practice (Qualifying) was just after 12, went a bit faster this time to try to get a good grid slot. Not fast enough though, I found myself 31st on the grid, back on row 8, on a 1.34. Must try harder. At least I was back home safe, unlike fast boys Dom Clegg and Ali Knight who both threw it down the road during the session. Ali’s bike was a bit messy, the 600S fairing pretty much disintegrated and front wheel damaged, turns out he’s broken a rib earlier in the week and was feeling sore to start with! Ali had gone into the back of one of the class A bikes, putting the rider out with a broken collarbone, so that was his weekend over along with the next round at Donington.

31-07-2007, 11:36 AM	#1
Zimbo Too much time on my hands member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Stonehouse, Glos Bike: Multiple Monsters Posts: 2,085	Zimbo's Desmodue report from Castle Coombe The first official outing of the Dukes of Havoc Road Race team! I had taken part in the Monster Owners Club trackday at Mallory Park on Friday, taking both the DD bike and my road 900 monster. The DD bike was ready for a new set of tyres, being half way through the season, so I had them changed at Mallory and did a couple of sessions to get them scrubbed in ready for Castle Coombe, completing the day on my road bike. I was fairly tired when I got home and had an early start on Saturday to get to Castle Coombe so I didn’t bother unloading the road bike (deciding it would make a useful paddock bike at the circuit!), I simply threw all the extra equipment needed for the race weekend (Gazebo, cooking facilities, mattress / duvet etc) on top of the bikes and set off for Castle Coombe at 6 am Saturday morning. It was lovely and sunny on arrival though the grass was pretty wet. I found a large clear patch of soggy grass and staked our claim on it, parked up, unloaded the bikes and equipment and started putting up the lightweight gazebo I had brought whilst waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Gilps finally turned up just before eight along with Scrumpster and Chappers, by which time I was sat comfortably in my deck chair waiting for the tea to arrive. Harriebird wasn’t going to make this one, she was stuck home in bed back in Essex with some nasty bug or other. We got Gilps unloaded, then climbed into our leathers and started the long trek to the scrutineering shed, pushing the bikes up the long hill (scrutineers tend to object to being presented with a hot bike to inspect, and if you burn your scrutineer the chances of your passing are minimal!!). Having passed on both bike and clothing we needed to subject the bikes to noise testing (something Castle Coombe is very strict on, max 105 dB at 4200 rpm) and then signed on at Race Control. Entries were down for this round (possibly as a result of many injuries at the previous few rounds!) so the two classes (620 injected and 583 carb) were being combined on a single grid, 23 620 class A bikes and 20 583 Class B. This would mean starting well back on the grid as the 620s are much faster, around 63bhp compared to our 50. Untimed practice was just after 10, half a dozen laps to get used to the circuit. Fuelled up, tyre pressures checked, I took this session very easy, not wanting to crash this early! The circuit is very fast and very bumpy, I had geared the bike for the long straights on 15/45 and I wanted to see how it was on circuit. All seemed well, one crasher but it wasn’t me so I wasn’t at all worried! Time for breakfast! Timed practice (Qualifying) was just after 12, went a bit faster this time to try to get a good grid slot. Not fast enough though, I found myself 31st on the grid, back on row 8, on a 1.34. Must try harder. At least I was back home safe, unlike fast boys Dom Clegg and Ali Knight who both threw it down the road during the session. Ali’s bike was a bit messy, the 600S fairing pretty much disintegrated and front wheel damaged, turns out he’s broken a rib earlier in the week and was feeling sore to start with! Ali had gone into the back of one of the class A bikes, putting the rider out with a broken collarbone, so that was his weekend over along with the next round at Donington.