Pitty Patter - our racing blog 2014

[Pitty]

I would like to bring my two sons to watch this. Are you there on the Sunday Nige & Di ? as Saturday is kids swimming and football in the Blade house hold.

Doni is a mystery right now...I'll find out the full deal and let you know!! We thought it was just Saturday but now we aren't so sure be ace to see you...I'll post up soon x

Thanks Di, will be great to see you and Nige too. Please keep me informed if its not too much to ask or too cheeky

Im sorry to report this but the Hottrax endurance event is now off for us as the team we were going to join is not attending now unfortunately.

Its not the end of the world though, this was always going to be a tough event, hard on me and the bike, so missing this one will leave the bike much fresher for the rest of the Thundersport season

[Blade]

Sorry to hear that Pitty mate but completely understand.

Thanks for letting me know.

Will try and get to Oulton round is it Friday/Saturday/Sunday ?

[Spudda]

Will try and get to Oulton round is it Friday/Saturday/Sunday ?

Hope it is ... I can only make the Friday though

[Blade]

Friday would be best option for me too Spudda. Hope to see you there mate.

[Pitty]

Oulton is only Friday and Saturday unfortunately.

Friday morning is testing, afternoon qualifying, Saturday is racing

[Moonie]

9/6/14: Hey Gang, last night on the Rock tonight, early start tomoz but once we're both back in the game, I'll update you properly on events over the last few weeks. It's been hectic, but fab as ever...Nige has had a taste of TT up close, manning the fuel rig for The Ram, Scooby dropped a cylinder, and I drank a lot of beer lol oh, and yes we are booked for next year. More soon, and I'll throw up some photos... Laters xx

[Kwacky]

Bad news about the car.

Safe journey home. See ya soon.

[Moonie]

12/6/14: One, two, three and we're back in the room!!! All safely gathered in and back home, delivered with a lot of help from the AA, who were pretty damn good and Scooby is now with Teg Sport in Carnforth, for some proper TLC TT was tremendous, next year is booked, and it was great to catch up with Goose. It was, however, terribly sobering to hear the tragic news about Bomber Harris and Bob Price, there was a mournful air in the paddock as everyone tried to come to terms with the events. The constant closure of the Mountain was mostly an annoyance...same as every year, and I'm sure it will happen again next year, quite literally 'par for the course' ? In contrast, we balanced the emotion and took part in the Simon Andrews Tribute Lap...over 5000 bikes, they said, and a 16 mile long procession. It was a tremendous sight, and very moving to be a part of it; I understand they are now considering an annual Tribute Lap for Mad Sunday as a permanent TT event...great idea I reckon! Anyway, it's time to refocus our heads and think about the next round of Thundersport. It's our home round at Oulton Park, and it's also Pitty's birthday weekend, so I'll be trying to make it extra special for him If any of you are thinking of popping along, please note it's a two day meet, being Friday and Saturday 20th & 21st June. There's no Sunday racing. It'll be another very popular round, with full grids for all classes, and we are hoping the sunshine will do its duty! Not much to report on the bike front yet, but Pitty will set about his regular bike check-up this weekend. The lad is back at the gym now, after the excesses of TT, and building up to the event...he freely admits he didn't enjoy the track last year, so he's got a score to settle with it this time round A few pics below, and did I mention I got 'Fastest Lady' at the Sprint again, and smashed my PB by a quarter of a second...might seem trivial, but that and the fact that I managed to finish 5th in my class up against street-legal up to 900cc this year really made me grin!
Hope to see some of you lot at Oulton, and I'll report back soon with any Pitty's trivia worth mentioning!!!

...and I was lucky enough to meet Bomber Harris in his newcomer year...RIP Dude

[Kwacky]

Lovely photo of you and Harris.

Is that bike on fire?

And well done on the Sprint. Again!

[Moonie]

You know, we strolled up to his awning and he was so friendly and very happy to answer our daft questions, no airs & graces, just a bloke who was full of anticipation before his first TT. He made sure we had a good photo, and I thanked him, turned to walk away and he called me back to give me a hug...that's how I will remember him

Yup, that's the first petrol fire in pit lane...I wasn't there for the the more serious fire later in the week.

And yeah...I wonder if it's time to retire from Ramsey Sprint ...or get a bigger fireplace lol

[Moonie]

25/6/14: Just gathering my thoughts after one hell of a weekend at Oulton Park, and I'm not really quite sure where to start!! We rolled into the paddock fairly late on, having pretty much come straight from work, and after chucking our kit into the van. Not the normal modus operandi but there's a bit of a hangover from TT still lingering lol Thankfully, Baz Knight had bagged us a decent spot, so we cracked on and set up for the event. The Ram was already there with his colossal and very factory fifth wheel, and he set up across the way from us, so we had quite a little huddle going on! We saved a place for Paul too, but he arrived late and somehow missed the area we'd cordoned off, d'oh!
Being only a 2 day event, the test day was crammed into a half day, and with his usual 'first session doom mood', our Pitty set out to try and get last year's poor performance monkey off his back. I think he surprised himself, as his first few laps beat last year's best by over a second, so the tail was up and the hard work began. I'll leave the proper race & progress report to Pitty, but he made astounding progress throughout the day, and qualified in the afternoon in P26, in a grid 39-strong. By the end of the weekend, Pitty's PB from last year was smashed by nearly 6 seconds!!! We had most excellent company, in the shape of Stew and Dean, who were willing accomplices in the pit, and later in the day, Stuckey turned up and the crew became a slick team, proving that 3 really is the magic number!!!
As soon as qualifying was over, track action of a different kind ensued...a lap of Oulton Park in aid of the Air Ambulance, mostly run or cycled, but lots of fancy dress and our mate Stevie Elliot running it with his fully loaded RM burgen. Fair play to the man, he hardly broke sweat lol For my part, I put my roller skates on, and joined my teamie Claire on a pushbike, and between us, we managed to hack around the track...not as easy as you might think in places and I had to wear a full face lid!! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we raised a fair few pennies for the petrol pigeon, which ironically was used the following day.
Friday night was BBQ night, and Stuckey stepped up to the task of being BBQ chef. We were joined by The Ram, Paul & Steph and our paddock neighbours, and topped it off with toasted marshmallows, before retiring for a relatively early night.
Race Day was the usual blur of bikes, people and this time, birthday cake for Pitty & Baz. (By the way Tricky, you missed the cake, Dude lol) and the 'Pit Lane 3' did a sterling job of keeping the bike ready to rock, leaving Pitty to get in the zone. We had an endless stream of visitors, and it still amazes me just how much belief everyone has in our little team...we are truly blessed! Kwacky, you were missed, and we hope you'll be able to make it to one of the other rounds soon. Blade what a lovely surprise to see you and your beautiful kids, and despite us thinking we'd not seen each other for years, turned out it was only last year after all lol just seemed like ayyyyges though!!!
Again, I'll refer you to the race report for the finer detail but both races were hard fought, exciting but clean...oh, yeah, with the exception of Pitty nearly being taken out by a rider who out-braked himself in a move that should never have even been attempted...I've seen the footage, there was neither ambition or talent, just seemingly a lack of respect for other racers...that is all I wish to say!
So, I need to thank so many, for helping make our home round such a success...
To the 'Pit Lane 3' - Dean, Stew & Stuckey, you were fab, I can honestly say I've never seen Pitty as chilled, and you wheeled the bike out for him before the races...magnificent, and for keeping me sane and just generally being bloody good fun to have around!!! Dean we are so please you're joining us to crew at Rockingham!
Stuckey you're a star for buying new brake pads for the bike.
Stew, you deserve another big mention, you know why and we can't thank you enough...
Baz & Claire, you two rock, talking of which, we'll be seeing you there (Rockingham) in a few weeks time...I call BBQ again!
To Andy B, gratitude much for getting the team into our local rag, The Bury Times and for the endless supply of top whack shots.
And finally, to everyone who came to support us, it's much appreciated and we hope you all had as much fun as we did, and to all the sponsors & PITty Crew, bring on Rockingham, and let's hope we can deliver the sort of progress we are getting used to seeing from Pitty!!!

Love & hugs

Moonie xxx

PS I'll throw a few pics up in a mo!

[Blade]

Nice write up of a great weekend Di.

My kids were in awe of Pitty and the youngest Harry still keeps asking me what my racer friends name is as he likes pretending to be Nigel Pitt, his new hero.

[Moonie]

[Moonie]

Cheers Blade, was great to catch up again lol.

By the way, forgot to mention Spudda's Cleaning Service made a brief appearance on Friday...we are convinced the bike went quicker after you polished it within an inch of its life Dude!!! Thanks Spud xx

[Kwacky]

Fantastic write up.

Sounds like a party more than a race weekend.

[Moonie]

Fantastic write up.

Sounds like a party more than a race weekend.

Thanks Kwacky...we do like to have fun lol mission accomplished

[Stew]

Fantastic write up.

Sounds like a party more than a race weekend.

It was a great weekend, I was still buzzing on Sunday, thouroughly enjoyed it all the more for being part of one motorsports up and coming pit crews

[Moonie]

10/7/14: Just jumping on in a moment of peace, to say we're busy getting our shit together for our appearance at Triumph Live followed by the Bike Bonanza at Mallory! It's all very exciting, and we've fettled the Trumpet in readiness for showing him off, but as always, never enough hours in our days and suddenly it's nearly Friday and everything needs loading into Karl!!! It'll be quite relaxing once we are there, no racing pressure, just meeting and greeting, with Nige taking to the Mallory circuit for the first time since it reopened...Thundersport I believe, were actually the last club to race there before it closed...be nice to get back there, it's a nice place to be. So, dunno if any of you lot will be around, but please come and say 'ay up' if you are. We're in the Triumph Owners Club marquee on Saturday, and then in the ERIKS camp at Mallory. Always great to see our Slapper Gang Family PS it's Thundersport at Rockingham two weeks after, but can't think that far ahead yet...I'll be back with more soon xx

[Blade]

I m away this weekend for a much needed break or would have loved to attend.

Have a great weekend. I m sure there will be plenty of fun, laughter, cake and beers. Happy days

[Moonie]

20/7/14: Well Gang, last weekend was pretty cool, even though the weather was hot hot hot! The best day was most definitely Triumph Live...we were centre stage on the TOMCC stand, met lots of excellent folk, and drummed up a lot of interest in Thundersport. I was, of course, extolling the virtues of Tankslap, but had to be a little subtle as the TOMCC were drumming up their own business and I didn't want to tread on toes lol The whole day was a great success, and we got the chance to have a browse around the museum, as well as watching stunt riding & driving, the White Helmets, and...Pitty's favourite, JCB digger dancing lol We were also chuffed to bits to see Martin (D6) and his Dad, who turned up and drank Triumph beer with us, and then on our way to our 2nd event at Mallory, Viv (Scarlet) and her hubby popped along to the pub for a swift sherbet with us...so, all in all, Saturday was a splendid day!!!
We arrived late on Saturday night at Mallory, and had to set up on the outside of the track in the ERIKS campsite. We'd been asked by them to show the bike off to their guests, and ERIKS being one of the main event sponsors at the Bike Bonanza, we obliged, despite being knackered and a little sunburned The remains of the evening was spent fending off the inebriated guests of ERIKS, who also very kindly kept us awake until the early hours
Just to compound the tiredness, we had to move camp to the infield at 7:30am so Pitty could run the bike in the parade laps during the day We hadn't been back to Mallory since we were the last club to race before it closed back in 2013...I have to say, the place is scruffy, dirty and I do hope they're going to invest if they want to attract some decent clubs...showers were cold and filthy, and the café wanted £7.95 for sausage and chips. We'd been promised food as part of us being there, so I'd not bothered to bring much in the way of provisions...alas, this was also a let down, and we ended up making do with biscuits, coffee and a couple of overpriced bacon butties Big note to self, just bring food, regardless of what people tell you The parade laps were great, Pitty used the laps as easy, relaxed track time, ahead of Thundersport racing there later in the year. I'm hoping they'll tart the place up a bit before then, but I'm not holding my breath! Anyway, that was our Sponsors Weekend, and a chance to give a bit back to some of the people who are kind enough to support us, just like you lot do! Next race stop is Rockingham next weekend, which we are really looking forward to...it was kinda weird being at a track and not having our racing family around us, and we can't wait to be back 'home' with Thundersport! Hope to see some of you lot at Rock, if you can make it, we will be there from Thursday evening...bring it on!!!

Love Moonie