The Biker Place

Report from National Junior Superstock rider Jess Trayler from the official British Superbikes test at Snetterton.

I arrived at Snetterton with my new bike, a Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R and could not wait to get out on it. I have only rode a 600 once before, one afternoon at Mallory Park on a 2001 Yamaha R6 and found it a lot of fun!

Anyway, the first practice day came around and I woke up to find the weather wet and windy which, was the forecast, unfortunately as well as snow!

We decided to come to a decision that there was no point going out in the first session and so did everyone else apart from a couple of brave hearts willing to give it a go.

Our second session soon came up and so I decided to give it a go, I did two laps only to find the bike would only rev up to 7000 rpm! It wasnt a great start but at least I had a good excuse not to stay out there for this session, it was freezing!

The boys soon sorted the problem, and I went back out for the last session and found I had a whole lot more power to play with, it was awesome, I loved it the second I opened it up, the conditions were bad but that didnt really matter, I wasnt expecting myself to go and anihilate every body otherwise I probably would have crashed and anihilated myself and my new bike!

I woke up the next day only to find myself screaming as I peered out of my window to find snow on the ground, snow falling and snowmen here and there! Our sessions were called off for the morning and most people went home, but by the afternoon the track officials had managed to clear the snow and ice off of the track and so I got two twenty minute sessions to check out my new toy again. They went OK, I didnt do anything special, just tip toed around and got a feel for the bike really but knew that sooner or later I was really going to have to start pushing a little as for all I knew I was going to find myself at brands not knowing how hard I can push, and basically I would be stuck at sqaure one still.

The next day the weather was much better although there was a bit of snow again in the morning, The track was starting to dry up and by our first session it was mainly damp in most places, I knew by the time my second session was to come around the track would be dry, it was, and boy was it fun! Untill the weather decided to dump a load of hail stones on us which ment the session was red flagged.

It was only a small shower and by our third and final sessoin the track was dry again, I started to get the hang of my new bike and was really impressed by the slipper clutch system, my times fell as the session drew to an end and I came in happy with how the day had gone.

Tuesday came and the weather was fantastic, MCRCB had organised everything with MSV so that the remaining riders could stay and ride the track as much as they like all day Tuesday. I was chuffed as only 5 or 6 other riders had stayed and because of that the track was open for us all day! I first went out at about 10:00 am and I done a good few laps, the track was still very cold as I found out that there was salt down at the ‘Russalls’ chicane and my back end came out.

I came in a few laps later and waited a while so the track got warmer as timed passed. I went quicker every session I went out and by the end of the day I really was starting to get a feel for the bike, I was really happy with the times I got down to considering the temperature of the track and the fact that there was salt down and the ‘Russalls chicane’ which made it really slippery.

I didnt make one mistake all weekend and really enjoyed being back out on a bike again, I look forward to racing at Brands Hatch for the first round of the British Superbikes in the Junior Superstock class in a weeks time and hope to see everyone there.

I would like to say thank you to MSS Kawasaki for supplying me with the bike and setting it up for me.

Thank you to Mark Davall motorcycles as well as D.C Butler motorcycles, and thankyou to anyone else who I may have missed out.

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