Round 8 - Cadwell Park - 17th June

Well as usual, things haven't gone to plan. I am meant to have a new swingarm with new chain fitted but Scott has been completely overworked and hasn't been able to help me. I was hoping we'd have managed to find some time to do it in the last 3 weeks but there you go!

I do however have a pair of part worn Diablo Supercorsa's which I am dying to try out.

We arrived at Cadwell after driving the van through torrential rain. The M180 was under about 10cms of rain, so it was a big relief to find the clouds moving away as we pulled into the paddock area. After much running around and moving Biffo bin's to reserve spaces, we managed to find a nice spot of tarmac to set up on.

I felt very relaxed that night. A nice BBQ, a pint of strongbow and a walk around the track with Nic, pointing out the racing lines, all helped me feel chilled out.

After another good nights sleep in the van (I swear I sleep better in there than in my own bed!) We woke up and signed on.

During practice my main aim was simply to bed in my new brake pads and recalibrate my brain to a decent track, however I quickly found that my bike seemed sluggish on the power. At first I was thinking there was something wrong with the bike or the fueling but then I figured that I just needed to adjust the gearing to give it more punch.

Into the pits and I took the back wheel off and changed the sprocket for a 46T, up one tooth, and kept my fingers crossed.

Time for some breakfast and then out for the 600 qualifying. There were 36 of us on the grid and some of the guys were on some serious machines - this was going to be tough. As the flag dropped I was immediately swamped by 3 guys but as we tipped it into the first corner I held my ground. Onto Park straight and another 2 guys came passed me - bleedin' hell, this is not going to plan. The next 3 laps did go according to plan however and I stayed in 6th place. Just as I was feeling comfortable, a bloke drafted passed me and pushed me into 7th. I wasn't going to lie over without a fight and I stayed right on his tail. I slip streamed him along Park straight and pulled out for the braking zone, leaving it as late as I dare and thankfully a split second after him. I was back in 6th and kept my composure to stay there over the checkered flag. So 6th out of 36. Not bad, but as I had started from pole position (due to my championship points), this could well be the best result of the day, especially as some of the fast guys were starting at the back of the grid.

I was happy with the gearing so I made no changes for the qualifying for the Senior Cup. It was similar to the 600 qualifying, in that I got swallowed up off the line, kept it smooth throughout the race and was then overtaken by the same guy. And then, just like before, I managed to just sneak in front of him before the checkered flag (you could tell his was miffed). So a 7th place was excellent considering some of the new thousands that I was running with.

Time for a long lunch and I was really enjoying the day. My riding was safe, smooth and pretty fast and the bike and tyres were working perfectly.

The trophy 600 race was another really good race and I had to fend off quite a few challenges for position with some brave body and bike positioning. I'm thinking in particular of the action at Charlies. It's the fastest corner that we visit during the Auto66 calendar and you have to be fully committed. Heading down the start/finish straight, in a split second I dab the brake, change down a gear, shift all my weight to the left and tip it into the bend, at say, 130mph. Just as I did, I caught sight of a front wheel appearing about 50cms away from my left eye. At this point there are two options. Option A involves sitting the bike up a touch and rolling off the throttle slightly to let the aggressive rider through. This is the safe option and allows you both to get through the corner safely. I chose option B, which involves opening the throttle a touch more than is comfortable and leaning you body and bike into the path of the approaching rider so that you are where they want to be. It requires a certain amount of trust that the other guy has not taken too much corner speed and is going to ram into you, but with a slight mind adjustment, that decision seems an obvious one to take. The end result of this move... I exited the corner ahead of him and never saw his front wheel again ;-)

Anyway, apart from a near highside when I saw the rider in front make a mistake and I was too eager to try and capitalise on it, the race was another smooth one and the 8th place was as much as I could do. My laps times were within a second of each other, lap after lap, race after race. I was riding faster than before (by the tune of around half a second), yet I felt more composed and safe than ever. I think some of that was down to the tyres and some is down to increased fitness, which allows me to just concentrate on the race.

A word on the tyres - I love these new Diablo Supercorsa's - every racer should buy them - they are the best on the market (and I was always a Metz Racetec man!)

The trophy race for the Senior cup was always going to be hard and my aim was to stay in the top 8 to get a second row start for the points race. Starting in 7th position, this was going to be hard but a good start saw me 5th into the first corner. The bigger capacity bikes were too much for me on the straight however and I started to drop back. An error by one rider (running onto the grass) allowed me to power passed and take him into the mountain section (a brave move down the inside and hard on the brakes), but I lost that position a lap later and was back down in 9th. The laps were ticking by and I could see a rider coming back to me in the closing stages - I think he was tiring. I pushed and pushed and set my fastest lap of the day (1'40.3") and managed to close right up on him going into the mountain section for the last time. I got a run on him through hall bends and put a block pass on him at the hairpin. I was in 8th! Hard on the gas down to the last corner and hard on the gas.

Hard on the gas on a 600 is not the same as hard on the gas on a 1000cc and with a metre of track left in the race, I was pushed back into 9th position - crap!

The Points race for the 600's was another great battle and I was in amongst them for a lot of the race. The fastest guys had once again stretched out a bit of a lead but I was holding my grid position and riding within my limits again. When I say that, I don't mean I was taking it easy, I just mean that I was more in control of the bike than I was the last time I was at Cadwell. I managed to bring the bike home in 7th place which I was fairly happy with given the level of competition.

So, just the Senior race to go. I was well up for this one and only needed 3 points to put me in the lead of the Championship. We took to our grid positions and I noticed that 3 riders had failed to make the grid, which put me up to 6th straightaway. I got a great start and was in 5th place after Coppice and Charlies and charged hard along Park Straight. I was actually catching 4th coming into Mansfields but the red flags came out. We went back to the line and waited....and waited.

Finally it was announced that the race would now be 1 warm up lap and 4 flying laps. I shot round the warm up lap and was ready for the off. Rev's rise, clutch lever balanced, and we're away...well, kinda!

My bike started to stutter and I knew that my battery had given up. Either is was nearly flat of the connection had come loose - again. My initial reaction was to try and continue to get some points , so I kept at it. However I could only rev to about 8000 rpm before the stutter got worse (I'd say I had about 60bhp to use). Bikes started flying passed me and all I could do was keep it smooth as possible and carry as much corner speed as I could. I finished 16th out of 19. One place outside the points! I was really pissed off, but couldn't help laughing at the fact that I had still beaten 3 guys! I think they should give up now!

It's at times like these that you question to sanity of your involvement in the sport. I spend an unbelievable amount of money and time ensuring that I can make it out on race day. From Friday evening, I think about little else (although that's also true for most of each week). I psych myself up for each race and as I sit on that line, I concentrate on one thing only - winning. Nothing else enters my mind. I'm not thinking of whether I have put enough petrol in or whether I really should have put a new chain on so that it doesn't snap and take off my left foot - it's too late for those thoughts. I'm 100% focused on the drop of the flag and what I need to do for the 10 minutes that follow. When I launched the bike off the line and felt it stutter, all that work, that time, that commitment is worth nothing. Incidents like this test your character. I felt upset, I swore and I put the bike in the van and headed home. My character was strong enough to deal with the disappointment but I don't know if it can continue to do so.

I've started thinking about retiring from racing at the end of this year. I know I'll never find anything to replace it. I went go-kart racing last week and the whole thing felt tame. Lets see how we get on at Elvington in a months time and take it from there.