Round 6/7/8/9 Lydden/Darley Moor July/August 2012

Its been a busy few weeks, working on the website for the business: BSK SpeedWorks and genrally sorting things out and then 2 race meetings within a couple of weeks of each other.
Lydden was first and we had a fairly successful weekend, the weather was fine and both bikes were running ok, there was an lack of competition in the upto 48 class for the Vincent and we had an easy set of 3 wins and a 2nd place, although the gearbox decided it didnt want to change down a gear unless the revs were below 3000 in the last race so had to settle for 2nd position.
The BMW is not really suited to the tight little track but we managed to finish 4th for 3 races and a 5th place, despite being relegated to the back row of the grid for each race. This is due to a decision being made that the front forks on the K are not eligible, (they are from a K1100). It was frustrating knowing that had we been nearer the front at the start the results may well have been better, so after Lydden we set about changing the forks for the original K100 items i still had from the donor bike.
With only a week or so before the next meeting at Darley Moor, we rebuilt the forks with new seals and some RAM progressive springs, but there was no chance to test the new front end before the meeting, so we would have to suck it and see.
I hadnt ridden at Darley Moor for 15 years and couldnt remember a thing about it, other than it was lacking in facilities and was a bit bumpy, but the track itself is fast, with 2 long straights and a hairpin and a couple of fast chicanes, this suited the BMW fine and even from the back of the grid, (they hadnt had time to change the programe..) i found myself near the front pretty soon, but i soon realised that although the bike was flying in a straight line, the front end was not happy at all with slowing down or corners,the forks were way to soft and were bottoming out under braking. Finished 2nd in the first race and quickly changed to some heavier fork oil, which didnt make much difference for the 2nd race where i also finished 2nd.
That evening we made some more "adjustments" to the forks and on the sunday morning practice the bike was handling a lot better, about a second a lap, possibly enough for a win...? That was not be, on the start line for the race another rider pointed out that i had a 2 inch wood screw sticking out of my tyre... i felt deflated to say the least.
The Vincent gearbox had also cried enough the prevoius day so with no spare tyre available and options running out we packed up and headed home early.
We will be back for the last meeting of the year which is in 6 weeks time on the 29th Sept at Cadwell Park, we have missed too many races now for any chance of the championship, but it would still be nice to finish the season off with a good result there.