Mallory Park preview

This is a big, important weekend. At Mallory Park I have a good chance to secure the championship title. Right now I have a lead of 124 points and so long as I have at least 100 of them left on Sunday afternoon then I'll have done it. That takes some of the pressure off and means I don't have to take risks. Of course, I'll still be aiming to win and I'll go at my best pace. Happily, I had winning pace at Mallory for the first round of the year and I've made a few significant improvements to the bike's set-up since then. That gives me confidence. So too does my preparation - I'm physically fit and well rested and the bike has had a thorough going over. Mallory Park is a small circuit but its challenges to bike and rider are manifold. In less than a minute it demands high-speed stability, low-speed agility, suppleness over bumps, weight forwards to hook around the hairpin and then, seconds later, plenty of weight over the back tyre to dig it into the ground for drive down the Devil's Elbow onto the start straight. There's a dramatic mix of corners, two tight chicanes and three important braking zones. The first turn, Gerrard's, goes on forever at around 120mph in fifth gear. The Hairpin is at the opposite end of the track and the spectrum - 25mph in second gear. In March I really struggled at both corners as my bike was understeering badly and I couldn't pull it around the apex with decent speed. I've solved that problem and the braking deficiency that I also had to put up with seven months ago, so I'm really looking forward to riding my RJW GSX-R750 on the practice day tomorrow. Wish me luck. Wilko