As first alternate, if anyone fails to make the startline i can take their place. It means I've to sit behind the start waiting like a vulture for someone to fail.
As it happens they did as well. The 3rd pair of riders; Dave Buttery vs Alexander Rose, Dave was unable to get the bike to burnout and stalled twice. I had my bike running and in the burnout box as soon as it was clear but i didn't get to run. The starter decided that Alexander in the right hand lane, had waited long enough and he was allowed to go on his own. At the time i didn't understand what was going on and had to ask the race director what had happened. Anyway......
The first round of eliminations looked like this:
Alan Young vs Ivan Birch - Ivan won with a 7.48
Stuart Crane vs Sandra Chaplain - Sandra won with a 8.63
Dave Buttery vs Alexander Rose - Alexander won on a bye
Phil Leamon vs Nick Holland - Phil won with a8.58
After a running from the end of the grandstand to the startline i managed to capture the next round of eliminations with my video camera.
The line up was as follows
Phil Leamon vs Ivan Birch - Ivan won with a 7.62
Sandra Chaplain vs Alexander Rose - Alexander won with a 8.41
I'd packed up and headed off home before the final so didn't get to see it, but it went like this:
Alexander Rose vs Ivan Birch - Ivan took it with another great 7.48
Ivan was the only rider to post sub 8 second times.
On Sunday afternoon Roger Upperton turned up with a new back tyre for the bike. I still don't think i need to fit it, but when i do it's there. I've not met Roger before, and after all the help he's given me whilst building the bike it was good to be able to say hi and of course - quiz him some more about various stuff!
One of the things that came to light was the possibility that i hadn't correctly armed the nitrous system on the last run and thats why it hadn't come on. I have a switch with a flip down cover to arm the nitrous. It stops it being turned on accidentally but also makes it easy to shut off. I remember flipping the cover but theres a chance i forgot to flip the switch as well, at least thats what i hope it was because i can't find fault with it.At the moment the bike has had all it's wiring
pulled off. I decided that if I'm going to have to buy a new nitrous controller then i want to give it the best chance of surviving and so I'll mount it in a place less likely to suffer vibration and electronic interference. It's going to go right at the front of the bike inside the headlight shell.So rather than adapt the wiring I'm going to start again. However ... i used every last penny getting to the sumer nationals so it could be a while before i have the cash to buy a new controller. All i can do is put the wiring in place so it's ready.
Ryan at Schnitz racing contacted me to say he had heard about the box failing and put me in touch with Nick at Schintz. It does seem however that it is irreparable. So instead they have offered me a newer, all singing all dancing model as a replacement at a truly tempting price.
I don't need many of the features of that model, so if i can't get the money together i'm going for one of the simpler 2 dial versions.
Mr Upperton also talked me into trying to set the clutch up so I've taken 3 springs completely out. Not very technical really but i can try it and see what happens when i drop the clutch. From that i can work out where to go next.
The problem really is getting to test it. I don't want to leave it until the next race as it's ages off and i would prefer to qualify next time.
Theres a Straightliners event in at an airfield in Kirkbride, Cumbria on the 2nd and 3rd of august, so if at all possible I'll go to that and get some testing done.
I had put off taking the clutch cover off thinking what a pain it would be dropping the oil out, but if you lean the bike just slightly to the left all the oil runs to that side and you can take the cover off without the oil spilling at all. Sorted!
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