MCN's club racer reports

For the 2006 season, club racer Nigel Baines is reporting on his racing exploits, riding an FZR400RR. Our first report in March, 2006 covered his preparation. Unfortunately a technical problem delayed the first race report, which you can now read on page two of this story. And we catch up with him now at the first of four visits to the Oulton Park circuit on April 22, 2006.

“This was to be my first of 4 race meetings at Oulton Park this year and only my 3rd visit to the circuit after racing there twice last year.
For this meeting we were lucky enough to have a pit garage to work from which made us feel like a professional team (which we are of course)! The weather was great on Friday evening and the forecast was good for race day, Saturday 22nd April, which was a huge improvement from the weather we suffered at Anglesey in the first round . Got the bike scrutineered on Friday evening and had a lie in on Saturday morning until 7:45! Rolled out for practice at about 10 and after only 3 laps the red flags were out and our session was cut short, which wasn’t ideal, but everything seemed o.k.
We were out in the first race of the day which was our Qualifier and consisted of 28 400’s and 12 125 machines and after my performances last year, I had been given 3rd on the grid with Alan Oversby on Pole, Jonathan Poole 2nd and Tim Kermode 4th. As the lights went out I got a great start with the front wheel pawing the air, which I was able to hold for the first corner, ‘Old Hall’. By the time we’d got to ‘Shell Oil’s’ hairpin, the red flags were out again due to Frank Baines’s bike (No relation) blowing oil all over the circuit before throwing him off at the entry to ‘Cascades’. Ouch! Their was a big hold up while the track was cleaned and cement dust laid down over the oil. We had another warm up lap before a shortened 4 lap race, on which we could see the oil slick that ran from just out of ‘Old Hall’ all the way down to ‘Cascades’ meaning we had to cross it twice. This time I didn’t fancy leading the pack through and from a good start I slotted into second behind Jonathan Poole, but found I was having to back it off a bit before having Colin Skillicorn flying round the outside of the pair of us on his rapid RGV250. Once through the cement I passed Poole down to ‘Island Bend’ and set about catching Colin. I caught and passed him by getting good drive out of ‘Hislops’ up under the bridge and held it into ‘Druids’.

I got my head down as I led the race, but this was to be short lived. As I approached ‘Fulston’s Chicane’, whilst braking, changing direction and going down a gear, I managed to just lock the rear wheel and have it step out on me. I caught it once, fed the clutch out again and it locked again, by which time now I had to take to the grass across the chicane. Unfortunately, the grass was still very wet and the bike slid from under me about 2 yards from the safety of the tarmac. I ended up on the track and sprinted for cover as there were 39 bikes on their way through. Up to now not a good meeting!
No damage to me and only cosmetic damage to the bike which we repaired by fitting the fairing from the spare bike. The only problem now was having to start from 36th and second last on the grid in the Championship race. The first corner was going to be interesting! Got another great start and charged through the pack, first down the inside then cutting across for the outside line through ‘Old Hall’. By the end of lap 1 I was up to 8th and not far behind my main Championship contender Aly Bayley. Half way round lap 3 I caught Aly and Tim Kermode who were dicing for 6th place, before passing Aly out of ‘Hislops’ and under the bridge, then Tim out of ‘Druids’ and holding the inside line for ‘Lodge’. This put me in 5th overall and 4th 400. The 4th placed man, Martin Roberts, was a few seconds ahead, but as I closed on him he got a false neutral at ‘Shell oils’ causing him to run wide and I slipped through on the inside. For the last lap I could see Colin, but he was too far ahead for me to do anything and I settled for 4th overall and 3rd F400. Alan Oversby won the race with Bryn Owen 2nd (125), Colin 3rd and me 4th. This gave me a vital 10 points in the Championship as neither Alan or Colin are contesting the Wirral 100 title. I actually increased my lead in this over Aly who finished 5th F400, leaving me on 25 points and Aly on 16.
So after a bad start, the meeting ended up a success and to be honest, the second race was a lot of fun, although, had I started from the front row I feel a 2nd was definitely achievable and I also believe I could have pushed Alan Oversby at the front. I feel like I got away with a crash this year where as last year my two crashes cost me two Championships. Hopefully that’s the one and only spill this season and I can look forward to my next meeting which is Rounds 1 & 2 of the New Era Superclub Championship at Snetterton on May 6/7th”

Well, what a couple of weeks we had leading up to the opening round of Team Bainesy Racing’s 2006 season opener at Ty Croes, Anglesey on Sunday April 2. With the first round of the Wirral 100 Championship fast approaching I still didn’t have any transport to get me to the meeting, but I managed to pick up an LDV van for £200. I then proceeded to spend every minute I had getting both the van and both races bikes prepared in time to leave on Friday 31st March. For 10 whole days I was up at 7am for work, home for 5pm and in bed by midnight to 1am once I’d finished in the garage. My girlfriend, Sophie, was dragged into the preparation too by cleaning the caravan and getting everything else ready which was important for the first race weekend and without her help we wouldn’t have made it!
We left for Anglesey at 20:30 on Friday evening to eventually arrive at the track at 11pm and we were greeted by strong winds and heavy showers (Why do we do it?). Luckily we managed to get a power supply for the caravan and quickly had some food before retiring to bed at approx’ 1am.
The Saturday was a test day from 1pm ‘til 5 and gave me my first chance to ride the bikes after they had both been rebuilt (the spare bike was rebuilt and not ridden when I bought it and my No.1 Bike had been rebuilt by myself through the winter) so anything could happen! Fortunately the rain had eased over night and we had a dry track for testing, although the high winds were making life difficult due to the track being right on the coast. I rode my spare/wet bike first and was surprised how good it felt. But, as we prepared to go out in the second session, the bike started to squirt water out of the radiator all over the front tyre, which we discovered was caused from the front wheel hitting it under heavy braking, splitting one of the cores. Doh! We transferred the front wheel back onto the No.1 Bike and rode that in the last two sessions with no problems. In fact, the bike felt great, which was a surprise as I’d rebuilt it myself!
So, after a fairly successful first test I was just praying for dry weather on Race day (forecast was for high winds and showers) as out of the few wet races I’ve done, my best finish has been 10th and this sort of result wouldn’t be good for the Championship. Before all of that though, we spent Saturday evening taking bits off my spare bike to repair my good friend, Justin Williams’ race bike after he’d had a spill on the test day. No chance of a rest again as a late night beckoned!
Sunday morning and race day! Up at 07:30 after a restless night in the caravan due to the strong winds through the night and off to scrutineering with the bike and leathers to make sure everything was o.k. Once that was done it was time for a sausage and egg bap to set us up for the day which at present was still dry. Once we’d got the mandatory practice out of the way, I decided to repair my wet bike with spare parts brought up by family so I could have it ready if the heavens opened! Then, it was time, as they called us for the first race. As we made our way to the holding area a light mist started to descend upon us and by the time we had done our warm up lap it was raining and the track was wet. Nearly all of the full 28 strong field in the first F400 race were on dry tyres which was going to be interesting. I had been allocated pole position after finishing 2nd in the Championship last year, but my worst fears had come true, a wet race. Got a good start and led the first lap before eventually getting demoted to 5th place. The bikes were all sliding all over the place and we were all having a tough job just staying rubber side down. I managed to even get another place back to finish the qualifier in 4th place maintaining a front row grid position for the Championship and trophy races. I was over the moon with this result, although one of my main rivals for the title, Aly Bayley, won the race by some 12 seconds and showed how good he was in the wet.
The rain continued to fall, so we decided to finish getting the wet bike ready and scrutineered for the next two races. However, due to the terrible weather, the club decided to cancel the last set of races and combine the Championship and Trophy races in race 2. It was now all to play for, but I was just hoping to finish in the top six and score a few points towards the Championship. On both the sighting and warm up laps, the wet bike felt really solid on full wet tyres and I was actually feeling a lot better about the race as we lined up on the grid and waited for the lights to go out! I got a great start and was second behind Aly going round the first corner and just thought I’d see if I could stay with him. At the end of lap two, my confidence in the bike and tyres was growing and I passed Aly into the first corner, School, at the start of lap 3. I then put my head down and pushed as much as I dared before coming up against back markers on Lap 6. I got through these as best I could in the last two laps and held my nerve to take my first wet race win, screaming with joy inside my helmet as I crossed the line. Keith Costello was just 0.5s behind as we finished with Aly back in 3rd.

All my apprehensions of racing in the wet had been banished and this meeting has given me more confidence for the rest of the 2006 race season. Hopefully we can continue this form and have our best year to date! Our next race meeting will be round 2 of the Wirral 100 Championship at Oulton Park on Saturday April 22nd.”