Round 9 Donington Park

A track that you don't know isn't the best place for a comeback to racing but you got to start somewhere.The weather was perfect but I was a complete bag of nerves from when I woke up until the start of practice,hardly saying a word to anyone.Feeling a bit better after that but still not very confident I gave up my 5th place on the grid to start at the back for the Quali race which suited me fine and meant I didn't get in the way of the quick lads.It went OK,not taking any risks and just getting a feel for things like when to brake ,change gear and which line to be taking,all of which I messed up at some point of the race.At the finish I'd made up a couple of places which put me in 22nd place for the 600cc B final which was OK seeing every race that day had a full grid of 40 riders but this also meant that we wouldn't be back on track until 6.30pm.Just before our final there was a serious accident on the start line which got the nerves going again but they vanished as soon as I lined up with Matt Curtis right behind me and looking to kick my arse.Got a good start but wasn't aggressive in the first corner and lost the places back.Had a steady ride but had to speed up a bit when Caroline Shaw showed me her front wheel,good job because Matt was right behind me and we crossed the line 10ths of a second apart.Just need to get some track time in now to try and get back up to speed.In the video check out the bike crashing out at Craner's on the first lap.

Slipper clutch mod

Those that know will probably agree,the standard slipper clutch on the R6 is crap!the back wheel skids,skips and hops its way into corners which doesnt do much for the confidence and is part of the reason I crashed at Pembrey earlier this year.I been reading up on the mod that Andy Hayes told me about which involve removing a Y washer in the clutch basket,others say remove the tabs on two Y washers but this has the risk of the tabs breaking off so sod that.The option I'm going for is,leave the first one in standard,cut 6mm from the tabs on the second in and cut 12mm from the tabs of the last one.This gives a bit of strength to the remaining Y washer but lets the clutch slip away like a good un.It turned out to be quite an awkward job getting the center post to fit back into the cover,I had to dangle a bit of lock wire down through the filler hole which is great untill nearly poking my eye with it!.Hope its worth the hassle of doing it, I'm doing a track day at Donington on Thursday so will report back.