 |
| Photo: Bikesport Photography |
The team and I had a fantastic round at Cadwell Park back in
May, coming home with three GP1 wins. However, trying to repeat this success at
Oulton seemed quite daunting!! I haven’t ridden this track a lot on a 1000 and
didn’t have much luck with it in 2012, so it’s not up there with my favourite
tracks. As always, being a two-day meeting made it even more challenging.
After three good practice sessions on Friday, we went out
for qualifying. I was slowly getting used to the track and learning how to ride
it with all the challenging crests and undulations – something I find a real
handful on the ZX10. I got a couple of clear laps early on in the session and
ended up qualifying 5th with a time of 1.41.9. Despite not being on
the front row, I was really pleased with my position. I had gone round the
track faster than I had ever been before and I knew where I could improve and
go a lot quicker.
There was a delay for the first race when we were due to go
on track, so we had two warm-up laps and the race was cut back to seven laps. I
got a dreadful start and got boxed in going into turn one, which dropped me
back to 9th position. By lap four, I had climbed up to 5th
and was chasing Teasdale. As soon as I got onto the back of him, he ran the
slip road at Hizzy’s chicane and I was promoted up to 4th. The
leading trio were a good four seconds ahead so I settled for 4th. I
managed to do a 1.40.1, which I was extremely happy with and confident that I
could still go faster.
 |
| Photo: Glyn Richardson |
I was determined to make up for the bad start I had in
race one, so I got a belting start for race two. I was in 2nd going
into Old Hall and Gav Hunt shot underneath me going into Cascades. I tried my
hardest to hang onto them and James East was showing his front wheel
everywhere. I just couldn’t get the same drive as they could out of the corners
on the gearing I was on. On lap three, East passed me on the run into Hizzy’s.
I was trying a bit too hard and ran deep into Old Hall, losing the tow. So, I
settled for 4th again and managed to keep a gap between me and
Teasdale, who was in 5th. I didn’t better my lap time in that race,
which I was disappointed with but I know that with a gearing change, we
could’ve gone a lot faster.
All in all, it was a good meeting and I learnt a hell of a
lot. I bettered my previous lap time from 2012 by 3.2 seconds, which I am
really happy with. A huge thanks to all of my team for the effort they put in,
all of my sponsors which keep me racing, Louise for looking after me and doing
my pit board and my mum and dad.
Roll on Rockingham!
No comments:
Post a Comment