October 5thFinally we got the weather we came for! It was chilly first thing, but sunny, and it eventually got very toasty. The HPRA racingcontinued at the airport in the morning. I did a flying 200m on Bike Friday for a laugh - the two mile warm up was rather wasted on me, but I timed it about right and did about 34mph through the traps. The Smithsonian group who are making a kids film on hpvs wanted to have some riders with streamers on to show the airflow, so Tanya, Dave, Dean and I were duely taped up and rode up and down for the camera. Can you say "one more time"..... Then a crit course was laid out on the apron. Only eight competitors, but enough to make a race of it. We did a standing start indvidual timed lap first. I just pipped Steve Delair in his bagged Rotator by a tenth, with Warren Beauchamp close behind. In the ten lap race Steve and Freddy (in the Gold Rush) got into the lead, with me and Warren chasing. Whilst Steve just got Fred in a close contact sprint, I came off Warren's wheel with two to go and held him off to the end for third. And finally we did a last-man- out, with Freddy winning the faired after Steve crashed out, and me winning the unfaired. Then it was off to see the Germans for a quick video interview, and back to the hotel to pack up Mango ready for the trip home, before heading out to the course. Miles and I were chasing Andrea today, so went up to the start for the last time. Andrea set off, and we could just see her as a dot in the distance, when Miles said he thought she had moved to the left lane. This is the signal the Varna team uses to indicate that the rider has a problem, so I put my foot down so we could overtake her and be ready to catch. Turned out her chain had come off, which was a shame, but at least that was all. We stuffed the bike in the back and got down to the finish. We then got a ride up to the traps to see the second group come through. Very exciting. Sam came through at 81mph - a new world record, but unfortunately not enough for the decimach prize. Matt Weaver had more rubbing problems after falling over at the start and only came through at 53mph. The Bearacuda boys just failed in their bid for the tandem record with 68mph, but still had the third fastest time of the week. Of the others, Mackie got the Virtual Rush down at 60mph for a new junior record; likewise Tanya in the Gold Rush with 52mph. Ellen did 59mph in the WhiteHawk, whilst Guido (WhiteHawk designer) took Jan's slot and piloted the Blue WhiteHawk to 64mph. Sean did a good looking run, but there was a timing cock up and he didn't get a speed - they should be able to work it out from the video later though. Anyway, we are loading up to head off now, so I'll get this up; the pictures will follow soon. Overall it has been a great week, and we've got lots of ideas to go home with.... |
