Cadwell Test 27th July 05

Most of the BSB paddock attended the official test at Cadwell on Wednesday 27th; it was a public test but seemed to be some confusion with many of the public thinking it was evening only.

It was 9am to 5pm as usual just like a proper job…. Well almost anyway!

Many people have asked if I will be riding the Hydrex Honda for the remainder of the racing season? They would like me to and are finalising a budget to finish the season with myself alongside their current rider Kieran Clarke. In the mean-time it’s still unclear if the Dienza Performance team have secured backing to finish the 05 BSB season as they also want my services to finish the season.

For the short-term future I will be testing the Hydrex Honda here at Cadwell and next Tuesday at Silverstone after competing at Castle Comb Grand National this weekend for Honda Racing on a Karl Harris Fireblade!

Rain was forecast later in the day so we set to work on finding a good base setting on the Hydrex Honda. Three one hour sessions gives the team precious time to make big changes in between sessions.

Session one I was second quickest behind Leon Haslam, not really too bothered about outright lap-times so long as we’re in the ball park here at Cadwell.

Session two we changed some geometry on the Fireblade to give me an idea of the difference in feel now rather than wasting time over a race weekend. Didn’t lap any faster but was comfortable & learnt a great deal after not really spending much time on the Honda this season.

Session three was a different story; we’d changed many settings and still had two more rear shock settings to test but needed to do that on new rubber! I started the session on an old tyre with a changed steering off-set with the intention of pitting for a new tyre to test my first shock….. the lap before I was going to pit was the only shock I was going to get on this test.

As I changed direction at the famous “Gooseneck” the rear lost grip high-siding me down the hill into the tyre-wall! It really hurt for a few minutes and knocked every bit of wind out of me, fortunately though no real injuries!

Weird crash really as I didn’t feel to be accelerating hardly but it was clearly rider error…. Or too much throttle to be exact?

With no spare bike that was the end of that test anyway and fortunately the Honda wasn’t damaged too badly!

Next stop Castle Combe!