Jenny's Journal
News and updates from Jenny
Oulton Park , Rd3 British Supersport Championship 2010
1st - 3rd May 2010
Practice
Both practice session went ok with no dramas and I set a time of 1:44.302 in the first session and 1:42.455 in the second session.
Qualifying
First Qualifying went really well, I went out to try and set a good time and got into the 1:42's but then got into a bit of traffic so decided to come in for the new rear tyre, I went back out and tried to put in a good lap with about 10 mins to go, I got in a bit of traffic again so backed off to get a clear lap which came right at the end on my last lap and I set a time of 1:41.263 to qualify in provisional 20th place.
Second qualifying didn't really go as planned, I kind of got messed up all through the session and messed myself up so I planned for a last lap banzi kind of thing at the end of the session like I got in first qualifying but the session was red flagged and with only 2mins left on the clock it was not restarted so I didn't manage to get in the lap I wanted and so ended up qualifying in 24th from my time in the morning.
Warm up
The warm up really well, I managed to get straight back down to my fastest lap time with a 1:41.3 lap and I was 16th quickest in warm up.
Race
There was drama at the start with rain on our warm up lap and the start was delayed as the heavens opened. We were given a 7minuet wet weather practice session and I set off to get used to what I knew would be slippery conditions, a bit too slippery as I found out when I lost the front just simply turning the bike thought the latter part of Hizzy's chicane! luckily the bike was ok I had just bent the left hand clip on in a bit but it wasn't that bad that I couldn't carry on with the practice so I stayed out to complete the full 7mins practice.
The race was declared wet and it was wet enough for the wet tyres even though it had stopped raining. After crashing in similar conditions last year when I was in a mega position I decided I was going to take it steady to begin with and gradually build pace and let the race come to me rather than getting all excited like I did last year and binning it!
I took it a bit too steady at the start but wasn't too concerned as I really quite like the dodgy conditions and new I could go a lot faster when everyone had sorted themselves out, I knew there would be loads crashing so I just concentrated on doing my own thing and staying on board this time.
The safety car came out about 5 laps into the shortened 12 lap race and we all bunched up, at the restart I had a bit of a plan to push on and try and get through some riders. I had a mega race I first got passed Chris Martin, then Mark Cringle and finally Marty Nutt on the last lap through the Hizzy Esses and held onto it to the line to finish in 9th overall and 2nd in the cup! I was made up its my best ever finish and to get on the Cup podium was fantastic. I paid the price last year when I fell off in similar conditions and I learnt a lot from that, to stay calm and take my time as its a long race.
I am mega chuffed for everyone in my team, Brad, Mum and Dad, Fergus from Sorrymate.com, Martin and all my sponsors who where there at the weekend, I always hope for a good result at my home round but I know Oulton is a hard track and after the disappointment of last year here it was really great to get a good result!
Thanks to absolutly everyone who sponsors, supports and helps me!!! thank you!!
Thruxton, Rd2 British Supersport Championship 2010
16th - 18th April 2010
1st Practice
First practice went ok, it’s the first time I’ve ridden a 600 round Thruxton and the last time I was here I was on my 125 in 07 so the plan was just to get a feel for the 600 around the track and to make sure everything was ok with the motor after the rebuild since my race in the Wirral 100 last Saturday. I finished the session in 29th with a lap time of 1:21.723.
Second practice
Second practice was also good with no dramas and I finished the session in 25th with a time of 1:20.374
Qualifying
I got through both qualifying session with no dramas, just trying my best to improve my times, we wanted to change the gearing for second qualifying to give me a gear for the first corner and more revs up the long back straight but not wanting to risk messing up the gearing for the other corners we opted for the safe option and stayed with the same gearing with a plan to try it in warm up. I finished off in 26th with a time of 1:18.937
Warm up
We tried the gearing in warm up taking two teeth off the rear sprocket and it seemed much better so we stayed with that for the race.
Race
The race went really well I made a good start and got right in the pack and managed to get past two riders somewhere in the mellay.
The first few laps were a bit all over the place as you’d expect being in amongst a bunch of riders with allsorts of argy bargey going on, but as it settle down a few laps in I found myself in a four way battle I managed to stay in 3rd in the group and to be honest I didn’t know if the fourth rider was on my tail, some places I thought I could hear someone but I was just concentrating on the two in front, I learnt a lot and I was a lot faster around the left of Noble but I just couldn’t sneak past.
We were hassling each other going into the last chicane during the race and it came down to a last lap battle into there, I knew I could get on the gas earlier around Church than the two in front and I got good drive and pulled alongside both of them up the hill towards the braking piont for the last chicane, we all tried to out brake each other but I lukily had the inside line and just managed to sneak through, in doing it a missed one downshift going in and came out the chicane in too higher gear and I had rubbish drive onto the straight but I just managed to stay infont by 0.002 of a second!! to finish in 18th and 4th in the cup.
It was a great race I really enjoyed it and I was mega chuffed to nick pass the two riders in front that I had been battleing with all race. I’m really looking forward to Oulton in two weeks and have to say a massive thanks to everyone who has helped me race this year!! Thank you!! And a special thanks to Brad who worked all weekend with a broken ankle!
Brands Hatch Indy, Rd1 British Supersport Championship 2010
2nd - 5th April 2010
Friday 1st Practice
First practice went ok, it chucked it down with rain about an hour before we were due out, so we put in the wets and changed to the wet settings we tried at Alcarras in Spain and they seemed to work well, the bike felt great and even though the wets were a bit old and well used they still felt pretty good, my quickshifter gave up pretty much straight away in the wet conditions, so we disconnected it and I went back out and ended the session in 6th place.
Saturday Second practice
Second practice was dry and ok but not so great, I tried on my new kit and the boots are bigger than my old ones and I kept missing gears despite a quick pit stop to move the lever, so I came back in and swapped back to my old trusty reliable boots and went back out, I did ok getting to a 49.3 but the tyre went off pretty quick with 15mins to go but I just stayed to try and get used to the bike sliding and to practice some things so pretty rubbish really a 49.3 but hopefully things will be better with a new tyre in first qualifying.
Saturday 1st Qualifying
Everything went ok in first qualifying, it was dry and the bike felt great, it was loads better with some new rubber and I ended the session in 23rd place with a 48.242 lap which was a second faster than last year so I was happy enough
Sunday 2nd Qualifying
I completely balls up second qualifying, I went out with a plan to do 15mins then come in and change tyre and try to go for it for the last ten mins which is about as long as the tyre would last anyway. I came in a bit early as I was getting messed up in traffic so thought it was better to catch my breath a bit then go out for the last 10mins as planned, but it started to spit with rain just a lap after I had gone back out and wrecked any hopes I had of going faster. I ended up 26th overall from the time I did in first qualifying.
Monday Race
Well I kind of messed up the race as well, gutted, I made a mega start and got passed 5 riders off the line but started to get held up by two riders who where letting the group in front get away, I was kind of settling in behind them planning the best way to get passed when I got passed myself, it kind of threw my concentration and a few others riders got through as well and just completely messed me up, the red flag came out on lap 22 and the race was over before I knew it, I was gutted really as looking back I should have been a bit more attacking and pushed pass the two in front straight away instead of waiting, and then I might have been able to stay with the group in front that were running at a faster pace, but I kind of messed it up and I was gutted but lesson learned!!! I finished the race in 24th and I got 10 points in the cup so all was not lost, but I was still gutted and I just can’t wait for Thruxton now in two weeks!!
Sorrymate.com Spanish Test
3-6th March 2010
Alcarras Circuit Spain sorrymate.com 3 day test
Well after a long and cold winter I've have my first warm test session with three days in Spain. First of all I have to say a HUGE thank you to Fergus at Sorymate.com and Adrian for funding this trip!
I have tested our new sorrymate.com sponsored CBR600RR once at Oulton Park but the track temperature was a mere 1 degree so I was really chuffed to be given the opportunity to go to Spain for three days. We left on Tuesday the 2nd of March and flew out to Barcelona then drove down to Llieda just 20 mins or so from the Alcarras Circuit.
Our first day on track was damp and then wet but it was still relatively warm and it was good to try some wet settings on the new bike. I went out on drys to start off with as the track was only damp but as it rained a little harder at lunch I then switched to the wets and we tried some new wet weather suspension settings, they seemed to work well and I felt pretty comfortable on the new bike.
The second day was better with sunny skies, the track was still a little damp but was fully dry by lunch time and it was great to have a proper blast on the bike for the first time, I felt really happy on it and it was really apparent how much better the chassis is compared to my old bike it dropped into turns much easer and it holds its line so much better.
I took a stock of old tyres with me and was soon munching my way through them as the track is super abrasive, only really getting one session out of the tyre before it was gone but I used them for two session to get used to riding on an old tyre with the bike moving around. I set a slightly better time than last year by the end of the day with a high 1:41 lap, I managed 1:42s last year after a full 3 dry days on track so I was pretty happy to get to 1:41’s without really trying too hard.
The third day was the best with a fully dry and warm track all day, I set off again mainly to try new things with the bike, I was mega happy with the suspension set up so it was manly improvements to myself and to adjust my riding to suit the new characteristics of the bike, it has much better brakes than my old CBR and turns so much quicker so it was good to adjust some things and just see how far I could push it.
Fergus bought me a new tyre for the last session and I managed a 1:40.8 lap, which had been my target for this test and I was really happy that when I wanted to go fast I could relatively easily. Overall it was a mega three days testing, it was really good to get used to the bike and try new things, I had a bit of wet practice, proper dry practice and even had a wee slide off it on Friday pushing the front a bit to much. The bike feels really great and I’m really looking forward to getting back out on it in at a UK track.
I'll hopefully get in a bit more track time before the first BSS round at Brands so I'll let you know how things are gettting on.
All the best for now.
