The first race weekend - March 4th/5th

What a nightmare introduction to the world of motorcycle racing.

We awoke to see a crisp layer of snow on the ground and thought that the weekend would definitely be cancelled. That was my introduction to the money grabbing mentality of the race organisers. If there was a way to get us out on the track, they would have our money in their hands.

We arrived at the circuit to see that the snow had been replaced by a covering of thick ice. Not condusive to racing. But still we waited...

...and waited...

and..well, you get the idea

Then around 12pm..."it's on!"

The convoy of trucks headed down the slowly melting ice rink towards the pit area. A quick walk around the track had me laughing nervously as there was still large sections of ice. Still, we kitted up and got our machines ready and then low and behold we were waved out.

Once we realised that the track was now 95% ice free we started to open up the machines little by little. After 10 minutes I had the following thought..."I HATE THIS PLACE"

Elvington is a half tarmac, half concrete track laid out at the end of the runway. It has cracks along its length, with grass sprouting through in places, drain covers bumps galour. It aint donington!

I ended the day very happy with the power of my bike but worried about the suspension as I was being bounced out of my seat on the tracks two most critical corners (leading onto the straight). Oh well, lets see what tomorrow brings.

After journeying back to Harrogate to avoid frostbite overnight, we travelled back to the track early the next day and the conditions where fine.

Practice went okay and qualifying went even better. Well the rookie race did but the clubmans qualyfying saw me fall on a patch of oil left by the sidecars (3 wheeled plonkers). Still, no real damage. The rookie trophy race was the perfect start to the season. I won my first ever race!! [note, as the season stands, this was also my last race victory!]. On to the points race and I came second. Confidence was high until it was brought back down with a 6th place.

Overall though, a good day and I was hooked! Bring on event 2