BSSO Round 3: Cadwell – George Fielder’s Rookie’s Report | SPORT

After a long day at school, I arrived home at around 3:30 pm and we were ready to set off by about 4. we had about five hours drive ahead of us.

My sister fell asleep, and my phone died. It was definitely going to be a long journey. We arrived at the track at 11 pm. We were all tired and ready for bed.

#73 Gavin Gray and #12 Jeremy Steel get up close and personal in the LCGB Production class

A bright start

Saturday morning arrived, accompanied by a lovely sunrise to start the day. The showers had been closed the night before so I was carrying the same sweat from the previous day.

It looked like, with a nice beam of sun illuminating the usual parts of the track, we were on the sunny side! The time passed, and I was ready to go on track!

Dave Bristow is in charge of keeping the scooter riders under control and safe…

Stock qualifying

Noise testing went brilliantly, so off to the first qualifying of the day. I lined up at the back and went out last. Along the way, I overtook a few people like Joe Palmer, Sam Booth and Dave Billingham. These boys were flying, to be fair to them! Finally, after getting into my position, I maintained a steady pace of 2:31, which was not my best time for this track, but it was definitely an improvement compared to Lydden. I was just perched up in front of Dave Can and Craig Sheffield.

#20 Gary Smyth and #32 Sean Collison keeping grounded on the run up The Mountain

Supers qualifying

I was excited to get back on track after the Stock qualifying. I rushed down from the paddock straight to the holding area. With Sean Collison next to me, we chatted for a while until they finally let us out. Following Sean to the best of my ability for a lap, then lost him. Full throttle from the start straight all the way up through Coppice, through Charlie’s one and two, continuing to keep it pinned all the way to Park! Rarely catching a glimpse of the Production Lambretta, I swung it around Chris Curve and through The Gooseneck, this is where it got difficult.

Racing is mostly 95% waiting around… Jason Metivier chats with other stricken riders whilst waiting for a lift back to the paddock

Man down

Flying down The Gooseneck in 3rd gear, trying to drop down to second after swinging in, but I found neutral instead! Uprighting the scooter led me out onto the rumble strip, which meant my rear wheel touched the grass. As a result, when I applied power, it wasn’t too pleasant. I crashed out.

Being left out on the track for the next 45 minutes, as the van couldn’t pick me up, I investigated the damage. They consisted of a broken headset top and snapped rear runners. I was picked up with four other bikers and then dropped off at the end. I got back and had my scooter and myself inspected.

It seemed that the forks had also bent! And the strut which holds the rear runners had bent too! It was going to be a lengthy repair.

Spare scooters were quickly stripped of parts to get George back on track as soon as possible

Early finish

With the whole team getting on with the repair, replacing the forks, repairing the runners, it was time for me to go back out. Unfortunately, having missed the previous two races, I wasn’t able to go out again on Saturday, as an incident in the sidecar race had cancelled our scooters.

Saturday night was good, and there was not as much partying as at Lydden, but it was a calm night accompanied by Chris Geyton.

George gets out on a rebuilt bike…

A new day

Sunday morning was a lot more hopeful; with the new forks on and a fully rebuilt scooter, I was ready to go! Straight to the assembly area for the 1st call on the grid just in front of Dave Cann. Lining up and whizzing around the sighting lap.

Now for the real deal, lining up to the lights in neutral. On my spot and watching for the lights, and off we go! Slipping the clutch in 1st, losing a couple of places into second, then into third around Joe, around Sam, through Coppice flat out, past Dave Billingham. With Craig in my sights, I built up the momentum to keep up with him for some laps, then I started to fall off the pace. Making my way through The Bus Stop, Sean Collison politely makes his way around me, with me clenched behind Sean to finish 24th on the table.

#64 Dave Cann with #70 Craig Sheffield in the background

Supers race two

The second Super race was quite a lonely one, setting off for the sighting lap just behind Gary Smyth, he soon shot off on Gavin Gray‘s Group 6 after the initial start. I tried keeping up with Dave Cann’s Production scooter but just couldn’t, and everyone left me for dust. I had a good six or seven laps around the track on my own, trying new lines on every corner and getting used to the scooter. I had a lot of fun, especially when Mikey Bonett and John the Greek came flying past me on the straights. I tried copying them for that one corner to see what the faster people were doing. I must admit that these boys are absolutely flying past the line; my experience has gone up.

It’s easy to get caught out on The mountain section!

Stock race two

In the second Stock race, I was on my way down to the assembly area when I noticed after a bump, my front end was rather stiff and bumpy. It turns out that in a rush to rebuild the scooter, maybe my anti-dive wasn’t done up tight enough; it was slipping down the fork leg. It was just a quick repair, and I still wouldn’t have been able to get out for the second Stock race.

In the rush of things, Chris had given me the forks out of his Group 6, so I could race the rest of the weekend. Lining up on the grid in the usual position, I gave it my all to see what would happen on the sighting lap. Dave Cann comes right past me, along with a few others, fully pinned into Coppice I just couldn’t keep up. Now back to the line for the real start. The flags are out and off we go. First, second, third and fourth… keeping it pinned all the way up Coppice. Keeping with the pack for around a lap and slowly losing pace, ensuring I went over The Mountain with my weight over the front as disaster struck last time.

Halfway through the race, I noticed Sam Booth had caught up with me, a real improvement. We battled it out and he ended up getting me on the line. It was a fun race, as me and him were head-to-head going down each straight, wondering who’s gonna brake first.

We have a problem!

That hole isn’t really meant to be there! Andy Walker’s number 90 bike finished the final race but he noticed oil on his back tyre as he put it in the van. A closer inspection revealed that his gearbox had made a break for freedom. Lucky escape.

A Super display of talent

Mikey Bonett and John the Greek dominated the Chiselspeed Tuning-sponsored Supers class all weekend. John won two out of the three races, with Graham Tatton making up the podium.

Leader of the pack, #53 John Woods

Just for fun

The last Supers race, I got instructed to go out and have fun rather than race and just get used to the scooter ready for the next meeting.

Same again along the start line, trying to keep up with the Super Scooters was rather hard, and then everyone disappeared as I made my way around the track. I noticed I got lapped by the usual people, but the middle pack didn’t quite catch me up like they were before, which I thought was a major improvement. Going past the line with Jer and a few others behind me, I felt good that I must have improved a little bit for them not to catch me.

After coming in and getting packed up and ready to go, I realised I had such a good weekend even despite crashing. But with racing, we sign up for these things, so let’s get onto the next…

Once again, I would like to extend a massive thank you to the team at SRP RaceTech and, of course, my family and father for helping me get there and fixing my scooter when I needed it.

George Fielder #229

Photos: Lee Hollick and Paul Naylor