Having got no points from Brands Hatch and missing Cadwell my plan was simply to enjoy the weekend, gain some experience and get two more signatures toward being rid of my orange novices jacket.. With my girlfriend Kassidy watching from the pit wall I was also determined to keep the rubber side down and not scare the girl..      Entering the Arena...This pic by Wagland Photography(07828 299140)

Saturday, Race 1: Grid positions are worked out based on results from the previous meeting and overall ability, having missed Cadwell and being a novice I was started from 28th. I got a fair start and settled into a comfortable pace, happy to learn the track and just get a finish. I outbraked myself into turn one on about lap three and lost a few places. This allowed John Benton on his Evans t500 to pass me and we went onto the back straight together, as an indication of how good my Cobra tuned engine is I out-dragged him easily and spent the rest of the race closing the gap ahead to finish 8th behind Paul Woods lc350..        Heading a marauding pack out of The Esses..

Race2: On lap one, approaching turn two, there was absolute carnage. A rider at the front of the pack suddenly flipped as if someone had put a stick through the spokes of his front wheel. Other riders piled into the back of his bike and I had to avoid bikes, broken bodywork and riders sliding across my path as I tipped into the bend. The race was stopped for so long that we ended up leaning our bikes against the pit wall and milling about nervously awaiting the broken bikes and riders being scraped up and carted off... After the re-start I was hit by another rider going into turn one and ended up going out onto the grass. By the time I got back onto the track I was half the length of the back straight behind everyone, my poor girlfriend was having kittens seeing the whole field come into sight without me. I clawed back a few places to finish 16th.   Powering out of Russels .....This pic by Wagland Photography(07828 299140)

Sunday, Race 1: After the poor finish from the previous race I got a reasonable start despite having to throttle off with slower bikes in front. I was soon left with an empty track ahead and a pack of three or four bikes close behind. It is really hard to keep up your pace when there`s nobody to chase, but I could feel several bikes all over my tail in every corner so I just kept focused. Ian Sinclairs Harris Kawazaki came past me through Corum Curve on the last lap, I thought his bike was an 1100cc and therefore not in the same class so I didn`t fight back and let him finish ahead. I later learned that it is only a 750cc and was gutted to have given away a place to him, I finished 10th with two more riders within a second behind me..     Out on my own going into Ritches Corner..

Race 2: A fairly uneventful race, I was again left with a clear track ahead but this time I had got a comfortable gap behind to the chasing pack. It is very useful as a novice to have the space to concentrate on my lines, braking points etc and I thoroughly enjoyed this race. I finished 9th, which was very respectable given the strong field at this meeting.     Demonstrating my bikes superior grunt from the line, out-dragging the t500s of Paul Coultas (81) and John Benton (white helmet with red stripe)..