The last 2 races of the season were originally scheduled for Donington, but due to the continuing shambles at the place, they had overbooked the amount of noisy days for the year (dont start me on the subject regarding noise at a venue next door to an airport!!), luckily the 750MC are a lot more organised than this and had a back up plan in lace for us all to visit Cadwell! Cadwell is great fun, although my previous 2 visit were marred with mechanical issues, i was really looking forward to it. The championship was still to be decided with Al and Paul taking it down to the last weekend to fight it out, infact all down the field there were positions to be grabbed, and a slip up from Al or Paul would also bring Derek and John back into the running for the overall championship. I had already guaranteed 3rd in class F but was neck and neck with Matt Green in 5th place overall. I had said at the start of the year if ii managed 35rd in class and 6th oerall i would over the moon, so i was seriously up for trying to grab the no5 on my car next season. So much so i decided not to run allcomers incase i binned it (plus was worried i'd miss the Birkett if i had a big one).
Due to MOT issues and getting the bus plated as a HGV we had to rent a trailer and camp!! The lack of bus really took the edge of my excitement for the weekend as i wasn't relishing a damp, cold and wet weekend under canvas. The journey to Cadwell didnt go too well either, a dropped jockey wheel on the trailer, shortly followed by getting flashed by a speed camera, and within another 5 miles a fully grown deer decided to jump out infront of us! I had no time to brake or swerve, luckily (for the discovery) the deer timed her run to miss the car but make the space between the car and trailer, unfortunetly for the deer the corner of the trailer hit it, followed by my dads mountain bike, then the wheel arches and finally a side light.
Qualifying was dry but i spent most of the session trying to familiarise myself with the circuit again, especially as i'd never driven it with the R1 install. I qualified 12th in both races, a bit lower than i would have hoped for, especially being so far behind Al and Derek. Matt is in Class R so not a direct fight with him, but as i was 2 points infront of him with the dropped points taken into account, i just needed to finish in the same position in class as he did. Looking at the grid that meant i needed to try and get 3rd in both races, assuming both Paul and John finished ahead in class R to put matt 3rd. It meant i needed to pull my socks up for the race and make few spots up if i wanted to get the 5th place overall.
In usual RGB style it rained before the race, and watching the races before it was obvious it was very slippy in places. The only good thing (for me anyway) was that Lee decided not to race due to the weather which not only meant i had 1 less class F car to beat, it meant i had a spot ahead of me for the start. Cadwell is very tight and a good start is important, so a clear track ahead is a big advantage. As it turns out i got a flying start, with an exciting first 2 corners alongside Gary in his contour, i got ahead of him and had gone from 12th to 6th by the end of Charlies!! Tim Pell then scuppered my flyer by spinning on the first lap and causing a red flag. Fortunately the restart went just aswell and i was 6th again heading down park straight, and this is how it ended, very uneventful,I had space infront and behind me and concentrated on finishing in the pretty horrid conditions without incident. So i finished 6th, and felt very pleased with my drive, my best finish to date and got my name in the results in Autosport :-)
Race 1 video didnt work apart from the forst start, plus i included a small "moment" where i tried to hold it flat(ish) around coppice!
A great evening was then spent in the paddock with the usual suspects and guests, drinking free beer from the remains of the BBQ and Tshirt sales early on in the season, Bobs tasty and extremely dry (like his humor) home brew cider and scoffing Bobs home cooked curry. The following morning wasn't so great, not due to a bad head, but i was producing some "violent" smells, making car prepping and cooking breakfast rather dangerous for the rest of the team.
I didnt have the clear track ahead of me in race 2 so didn't manage such a good start, although i did make up a couple of places and nipped wround Tim as he decided to go on a small sideways adventure up coppice. Tim soon had his spot back going down park straight. I left the door wide open for him coming into Park but was confident i'd get a shot at him within the next few corners, but as it turned out he managed to get past Dave pretty quickily and i then spent the rest of the race trying to get past him, with James close behind me. I was quicker than David in the first half of the circuit but he had me on the second half so the gap was constantly changing. My best place for overtaking him was coming down park straight into the Park and chris curve, but as you can see from the video i just could keep with him down the straight, especially coming up the hill. I had noticed on several occasions that my gear indicator was showing 4th instead of 6th coming up the hill, i put this down to to wheelspin, but looking back at the video, the way Dave pulled away, and a small amount of clutch slip on the last lap i think the clutch was starting to slip slightly. On the last lap Dave ran wide at the top of the goose neck, but rather than keep my toe down and try and get past him, i was uncertain (and i guess he was too) how and where he was going to re-enter the track, so i backed off a tad to ensure we didn't collide. He actually came back on under control and we probably would have been safe, but it just wasn't worth risking a collision.
Race 2 video
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