4th
I am so fucked today. Got sunstroke on friday - it was 33 deg out there! Sick as a pig all day saturday and qualified 13th in Q1 on 2:13, then 8th in Q2 on a 2:09, so got the last slot on the second row and a brolly dolly. Spent saturday night in bed with a raging fever, drifting in and out of it. Got home at 3.18am this morning and up with the kids a 6.30am. Felt a bit better on raceday (sunday) and luckily we weren't out until 12.40pm. The banana I had for breakfast did the trick - it was the first thing I'd eaten since friday. Got the holeshot in the race and was leading into the hairpin. p1 & p2 came past me on the back straight as I started riding like a wuss, then through followed p3 & p4. We only did another lap then it got red flagged. We restarted with 4 laps to run. On the restart I got another blinder but was 3rd into the first corner, then dropped back to 5th after riding like a wuss again. #91 came past me but it kicked me up the arse and I retook him at the next corner and got my brain into gear. Then #5 came past me and we spent the next 2 laps swapping places every corner. As we came into the chicane with 1 lap to go, we saw p3 and p4 slide off into the gravel, so suddenly we were on for 3rd and 4th. Tim (#5) was faster than me on the first section to the hairpin then I was faster than him through the back section. I sat behind him then took him at De Bult, the last left before the right-handers onto the back straight, hoping that my extra speed through the left kink at Winterdijk would give me enough space for him to make a dive into the chicane, but being on the inside line wasn't enough and he block-passed me on the kerbing! A very brave man indeed - it didn't work for Edwards last year! Was good fun and I seem to have found my racing mojo again after riding like a girl since Mallory. Fastest lap was a 2:07 in the race. Given that the Dutch club's fastest lap record on a 620 is 2:11, we didn't do too bad. FL of the race was Dom (#23) with a 2:01.9!! Looks like I need another set of sliders already though as my left is trashed and the right is halfway down. We've only done 5 races so far this season and I spent one of those on my arse.
Heh. See my reply to darsy, that was a struggle. I'm off back to bed. You only got this much cos the sister-in-law phoned and got me out of bed.
[snip race/sickness report] well done - sounds like you've got into the groove. Stay out of the sun next time...
I did stay out of the sun, but obviously not for long enough! Sunstroke is a bitch; it's like the worst hangover you've ever had combined with the worst case of food poisoning you've ever had and then throw in some sunburn, but worse. Still, at least I've got a nice tan.
Brolly dollies are provided!! I dunno, you kids have it far too easy, in my day you had to supply your own.
Concise. -- Dave GS850x2 XS650 SE6a Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the river cleaned out in a day.
