White Dalton Blog

…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 race!
I’m heading out to the garage now (10pm) to change the oil and filter, raise
the yokes by 3mm to stop the front wheel rubbing the radiator under braking
(yes, really), and start loading the trailer. Way too busy to have done
either any earlier.
Tomorrow evening, right before I leave for Oulton, BBC Radio Wiltshire is
stopping by to do an interview about my season so far. I’ll post a blog to
say when it will air.
Best wishes everyone

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 to stop.
After some early scraps it was a good ride and should have been a strong class win. Instead, I’m gutted and can only apologise to everyone that supports me. Congratulations to Andy Denyer on his first Streetfighter win, and to Chris Matthews who pushed him hard.
The one consolation is a best lap of 1m01.8s. I’ll be looking for plenty more of those in the second race as I try to make up for this waste. Keeps the points battle interesting though, eh?

ThundersportGB makes its first trip into Wales next weekend, for round three at Pembrey. The grids have been given another shake up, and the big story heading into the weekend is the return of the Supertwins class in amongst the Streetfighter A bikes. Streetfighter B is mixed in with the Junior Powerbikes.
This changes things a bit. My dad would remind me (and he’d be right) that I only have to race the other Streetfighters and it doesn’t matter if every Supertwin beats me. In reality though, we know that the two classes will be mixed up on track and that I should have the pace to match the front-running Supertwins based on Mallory and Cadwell times, even if Michael Price on his Supersport-spec Triumph Daytona 675 is likely to be away at the front.
What this means in the races, is that I’ll be racing the Supertwins just for track position. Tactically, I’ll be aiming to get a couple of Supertwins between me and the other Streetfighters. Given the power of some of the Supertwin bikes, that will require some hard riding to make up ground on the brakes and through corner speed. If a Supertwin blasts by with sheer power, it could push me into the clutches of other Streetfighters. This was the case at Mallory Park, where the two classes were last mixed together and the strategy worked well there.
Pembrey is even less of a power circuit than Mallory. Braking stability and corner speed are what you need in south Wales, and the Aprilia Tuono Factory has those qualities dialled in. I like the track, having scored my best GP1 finish there last year.
Look out for my distinctive polka-dot helmet in the colours of White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors. It certainly caught the eye of the commentators at Cadwell Park, so it’s here to stay and RacepaintUK are making up another set of their quality vinyl graphics right now.
Finally, the exciting news that Rockstar Energy Drinks have joined the team! I’m really happy to be a part of their huge international family of athletes and racers. Rockstar is as cool as they come and they back some of the top names in every action sport, including six-times AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin, so it’s awesome to have them involved. There will be a Rockstar fridge in my pit awning, so come see me for a hit of the world’s most powerful energy drink. Check out their website from my links page.
All things considered, I absolutely cannot wait to go racing at Pembrey.

Another hard battle with a Supertwin Ducati made the weekend’s last race a thriller. I came through to take second overall and win the Streetfighter class again. This now gives me the points lead in the championship too. (continue reading…)

Sunday’s first race was adrenalin fuelled even before it began. It took a couple of goes to bump start the bike, and then I got stuck between a load of caravans in the jammed paddock on the way to the grid! You really couldn’t make it up. (continue reading…)