more images available at www.dcd-images.co.uk

The Norman Southgate memorial meeting came round at Fenlands last weekend and it was 2 days of racing for the Carvill family. I arrived on Saturday to watch and help out my brother who was racing in the vintage class on his 350cc pre 75 and 125cc post 1985 classes and our Dad was there helping also. These races were held on a track on the inside of what would be our racing track the following day. Steve did alright winning a few heats but engine trouble seen him miss out on the top prizes and took home 2 second places overall.
We camped over and in the morning got set up for what would be a really hot day, Dad was on good form in the kitchen! There had been some watering of the track on Saturday and at the time I didn’t think it was quite enough. Before racing began I spoke with a few riders and it looks like I have a passenger lined up to cover for Karl at our next meeting so that was a bonus! I walked the track, it was a good size with decent shaped bends and it looked like it would ride well but we only got a lap in practice before a clutch problem ended our ride. After some inspection it was concluded the cluch arm adjuster on the gearbox had moved. Fixed and with new clutch fibres we went for a second quicker practice, the bike felt good and the conditions were alright, but dust was already starting to get kicked up.

There was a bit of re-shuffling of the heats as a rider had dropped out so 8 crews would race in heats of 4. Our first heat was a tough one, made harder by not gating brilliantly. We found ourselves at the back behind Andy & Lora Kerrison, Ant Goodwin, and Dunn/Smith. But it was a good race, I tried a move on the inside of Kerrison but he closed the door, I had 1 eye (thru the dust) on Goodwin ahead and we went to the top corner not far apart. Andy held a tight but slower line, we went wide. Both of us were catching team Goodwin and going into the last lap I managed to power around Goodwin and Kerrison in the same corner, I was well pleased with the move!

We made an adjustment to the clutch and motor as I felt the bike was bogging down in the corners and I needed more revs. In heat 2 it was Simon Beard and new passenger Emily Coglan who held the lead and were looking really quick, we had another battle with team Goodwin and we made a similar move as before to take another 2nd place finish. Due to the dust the Clarke of the Course cut the laps down to 3 after this heat as watering wasn’t an option.

In our 3rd ride we came up against Dunn/Smith and Dean Norton who’d been making really good starts. However this time we gated better but couldn’t do anything about the speed that Dunn was carrying so another 2nd place finish. This gave us 3rd choice of gate in the final.

So in the final, we gated ok but Dunn, Beard and Goodwin all did better. Into the top corner and the dust was bad, I went wide to get some vision and down the back straight was ok. Dunn and Beard pulled away and would have there own battle for 3 laps, with Dunn/Smith having an unbeaten day at the end. So Into the bottom corner we went and I was totally blinded from Ants bike, and I mean blinded. I don’t think I could even see the front wheel so I eased off on the throttle kept turning left but didn’t know where we were in the corner! Eventually some dust cleared and we were on the outer edge of the bend, I saw Gary Southgate drive up the inside and boy was I frustrated! We had been quick all day and I felt we really could do something in this race but it suddenly felt like the chance had gone. Anyway I went for it, pushed really hard and kept us tight to the corners, we caught Southgate and passed him, getting a bit too close (sorry Gary) but it was the last lap and even though we caught up with Team Goodwin on the last bend it wasn’t enough – we could have done with an extra lap to have a go at getting past.

I suppose going home in 1 piece at the end of the day was more pleasing than the 4th place in the final! It was a good meeting on a nice sized / shape track, well run and organized but the dust again was an issue like it has been for a few clubs this year.

Thanks to my Bro and Dad for all there hard work in the pits and as usual Karl for hanging on so well. Also thanks Derek from dcd images for the great picture.

You’ll see what i mean about the dust from the movie of the final below!

.

Categories: Fenland GTC | Tags: |

1. sis says:

   August 7, 2011 at 2:29 pm

   omg dust, dust, dust! but on a plus point its so nice to see someone that spells their name the same as your neice does x