BSSO Cadwell – round 7: George Fielder’s Rookie’s report| Sport

Jon Holt leads the pack in qualifying

Stock Qualifying

After waiting in the holding area, I left the holding pen last, as per usual. I passed a few slower riders and got in front for a few hot laps, but I was still not in my zone. I couldn’t get the rhythm going. Every corner felt unusual, as if I wasn’t picking the right lines. With every lap getting more and more stressful, I backed off the pace. Getting back into a rhythm was really tough by the end of the session. I wasn’t in the groove, and I felt a slight jump in the gears even after stripping and rebuilding from Anglesey. But there’s no reason for me to dwell when 20 minutes later I’d have to go out for the Supers, so I could work on the track there.

Warren Wilkinson builds a fantastic scooter, geared or auto. Danon Yates puts the Runner to good use…

Supers Qualifying

I took a different approach this time; instead of going out last, I went out first. I got around the first section, which was the woodland area, with no one around me, no one behind me, until Graham Tatton passed me on the start-finish straight, going up Coppice. I wasn’t gaining – or losing to him, which was wonderful! Going onto the back straight, I got passed by Drew Duncan. Then it was another couple of laps before the next group of people caught me.

The first one was Damon Yates, who was riding Warren Wilkinson’s group 6E automatic Gilera Runner 180. All of Warren’s machines are rapid, and so is Damon, so they really paired up well. Glad to see Damon going well, and I hope to see him on that scooter again.

George up front with Jer Crew and Jon Holt behind

Midway through the lap, I got caught up by the likes of Jeremy Crew, John Holt and a few other Stock riders. I pushed for the last couple of laps and actually qualified 12th in Super Scooters, which was a major achievement for me.

Good, close racing. Jer Crew goes around the outside of Scott Thompson

Stock Race

Qualifying 18th on the grid, I had a few people to get past on the start, which could bring me a lovely result into Coppice. The sighting lap went as usual, with no issues, just warming up the tyres, ready for the hot lap at the start of the race to secure my position. From the grid, I powered through the middle, neck and neck with a few scooters, trying to keep my elbow as wide as possible to try and deter some of the other riders from having a go.

#90e, Andy Walker

Mountain Pass

I was keeping up with the pack until the back straight, where the Group 4e and Group 4 scooters ran away from my Proddy bike. Andy Walker (who was flying by the way) came flying past me into Charlie’s 1 and 2, and we were neck and neck for the next couple of laps. We had caught up to the bigger group with the likes of John Woods and the sudden appearance of Anthony Rudd, who hadn’t been out in a while.

Due to my being on the Proddy scooter, I just couldn’t keep up with the 4e bikes on the straights, but in the corners, I could catch them a little bit more, and I went up the inside of John Woods before The Mountain. I just got past him, but missed a gear and clicked a false neutral, which allowed him to get back past.

At this point, I had noticed the gear change was getting difficult and a tad loose. After going over the line, I shot off to try and get the gears tightened up before the Super race.

Super Scooters Championship leader, John the Greek leads Mikey Bonett up The Mountain

Supers Race

I was ready with some (hopefully) tight gears and fewer false neutrals. I went for the sighting lap again, pretty normal, just warming up the tyres, ready for the race.

This amount of oil on a tyre can only mean bad news…

Teething trouble

From the start, I powered through the front again, keeping up with a load of the faster scooters into Coppice, just placing myself behind Jeremy Crew, who therefore towed me along the straight. For the first couple of laps, the gear changes were fine, but by the fourth lap, they started getting difficult, with it jumping out of gear every now and then.

I was going through Charlie’s one and two, and I had a near high side. I decided to pull in as it was getting quite tricky. Such a shame. Once I arrived in the pits, someone noticed a lot of oil leaking from my rear hub seal, so we decided to check it out.

A cupcake makes it all better… well, except gears, it doesn’t make those better!

Full strip

With the crazy amount of missing gears and the cables over-tightened, we couldn’t suss out the problem. We needed to check the cruciform and the only way to check this on a small frame is to completely strip the motor, so that was the plan. We spent the whole night, until around midnight, rebuilding the motor. By the time we were finished, I was confident for the next day.

Sunday Supers

I only missed one race on Saturday, and after the full engine rebuild, I had the Supers race first. It was good for me to go out there and test the scooter. I placed myself at the back of the grid, just in case I had any issues during the sighting lap. As soon as the lights changed, I went for it as if it were a real start but I was having real problems changing gear all the way up to the first corner. As soon as I got onto the back straight, I lost all drive, so I pulled off to the side of the track.

James McNally leads the overall BSSO Championship into the final round, taking over where his sister left off last year…

Spectator sport

The scooter was still ticking over, even in fourth gear. It seems that I’d had a failure in the gearbox somewhere, or maybe even the clutch side, so I couldn’t get out for any of the races, which looked terrific in the soaking rain…

For the rest of the day, I sat in the grandstand feeling jealous as I watched all the very wet riders ride past!

The LCGB Production Class still provides some great racing, no matter what the weather is.

That’s racing for you. For now, the Vespa is on the naughty step, but I’ll be back for the final round at Lydden Hill, riding the SRP RaceTech Targa Twin I rode recently at the TSide-8 Endurance.

Lydden is on October 25th-26th, so I hope to see a few of you there.

George #239

Photos: Paul Naylor

Check out the full championship and class standings here.