I've been very quiet on here for some reason, probably because I've been lazy (Don't have as much time on my hands at the new job to write reports whilst getting paid
) except now of course.
Since I got the bike sorted over the winter I've completed 3 rounds of the NG Road Racing championship. Going into the season I wanted to become more consistent and actually push myself to go faster, something I struggled with last year as I seemed to get into a certain rhythm and then stay at that speed. I've, in a nutshell surpassed my expectations by a huge margin! The season started at Brands Hatch on the Indy circuit, I had some unfinished business with paddock hill as I crashed there last year whilst leading the newcomers. After some brake trouble and swapping of master cylinders I'd only done 3 laps cruising on what compared to last year, was a new bike for me with all the changes I'd made. I'd always had a little issue with false neutrals, half of the problem was me being toad on down shifts, something I really needed to work on/have worked on. To cut a long story short as I was finally getting over my fear of paddock hill I hit a false neutral going into it, pulled a massive stoppie on the way into the gravel and my limited motocross skills definitely keep me from binning the bike but I couldn't restart the race as I was beached! as i'm trying to help the marshals push my bike away 2 other people crash and all the marshals start running, I didn't want to drop my bike so I just hid behind it
fortunately they both missd me and were OK as it looked a nasty crash.
Results from that weekend were - F400 4th/3rd - Newcomers - 1st - A good start to my season.
I unfortunately had to miss the 2nd round at Oulton Park because I race on a shoe string budget and as it was only a 1 day round I thought it best to miss that rather than a 2 dayer, although I absolutely love Oulton Park so I was pretty gutted.
Onto Donington Park in mid may, i'd been off the bike for almost 2 months and was proper keen to swing my leg back over it. During that time i'd tinkered with it a little more and thought i'd cured a few braking issues I was having. Turns out I hadn't and Donington Park was set up to be a proper scary/fun round. In the morning practise I found out my brakes worked, just! I usually brake with 2 fingers but the lever was coming back so far that I was having to use my whole hand, something that took a while to get used to, and the fact the lever was coming back to far was a little annoying. Basically I had 1 knackered pair of H model callipers, the pistons looked liked they'd been through a blender and I didn't have the money to get new pistons along with seals etc so tried Aqua blasting them and putting new seals in but that didn't work. I purchased some L model callipers from a good friend but they hadn't been used in a while so although in good condition as I was running EBC pro-lite discs which are thicker than standard the pistons were struggling to push themselves out and were pushing the dust seals out with them! I just had to get on with it and hope my brakes worked haha.
The qualifying race went well, Aaron Ridewood buggered off up front and left me to take my best finish of my racing career of a 2nd place, my brother didn't manage to get out in that race so he was starting from the back. Between our quali and championship race Aarons bike blew a gearbox so I thought I was in with a chance of winning! turns out Ben had other ideas and it only took him a lap to get from last on the grid to overtaking me into the first corner
I was happy to come home with 2nd place and take my best ever points finish. That same day I won the newcomers race and set a new lap record along the way, managing to go 8 seconds faster than I did last year on my NC29. The next day in the quali race Ben was late to the grid and had to start from the back, I lead the whole race until the very last lap when I hit a false neutral half way round the lap, which had a lasting effect on my gearbox and was buggering up my 3rd gearand Ben came past me, then waved the cheeky giraffe, and went on to win the quali race haha. I was a little annoyed but also happy i'd upped my pace again and actually managed to lead for so long. All this with a brake lever hitting the bar as I was getting faster
The championship points race in the afternoon had me 2nd on the grid and Ben 1st, I managed to get him off the line as my starts have been bang on this year, I even had it on the back wheel as I went past haha. He then swiftly got me back into the first corner as I was too cautious. I then just wanted to keep him in my sites, I made a little mistake and missed a gear onto the back straight so lost good drive. Then Will Bryant who I didn't think I'd have trouble from came past me. I wanted to try and get back as quickly as possible so tried to line him up into the first corner, I braked as late as a dared with the lever hitting the bar. I just had to throw the bike down and try to carry a lot more corner speed, I thought I was going fast into turn 1 but Will pulled at least half a second mid corner, something that confused me a little. Then he decided to do a bit of Motocrossing and went flying onto the grass, a good explanation as to why he went into the corner so fast. I ended up finishing 2nd, only 2.8 seconds behind ben, again something I was pretty chuffed with.
Results from Donny - F400 -2nd/2nd - Newcomers - 1st
Next up was Cadwell Park.
I'd never been to Cadwell before so was very apprehensive heading into this round. During the test day I stayed out in my sessions for as long as possible to try and figure out where I was going. I thought i'd hate the track but on a 400 its so bloody fun. I was only meant to be racing the Saturday as I couldn't afford the Sundays racing but my 2 good mates I always pitch up with when racing paid for my Sunday's racing after my Saturdays results which i'll get onto.
After the test day I was confident going into the quali race. I got a decent start and the front group was Myself, Aaron and Will. All very close together on the first lap and after watching a lot of Steve Palmers videos at Cadwell I knew I could basically hit the first corner flat out on the 400 after a quick downshift. This brought me up behind Will very quickly so I thought I'd put a move in going into Charlies 2, he didn't see me coming and I hit the back of his bike, fortunately we both stayed on and I ran onto the grass. within a lap we'd managed to pull 6 seconds on 4th so I slotted myself back into 3rd place, really pissed off i'd made such a stupid mistake. This may have helped though as I got my head down to try and reel the leaders back in. Within a lap or so Aaron started coming back to me way quicker than he should have, I got past him as we went over the mountain and saw smoke coming from his bike so pointed at him as he went past. There was only a lap or so left so I didn't really have a chance of catching Will but as I come round to hit the last corner I saw yellow flags, I had a quick look and Will was in the air fencing under his bike, I cruised the last lap and took my first ever Win, albeit in a quali race but I was happy. I felt as though I was gifted the win a bit but after seeing the results I actually went 1.2 seconds fast a lap than the front 2 so that made me feel a little more confident going into the points race.
Aaron was back out in the afternoons championship race along with Will but they were both having to start from last on the grid, I had the whole front row to myself haha. I was very nervous going into this race as I knew I could potentially get my first ever championship win! I knew Aaron would be fast so I had to get my head down from the start, that I did, I got straight into the 1.42's on my first flying lap, the whole racing thinking Aaron was hunting me down. I consistently did 1.42's the whole race along with almost crashing a few times. I should probably add that I had fixed the brakes now haha. I was pushing really hard and I almost lost the front going through Charlies 2 on the bumps in the middle of the corner. I had a quick look behind me on the last lap and then just kept everything smooth. I crossed the line first, going absolutely mental after winning my first race. Turns out Aarons bottom end had gone on his ZXR so he didn't even complete a lap. I ended up winning the race by 23 seconds, pulling a 5 second lead on the first lap! My brother, who wasn't racing at Cadwell, was messaging my mates to tell me to slow down haha.
After celebrating a little bit I only had 1 race between the end of the F400 race and my newcomers race. The newcomers races are always fun and with Cadwell suiting the 400's a little more I thought I'd maybe be able to stick with the 1000's. Off the start I stuck to the outside of everyone, my main newcomers rival Will got along side me but was stuck on the inside, I swooped around the outside of a good 8/9 bikes and slotted myself in. I was really trying to pull a gap but I go stuck behind a guy on a fazer 1000. I kept meeting him at the wrong places and after being stuck behind him for a lap Will got back past me. That pissed me off a bit haha so I knew he'd be a little cautious going into the last corner so I stuffed it up the inside of him and then knew I'd have to put a couple of bikes between us. I caught the fazer just before the gooseneck, I then went round the outside of him coming out of the gooseneck. Directly in front of him was someone on an R6. Into the chicane just after mansfield I believe I knew I needed to get this bloke too so I did a bit of a kamikaze move and just parked my little 400 where he wanted to be. It was a massive bloke pass, I almost came to a stop in the chicane haha. But it backed them all up, meaning Will got caught up in it and it also gave me clear track. With the clear track and it being the last lap I pulled out all the stops to Win. I managed a 1.43.5, not my fastest but we'd been doing 1.47's in the traffic. With that lap time I pulled a 5second gap on Will and broke the newcomers lap record along the way
. This now took me to 3 wins out of 3 in the newcomers and gave me a 35 point lead in that championship.
On the Sunday things pretty much went as well as Saturday, as mentioned because of my results on the Saturday my good mates Liam and James paid for my Sundays racing, absolute legends the pair of them! I won the quali race by 8 seconds doing a 1.42.095, so so close to a 1.41. the afternoons race I won again but only by 3 seconds this time. Will got past me off the start and we had a good little battle on the first lap but I overtook him going into the last corner again just to scare him a bit
. Because of my results over the weekend, winning 5/5 races I entered I was given the performance of the meeting! the weekend really couldn't have gone better and Cadwell is definitely one of the favourite tracks now.
Results from Cadwell - F400 1st/1st - Newcomers - 1st
I came out of that weekend Leading the Newcomers championship by 35 points, I can wrap that championship up at Anglesey with a top 3 finish. And I'm now also leading the F400 championship by 15 Points. After missing a round I didn't think i'd really be in the position I am!
Next up Castle Combe on the 8th/9th of July, hoping to keep my championship charge on track!
Here's a few photo's/videos from my races this year.
Cadwell:
https://youtu.be/cy3hmp3OA74
Donington:
https://youtu.be/6fmZlpWA6mo
Brands:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29NEWlDHoRc