Snetterton 200 - 22nd-24th June 2012

We finally arrived at a rather wet and windy Snetterton 200 circuit at 2:30am Friday morning. After such a long night of travelling, we set up ready for an early start.

All of the Friday morning sessions were, of course, wet. However, thanks to Chris Moore, we were able to secure a good set-up and I felt extremely comfortable with the bike. However, the unpredictable weather patterns of the Snetterton circuit meant that we also got to run in two fully dry practise sessions later that day. Recruiting further help from Chris, we were able to gain a sustainable dry set-up as well as the wet.  To me, the bike felt really good and I was extremely confident for my qualifying session whatever the weather.

Surprisingly, the track was dry when we woke up on Saturday morning. Therefore, I stuck on a brand new set of tyres ready for the qualifying session. I immediately went out on track and put in a banker lap which put me in a consistent third place throughout the session. Seeing this on my pit board fuelled me to put in a hard lap and with two minutes to go, I found the space to go quicker. To my surprise, I returned to the garage to realise I had qualified in pole position in both the GP1 and stock classes. I was absolutely over the moon with this result, as it was my first GP1 pole ever.

Following the qualifying session, we went into the first race of the meeting. In all honesty, I have never been so nervous about a race in my life. However, as soon as the race got underway I was fine. I secured a good start and led the race into the first corner but towards the end of the lap, Peter Baker flew past me on the start/finish straight. In a heroic turn, Phil Crowe came flying underneath me into turn two but overcooked it and went down.  I was sitting comfortably in second place, behind Baker, until lap six when both Mike Dickinson and Ian Mackman passed me. I tried my hardest to keep their pace but my tyres had gone. The leading three pulled a one second gap on me so I decided to settle for a fourth place in the GP1 class. I knew that I was leading the Superstock 1000 class and that was my main priority. With two laps remaining, Dickinson went straight on at the end of the straight which promoted me to third position in GP1. I finished third overall and first in the Stock class. I was extremely happy with my results as it was my best finish in GP1 this year.

After my success on Saturday, I felt comfortable about the two Sunday races. Of course, we woke up to a wet track and went out into the morning warm-up. I was the fastest rider in the session, which built further confidence for the next race. As race two commenced, I got another good start. I was second going into the first corner and Baker built an impressive lead on the first lap. Going into lap two, Mackman passed me on the first corner which forced me to establish a steady rhythm. However, Mike Dickinson and Chris Barnes both passed me down the back straight on lap seven. I was keen to get back in front of Barnes as he is also a Superstock contender. One lap later, I managed to pass him into the left-hander at the back of the straight and started to chase Dickinson. As we passed the last lap flag, I managed to gain a good slipstream down the start/finish straight and took Dickinson into the turn one. I managed to pull a little gap which resulted in my putting in the fastest lap of the race. Again, I finished third in the GP1 class and another victory in the Stock class. It was an absolutely brilliant race to be a part of.

The buzz of my consistent podium finishes ignited a further desire to succeed in race three, which was dry. Setting off the line, I messed up the start and went considerably backwards. Coming onto the back straight, I was in seventh position but quickly managed to pass Ben Scranage into Brundles and also managed to pass Adrian Clark there a lap later. Ross Connolly was the leading Stock rider so I put my head down in order to catch him. Within a lap, I had managed to stick right by him but really struggled to pass as he was very fast in a straight line. However, I kept up the fight and managed to brake late and pass him into Brundles. I monitored my pit board closely and the gap on Connolly was increasing with every lap. I then set my next target on Dickinson, who was three seconds ahead of me. I tried my hardest to catch him and within two laps I had done just that. It came down to the last lap before I thought about making a move on Dickinson. He was extremely hard to pass as he was riding very well and covered all of his lines. However, I spotted my chance to pass him. I got onto the outside of him going around Coram which gave me the inside line going into Murrays. I put the power down as early as I could but Mike simply got it down sooner and he passed me. Overall, I finished fourth in the GP1 class and got my hat rick of Superstock wins. I also got the lap record for the Stock class with a 1.11 and was only three tenths off of the GP1 lap record.

All in all it was one of the best weekends racing I have had in a long time. I would just like to thank all these people for making it possible: Alan, Chris and my dad for putting me out on an amazing bike, Charlotte for doing my pit board and organising everything, my mum for sorting everything out for me and a massive thanks to Louise for doing the brolly dollying for me to earn a voucher for the next race meeting. Extra thanks go to Mike Dickinson and Alan for buying me a set of tyres for the last race. Without them I would have been nowhere. Also thanks to my sponsors  Design Corse, Motoretta, FSC Engineering,  WM Snell, Holroyd Components, Putoline and anyone else who has helped me with my racing!

Next stop Rockingham – I can’t wait!!

(Photo: Dave L Jackson)

You can now watch the Morello Services GP1 race from Oulton Park on the ThundersportGB iPlayer