FIRST!
11 Jul 2009
That was a hell of a race! I was second into the first corner behind Denyer, making his usual fast start, but dived up the inside into turn two and got my head down. After a couple of laps I had a small gap, only to miss a downshift and run very wide into Sears, […]
Doubling up
Phew. I won the second race, but it was the hardest yet. I found it difficult to do the times from qualifying so Denyer was all over me like pink on a pig.
Snetterton preview
07 Jul 2009
It seems like a long time since I last rode the Tuono, and a lifetime since I raced it last at Pembrey two weeks ago. The five-week break since the non-racing disaster at Oulton Park should have been enough to get the bike sorted with time to spare, but nothing’s ever that simple in the […]
Repair and regroup
25 Jun 2009
First blog in a while as I’ve been insanely busy. The opportunity came up to do some freelance work so I grabbed it. The timing was ideal to earn a bit extra and cover the damage to the Tuono, but it meant 90+ hr weeks for a while and no time in the garage. Repairs […]
BMF South West show – live!
13 Jun 2009
Here’s a live action report and photo from the BMF show in Somerset.
Not a good day…
06 Jun 2009
Waking up to rain dripping through the roof of my trailer and onto the outer of the two sleeping bags required to stave off hypothermia is not a brilliant way to begin any day. The rain was incessant and I was soaked through within the first lap of qualifying. The track was really slippery, so […]
Great practice, terrible forecast
05 Jun 2009
Today’s practice day went great. The bike was in recalcitrant mood first thing, slapping its bars everywhere and ruining my confidence. A few set-up changes got it sorted though, and through the afternoon it was a pleasure to ride hard and the times tumbled. I’m now really happy with my dry pace. The thing is, […]
BBC Wiltshire radio interview
If you get a chance to listen to BBC Wiltshire tomorrow (Sat 6th) from around 2pm, you can hear an interview I did with sports journalist Ian Longdon last night. There’s also a cryptic clue game where listeners have to guess my sport from some, er, cryptic clues. There isn’t a giant cash prize though, […]
Technical troubles
03 Jun 2009
…with my not-so-smartphone rather than the bike, fortunately. The remote email has spluttered to a halt, so there’s a chance that I won’t be able to blog live from the track on Friday and Saturday if I can’t fix it tomorrow. My nan does worry if I don’t fire up a blog soon after a […]
Oulton Park preview
01 Jun 2009
This season is flying along; round four is next weekend at Oulton Park. It’s a single day event, so there are just two races. While that doesn’t change the aim away from winning all the races, it does mean that there’s less opportunity to make up for a mistake. I need a clean weekend. Oulton […]
Updates and WD replica graphics!
16 May 2009
I’ve been busy updating the photo gallery and bike profile sections of my website. Check them out. The gallery has a load of great new images by PLJphoto for the Cadwell and Pembrey rounds, showing how close some of the racing was. The Bike Profile has some new pics of the bike in detail, plus […]
Good news and consolation
11 May 2009
My last race report failed to point out that Pete Carr, who knocked himself out and spread his GSX-R’s bodywork across the track in the last race yesterday, is ok and not seriously hurt. Hopefully he’ll be tip top soon and racing again at Oulton. And the consolation is for my fuel mistake in race […]
A sensible win
10 May 2009
I’m not often accused of being mature and level-headed on a bike, but in today’s first race I was sensible enough to stay out of the desperate battle for third in the Supertwins class that was going on in front of me and calmly took the Streetfighter class win by seven seconds. I got a […]
And repeat
Race two was the same story as earlier pretty much, except this time I got an awesome start and led the whole race for the first lap before the first of the Supertwins got by. After four laps the same two headcases got in front of me on their Supertwins with block passes and proceeded […]
Qualifying
09 May 2009
The weather did its best to trip me up for the single 20-minute qualifying session, but teamwork prevailed. I’m on the front row of the mixed grid, in third, and first of the Streetfighters by a healthy margin. Several showers through the morning forced a late decision for wet tyres, but by the time they […]
Fuel crisis
I can barely bring myself to write this – I ran out of fuel halfway round the last lap, 20 seconds from the flag while leading my class by ten seconds and third on track including the Supertwins. I pushed the bike most of the way, but that’s against the rules so I was forced […]
Clawing it back
With the tank practically brimmed, race two went much better. I won by a healthy 13s, and was fourth over the line ahead of plenty of Supertwin bikes too. Overnight, I’m 1 point behind in the championship, but I’ve still never been beaten on track. I’ll sleep well and be on it again tomorrow. Just […]
Pembrey practice day
08 May 2009
Every racer loves it when the weather people get it wrong this way. The rain held off and the sun shone, leaving us with just the howling wind to contend with.
