Machine munchin Matchams - ROWRACIN 260605

[oldboyonrgv]

The Miller bandwagon rolled into Matchams park looking resplendent in their new Iveco racetruck on Saturday evening after a somewhat fraught week of getting to Northern Ireland to pick it up, get it home and then adapt the rear garage to accommodate Rows race bike and all the paraphernalia which goes with it, this was all duly accomplished by Sat morning with many thanks to ‘big’ Granddad (I couldn’t have done it without you mate), We set up the pit area and settled down to a good nights sleep and hopefully a good days racing.

Race day

Row had a walk around the track with his big Sis and cousin Sam (who races in the 85cc group), the track was used two weeks previously for the MXGP so we knew it would be mega, however this is the first time Row has raced the 65 round here and on deep dry sand so it should be a good learning experience for him.

Practice.
Well Rowee set off fine and flew into the first right hander into the soft sand and he lost it big time, I didn’t see what happened but witnesses say that both he and the bike cartwheeled a couple of times with the bike landing upside-down. Row was left laying on the side of the track holding his now injured leg, he took a little time and then got back on the bike and completed the lap, I meanwhile unknowing of the crash was wondering what had happened, by the time I got to the area where the crash happened he had already carried on, practice finished and I met him back at the collecting area, I could see that he was in a lot of pain and shaken up (not to mention more than a little angry!), he told me all about the crash and was having difficulty walking on the leg. Back at the van we got his boot off and flexed his leg to check for any real damage and apart from wincing a bit we could tell that nothing major had been done; I asked Row if he wanted to pack up and call it a day and he said NO!

RACE1
Despite now complaining of a bad neck along with the dead leg , Row lined up for the first race (you can’t stop him when he’s in the mood and he was really in the mood!), he got off the line in the main group and completed the first lap without any drama’s then lost it on a really steep downhill corner and was stuck, no marshals were close and despite his best efforts it cost Row nearly a lap , once going again he pulled some back but to be honest so many were falling off it was a lottery where you came and impossible to tell where he was in the race, Row completed the race with one more off right in front of me. 22nd was his final position (34 on the grid).

Row gets back to the pits and has a good moan about the slower riders getting in his way!! But he does say he’s worked the track out and should bet faster from now on (I just want him to complete the day in one piece)

RACE2
Hop along Row gets himself down to the start compound ready for the race and the temperature is now soaring I stand by with my water spray constantly spraying him down to try to keep him as cool as I can, the track is also baking and the sand is really dry and deep, Row gets a better start and I count him through in 12th after the 1st lap another couple of off’s during the race see’s him complete it in 17th place and a reasonably happy boy returns to the pits, he’s still moaning about slower riders baulking him so I tell him he will have to ride a slower line to get past em.

RACE3
Gate drops and Row hits the throttle and runs into another rider who is busy having his own crash! Row just helped him along a bit, I run up behind Row and get him going again, he disappears in 2nd to last place into the first bend and promptly bins it again, he sets off again now in last place, once again it’s a lottery with riders falling off and abandoning, but Row keeps plugging away and with no more offs finishes the race and the day’s activities. We think he climbed up to 14th place but will have to get that confirmed.

Not one of our best days, I think the practice crash knocked a lot of the race out of Row and it took the rest of the day for him to get the confidence back to attack the course (thus the subsequent crashes) I am just glad he finished the day in one piece.

So its back to Matchams again this weekend, I have offered Row the option and he wants to race there again! He say’s he’s got it worked out now.

[phlat65]

I hate when I have an off day. at least he got through in 1 piece though...

[oldboyonrgv]

Pics from Sunday

Here's one of the set up, the bike in the middle is Rows cousins Kx85 with my sis sitting down and her husband in the truck, I am sitting on the right (obscoured) and Row has the back of his head to the camera



Here is Row in 5th place after the first bend (same he didn't stay there)



And finally Row in full flight, dodgy leg and neck as well !