07 Sept 2010 - Hello Gentle People,

It’s not only in the Gulf of Mexico that there are major oil problems. We have our own, right here at Killarney, not caused by BP or Exxon, but by Clubmans Class Cars. This has been an ongoing point of controversy for years, but bugger-all has been done to curb this potentially lethal class, and it’s not the first time we have had the second heat cancelled. It becomes really expensive to sit at the track all day and only race one heat of eight laps, and some only having 7 laps because of GP bikes doing 1m22s laps in the same race. No wonder there are a lot of riders out there who would rather do track days – mainly because they get far more track-time than the racers do!

I feel “skoon verlig” now that I’ve got that off my shoulders. On to the racing – We’ll start with Friday’s practice. A really warm and pleasant day with most getting in at least one practice session with thoughts of possibly pinpointing possible causes of slow lap times. Mine was pure mental rust, and lowered compression due to the re-use of well used piston rings. John “Konstabel” Kosterman ( if only people knew why “Konstabel” gets used) was very proud that nothing fell off his bike, and he had also got a mention in the Drive Times. I personally think it was still the afterglow of his legendary birthday last week. Tony Sparg shocked all and sundry standing close by, with his telephone manner, when some unsuspecting person dared phone him while at the race-track – be warned, don’t phone Tony at the track.

Saturday dawned cooler with clouds, but certainly no rain. The race faces were on for qualifying and all went out with purpose to try and get an edge. The lap times were a bit slower than usual due to a cold track and the first sprinkles of oil.

Aussie Mike on one of those new-fangled F800 bikes manged to do what few people before him have achieved, and that was to loose the front end through the Kink. Mike was still wondering if he was going to race when the Konstabel and Jeff (another IMOC member), had started on the battered BMW and the cannibalization of a donor F800 began. Before Aussie Mike could say “Tie me kangaroo down sport, I’m feeling romantic” the bike was ready for heat one. It’s my vote that John and Jeff get the “Spirit of the Day” award. I just wish Aussie Mike would learn not to bring that excuse of a torque wrench to the track, we know he can’t use it.

On to the race, and Konstabel Kosterman and Tony Jones were again locked in combat for the championship with the Sledgehammer Honda 1100R up against the Rapier Cagiva. The “take it by the scruff of it’s neck and shake it until it gives up” riding style of the Konstabel winning at the end of eight laps with Tony Jones a little behind. Tony Sparg was third on the Higgo Suzuki, having had a ride that became increasingly under threat from the frenzied antics of Casey “Jack Russel” Klipper and Jacques “Big Daddy” Lerm. Casey’s RZ 350 Yammie proving to be an ideal scalpel on the corners, to counter Jacques obvious horsepower advantage on the straights, where the CBX 6 was a delight to the crowds with that wonderful noise. Casey managed to get ahead of Jacques and started thinking of Tony Sparg as fair game, when he got carried away in Portman’s Folly (the chicane) and the little RZ 350 shook its head and took to the grass. I’m assured by onlookers that Casey’s eyes were as big as saucers in that Shoei. Jacques was still chuckling once everyone was back in the pits having taken 4^th place from Casey at the line. Bringing up the rear on the Kawasaki was yours truly, slightly more satisfied with knowing what the problem is at last, and it wasn’t the riders head (okay, I know it’s debatable), and I wasn’t beaten by a girl, on this occasion.

Remember that the next race is 23 October – no excuse for a late entry fee now! It’ll be interesting to see when we’ll get the promised 3 heats to complete the 4 September’s result. Best I start training now for the extra effort involved.   

The Gridmeister