16/06/2025
British Mini Bikes Championship Round 3 Rowrah 15th June - after the best part of two months since the last round (due to a mystery pencilled in round coming to nought, due to the track at (cough) Silverstone not being completed in time), we made the epic trip up to the lake district for the second time this year to Rowrah.
Having ignored the weather forecast all week, I finally gave in and fitted my wet tyres on Friday night, as there was no miraculous change to the rain that was due. I was about to finally experience the peculiar microclimate that many fellow riders have told me that Rowrah experiences, as everywhere else around the country seemed to be reporting glorious weather!
Saturday morning practise was delayed - a thunderstorm appeared directly overhead and flooded the circuit. We ended up losing the entire first session due to this, and finally got going late morning.
I had a wobble around, reacquainting myself with the full wet tyres again after a couple of years.
Keeping an eye on the weather, I changed to inters for Q1 and had a much more enjoyable ride round. After a few laps, there were a few spots of rain so I decided to pull in early, knowing I wasn't going to post a faster time on an increasingly greasy track. It was fully wet for Q2, so I didn't even bother going out, as I would not be beating my fastest lap from earlier in the day.
Sunday started out a lot brighter. The track was damp, but drying, so I decided to miss the morning warm up as I couldn't be bothered to change my tyres!
Race 1 - I had a fairly decent start, and made up a few places I then spent most of the race chasing Dean Bednarek, who was obviously a little rusty as is usually much quicker on his mini gp bike. He towed me round to my best time of the weekend, but sadly my plans of trying a last lap overtake were dashed when I was dive bombed myself, losing my rhythm and 3 places. I managed to get one of them back before the flag and finished 6th in the Vets class.
Sadly, this was the only dry race of the day for me - despite my weather app telling me no rain was due to fall, it didn't seem to take into account that clouds are wet, and we were high enough up/the clouds were low enough down, and everything got wet again.
So, back on the full wet tyres for Race 2, I had another good start and settled in to a comfortable pace. I thought I was doing enough to maybe get on the podium, but with a lap to go Pete Johson came flying by me. Any hopes of trying to re-take the position were dashed when a remounted rider decided to cut right across the racing line just after Pete had passed him. However, I was pleased to have finished in 4th place when I checked the results afterwards.
Race 3 - feeling thoroughly wet and miserable, I forced myself back out on track for the final time of the weekend. Whilst conditions weren't ideal, it was a long way to go to then not go out, and I couldn't have got any wetter than I already was! Third decent start of the weekend, I picked up a few places but then the race was red flagged due to a faller requiring attention. Fortunately, I think it turned out they were 'only' winded, so the race was soon underway again. Of course, I had my worst start of the weekend, but recovered and found a steady pace. I was rewarded for my perseverance by managing to nab third place on the line from Mike Carr, whose visor had misted up.
All things considered, a decent weekend despite the weather - it's always good to catch up with the racing family!
Looking forward now to the next meeting at Three Sisters, where the bike will be sporting a refreshed look!
Many thanks to Helmet City.co.uk Ltd for supplying a perfectly clear visor, and great to see BMB Snap Shots again after illness at the previous round at Teeside
