Anglesey, is known for its
stunning location and great views of Snowdon and hosted round seven
of the Thundersport GB Sportsman Elite 600 championship in beautiful warm and dry conditions, this is how it went for me.
With not a single cloud in the
sky we got underway with some perfect testing conditions, unfortunately I was
struggling most of the day to find a good set up for the bike, and after a few
changes we felt we were moving in the right direction.
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| Photo taken by Dave Jackson at Bike Insurer |
A fresh set of tyres fitted for
qualifying on the Saturday morning and I felt I could post a good time, which
secured me in eighth position on the packed grid. Not a bad start and I could
not wait to get the racing under way to improve on my grid position further in
the races.
Unfortunately during race one I
could not capitalise on that grid position after dropping back off the start a
couple of places but fortunately able to regain them again after a few laps by
which time the leading pack had made a break leaving me lonely and in seventh
(fourth in stock class) when the chequered flag made its appearance.
I was a little disappointed
with my performance as I felt I could have achieved a better result and I could
have challenged the leading pack but there was something missing with my set up
and I could not put my finger on it.
Trying not to get to hung up
over my result I took my mind away from it by taking on the Sea for a Sunday
evening swim, after leading half the paddock with me around the rock faces of
Anglesey to join me.
During Monday morning warm up
we fought through the lingering fog and I felt we had made a break through with
my set up after a few minor changes. But when it got to the race I still didn’t
feel I had the pace to run with the leading pack. Due to a couple of my
competitors, failing to complete the race from crashing out, I was able to
cross the line second in class and fifth overall. I was still a little disappointed
with this result as I felt I did not ride with the focus you need to be competitive.
Nevertheless, it was a great result for my championship hopes in the Superstock
category.
Race 3, the final race of the
weekend, we continued to work on finding the feeling I needed with the bike to
push hard around the flowing nature of the circuit, and after a few more tweaks
we headed out to the race. Now having to adjust to how the bike was going to
feel it took me a little while to get into the race, and by then the leading pack
had once more made a break.
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| Photo taken by Dave Jackson at Bike Insurer |
I
did not give up and I started to post my fastest lap times of the weekend and
closed in on my championship rival Sam Thompson. I passed him on the
penultimate lap, taking fourth in class and sixth over all, another solid
result.
Having now had time to reflect
on the weekend, I feel I should not have been so hard on myself due to a number
of reasons. These are:
- Jamie Harris, who is not a regular contender of the championship but an Anglesey track specialist due to only living five minutes away, and was setting phenomenal lap times which were consistently below lap record pace from the previous year.
- Being only four tenths of a second away from the original lap record that had been held since 2008 (and the closest I have been to lap record pace this season)
With taking all of that in to
consideration I am very pleased with what I achieved. I now look towards the
penultimate round at Mallory Park on the 29th of September, I arrive there with
a 60 point lead over third place rider James Shaw and nine point deficit to the
leader Sam Thompson, whom I have slowly caught up with and still 150 points up
for grabs it is wide open.
Over the
course of the next few weeks, I have a few test days booked to keep me on the
bike and riding, so I look forward to testing some new parts and enjoying
myself. And of course I would like to say a massive thank you to all my loyal
sponsors, family and friends for supporting me all the way.
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