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Alex Gault 2007 - Alex Does Three Sisters (No it’s not Porn)...............................................................Back To Index
It’s obvious Alex needs time testing the bike; and as part of our build up to the European rounds, we took the chance to visit the “Three Sisters” track near Wigan and another day of mixed weather proved?
Shall we say “Testing”.
I had entered Alex into “Super Sport 600” and the “Open Class 501cc to 1300cc”. As this was the first race of the season at this track grid slots were picked from a hat……….his luck hasn’t changed as far as that goes! Pulling out P20 (the back row of the grid for Race 1
Qualifier SS600
From the back row of the grid a win was too much to ask in only 6 laps, Alex finished 3rd which would give him a front row start for the final.
Qualifier Open
Alex pulled P17 out of the hat and again finished 3rd it took him a bit of a while to get through the pack and by the time he had the two front runners were too far ahead to catch but again this gave Alex a front row start for the final.
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Alex leading the SS Race but this shot gives a good idea how tight the Three Sisters track is! |
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Final SS600
Starting from his 3rd place finishing position in the qualifying race Alex took a comfortable win by three seconds over Ryan Kneen and local specialist Dave Walker on his Yamaha.
Open Final
““Alex”” made the wrong choice of tyre (I had suggested a Dry Set-up), It had started to rain quite heavy and “Alex” went for Full Wet tyres, unfortunately by the time they had lined up on the grid it was completely dry………….result a knackered set of wets but he did manage to bring it home in second position, albeit 6 seconds behind Ryan who had gambled on a Dry set up……(See told you )……….
What I will say in my defence with tyre choice throughout the weekend, I did err on the side of caution, If you run dry tyres in wet conditions it is very easy to lose grip instantly and crash. Running wets on a dry track the tyres tend to melt and go off and the rider gets some warning being able to adjust his speed appropriately, OK it cost me 3 sets of wets over the weekend………it could have cost a lot more in crash damage in one fall.
All things considered a Good Weekend’s racing! 1 x 4th, 2 x 3rds 2 x 2nds and a 1st out off 6 races on two different tracks isn’t bad, We always knew he was going to struggle in the Scottish Championship, his bike is just not up to competing with the Honda’s running at the front.
The situation is also not ideal testing should be done at test days not changing onto different tyres to race with; but Alex did an amazing job when all things are considered.
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