I thought I would take a quick moment to jot down a few items on progress so far, if a moment is over in a moment - how quick is a quick moment? My wife would be interested in this if you know, to log in her new book "My Sex Life With a Racer" that she is hoping to publish during the coming season ….. geddit …. coming season … oh, I give up!

I was considering selling the faithful TLR and had advertised it before the last race of the season at the Snetterton Superclub on the 12th October. I had by this time got used to the fact that having led the Club series all season I ended up second in the championship but was determined to leave 2002 in a blaze of glory by winning the last round of the Superclub. It was for this reason that I joined Dean for a day of practice on the 11th.

Blimey was it cold, not so much in the air, but the track was really cold, evident by the fact that the tyres, although fully warmed up by tyre warmers and my gently chugging generator were cutting up really badly. A chat with Alan and Jane (now decently married, by the way) at A&R Racing confirmed that everyone else was having the same problem so I just had to live with it and buy some extra tyres.

Practice was going well, but the times were definitely down on my best. 1:14s were not going to cut it in the race. Looking at where I was fast and slow I came to the conclusion that one of the main areas I could make up time and places was the end of the back straight where I knew I was braking not only too early but not nearly hard enough. Recently I had read "a lap of Snetterton With Chris Walker" in which he informs us that at the end of the back straight he brakes at the Bridge. Oh, really ? Either way you can go really quickly into the left hander and scrub off speed in the turn …….. apparently.

Things were going well up until the point I said to Dean, who had just returned in the back of a van having slid off at the right hander at the Esses and tumbled the bike into a big heap of buckled wheels, twisted subframes and splintered fairings, "Oh blimey, doesn't bode well, I must be up for a fall soon ….. Ha ha ha".

Ten minutes later I was spitting out gravel from my own high speed get-off, this time on the left hander at the Esses. Perhaps I should have braked a little earlier for the turn. Fortunately I had fitted some beautifully crafted PDQ crash bobbins. More fortunately, as I desperately tried to scrub of speed in the turn, I lowsided, which meant the bike had a chance to stay on its side as it sped into the gravel. The grit I was spitting out had been forced through the air vent in my helmet as I went face down with some considerable force onto the ground, hard enough to leave a dead straight red line around my forehead, a split lip from my mouth hitting the guard and a large bogey-splat on the inside of my visor from my impressive nose hitting the inside of the visor.

Examination of the bike proved it to be straight, if not a little second hand - dented tank, smashed fairing, mullered end can, bent footrest and it was Friday night and the curry was a'brewing.

I looked at the pieces of my fairing and tried to work out what went where. I had already tried to borrow a replacement without success and had now concluded that I would have to stick it back together. Racers are a wonderful bunch, a fact proven by this bloke appearing clutching in one hand a complete fibreglass repair kit with enough resin and fibre to plug the Titanic, and a can of lager in the other. "That doesn't look good, would you like to use this?" "Er, yes that would be great, thank you". To this day I do not know who he was. I don't think he told me his name and he wouldn't take any money. However, if I see him in the bar he will not want for beer ………. mmmmmmm, beer.

I stuck it all back together and went out and raced on the Saturday and Sunday and had a very nice time.

So what has all this got to do with the rather impressive looking bike that you can see in the photos.

Well I struggled at Snetterton with the handling, almost falling off every lap as the front went away from me on the exit from Russels. It was fine on the way into the corner but as I flipped it from right to left the front just seemed to wash out. Paul Noble, after following me, said the bike was all over the place. The report back from Martin Corfe the New Era Timekeeper, who must spend ages pulling all the information together from our transponders, showed me as being 3rd to 4th fastest through the speed trap on the start finish line, which means the engine is good even if it is handling like poo. So what to do?

The answer, keep it and sort out the handling.

Darren Wnukoski knows his stuff when it comes to suspension, especially when it comes to Suzuki TLR 1000's. Darren has been racing a TL in the KRC Endurance series with considerable success for a number of years and was the suspension man behind Warrens Scott's success in winning the Superclub Championship, against stiff competition on a TLR in 2001. I vaguely knew him through Warren and rang him up for a chat. The end result of this conversation was a complete overhaul of the suspension.

The forks it turned out, despite being told they were Maxton units, were completely standard. These were stripped, re-sprung and re-valved. During the strip it turned out that I had dented the stanchion during the fall at Snetterton (beware standard bars that don't bend or snap) which explains why the handling was so dreadful. The forks it seems were binding on compression and not returning fast enough, the evidence of this showed through the completely shagged slider bushes.The rear end was fine but might benefit from a new Ohlins damper, which he happened to have.

The bodywork was all replaced along with the tank and everything given a re-spray. The seat unit is off a GSXR 600, an idea pinched from Gary Reid, who no doubt pinched it from someone else anyway so I feel no guilt in this.

The result is a far slicker looking machine, with the handling to match. Well I like it anyway.

This year I am focusing mainly on the Superclub Championship, whilst having some unfinished business in the Club Championship I think a move up is in order.

So there you have it. The first race of the season will be the Snetterton Club round on the 29th and 30th, just to get me eye in and check things over. See you there … maybe.

Some time later ....

Despite impressions to the contrary Kevin Jones is in fact still racing, sort of. However has been just to bloody lazy to update the "racer file". There is another reason for his casual approach to racing in 2003 and to explain I will use a simple formula:

+

=

If you haven't worked it out by now my loving and indulgent wife Tara had a baby on the 30th May (right in the middle of the season) and politely asked if I could lend a hand ….. as if I hadn't done enough already.

Consequently due to Alfie's requirement for a male role model to puke and poo all over I had to miss a couple of meetings and didn't make it back until the 19th July at Oulton Park, on my own I might add, honestly I had to make my own breakfast and everything.

Anyway I was soon back in the swing of things for the rest of the season and even had time to partake in the Pro-Bike Grand Slam at Donington and Brands Hatch, this was great fun as you can imagine as all rounds were held in conjunction with the British Superbikes, not at the same time just on the same day. I grabbed 13th & 14th places for Brands, a position I was quite happy with considering I was in the more competitive Pro-Bike class and not the SOT.

Castle Combe on the 6th September was especially good, not only did I love the circuit, but the sun was out, there was a twinkle in me eye and a skip in me step. Plus me Uncle Ken came over to watch as well, which was the first time he had been to a bike race in about 40 years when he used to come and help my Dad….brought a tear to me it did.

The last round at Mallory finished on a high note with a 4th place and with that, an undamaged bike, a new caravan and a shiny new baby son, the season came to a close and the sun faded in the east.