Round 1 held over the Easter Weekend at the famous Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire.
“I felt good going into the season and testing had gone well but I know Silverstone would not be the easiest of circuits due to my height, while not usually an issue, was always going to be a disadvantage on the short but fast circuit with some physically smaller riders being able to tuck further behind their screens. The more natural twisty circuits on the calendar work better for me, this was guaranteed to be an up and down weekend”.
Events got underway on Good Friday, I was on the pace straight away, and started off the weekend well with P6 in the first and second test sessions, unfortunately on a hot lap I lost the front at Luffield in session 3 which meant I sat out session four”.
I continued with good speed but not without frustration “FP1 started good setting a lap time 0.2 off my best time, unfortunately a hose on my radiator came loose after 9 laps which meant I had to sit the rest of FP1 out but in FP2 we managed a solid run of laps which left us P18 overall in practice”.
Qualifying was next, “I set a few decent laps with my best coming on the last lap for P10, only 0.9s off pole position”.
Race 1 was on Saturday afternoon, I was able to get involved in the thick of the action, “I had an awesome start off the line and through turn one, but I made contact with several riders on the first lap and dropped down the order”, I managed to fight my way back, “I faced tough opposition but I managed to recover a point scoring 13th place finish”. My first points of the season.
Easter Sunday came but no time for chocolate eggs and into Race 2, grid positions are decided by lap times from race 1. “Due to tight lap times in race 1 I was P17 on the grid but I had another awesome start, and this time I stayed out of trouble and was with the leading group. Around lap 4 the group split and I was left in the second half of the group. Due to a mistake I dropped to the back of the group, but after a couple of laps chasing with another rider I managed to catch back up to the group with 5 laps to go and I managed to battle into the pack, however due to yellow flags I had to settle for P11 but another point scoring ride”.
I am grateful to those that make racing possible, all my sponsors and my team for a great bike, enabling me to score points in my first round.