Chris Northover

Chris Northover, 04/08/06 - 06/08/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 6

Right, Brands was good, time to top that and more good finishes. Living in relative luxury, I managed to blag a space in a chalet with Mum, Dad, Clive and Sally, result! Armed with a hire bicycle (and looking very Dutch for it) I made it Thursdays mission to do some testing over race distance, admittedly under pedal power! Despite the fact that I’ve ridden Assen before, the circuit had changed since last season! I can hear Roger mumbling something about excuses already, but I reckon if I get them out the way now I won’t be needing them after the first practice session.

Friday - Free Practice

Focussed and ready, went much better than in the past. Felt a little flustered in first half, but managed to keep it fairly smooth and build up a good repertoire of reference points. The weather was “iffy butty”, but stayed dry. The new section of track is pretty good, but sucks compared to old circuit! The bike was a bit unstable on the brakes over the bumps, and when hitting the bump out of turn 11, it was letting go big style at the rear. The bike didn’t seem to be recovering after the bump - too much rebound damping? Grandmaster Steve and the Furious Five were consulted, well Steve was. My suspicions were confirmed and I backed the rebound damping off 2 clicks to let the shock keep the rear tyre pinned to the floor.

Friday - First Qualifying

Again the weather held off giving us clear skies and a dry track for the afternoon session. First half I was trying too hard to find reference points but after a couple of laps managed to pick it up a bit and get going. Came in for a breather/checkup with Mike and formulated a plan so cunning for the second half, it almost out-foxed itself in the making. The plan was to get a good tow and use this to drop my lap times and improve my position, simple yet brilliant. There was however, one slight flaw in an otherwise superb plan. I struggled to find a tow and was greeted by a red flag when I did.

Once restarted and I chased regular podium finisher, Niccolo Canepa of all people, nothing like ambition eh? I then aimed at a black yam, but he was being a mobile chicane and I nearly hit him into turn 1 - I had to use the outside kerb on the brakes just to avoid him - another lap buggered. Thinking I still had 2 mins to go (silly me, relying on the signals given by the start line!) I held off for another tow, only to be greeted by the chequered flag when I came back round.

Friday night saw another 3 laps of the track on the coolest bicycles on the planet. Need to keep my head up and focus on things to drive towards, not just the reference points on the track, thus giving me directions to aim at as well as points to hit. Marvelous!

Saturday - Second Qualifying

Like a certain captain Scott who went to all the trouble of getting to the pole, but some bugger got there before him, I managed to go 2 seconds faster only for every other rider to do the same thing ARRGH!

Having said that, going that much faster in the final qualifying session is almost unheard of for me, so it’s a step in the right direction. I got my head sorted, got my reference points clear and tagged onto the back of anyone I could, even chasing Davide Jugglyjigglygiano (well, summat like that) for a bit. With no major moments and smoother, more consistent lines my lap times dropped and it was all rosy. That is, until we realised that everyone else had gone faster as well so I remained in 30th position on the grid. Still, this has been my strongest non-UK qualifying all season, so tomorrow’s race should hold forth an abundance of overtaking and see me in a decent position. Hopefully…

Sunday - Race

Awaking Sunday morning to the sweet sound of the rain hammering the roof of the chalet and the wind howling, it was nice of the Dutch weather to try to make me feel at home! We cycled to the circuit to avoid the traffic but someone forgot to pack any waterproofs… Not to be defeated by the weather, I rigged up a brolley into the straps on my bag and managed to stay surprisingly dry! I also learnt that it is not possible to wheelie a bike when the umbrella you’re attached to decides to behave like a sail!

With the race scheduled for 2:30 I was looking forward to a wet race, something I’ve never done before. I watched the first superbike race which made me even keener for rain. A touch of water and everyone except the brits seemed to take it upon them selves to dive into the largest puddles they could find and spread their bikes across the grass. Needless to say I was absolutely inspired by Chris Walker’s superb against all odds win and wanted to do my own rendition.

Not long after, things stopped going to plan; the rain stopped and the Supersports had a big pile-up delaying my race till the end of the day.

When we eventually got to race, we were held in the collecting area for what felt like hours before finally taking to the track. I knew where I was going to be for the first 6 corners and had been running through the first lap in my head all Saturday night and all day. Stay out of trouble in turn 1, then go for it round the outside on the 3 left-handers and stuff it up the inside of whoever’s left at the hairpin. It bloody worked too!

Having made loads of positions on the first lap, I was in the pack that went right through the teens and charging hard. After a hard battle with a Dutch wildcard, with no lack of argy bargy, I made a pass on him round the outside exiting a right hander out the back of the circuit. Despite there being plenty of room, he swerved across the track into me, sending me into a viscous tank-slapper, zig-zagging across the track before finding myself heading across a swamp masquerading as an infield.

Despite my best efforts (caught on camera and big screen!!) I was finally flung off the bike into the biggest puddle around, whilst the crowd was treated to Gixxer Gymnastics once again! Laying in 4 inches of muddy water was definitely not how I had envisaged Assen finishing and I was understandably gutted. But, as they say, (and who might they be?) racing’s a tough game and when you go out looking for a fight, you’ve got to expect to get hit. Enough philosophising, time for the thanks!

We had a huge team of people for Assen, all of whom did a sterling job over the weekend, especially in the most pants weather we’ve had all season.

Chris Northover, 04/08/06 - 06/08/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 6

Ah Brands! Time to get all nostalgic about last year when I started off on this European Superstock 600 malarkey! Two injuries, a lot of sleepless nights and the time of my life, but that’s another tale for another time, or something!

After pulling back such a good result at Brno after an appalling qualifying, I was determined to be on the pace from the word “go” at my home round. With the track only a 20 minute fast drive (or half an hour legally!!) from my parents house, you would expect me to know the track well. While this may be true of the short circuit, red tape and moaning people make chances to ride the full GP circuit few and far between. Luckily Matt and myself managed to get out on a track day a couple of weeks ago for some practice, which proved to be a shrewd move!!

After driving back from Hinckley where I work, in my brother’s car (long story - me and the internal combustion engine seem to be having some disagreements lately…), it was all hands on deck organizing tickets for friends and family for the weekend. Thursday shot past and before we could say “have you got any spare tickets?” it was Friday morning and time for free practice.

Friday - Free Practice

Out on track, it was great to get on a familiar circle of tarmac, especially one as enjoyable as Brands. Some, but not all, of the European tracks just feel so featureless compared with a good ol’ British race through the Kent countryside. After a few laps I was just getting in to it when I saw a pirates flag, but without the skull and cross-bones. Ah, that’ll be the black flag then…

It took a whole lap for me to figure out that a certain, timing-based pretty red box, otherwise known as a transponder, was sadly still in its own pretty box and not filling the gaping hole where it should have been on my bike. I didn’t swear. No really, I didn’t. I was too embarrassed!

Once this had been dealt with and The Boss had bailed Matt and myself out (yes, him too!!), it was straight back on track, to concentrate on the job in hand (and hide behind the black visor!). Now, the potential danger of being worked up over the transponder had passed, but there was another foe in wait for me… the brake gremlins of Teng Wheelire(!?). The pressures of determination led me to ignore the juddering and keep pushing my braking harder and harder. Unfortunately (there’s always an “unfortunately…” in these stories isn’t there!!) as I popped up to brake late for hawthorns (a 120+mph right hander out in the woods) I realised that perhaps I should have not tried quite so hard on this particular occasion…

As I always say, when things are going wrong; when you’ve combined very late braking with iffy brakes; when you’ve entered an already ridiculously fast corner too fast; mindless optimism will get you through. Or, at least, make you think you can get through! Despite my best efforts, the physics of the situation soon prevailed and Mr. Newton won this time. The bike cleared not only most of the gravel trap, but also the air fence, tyre wall and marshals’ road. It then decided it wanted a career change from lowly race bike, to lumberjack and aimed at an innocent tree. Tree 1 - GSXR600 - 0. That’ll be that job down the pan then!

After the session, I still managed to be 23rd fastest, which was fairly encouraging, especially considering that the lap I crashed on was looking to be my fastest lap at that point. I would also like to mention the fact that I was second fastest through the speed trap, although that may have something to do with the speed trap being just before hawthorns…

Friday - First Qualifying

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my team is the best team in the world! How they transformed a sorry looking pile of bits laying at the foot of a tree into a fully operational race bike again, not forgetting the unforgiving time scale, is awe-inspiring. Having done such a sterling job, it would have been rude not to repay them with a good performance in the afternoon. Well, that and the fact that Matt was in the top ten…

After coming in to iron out a few tree-derived problems early on in the session and to try and cure the vibration from the front wheel, I lapped with consistent improvements and ended the session 17th. Given the fact that I had, only a few hours ago, indulged in the sort of crashing activity that could have easily ended the weekend, perhaps the season, we were rather pleased with ourselves! Our confidence for the remainder of the weekend was further boosted when we discovered the front wheel being buckled was the cause of the mystery vibration I had been experiencing.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

Final qualifying and a final chance to improve my grid position further. After a steady start bedding in new brake pads, I pitted to allow them to cool off before returning onto the track. I took a while to get up to the pace I had been comfortably running at on Friday. Despite pushing hard I failed to improve my time and to make matters worse was relegated to 23rd on the grid as other riders went quicker.

After the Friday comeback, needless to say, this was a major disappointment. After many hours running through every detail of the session, both in my head and with Mike we finally got down to an explanation for the problems and, more importantly, a plan of action for Sunday. The reason for my lack of speed was simple; lack of focus! The solution was to work hard to ensure I was in the right mindset every time I get on a bike and be really, REALLY focused.

I returned with a vengeance Sunday morning, with one goal in mind: overtake whoever is in front of me and repeat ’till the chequered flag. I arrived at the track and decided the best plan would be to relax and clear my mind in the morning and disappear to get mentally prepared in the hour approaching the race. I spent a chilled morning at the edge of the circuit out in the woods with friends, playing guitar and watching the bikes - paradise!! I disappeared to a Quiet Place for the hour preceding the race to run through the first lap bend by bend, move by move. I had my plan decided for the first corner from so many races on Brands Indy Circuit.

Sunday - Race

The start line was, once again, the best feeling in the world, with no one cheering louder than dear ol’ Mumsy!! Gah! Not content with her mischief at Silverstone, Mother Dearest was doing her best to embarrass me and even the grid interviewer felt the need to pass comment! Parents eh? After the sighting lap we lined up for the sixth time this season for what was to be my best race yet. As soon as the red light disappeared, I was off the line in a shot and made for the outside of Paddock Hill Bend like a drunk to a kebab shop at kick out time. Nothing was going to stop me getting the lines I wanted this time!

After passing a handful of riders round Paddock, I managed to get a couple more round the outside at Druids and into Graham Hill Bend. I got settled straight into the race and started trying to pick off riders one by one. I got fellow Brit Barry Burrell fairly early on in the race and set off after my crazy Italian chum Daniel Beretta. Friends off the track, but there would be no love lost between us once the visors snapped down; after battling for some time, he made a break when I had a big slide exiting Sheene Curve and lost considerable time.

By the time I had recovered the time I had childishly lost, master Beretta had managed to pass a few more riders and the chase was on. I set about getting past the remaining riders that stood between me and that all important top ten finish. After a few good stabs at getting through I had another slide, only this one was slightly bigger than the biggest slide I’ve ever seen! Mind you, it did get shown on the big screens and I guess any coverage is good coverage!

I set off (again!) to make up the lost time. Although I caught back up again, setting a faster lap than three riders in front of me in the process, I was unable to make a pass stick in time. After just missing out on 12th place by a ridiculously small margin, a 13th place finish still felt really good.

There were the usual “what if’s” and “I should’ve just…” thoughts in my mind, places I could have made a firmer pass, qualifying sessions I could have actually used rather than just riding round in circles… but the bottom line is that I came 13th after starting 23rd. Having learned so much once again and hopefully started to better suss out the immense psychological side of racing, I can only wait for Assen and make sure I put everything into practice.

Thanks and Cuddly Toys to:

• Steve and Sarah Jordan - Use of plush race vehicle and highside practice… And Steve’s superb bike set up advice
• Mike Edwards - Winner: 100m sprint, pit lane olympics. Thanks for sorting out my head for the race!!
• Uncles Clive and Richard - Superb mechanic service, bikes repaired while U wait!
• Roger and Tony Z - Professional ribbing of CG for crashing, a great double act now showing in a truck cab near you! Top notch supporters and much more!
• Neil Faulkner - Help with brakes and tickets!
• Ros and Pete - Supporting me and photography of Dragon Steak!
• Craig for the NHS Helpline story…
• Beckie Dark - CG Racing, Newquay Division
• The man on the motorhome area gate, for being such a cheery chap!
• Supporters Bruv, Kirst, Gemgem, Smed, Double D, Nick, Loominator, Sammy, Bunny, Unc Sebastian and Auntie Gertie, Jonny B Goode, Sarah, Chris, and everyone else who was there to support us.

Chris Northover, 21/07/06 - 22/07/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 5

This was the furthest round to get to and in a country where I couldn’t tell the difference between a person speaking Czech and a person choking and, indeed, the sound of Mark’s Skoda hire car trying to go up a hill! After indulging in the spirit of hire cars in foreign countries, we had a good bit of hunt the hotel which took us on a magical mystery tour round the back of who knows where! After an impromptu night in the hotel we made our way to the track Thursday morning. Even Thursday the track was buzzing with activity and the race fans seemed to be everywhere already.

As soon as we were all settled in, Kirsty and I went for a walk of the track. Bloody hell it’s wide! The track is absolutely amazing! The elevation changes are breath-taking; the camera really doesn’t do it justice! With a track so long and so wide, I knew it was going to be a mission to learn it. Rather cunningly, I feel, Kirsty had brought her digital camcorder so we set off on the pit scooter for several laps, which I was able to watch until the track layout was firmly carved into my brain. The hardest thing about the track was its width. Brno is so wide, you could comfortably race jumbo jets round and still have room to overtake!

Friday - Free Practice

The track is great fun to ride and is good for reference points, especially compared to Misano. I was soon getting frustrated with myself at the massive amount of room on the outside of me exiting corners; the width was taking some getting used to.

Friday - First Qualifying

Determined to get quicker, I went out in the first qualifying with one major goal: get all my reference points sussed and work at hitting them every lap. As I have learnt from previous rounds, once I can hit the reference points consistently, the speed comes fairly easily, but without reference points you just end up riding harder and harder but not getting any faster. It was a lesson well learned in Misano and learned the hard way. I managed to establish my reference points pretty well in the second session, so although I wasn’t as far up the grid as I needed to be; at least I wasn’t riding round like a proverbial, decapitated farmyard animal…

Friday evening, we did a track walk with Mike to compare lines and thoughts, most of which centred around the need to make optimum use of the width of the track, not only when exiting corners, but using the width to overtake or find different lines when overtaken. This would prove most helpful when the gentlemanly (ahem) racing begins!

Saturday - Second Qualifying

Second qualifying and a last chance to put myself at the sharp end of the grid. Although I managed to go faster, it wasn’t enough still and I ended up qualifying at the distinctly blunt end of the grid. I was so far back it felt like the front row was in a different country when the race came. Frustrated with myself, I disappeared for some soul searching. I knew what I needed to do and I knew how to do it, I just didn’t seem to put it into practice straight away, it always seemed to take me half a session before I got my act together.

During an afternoon nap, I was the victim of a cruel practical joke, played by my nan of all people! Fed up with me wearing baggy shorts that, in her opinion, didn’t fit me, nan decided to sew them up so they did fit, but without telling me. Amusingly, I wore them all the rest of the weekend without noticing and it was only on Monday when Kirsty asked if I had put on weight to stop my shorts falling down (she was in on the prank to) that I realised that I had been clothing violated!

Saturday - Race

Before the race I tried some of the magic hydration potion that Matt had been chugging away at since Misano, hoping it would combat the endless thirst caused by a ridiculously hot country. It didn’t. What it did do, however, was give me a killer headache and make me feel sick (although falling asleep in the sun probably didn’t help…). Despite nearly throwing up as the lights came on and forgetting to shut my visor until halfway round the first corner (hmm, bit windy…!) I managed to get a good start and haul my sorry backside up into a decent position before the race was red flagged

Getting a bit popular this red flag, still at least it gave me a chance to do the start in a slightly better state - nothing like a bit of adrenaline to clear the mind/settle the stomach! With the luck going my way at last (pass the violin!!) I made the most of the second start. From 35th on the grid, I hooked my thumbs in my belt loops and head-banged and high-sided my way through, sorry, past any poor sod who was unfortunate enough to get between me and a decent position…

With only a couple of laps to go, up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering bike. Luckily, I escaped from the next line of the song and went for one more victim. Despite getting right onto the back of him, the last five corners where I wanted to overtake were all on yellow flags, grr! The last bend held forth a green flag and a last attempt to overtake. The bike in question, was having gear change issues, but, rather cunningly, as he knew he could not be passed under yellows, he slowed to get the right gear before the green flag to stop me getting past him. It worked!

With my hands swollen and blistered (there were a lot of near high-sides, I was trying bloody hard!) I pulled into parc ferme, happy with the race but prepared to be disappointed when told my position. Turns out, I finished 19th which means I passed 16 people, which is a hell of a lot when you think about it. Result! My best lap was a good 2 seconds faster than the best I managed in qualifying, again! There is however, a lesson to be learned, why not get up to speed earlier in the weekend and then start further up the grid - less people to overtake then! This is something that I know I need to work on, getting the focus from the very first practice session.

So that’s the plan, just gotta put it into practice when I get to Brands Hatch and on a track I sort of know, bring it on!

Credits

• The hamster from creature comforts - Played by Richard
• Penelope Pitstop - Played by Kirsty Hodges
• Grandpa Simpson - Played by Grandpa Northover
• Yoda - Mike Edwards
• Mrs Doubtfire - Nanny Northover
• Road Runner - Mark
• Dick Dastardly - The mean person who penalised team mate Matt for a jump start in the first race (which was cancelled) with a ride through penalty in the second, costing him a chance in the race.