Donnington Round 8

After a massive summer break we head to Donnington for a single 12 lap race - and double points. We are all well aware this could either make or break the championship.

We are first on in the morning and for once it's not raining, I know we are up against it at Donnington anyway as the 1098 Ducati is starting to perform as you would expect and the Triumphs are coming on strong. For some reason the qualifying grid has been mixed and the track is flooded with bikes, normally it is possible to find some clear air but I couldn't, the bike felt good though and all was well so I just had to hope nobody else got clear air either. Unfortunately - they did and I was down on 10th place on the grid and way of the pace.

As we lined up on the grid it was hot and there was a long delay as guys further to the back were struggling with wrongly allocated grid positions - this meant that my bike and a few other were getting dangerously hot - especially Skelly on the duke who was not a happy chappy - however we got off before it became too bad and I made an awesome start - straight into 3rd place and looking good - unfortunately a red flag was out straight away after a very nasty start line moment. We were held again for ages and it started to spit with rain - the 1098 would not start as it had got too hot and all the warning lights had emobolised it.

When they called us back to the grid it was the last bike back but seemed ok. I didn't get such as good start this time and was blocked a bit into the first corner - think I was a bit girly on the cold slicks! I got stuck for a few laps but eventually broke into 4th place and was able to start thinking about going forward - however it was a bit late as the first three were long gone. Mark Woods came past me and proved very hard to live with as his bike (ex shakey Burn Ducati) was a missile down the straights and although he was not slow around the twisties it was stopping my rhythm a bit and I could not pass. I crossed to the line on his back wheel in what I thought was 5th place. However luckless Skelly had broken down on the last lap after having a massive lead handing me 4th place. I then found out I had a 10sec penalty for jump start??? I thought it was a bad one! Anyway as I was 16 seconds in front of the next man it made no difference so there was no need to make the complaint.

So we leave Donnington in the lead of the championship again if only just with the top of the board even tighter than before. Marcus Wade on Triumph rode an excellent race to get 2nd and close the gap even more - we couldn't get a better end to the season with it all to play for.