2011 Season Round Up17th-19th June KNOCKHILLThe next race saw us travelling all the way to Knockhill in Scotland. The weather was atrocious; the Scottish riders all say that if you can’t see the mountains it’s raining and if you can see the mountain then it’s going to rain, and this proved to be right. Ian had trouble with the set up of the bike for these extremely wet conditions, he couldn’t soften the rear suspension enough to get traction exiting corners. It ended up with Tim Reeves very kindly lending one of his rear shock and spring set ups. Again this was another new circuit for Ian and Ryan. They ended up qualifying 16th and finishing 12th in the first race. In the second race, they were doing well and had got up to 12th when the race was stopped. Having to wait for the restart, the bike’s tyres – being old, from Anglesey in 2010 – let Ian down; they had no grip. They ended the race in 15th place.  July 9-10th SNETTERTONSnetterton was a new longer track for Ian and he and Ryan qualified 15th. In the races they finished 15th, 12th and 13th. August 13th and 14th CADWELL PARKCadwell Park is Ian’s least favourite track; he disliked it from the first time he raced there in 2008. He and Ryan qualified 18th and finished 15th in the first race. Ian fettled the bike before the second race and it resulted in him having a cracking start; they moved up a few positions by the end of Park Straight, then disaster struck at Chris Curve (which is taken in fifth gear) – another sidecar came up the inside of them, so Ian moved to give some space as it is very narrow and just touched the grass with the sidecar wheel, which led to them sliding into the tyre wall. This was the end of their weekend’s racing. The next couple of hours were spent in the medical centre. Ian had cracked a rib and Ryan was sent to hospital but was discharged without too much injury. Ryan had hung onto the bike for as long as possible, and perhaps if he had baled earlier he would have got away without any injury. September 9th-11th DONNINGTON PARKAt Donnington Park Ian enlisted Phil Sloane as passenger as Ryan was injured. The weekend saw Ian struggling with the bike’s lack of power. He didn’t know what the problem was, but as Donnington is a track he likes he was very disappointed with the results he was getting. It was certainly nothing to do with the change of passenger, as Phil is an experienced passenger. They qualified 20th and finished 15th and 12th in the races. The following weekend saw a trip to Basingstoke to put the bike on Dynotech’s dyno and this showed it was down 20+ horsepower. September 23rd-25th SILVERSTONEThis was Ian’s first time at Silverstone and he again had Phil on board as Ryan was still not fit. The bike was still not at full power, so Saturday night saw Ian changing the engine, working well past midnight to be ready for the morning. They had qualified 15th on Saturday morning before the engine change, and gained 9th and 11th places in the weekend’s races. October MONDELLO PARKWe had a long trip over to Ireland; first we had to get to Pembroke docks to catch the ferry for the four-hour crossing to Rosslare, then drive two hours to Mondello. When we left home it was lovely sunny and dry weather, on arriving in Ireland it was raining and this continued for the whole weekend. The pits became flooded and we had to move our awning and all of our equipment as the water was several inches deep. The track was treacherous due to the amount of water on it. Ian and Phil wanted to do well this weekend as it was double points in all the races. They qualified 15th. In the first race they had a race-long battle with Greg Lambert and Shelley Smithies and finished 12th. Race two was similar atrocious conditions and again a wheel to wheel race with Greg and Shelley saw Ian and Phil finish 13th. 
It had actually stopped raining for a short while prior to the start of the third race, and this resulted in the track being even more dangerous; as it began to dry it became even more slippery. Ian was feeling confident and looking forward to more of the same. Nearing the end of the first lap, having done some overtaking and gaining a few positions, youthful exuberance overcame him, he got on the gas too quickly, lost the back end and flipped over exiting a left-hander. Phil was OK, jumped up and lifted the bike off Ian. Off Ian goes to the medical centre again; he fractured a bone in his right knee and sustained severe ligament damage. Ian was off work for three months, starting again cautiously after Christmas. He has been going for physio sessions and swimming regularly to get fit for the 2012 season. On top of getting himself back in working order, he has to prepare the bike, including repairing the damage it sustained. Despite the drama of Cadwell and Mondello, Ian finished the 2011 championship in a respectable 14th place with 63 points. He would like to thank: West End Precision H. Adams Martin Hutchinson Tech Aid Support Also thanks to Roger Body and RKB-F1 Motorsport for putting on a fantastic F1 sidecar championship. |
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