Bad day at Matchams - ROWRACIN 030705

[oldboyonrgv]

After last weekends up and down weekend (more down than up though) Row was pretty convinced that he had Matchams sorted and was keen to try again. By the way we ended up 17th overall so it wasn’t as bad as we at first thought.

Well it didn’t turn out like that with 28th 29th and 34th places all that he could manage on the slippery and deep sand, after the second race I found him at the collecting area bawling his eyes out after dropping it at the second to last bend whilst in a strong 15th place (that really hurt both my wife and I) in the last race he started strong got stuck and then just rode around for a finish, he said after wards that he just didn’t want to crash again (I can’t blame him)

On the up side all of the top runners were there including some really fast visitors and until Row crashed he was in front of some of them and usually running in the top 15.
I spent some time talking to him after the meeting and reminded him that he was running against older stronger and more experienced boys, and that he has made a big step up this year, the problem is that he is so small and lightweight he doesn’t have enough strength to muscle it when it gets out of shape, I also said that its part of the game that you have good days and bad days and we had a bad un, by the time we got home Row was back to his old self so I don’t think any lasting damage was done to his confidence, I wish sometimes he wouldn’t put so much pressure on himself.

I don’t think that there is a meeting next weekend so we will probably take the weekend out and just have a run over to the practice track and let Row ride round with no pressure. I am going to re-build the bike this week so it will also give us chance to run the new parts in.

[phlat65]

man, I hate days like that
maybe a play day is in order

on a side note, my brother is moving back to England in 2 days
I am jealous.....

[oldboyonrgv]

He's got two lovely bruises on his thighs which look suspisously like the line a handlebar would make, apparently in one off he went out the front, thus the bruises !, we had a good laugh when we saw them last night, apart from that no bodily damage done. the bike however is another story, here's the list

Broken throttle assembly (probably due to the above exit)

Brake pads shafted (luckily I bought some new ones last week)

Chain and sprockets shafted (new ones orderd from B&C)

On stripping the top end off the engine I found that the piston and rings were knackered and a strange piece of metal embedded n the cylinder head, the piston was just starting to show signs of pickup and a similar shaped piece of metal was missing from the side), however the bore is fine and no signs of wear in the crank.

Front forks had one blown seal and signs of sand damage on the other (these are now with the suspension people being re-built - don't know the cost yet)

Looks like I have some hours to spend in the garage this week along with the old credit card taking another hammering.

We also found out that Hants and Dorset are running this weekend at Allington Lane (Eastleigh, Hants) so we will be racing again Sunday. Bang goes my easy weekend.

Bring it on.

[phlat65]

took riley to the honda shop with me this weekend to pick up some parts. he sat on the CRF50, and both feet touch the ground. won't be long now...