Oulton Park - 25th-26th May 2012

We arrived at Oulton Park, Cheshire, for the two-day Thundersport meeting late Thursday night. It was forecast a very dry and sunny weekend so we recruited the help from Chris Moore once again to help the team set the bike up.

I have not raced this track in dry conditions since 2006 so I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge. Due to Oulton Park only being a two-day meeting, we only got half a day's testing and I lost one of those sessions through a slipping clutch.
I went out in qualifying but only managed to qualify 11th on the GP1 grid and 6th in the Superstock class.The more I learnt the track, the more confident I was that I would be able to make-up time during the races and my faith in the bike set-up fuelled this further.

I got a good start in the first race and I got up to 5th place. After a few laps, Chris Barnes got past me and I managed to take onto the back of him. By the last lap, we caught up to Ed Pead who was in second place of the Superstock group. It came to the last corner but I wasn't close enough to out-break him. Stupidly, on the way out, I missed a gear and Ben Scranage took third place. Barnes was given a ten-second jumpstart penalty so I finished fourth in the Superstock class and sixth in the GP1 championship. I managed to knock-off two seconds of my qualifying time, which I was very happy with. And after a small set-up change, I was ready for race two.

The second race counted as double points, so it was vital that I finished in a good position to catch Scranage in the championship. Again, I got a good start and rode really hard on lap one to move up to sixth place and followed Scranage for a couple of laps. I finally made the move on him into Cascades and got my head down to catch Ross Connolly. I was then fighting for third place in the GP1 class and first in the Stocks until the last lap. Coming out of Druids, my bike suddenly stopped and came to a stand at the last corner. Fortunately, everyone managed to pass me without a collision but I was absolutely gutted. It was important for me to finish the race but it's unavoidable when a clip on the fuel line comes undone.

Despite this unfortunate luck, I look forward to Snetterton 200 in June and hope I can continue my championship chase there.

I'd just like to thank suspension guru Chris Moore, Charlotte and Alan, my mum and dad, Louise and all of my sponsors for getting me there.

Design Corse - Rizoma Brake Protectors

A package from one of my sponsors, Design Corse, came through the post just before my race at Oulton Park. Design Corse specialise in Italian motorbike parts and have asked me to test these Rizoma brake protectors this season.

These protectors are mandatory in championships such as MotoGP and Moto2 to prevent your front brake from being hit in a collision with another rider. They are a great safety accessory and I would most definitely recommend them to any racer.

You now can watch my race wins from Mallory Park on the Thundersport iPlayer or by clicking the video below. I hope to bring more success to my sponsors and everyone else who is helping me this season.