Brands Hatch Penultimate Round

The penultimate round takes us back to Brands Hatch Indy (again!) this time it’s the champion of Brands and again lots of wild card riders are entered to try and get the trophy.

1st Qualifying and all goes ok, I’m holding 4th place early on and have 6th on the pit board when I come in – by the time I stop in Pit lane I’m down to 10th! (6th MRO runner)Still that’s ok in the company we are in and I know we can go quicker, back to the awning for a fresh rear tyre to boost the position to the front 2 rows if possible.

2nd qual and the grip is much better, I finish 6th fastest in that session but only move up one place overall to get 9th on the grid with under 1 second between 5th and 12th it should be a fun race.

For the first race I get stuck out to dry on the first corner a bit so I cant hold my line into Druids on the first lap – I slip back a few places but I’m sure I can make progress and I know I still have more speed than I showed in qualifying – I get back a few spots but then get stuck behind a small pack of riders – I’m carrying the corner speed but don’t have the exit grunt and it ruins my flow – I can’t get past and end up just getting frustrated – I can see how I can pull away if I can get passed but just can’t make it stick! I finish 9th (5th MRO runner) but still know I can do better.

Race 2 is a mirror image and again I get stuck in the middle of the pack – my game plan was to back up a bit and use the extra corner speed to get clear past them – unfortunately I have another 5 riders behind all hungry to get past me so I can’t slow down to get a run so I have to keep the late braking and lose the exit speed against the tuned bikes – another frustrating finish in 11th (6th MRO runner) and I’m really keen to do better in the last race.

Race 3 – I get a mega start and am 3rd on the first lap – this is better! – I’m soon knocked to 4th on the straight but can keep up no problems, towards the end of the race there is a big crash in front and I move up another place but I can see a trail of oil around the circuit, coming out of druid I get a big slide and know to back of, however – no one else noticed – or if they did the didn’t back off and I got dropped from the pack and coming up to the penultimate lap a back marker had a big moment in front of me as someone past him - he was coming across the grass on collision course for me!! – I hit the brakes hard to avoid him and lost all my drive onto the straight letting the guy behind not only close the gap but blast me down the straight!! Gutted. I cross the line in 7th place (5th MRO runner)

All in all a very frustrating weekend – but I did get a new Personal best lap time – if only just, thought I could go quicker but never got the chance to prove it. We did close the gap on the guys in front the championship and can still salvage a good result in the championship if we can make the final round.