Opening weekend at Melville

With Croft just the weekend before the bikes weren't even given a wash before the first of the Melville meetings (this is nothing out of the ordinary though in the case of 38).

Dave and Derek straight back out and Colin's first time out this season and with a shiny GSXR 600 K9 to play with as well as the Number "1" 400.

Qualifying first on the Sat morning and with all riders signed on and bikes scrutineered on the Friday night meant there was time for last minute tinkering and a chance to spectate (no so common).

In the 400's Colin blew the cobwebs off in style and qualified 1'st out the Ultra-light weight (irony in there somewhere :)) class, Derek 4th 400 and Dave the 10th 400.

With five races now it was pretty busy so in race one Colin finished 1st out not just the 400's but the ultra-light weight class, Derek 5th 400 and Dave in 9th (improving on both time and position in race one!).

 

Race two on the Sat and again Colin got an excellent start and race on the 400 that he's obviously feeling comfortable on. Meaning another ultra-light weight class win for the FatSpanner 400. Derek finished 4th with a PB time in the 1.07's and had a fun battle with Ross Wortley who came in a split second behind in 5th. Dave came in 6th with a great start and a competitive ride.

Sunday morning and the 400's not out till race six meant we had an easy going morning. Cup of tea, some toast and a wee read of the paper; then we can start racing.

Race three of the weekend for the 400's was reduced to eight laps due to a red flag but this didn't matter for Colin. Again another 1st in the overall ultra-light weight class. A rubbish start for Derek meant a 6th place for the number 38 rider and Dave just a couple of seconds behind in 7th place.

Race four and maybe Colin's beginning to get tired as the number "1" 400 could "only" manage an overall second to in the ultra-light weight class but still managed 1st 400. Derek was happy at getting his first ever prize money when coming in fifth 5th place and Dave working up to 7th.

Fifth and last 400 race of the weekend and was it going to be a clean sweep for Colin "Hutchy" Murry..... Aye. Not in the Ultra-light weights but in the 400's it was five first places over the weekend. As a bonus still leading the Ultra-light weight class too. Derek coming in 4th and Dave in 7th finishing with his fastest time of the weekend getting back in to the sub 1.10's

Superstock 600

For the Superstock 600 Colin's supplied his own update since I've been trying to catch up with the past few weeks. So after correcting the gramatical errors here it is.

Opening round of the Scottish Championships took place last weekend at a rather sunny East Fortune.

I was out for the first time on the GSXR600 having switched from the Triumph, but had not had time to sort out the gearing which was too tall for the circuit and I had no spare sprockets. What I found was that as long as I had a clear track then I could get decent times as this allowed me to run wide at corners and help ride around the gearing.

With a grid of 33 riders qualifying well was important and I came in from the session feeling like I had struggled, but much to my surprise I had qualified 2nd just 0.003 seconds of pole. That was to prove to be the high point of a bad weekend on the Suzuki!

Race 1 (Scottish Championship Round 1) - As I sat on the grid I realised I had never done a race start on the Gixer and as the lights went out I let rip and almost banged my face off the front wheel as it came flying up! By the time I got it settled I had lost a few places and by the end of lap 1 I was in 12th. As the race went on I managed to work back up to 4th before I out braked myself at Railways and took to the grass. Thankfully I managed to stay on, but again I had lost a lot of places and although I managed to grab a few back, I finished a disappointing 8th, but took heart from the fact that only the winner Roy Houston had lapped faster than myself.

Race 2 - Again a poor start, but again I managed to pick up a few places and ended up in a race by myself finishing 5th. With the race red flagged a couple of times; at least I was getting to practice my starts!

Race 3 - With this race running directly after the 400 race I was in of the circuit on the 400 and then straight back out on the 600 so I was buggered! Finally I managed to get a decent start, but then a red flag meant I had to do it all again. This time the start was ok, but I was too soft in the opening couple of corners and lost loads of places. Kept plugging away and managed to end up 7th.

Race 4 (Scottish Championship Round 2) - Another half decent start and by lap 3 I was in 4th and closing in on the lead group, but then it all went wrong! I tipped into Railways a little too tight and the crash bung hit the raised kerbing lifting the front wheel off the track and sending me sliding into the grass with the bike flipping over onto its other side just to maximise the damage

Race 5 - This was another back to back race with the 400 and after a lots of duct tape and a few parts swaps the Gixer made it out, but on the first lap I realised I could not get 5th or 6th gears! I decided to stay out and ended up 14th

Many thanks to those that made the effort to come and support us, Martyn, Robbie, Brian, Rob (thanks for the photo's), Jackie, Lauren, Isla and Jason your help is all equally appreciated.