The bird had hit the front of my fairing and then got properly wedged into the air intake. The carburettors had blood on them and the airbox was lined with the bird's remains! It was truly disgusting but we had to get it changed quick to get back out. It was funny because only in the morning I was saying how I’d some come so close to seagulls a few times but never actually hit one and then that happened!
I lost about 5-10 minutes due to that but then got back out and got on with it. The bike was again slightly better. I went faster during my first series of laps and then in my final turn with fresh tyres I did a 1min 35.7secs which was enough for 15th at the time but then got pushed back down to 17th at the end of the session.
I was still not comfortable with the bike but felt it was the best it had been so far all weekend so we decided we would race with it like that. I was reasonably confidant for the race because I knew that the qualifying 1 lap specialists would not last all 25 laps in the race.
On Saturday night we had a bit of a drama with The Beast! When I pulled up in the circuit car park in the morning I could feel it was soft and said we’re gonna be lucky if we get out of here tonight. Right enough, when we got back and tried to reverse out the wheels just spun!
We tried all sorts, wood under the wheels, going forward/reversing, pushing it but she wasn’t having it. Dieter was getting a lift home with me that night, I think he regretted asking! In the end we had to go and find some circuit marshals who had a 4x4 car with a bit of tow rope to drag us out.
First the guy connected the rope to the spare wheel hold and ripped the metal cage that was holding the wheel in and out dropped the wheel! Then he attached the rope to part of the chassis and we were in business and on hard ground! The van was proving nothing but trouble but good entertainment value!
Meanwhile, morning warm-up the next day would be steady as normal. After running in pistons I did a few laps to get a feel for the bike with a full tank and it seemed ok.
