First race at Croft proves a wet one

April 3, 2004 - We had a long drive up North and spent about 3 hours alone stuck in traffic. I had not been able to get into the Friday practice day and had never been to the circuit before, so had a 10-minute session on Saturday morning to learn the track. It was fully wet so I did not feel that I learnt much of the circuit, apart from knowing which way the corners went!

The first race was to be used to learn the circuit. The circuit was patchy wet and dry and tyre choice was a nightmare. Every time it looked like it was drying there would be a rain shower come along and change the conditions. For the race I fitted a wet front and a dry rear tyre. Starting from 15th on the grid with a slow start I dropped back to around 25th but started to make up places as I learnt the circuit, to finish 17th. I was pleased enough with this result considering the conditions and my limited track time.

The second race was fully wet. My start from 34th on the grid was fairly good and I was really getting into the race having moved up into the top 20 when the race was stopped. There were at least 8 crashes with bikes in the middle of the track being a problem. The track was also slippery and seemed to have oil on at least one corner. There was a long delay before the re-start. My start was fair but I decided to take it easy as there were only a few laps to go, conditions were still bad and I had a race coming up the following weekend to prepare for. My finish position at 24th was ok but I didn't really get into the race.

The next BEMSEE race is at Cadwell park and once again I'm hoping the race will be dry. It's another one where I only have a 10 minute practice session to learn the circuit. If dry, I hope to make the top 10 in the first race and the top 20 in the A final. If wet, just do what is comfortable.

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