Enjoyable weekend racing at Knockhill for the first time 😁
Prior to the test day, I had the chance to walk the track with Charlie who gave me some advise which was much appreciated.
TEST DAY
Our gearing guess paid off and was good enough to start to learn the track. Unfortunately the AM sessions were cut short due to a gear selection issue (threaded bar snapped) and some red flags.
In the afternoon we started to learn the track making small changes but the hardest issue was navigating passed the slower bikes as we were mixed with the twins.
QUALIFYING – 4TH
We started to push forward with the lap times from the test day and finished the session with a low 52.
RACE 1
I started well and headed into turn one just tucking in behind Owen. Unfortunately another rider massively misjudged the braking marker causing a 3 bike crash. Luckily I escaped any injury but in the process my Helmet, leathers, most of bolt on bike parts were destroyed making hard work to get the bike in a fit state to carry on the weekend.
We worked through most of Saturday with lots of help. Phil, Jay, Ryan, Meg, Paul and Grant alongside my mum and wife all played a part in getting stuff sorted and getting the bike re Scrutineered late Saturday.
I was lent another leather suit which I was hugely grateful for from another racer.
SUNDAY
Emergency Practice: We used the 10 min emergency practise session to try the bike and myself; albeit very stiff and in some pain it went well and we looked forward to the races hopefully making it further than turn 1.
RACE 2
We started the race 9th I quickly pushed through the field felt strong but couldn’t follow Owen though at the same rate which I needed as his previous track experience at British championship had shown. We finished 2nd overall a result I was very happy about.
RACE 3
My plan was to lead in the first corner starting from 2nd and then I knew Owen would come past giving me the opportunity to learn the most amount possible; Plan was going well I thought! Lead into the first corner, right until the last corner where Owen came past which was perfect at that point I had a big moment on the exit cause a near crash stayed on but dropped me to 4th I fought back to 3rd and was making some small errors but running the same pace as 2nd. After 6/7 laps I realised something wasn’t right as my pit board was showing P6 (this was due to a jump start giving me a 10 second penalty) I pushed on and finished 7 seconds clear of 4th but with the penalty it put me back to 6th
I would have liked to have another race as there were two main changes i would have liked to test but the Saturday incident slowed progress.
Overall I was happy with the weekend; improving everytime I got on the bike and putting the very frustrating issue from Cadwell to bed.
I’d like to thank all my sponsors for the support, everybody who messaged me over the weekend but most of all to Phil, my mum and wife for making the 14hr round trip as good as it could be.
