I'd never been to Darley Moor before, and had heard little to make me optimistic about the venue. It is an old WW2 airfield which has been developed for racing motorcycles and Go-Karts. Essentially the circuit is a triangle, with wiggly bits and an appendage on the eastern corner.. But as it turned out it is a lovely little track which is very challenging and certainly favours the brave..
The weather forecast was for overcast, windy weather interspersed with heavy showers, and it really lived up to the prediction.   T500 crew at Darley..

Saturday:
We had a dry practice, so I pretty much got an idea of where I was going and what gear to be in.. It turned out that I had got the gearing just right for every part of the circuit and I was feeling confident.

Race1; It had started to spit with rain, but I decided to go out anyway and hope that it would stop before the track got too wet...
I got a fair start but was baulked by the heavier 1300cc class machines ahead. Justin Shaw got a flyer on his T500 and disappeared from view after the chicane..
On the first lap the heavens opened and we were treated to a deluge of the sort that bounces back up from the tarmac. Visibility and traction became "less than ideal" and I figured that the safest thing to do, given that I have never raced in the wet, was to get into the wake of the rider ahead and just get to the chequered flag.             Of course, that plan worked fine until Nigel Collier on his 430cc Yamaha came past. Being in the same class I didn't want to let him get away so I dug deep and went after him.                                         We got stuck behind a big Kawazaki that could out-grunt us out of corners but got right in the way going in..     Thats me on the back wheel of Nigels No.154 Yamaha           Picture by Sport-Pics     Nigel nipped inside the big No.60 Kwaka of Dean Edwards at the hairpin but with my longer and less nimble bike I opted for the outside route, only to have Dean sit up early and force me to go round the right-hand side of him on the exit. My back wheel stepped out and I had one of those awful moments where both legs are flailing and you are trying to regain control with your testicles gripping the tank strap..   I got it straightened up and went after Nigel, who had got a fair gap on me. On the last lap I thought I could just get him but it would have meant risking taking us both out on the last corner so I eased off and crossed the line 1.5secs behind, 4th in class.

Race2; On the warm-up lap John Dieterman managed to throw himself down the road in an act of complete stupidity. He has an incredibly quick bike, but seems ill equipped to handle it and I had tipped him as "man most likely to kill someone" after practice..

Anyway, the stricken idiot was scraped up and we were about ready to go when I gave the bike a last look over and found a problem with my 2-stroke oil supply, so I pulled off the grid. Justins first win on his T500
Sunday:
Race3; I was started dead last as I hadn't gone out in race 2, and it was raining fairly hard, so I decided to be sensible and get a finish. Excellent plan, but then I saw that Andy Wilson and John Benton, both T500 mounted, were visible ahead through the spray. My competative nature got the better of me and I started pushing to catch them. I got past Andy once and then he re-passed me and I thought I was in for a chance as we were both catching John.. At the end of the second lap I was right on Andy's tail coming toward the last corner but locked the front wheel up.. I had a second go at scrubbing off some speed but locked-up again and had no option but to make an undignified and unspectacular exit into the gravel trap.....

Race4; Against my better judgement, and mostly because it was less dreadful than the mocking of my peers, I dragged my soggy and sorry looking self the grid..
To be honest I dont remember a great deal about the race, other than that it was raining hard, I paced myself behind another bike and just got to the end with no heroics..  Soggy....

I think I got a reasonable finish but,... I was sent to the race office and told that my result was nulled as I had not recieved a medical check after my 'off' in the previous race. I hadn't actually gone down myself in the crash, but had simply stepped off the bike as the front wheel dug into the gravel, so I didn't think a medical was needed.

Study of the ACU handbook since has illuminated me, and I shan't be making that mistake again...