Qualifying

As this was another track we had not been to before we had no time to waste in getting a good set up. Which we certainly did.

In qualifying Scott pushed up to head the second row in 5^th place and with a consistent set of lap times we were happy that our settings were getting closer to the winning ideal.

Warm up session

A few more changes and the Scott was up to 2^nd in the pre race warm up session first thing raceday morning. However, going into the left hand second corner Scott just pushed the front a little hard and slid the bike hard on the left side. Uninjured, he got it back to garage for repairs.

Giving the mechanics only 40 mins to repair the bike they were set quite a challenge! But the met it and the bike made the starting grid with 2 mins to spare!

Race One

Scotts experience shone through and we wasn’t at all fazed by the spill, despite a sore hip and hand.

A tricky start put him 8^th at lap one, by lap 3 he was up to 7^th , then to 6^th on lap 8 and now with a clear track lapping within 0.18 sec of the race leaders and faster than the riders in up to 3rd. A promising 4^th or 5^th place looked very likely. With a twist of bad luck, a bracket holding the seat unit in place had cracked in the morning crash and failed on lap 11, Scott continued for 2 more laps before deciding it was too dangerous to continue and pulled into the pits on lap 13 Sad faces all round. But at least we had another race!

Race Two

A little more time, the team set about going over the bike to ensure all is well. A great job done by all!

Starting 5^th on the grid again and Scott gets pushed out on at the first turn and completed lap 1 in 11^th place, lots to do! Knockhill is not an easy place to pass so a little aggression was required.

Meeting the challenge by lap 4 he was up to 9^th, then by lap 5 up to 8^th passing two bikes on the brakes into the fist corner. Settling into his lap times with a few clear corners he was again close to the leaders lap times and on laps 11 and 12 he was faster than the riders up to 2^nd and even setting the fastest last sector of the weekend.  However, the lap 13 bad luck set in again and a marshal reported seeing smoke from the side of Scotts bike and the officials pulled the bike in for safety. Scott pulled in but no sign of a damaged motor or oil leak has been found. Although the right thing for the marshals to do it was a very frustrating end to the weekend. We can only speculate that the bike had picked something up on track that had hit the very hot exhaust and burnt off by the time he came back in.

So a little frustrating, but just bad luck really. Scott is still proving the Moto Rapido Ducati 1198s is a very competitive bike with great speed trap times and lap times.

Huge thank you for our main sponsor Solent Scientific for the additional support that made the Scottish trip possible!

Next round is Brand Hatch and we have some testing planned before hand.