The long-awaited championship decider was finally
here and the prospect of winning the championship was starting to set in. As I
went well at Mallory Park earlier in the year, so I was hoping for another good
run.
I went out for the first practise session on Friday, hopeful
that we could get a good suspension set-up. All went well – the bike felt
really good and my lap times were consistent. I came back into the paddock
feeling very confident but, of course, this was short-lived. I rode out on
track for the second session and felt to be running well until five minute in,
when my chain snapped coming out of Devil’s Elbow. I was absolutely devastated,
the bike was chugging smoke and it turned out that the chain had actually
damaged the engine. At that moment in time, I was convinced that my weekend was
over.
Of course, as my bad luck escalated, it was soon time for
qualifying. Due to the Anglesey re-run scheduled for the Mallory Park meeting,
the test day had to be cut short and qualifying resumed in its place. I was
sure that my weekend couldn’t get any worse but due to sheer team determination
(and a lot of running about by Charlotte), help was found in the form of Phil
Crowe’s BMW. He kindly loaned me his
bike so I could go out and put in a qualifying time. Despite riding with Crowie’s
settings, I somehow managed to propel myself to be the fastest Superstock rider
and came 8th on the GP1 grid overall. I cannot thank Phil enough for
lending me his bike!!
By Saturday morning, my bike was miraculously
fixed. My dad and Alan had stayed up pretty much all night and worked wonders
on the Ducati to get it running again. I also must thank Stuart and Jo for
going all the way to Coventry Ducati to get a head gasket for the bike. These
combined efforts made sure that the 1198 was ready for the morning warm-up
session. You cannot understand the relief I felt when I heard that Ducati start
up again!
The
practise session was damp but the bike felt really good once again. I felt
strong enough to go into the first race with confidence.
As we
approached the race, it was still damp but was drying rapidly. It would’ve been
a gamble either way, but we branded wet tyres as the safest option for the race
(and turning out to be the right choice). I got a good start and held my position going
into turn one. As we went into Edwina’s, a couple of people got past while I
was trying to fight through the pack. Once I got to grips with things, I
started to pick a few people off. By half race distance, I had lost the two of
the leading pack and had Chris Barnes right behind me. I made the decision to
let Barnes pass me as I did not want to risk an accident at such a crucial
stage in the championship. Therefore, I followed him for the rest of the race.
However, I had a sudden (and somewhat adrenaline-fuelled) change of heart and decided
that if I was close enough, I would make a move on him on the last lap. As time
was encroaching, I had a look going into the Hairpin but Barnes was very good
on the brakes. As he tipped in, he lost the front and went down. Luckily, I
managed to miss his bike and ended up winning the Superstock class.
The second race of the day was actually the re-run
of the cancelled Anglesey race. Due to some riders not making it to Mallory
Park, I was promoted to second on the grid. By this time, the track was dry and
I managed to get another good start. I actually led the first lap but this was also
short-lived as Pete Baker came flying past me like a rocket onto the start/finish
straight. I found it difficult to stay onto the back of him due to the lack of
dry set-up time. The bike didn’t feel too brilliant at this point. Within the
next few laps, Ian Mackman, Mike Dickinson and Adrian Clark all passed me. I
rode a somewhat lonely race but ensured that I stayed first in the Stocks for
the entire duration. By the end of the race, I realised that I now had a 27
point lead over Ben Scranage and was really excited for the Sunday races. One
strong result would crown me champion.
Fuelled by my success the day before, I was a lot
more confident going into the next two races. Surprisingly, I wasn’t at all
nervous – even though the championship was hanging on one successful finish. I
went out for the third race of the weekend but of course, my tyre-warmer packed
up. Annoyingly, I had to take it steady for a couple of laps to manually heat
the tyres. After a couple of laps, I gained
confidence in the tyres. I started picking people off and by lap five, I
managed to get onto the back of the dice for the Superstock win. At this point,
it was between Barnes and Matt Shellcock. With five laps to go, I passed
Shellcock and was figuring out how to get past Barnes. However, Shellcock wasn’t
giving up without a fight and pulled a good move on me into Gerrards. I was
more than happy to settle for third at this point as I would still win the
title. However, I soon decided against this and decided that if I was going to
win the championship, I’d win it coming first. I passed Shellcock into Edwinas
and then going into the Hairpin, I broke as hard as I could and managed to get
in front of Barnes. The ending result: I won the race and also won the
championship. I was absolutely over the moon.
Race four had no significance for the championship
so, as a team, we decided to use it to test for next year. I put on a set of
Dunlop slicks which made me solely eligible for the GP1 class. It took me a
couple of laps to get used to them but once I got my head round them, I managed
to work my way through the pack. With two laps to go, I passed Barnes by
pulling the same move I had done in the previous race, which is a mighty
testament to the Ducati’s brakes. I finished 8th overall in the race
and was very happy with the tyres. I have gained confidence going into next
year already as I am closer to knowing how to make them work.
I’d like to give a massive thanks to everyone who
has helped me this year to make winning the championship possible. Thank you to
all of my sponsors: Design Corse, Putoline UK, Stylmartin, Premier Helmets,
Holroyd, Motoretta, FSC Engineering, Oxford Products and WM Snell and QC
Engineering and Design. I could not have done this without your help. Also like
to thank Steve at Morello for all the help and advice he’s given me throughout
the year.
There are many people to thank – including Alan
and Charlotte for the hard work and hours they’ve put in to make a
championship-winning bike; my mum and dad for the continuing support and
everything they’ve done for me; Louise for doing everything else and Chris
Moore for his significant help in sorting my suspension. Without them, I
literally would be nowhere.
Also like to send out my biggest wishes to Mike
and Sara Dickinson for their move out to Spain. It has been a pleasure racing
competitively with Mike this year and all the advice he has given me. I wish
them all the best luck for the future and hope to see them again soon.
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