BSSO Anglesey: George Fielder’s Rookie’s Report | SPORT

With the van failing its MOT just two days before we had to leave for Anglesey, my saviour, Andy Walker, offered to take all my stuff in his van. This was an absolute lifesaver as I nearly had to cancel the meeting because of it.

He picked me up from the workshop, and we headed off for 9 am. After hitting every bit of traffic the whole way, it took us 10 hours. We finally made it to Anglesey around 7 pm. The rest of my family was just behind in the rental car. We got set up and had a chilled night before a good weekend of racing.

I decided to scrutineer the scooter and my clothing Saturday morning due to my parents not being able to sign the parental forms for me to race the previous night. After that, I mixed all the fuel ready to race. The scooter was all ready to go, and I was just about too.

Stock qualifying

Taking it nice and steady, trying to get to grips with the PK again, I was doing steady times of around 1:45 with a few 1:43s.

I was just behind Gary Smythe,  placing myself 18th on the grid. After a good few laps, getting used to the Vespa again, I just realised how much more comfortable I am on it compared to the Lambretta I’d been racing for the rest of the season. I felt very good and came back in with a smile on my face!

Super qualifying

Now into the groove with the PK again, I decided to give it a few hot laps around sunny Anglesey. With an average lap time of 1:43, and a best of 1:42, I must say it’s only a little, but it’s an improvement. Really trying to get my head down in order to gain those couple of seconds, I was filled with adrenaline the whole time!

First Stock race

On the grid for the sighting lap, I decided to give it my all, just to see how the scooter was feeling and what I needed to do for the official start.

I forgot to compensate for the lighter weight of the PK by getting my whole body over the front of the scooter, I wheelied for at least the first 50 metres. The change to second even put the scooter in the air, and trust me, it’s even scarier when there’s a corner in front of you! With the wheel down, I did a sighting lap just getting the tyres up to temp and stretching my body out to prevent cramps.

On the line for the real thing, clearing out the scooter with some revs, waiting for the light and off we go into the first corner. I kept my line and made sure no one was moving me. Keeping up with the pack for the second corner, I was amazed at my first race start on the Vespa since last year, and I was already middle of the pack. The straight came and I for sure found out about it. All the Group Four scooters rushed away, whilst I painfully tried to keep up. It was a pretty lonely first race, all on my own for the rest of it, improving my lines each time. I found myself just behind Sean Collison just before the checkered flag.

Simon Palmer on his Group Five Vespa

First Supers race

With the first Stock race out of the way, the goal for Supers was to just finish and use it for extra practice. The sighting lap went as per usual, warming the tyres and stretching out. As soon as the lights went out for the real thing, my mind changed, the race was on, and I got past a few of the back runners. I was stuck behind Simon Palmer on his Group Five Vespa smallframe. I must say it absolutely flies! Corner after corner I just couldn’t keep up… following him through the whole race to the checkered flag.

George gets his head down to eek every last bit from his Vespa PK

Second Stock race

Off the line, keeping with John Woods and John Howe into the first corner. I stuck to my line and made it difficult for anyone to pass. I got past John Woods through the top section of Anglesey later that lap, coming through the start finish, I showed myself to John Howe, just nipping past him for a second before the power of his Group Four tramped on.

Realising I was there, he upped the pace of his riding! This made it difficult for me to make a move. Changing his lines, I followed John Howe all the way down the back straight, nearly touching him to use the slipstream from his Group Four to pull me along. In the meantime, John Woods opened the throttle on his Group Four, therefore passing me before the tight left towards the back section. Coming in a tad too hot, he missed his braking marker, which shot him onto the run-off. This gave me the perfect opportunity to take the inside line on John Howe to use the back section to my advantage and eventually beat them both to the line…

John the Greek gives George some mid-race pointers

Second Supers race

I was just placed behind Gary Smyth on Gavin Gray’s stunning Group Six! He was the target. Setting off at the lights, I got caught behind Sean Colison on his old piston ported Group Four Lambretta. In the blink of an eye, John the Greek flies past the whole grid as he was placed at the back of the grid due to a DNF in Supers qualifying.

First into the corner over Sean Collison on the back straight, I was tucked in behind Gary, but couldn’t find the pace to pass him. I tailed him for the whole race. Sean Collison got in front a couple of times during the race, which allowed me to use the faster scooter to creep up on Gary. On the last lap, John the Greek came around as he lapped us. Once in front of me, he showed a sign for me to follow… tucking in behind, he pointed to the inside line, which I took, and boom! There I was going up the inside of both Gary and Sean. Sticking to my line for the rest of the top section, I ended up getting the lead into the next corner on Gary, putting me at the front through the corkscrew and onto the line.

The day had ended, and there were no more scooter races till the following morning. It was posh Gary’s birthday that weekend, so the celebrations were at his camp! Before I got the chance to party, I needed to get my exhaust welded, yes again…

John Woods leads Sean Collison

Sunday

The morning had arrived and the whole paddock looked hungover! Huge celebrations due to Gary’s birthday and a massive fry up from Lisa (DSC) had boosted everyone’s mood the night before. To my advantage, they had increased the laps up to ten laps a piece for the first few races and the second few races up to seven! A few people looked annoyed with the decision, but I was buzzing. More track time for me then…

First Stock

The first stock race was interesting, off the line I kept up with John Balcomb from JB Tuning, but when fixing my exhaust the night before, I must have over-tightened my carb! It fell off… as you can imagine, my first race of the day, I did one lap, the other nine were sat on the grass waiting to be picked up by the recovery van.

Unfortunately, for the second race of the day, I had Supers. After the carb fell off when refitting it, my father noticed the manifold was leaking from the reeds, not worrying about Supers, we decided to fix it rather than break the whole thing over one race that I cannot even score in. Turns out it was just leaking from a gasket. The little things come to try us.

Second Stock race

The final Stock race of the weekend was a little lonely. After a good start, sticking in behind John Holt, the pack of scooters following him slowly disappeared, and it was me on my own.

Not much to discuss as I was on my own for the entire race. I took the time to try moving my body around to feel the differences, just pushing on the front that tiny bit more and trusting my tired legs really improved my lap times. From the start of the weekend in qualifying, I was doing 1:45s on average compared to the last Stock race, where I finished behind Gary Smyth, lapping 1:38 on average.

Every second counts in racing, so I’m really pleased with a seven-second increase. Just eight seconds to go and I’ll be doing the fastest lap times…

Words George Fielder #229

Photos: Paul Naylor