Entering the final lap
Added on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 by Carole Nash Editor
Entering the final lap
We were in luck with the weather going into the final round at the Three Sisters circuit, racing with the Preston and District Motorcycle Club in the Open and Twins classes. A bright dry day from start to finish gave us probably the best weather of the year! A few riders from the British super stock 600 series had joined us as well as the TTXTT winner Rob Barber, so things were going to be fast today!
I had an 11 point lead in the Open class and a four point deficit in the Twins, so I knew the former was pretty much in the bag, but all was to play for in the 650 Twins final. We fitted another set of rubber to the Josal Racing SV650 and prayed that Lady Luck was on our side today. Practice went OK, the bike was good as always, but I, on the other hand, was riding a touch nervously. This was affecting my head. I knew I had to calm down to get the best results but my body wanted to tense up and make me ride like a five year old.
The first race of the day, the Twins qualifier, saw me on the second row, with championship leader Nige Rae just ahead of me. My start whilst good was not as good as normal but got me up behind Nige going into Cowards summit. Nige was pressing on, he knew he had it in the bag, and obviously wanted to stamp his authority all over me! Going into the hairpin for the first time there was a gaggle of us aiming for the apex with Nige out wide, trying to square the corner off and fire up over the hill and then suddenly he went down. The front Dunlop wasn’t up to temperature just yet and shouted “no more.” Nige went down heavy, bringing out the red flags.
Crash course
As we lined up for the re-run he was nowhere to be seen and my heart sank as I realised he’d hurt himself. This isn’t what I wanted. The race was a shortened affair with a start to finish victory for myself with Jo Ravenscroft in second and Rick Leigh taking third. The points race later that day was a much similar affair as so many people were over cooking it in the dry but cold conditions and were crashing right, left and centre. It was a surreal race as I simply took the holeshot and controlled it from there. The same results were achieved meaning I’d won the Twins championship. I really didn’t expect it to be honest as I’d missed a couple of races mid season due to bike problems and Nige had pushed me all the way. But I took it as it stood, deservedly!
Now all I had to do was repeat that form in the Open class but with the likes of Jamie Davie, Jay Dunn and Rob Barber playing out, it would be a tough ask. The theme of red flags continued, with another race stoppage. This was really unsettling me now as all I needed was to finish in the top ten in the points race to bag the championship. The qualifier was tough, with a back row start. Progress was slow through the field, as I was still tense and keen not to make any mistakes, the flag came with me finishing 4th. Was I happy with that? Of course not! I wanted to be out front with Jay, Rob and Jamie, but at least I was on the second row for the points race.
Bumpy ride
Well the whole year had now come down to this final race; the bike was good, the tyres still perfect, my head…erm not great. It had been a while since I felt that nervous and I wasn’t sure why. After all, I’ve raced for seven years now and won over 10 club championships so you’d think I’d be used to it - but not this time! I think all the race stoppages were now really playing on my mind and I knew one mistake could lose the title for us. No matter what I did, those thoughts remained but I got a cracking start, slotted right in behind Jamie Devine and pressed as hard as I dare. My head was now clear - mint! The first few laps went by really quickly and I felt I could run with the pace of the top three, thinking a podium finish would be a great way to win the title.
At half distance I was right with Rob Barber, but coming over Cowards summit, the fastest corner on the circuit, the rear hit a bump (I think I ran wide as well) and stepped sideways. I backed off the throttle and luckily she stepped back in line. My heart felt like it had stopped for an eternity, my brain started processing what just happened and my ‘logical’ part of me said…..”whhooooo slow down sonny.” That was it, my race was run. I dropped another place to Gordan Draper and finished fifth. I was gutted - genuinely gutted. I so wanted to finish on the podium but sometimes racing is like that, the highs are amazing, but the lows cut a really deep path.
It’s madness that you could feel gutted winning two championships in one day, but that’s a racer’ s mentality: it’s never enough, you always want to do better. The amount of times I’ve been in my van driving home on a Sunday evening after a great weekend’s racing, achieving things some people only dream of, to be still thinking “yeah, but if I’d of done this, or taken that line, or braked a bit later, or opened the throttle that bit earlier…….” When will it stop?
