Oulton Park Round 5

25th June
I arrived at Oulton Park, which is my local circuit, with a 14 point lead in the Championship and was determined to leave on Saturday still on top. With only two races on Saturday and no racing on Sunday (due to circuit regulations with noise restrictions).
I was determined to make the most of the Friday morning test session. The weather was perfect, making track conditions excellent. I did have one or two minor bike issues to resolve on both race bikes but I was very confident of finding a good pace from the start, I’ve loved this circuit from my Superteen days. I was very excited to get out on my RRV450 and see what I could do. I would have three practice sessions 2 x 20 minute and 1 x 15 minute during the morning and then a 15 minute qualifying session in the afternoon. With very little track time to use it was important to make every session count. My times tumbled with each lap and by the end of the morning session I had got down to 1:52.376 for the 2 ½ mile circuit. I knew I was on the pace, my bikes were now set up both the same and handling brilliantly.
I knew that to give myself the best opportunity of scoring some good points from my 2 races I needed to be on the front row if possible. The qualifying session started well and after two laps my pit board showed I was in 1st place, half way through qualifying the red flags came out to stop the session, and I was lying in 4th position and on a flying lap when the flags came out. With about 5 minutes left of qualifying I thought I could improve on my 4th place and when I re started I was determined to get dialed in again straight away, unfortunately, things didn’t quite go to plan and I cam unstuck at druids sliding off the track. With little damage to the bike, fortunately, and nobody bettering my time of 1:52.110 for the 2.692 mile circuit, I would start the two races the next day on the front row in 4th position.

26 th June
I woke to another beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. I had a really good feel good factor about the day.
Race 1
I had an excellent start, however, 100 yards down the track the 3rd placed rider, James Falkard came across towards me as I attempted to cut across him for the line into the first corner, the contact would send James onto the tarmac, something I was not aware of at the time. Three laps in and I was positioned in 3rd place and going well. I was a bikes length of the front two when suddenly they both collided going into cascades, I now had the lead but that was cut short with red flags because of that incident and the race would be re run over 5 laps. The re start was very strange as 1, 2 and 3 on the grid were no longer there due to their miss fortunes. I had a great opportunity to score some good points and I was determined to make the most of it. I had another excellent start and led the race for the first four laps. I was eventually caught and passed by Connor Tagg, as the last lap flag came out I was right on his back wheel, during the final lap we exchanged the lead on several occasions until I finally got the better of him at lodge, once I had passed him here I maintained my advantage to the line and took the chequered flag with a bikes length advantage.

Race 2
After another good start I led the race through the first lap and I was determined to make the most of my good start and continued to press on with with some fast riding. By the half way stage I had opened up a 3 second lead over Connor Tagg who had broken away from the chasing pack. It was now a two horse race, Connor was lapping slightly quicker in his attempt to chase me down and again like race 1 he caught me at the start of the final lap. Again, we raced each other to the chequered flag but unlike race 1 were I had made my final decisive move on this occasion at Lodge, Connor kept a tighter line into the corner which made me go deeper on the breaking, although I passed him, I hadn’t got the line and he passed me again as I struggled to maintain my corner speed, with the finishing line in sight I knew I couldn’t get back at him and crossed the line in second place 0.3 seconds behind him..I had 2 excellent races with a 1st and 2nd to my name I now led the Championship by 46 points and had achieved what I had set out to do. There is now an 8 week gap to the next round of the Moto450 championship at Brands Hatch and I am thrilled to be able to sit back and enjoy a weekend well done. I’m racing next the weekend commencing the 6th August at Cadwell Park however I’ll only be contesting the GP2 championship here. I shall use the coming weeks to maintain my fitness and keep fully focused on continuing to perform well. During the second race I had set my fastest lap time of 1:50.872 for the 2.692 mile circuit.

Race result
Qualified 4th
Race 1 1st
Race 2 2nd