Round 15 - Cadwell Park 15th October

Here we go...the last race of the season...

So what do you get for a £45 radiator repair? Silver paint! Thats all I got. The glob of instant metal is still in place but now the whole radiator has been srayed with Hammerite! Rip off, lets just hope it holds.

If ever there was a time for intelligent riding, this was it. I just needed to finish ahead of Kitson to secure 3rd overall. With two points races in each class, a crash could screw up the whole season.

There was a massive turn out and some gorgeous machines and right from the off it was obvious that the day would see plenty of "action".

The rookie qualifying went okay - a solid 6th out of 28 on the grid. However the Clubmans qualifying race was red flagged 3 times and eventually cancelled. As I waited on the grid for each session to be restarted, I could see water dripping onto the floor - was the radiator going to give up on me! more panic! As it turns out, it was just over heating and the water was expanding. A top up back in the pits saw the problem sorted.

This turned out to be a bad omen - not for me, but for Ben, who crashed on the cooling down lap after winning the first Open class race. Ben was out for the rest of the day but thankfully is on the mend.

The first points race saw me finish in 5th place, with Kitson down in 10th. 3rd place was mine - I could relax for the rest of the races.

After lunch we had two final races left of the season - I could feel myself getting into the zone.

The flag dropped and I was off....up to 5th, 4th and drop it into the fast left. I took one more rider going round the outside through Coppice and then grabbed 2nd place nipping tight on the inside going into Charlies. I got excellent drive onto Park Straight and then left my braking very late to nip into 1st as we tucked in to Park. I was leading!

Right, head down.... lets do some consistent laps. I concentrated hard on braking points and gear selection and 3 laps later, I was still in the lead. I was buzzing. I was to nervous to look round to see where the rest were but I was enjoying every minute of being out in front.

Another time over the mountain and through hall bends, using my new choice of gear to get me through the hairpin and back out onto the straight. Another lap gone.

Head down - concentrate - dont make mistakes - power on - barke - turn - power, more power!

Another lap gone and finally the last lap flag was out - dont loose it now.

Shit! A mistake, lost time... compose yourself... back markers ahead...

It amazes me - Even with all the psychological and physiological pressures that are acting on your body, the effort and energy that you are using, the concentration on each inch of the track and what each of your limbs and digits are meant to be doing - the brain still manages to find enough capacity to work out an accurate plan of where on the track you are going to catch up with the back markers and then work out the best form of ATTACK!

The first of the back markers was dismissed easily through Chris Curve, the next easily on the brakes dropping into Mansfields, however the last back marker could have brought my whole world (well, me and the bike) crashing down. I caught him up just over the the mountain and couldnt risk getting tied up in Hall bends so I left my braking REALLY late and stuffed it up the inside going into the first of the bends - he must have s**t himself as I was going twice as fast as him and we pretty much swapped paint.

Hard on the brakes for the hairpin, roll on the power through Barn and preying so hard that I wasn't about to get pipped at the post, head down and over the flag.... VICTORY!

The pleasure I got from that win made the whole season worthwhile. The ups and downs, the broken bones, the cancelled holiday and the huge expense, both time and money.

Both Nic and Mum were nearly in tears from the emotion. Happy tears for winning at the track that saw me smash my shoulder blade and worried tears as they thought I was going to crash and break it again. This was a real champagne moment - but I settled for lucazade as I had one last race to do!

The last race was also a great race but this time I was in amongst other riders for all of it. I battled hard to finish 4th and shook hands with 5th place after some good, safe, cloase racing.

That was it - the end of the season.

I finished 3rd in the Rookie championship, 36 points clear of Stuart Kitson but a huge 57 points behind Matty, with Ben in a different league

In the Clubmans championship I finished 5th, but only 11 points off 3rd. So without broken bones and broken batteries, it would have been mine.

But enough of ifs, buts and maybes... it was what it was.... an excellent year.

Thanks to Scott Whitfield, who had plenty of bad luck himself, but without whom, my racing season would never have got passed the first event. Scott - you're a star and a real mate.

Here's to the New Year Auto 66 piss-up! Cheers.