Snetterton 300

We set off for Snetterton really determined to make up for a dismal Silverstone... and goodness what a great weekend we had!
 
The new Snetterton circuit is now a mile longer making it 3 miles long and one of the longest in England. And MSV have done an absolutely cracking job. They have now made it into a great circuit for everyone... riders, teams and as importantly for spectators, with raised bunds at various strategic viewing points that make it a real spectators circuit. With the additional quite technical infield section (behind the restaurant) and its extra turns and hairpin, this has brought an interesting complexity to what was previously, apart from Russells, a high speed circuit with mainly a battle of top speed for the straights.
 
We were blessed with sunny, very hot and sometimes overcast skies. On several occasions it felt as though a thunderstorm was imminent, with storm flies everywhere, but it held off and all three days remained dry. The bugs were incredible and every time the bikes came back in helmets, screens and fairing were plastered. Thank heavens for Arai's sterling help and a patient team!
 
On Friday we had practice and qualifying, and with the fine weather, we were able to focus all our concentrate on the bike's set up. As Piers began to really get into the swing of it, his lap times started to fall and his feedback allowed the team to get to grips with the suspension and gearing and nick further 10ths of here and there. By the end of the day we were 8th on the grid for the T3R. A big improvement on Silverstone and his 23rd position.
 
However on Saturday, first we had to run the cancelled Silverstone race and so Piers knew with his much more competitive Snetterton lap times that he had a chance to get a reasonable result if he could get through the pack. And indeed he did finishing 9th before he ran out of laps to progress further - but what was thrilling was he suddenly found another half second saving under race conditions. The next race due late on Saturday, was based on the Snetterton 8th qualifying position. What a cracker it was - Piers managed to get yet another second out of lap times and although he finished in 8th, it could so easily have been higher as 5th/6th/7th and 8th positions final race results was cover by just 200th of a second - and 7th and 8th just 7000th! But with his lap time he would start the race in 6th on Sunday.
 
On Sunday after warm up, for the first time Piers entered the Superstock race to try out some further adjustments to the forks to help the stock bike turn faster. Although he started in a lowly 38th place because of his slower Friday lap times, he was up to 27th when the race was red flagged. It was restarted but two laps later it was red flagged again, but it had allowed Piers to test the new set up and feel confident for the next T3R encounter.
 
The final T3R race was immediately after the first Superbike race. The American national anthem, seemed to go on for ever as Piers sat on the grid waiting for his warm up lap to start! The race was a complete resumption of the tussle on Saturday evening, until Piers managed after 4 laps to break the tow of the others and produced a stunning lap of nearly a second faster in doing so. The team were absolutely delighted for him - what a great weekend he had...

...and as you can imagine this really did turn out to be the excillerating weekend that we had hoped for at Silverstone!
 
Next up - Brands Hatch (5th - 7th July). Once again its going to be another interesting weekend - and a bit quirky with practice and a race on the Indy circuit on Friday - than Saturday and Sunday racing on the GP circuit....