Mallory Park – Round 1

13/03/09
The start to 2009 season was today. I had 2 qualifying sessions and the fastest times would be merged into one grid and I new I had to do well to give me an advantage throughout the weekends racing. The first session was going well, it was quite blustery and not that warm and about 10 laps in I dropped the bike going into ‘Edwina’s’ chicane due to me dragging too much front brake. The bike wasn’t badly damaged and I wasn’t hurt so I knew the next qualifier would matter the most to me. This year we have employed an experienced man who has raced in his pervious years at a high level and has now taken up the role as head mechanic and pit board for me this year. His name is Andrew Machin and throughout the weekend he was a total benefit to me. Andy fixed the bike in-between the 2 qualifiers and I knew it would be ready to perform well in my last session. The session went well and overall I qualified 6th out of 49. Not bad from the previous years qualifier which was 27th. I closed Friday on a high and all was to play for the next day.

14/03/09
The weather was forecast quite miserable for today however, it didn’t look so bad in the morning. I was quite nervous before the first race as I knew there is a lot of talent and competition in the series and a strong performance was a must to finish high in the race. My start wasn’t too bad and after the first lap I was 6th, maintaining where I’d qualified, good but I knew I could do better. Throughout the race I was putting the 2 other riders ahead of me under pressure and made my move for 4th. I caught up with 3rd place rider Lee Jackson and was with him all over but couldn’t pass him. I finished the race 4th just 3.5 seconds behind the winner. A good result in my opinion for the first race of the season, which gave me more enthusiasm ready for race 2. I didn’t have the best of starts in race 2 and was having to make up ground and was battling with an Australian Rider Matthew Davies and coming into ‘Edwina’s’ again, I ran on and weaved in and out of the bollards before hitting one which had fallen over and dropped my bike doing about 5 mph! I was gutted but picked my bike up, started it up and went off on pursuit of all the places I’d lost. I came round and my pit board was showing 14th, I didn’t have many laps left so I caught right up with a massive group of riders and battled through them all on the last lap passing 5 into the Hair Pin and piping George Martindale on the line for 7th place. I was quite happy with myself until finding out I wasn’t allowed to remount after falling off and so I was disqualified from the race which made me eager to put in a good performance in the next day.

15/03/09
The sun was cracking the flags when I woke up which looked promising to stay throughout the day. Race 1 of Sunday didn’t really go to plan. I had a poor first lap and came round in 10th place after starting 6th. I made a lot of work for my self in the race and finished a lonely 5th. Not disappointing but I knew my starts were letting me down and to compete with the front lads I needed to be aggressive in my first few laps. Race 2 of Sunday and I was up for it. I flew off the start line and after lap 1 I was battling in the top 4. Constantly changing places and getting under each others feet it was anyone’s guess who’d win it. The last lap flag came out and I’d lost about a second on 3rd place due to trying to pass a back marker and tried to make it up going through ‘Edwina’s’ again. As I went through it my back end was on the edge and skipped from side to side before flipping me off my bike and upside down which resulted in me rolling round and flipping over before crashing into the tyre wall. I can’t remember much but I’ve resulted in braking a bone In my hand and causing a lot of bruising. I’m not bothered though about the lost points or the damaged bike or even the hand as I know I was as fast as any of the leading riders and I’m capable of winning which is a great feeling to come away from ready for my next race at Cadwell Park.
Overall the weekend was a success and I couldn’t have achieved those times without a competitive bike or a good team behind me. Many thanks go to: Andy Machin, Grandad, Mum and Dad, Aspire Rail, Fletchers Solicitors, Marshside Health Club and the members of family who turned up to support me.