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Photo - Paul Whibley:
Another note from Paul Whibley.
Whibs is campaigning the 2004 season with HONDA RACING FAST EDDY:
If you would like to send Whibs your support he is @ paulwhibley@hotmail.com
Hello
Round 6 of the Championship saw us heading to Slovakia. Leaving early
Monday morning, Eddy, Dolly (Ed's outrider) Katherine and I left in Ed's
car arriving in Slovakia two days later.
I had heard stories about Slovakia being a rough, poor, maybe dangerous
place. So this was one race I wasn't much looking forward to. But when
we arrived at the race place I found this wasn't quite true. The country
seems to be developing with motorway systems being built and chain stores
popping up. Still in the smaller towns and villages they were not what I
would call wealthy but they seemed happy and friendly. The kids reminded me
a little of my childhood, outside playing on pushbikes or running around,
enjoying life. Not inside watching TV or playing play station.
Anyway onto the race. The tests were a little crazy. The two cross tests
were grass and tight, 2nd and 3rd gear stuff. A lot of off cambers and
really narrow, maybe three metres wide. So there were no options for different lines.
The other test, (Enduro) was ok, a tight grass section at the start with
some real bush sections in the middle, up and downhills and some more tight
grass at the end.
On Saturday I couldn't get comfortable on the two tight grass tests. My
times were average. But I has some good Enduro test times and this pulled
me up a few positions finishing 7th.
On Sunday I was looking for a better finish and was pushing hard, maybe too
hard. I had a big crash in the Enduro test, hurting my hand. I thought
that I had broken the end of my bars off when I got back on as I had no feeling in my hand and I couldn't feel the end of the bars. After a quick check all controls were intact so
I took off and finished the test. Strange sensation riding and not feeling
the bars and lever on one side. Anyway another crash in a cross test
finishing 8th. Not bad considering the time spent on the ground.
We packed up quickly after the race and were on a mission to get home. We
left at 7.30pm, I took over the reigns at 3am. We arrived at the ferry at
7.30am in the morning. We missed the boat by about half an hour. The next
one left at 4pm. Bugger!
So we parked up in a near by carpark and grabbed a
couple of hours sleep. I found a nice patch of grass and crashed out there.
When I woke up the sun was beating down and I was getting roasted.
We jumped on the worlds largest fast ferry for a quick 4 and a half hours
back to England, driving a further 3 hours and we were home to our little
caravan.
The next round isn't for a couple of months but will be busy with British
Rounds and Fast Eddys.
Later,
Paul and Katherine
