We left you in a state of pent up excitement as the car required some small adaptations for tech inspection and the track was under water.
Tuesday dawned bright. hot and sunny after a very breezy night. Throughout the night the weather had pushed all of the water from the entrance to the salt into the pit area.
Everything which just had a thin layer of water was now under water!
The good news however was that the track itself had remained dry, well one of them at least.
So at around 10.15 the drivers meeting was called and those that had stuck it out assembled to hear what the SCTA had been able to salvage from this dire situation.
The good news was that the inspectors had declared the short course (3 miles plus a 2 mile runoff) safe and ready to race.
Within an hour of this the first competitors were ready to run and we were blessed with the sound of screaming engines. A fantastic sight and sound for an event we thought would be cancelled.
As we were having some issues with the car it was decided to get all of the bike guys through their ‘Rookie’ runs and give ourselves the opportunity to work out the various procedures to get everyone up and running and safely and quickly as possible.
Alas our inexperience in running motorcycles reared it’s head very quickly.
The first run was Steve B on the Triumph special. Alas he only managed 45 mph and didn’t carry out all of the requirements to complete a rookie run. Our first complete run, so close but so far.
Andy B tried to follow this up but was caught out by a start line procedure infringement, so after a scolding was sent back to rookie training on Wednesday with his brother.
Ian G then lined up full of nervous excitment on a bike that no-one had ever ridden. He proceeded off the strat line only to find a false neutral and stall the bike about 100 yards into his run.
Not a succesful first day of racing!!
Wednesday morning started with a beautiful sunrise as usual and after breakfast we all headed onto the salt full of expectation of a good day of car and bike racing.
Due to the nature of this very truncated event and the fact there was now only one course the wait was around 4-5 hours for a run.
The car finally made it through inspection thanks to the hard work of the entire teqam and the input of Kiwi Paul who it seemed would happily exchange valuable advice for a cup of tea.
Whilst all this frivolity was going on the two Ian’s went off to get the rookie run out of the way and shakedown the Triumph.
After a very long wait in searing temperatures they finally made it to the start line.
Both Ian’s were nervous, Ian G was worried about yesterdays gearbox issues and just the general pressure of a Bonneville run. Ian N equally nervous to see his previously untested bike set off down the track.
This time as he was a little more relaxed he reached the required distance and finished his run succesfully. Not the fastest run in the world but 100% within the rules he was now the first of our number to become a successful 2023 Bonneville racer.
I’m afraid at this point we do not have much in the way of images for Andy and Steve’s runs. However both the Banfield brothers performed perfectly.
Andy reached a very respectable time for a first run on the Kawasaki ZX10 although Steve was plagued with running issues on the Triumph which preventwed him from giving the bike full power.
Now that all three bikes have run and the riders have passed the necessary technical requirements the only thing left is to get the bikes as fast as they dare!
