Closing the season was round 9 on the full GP circuit at Donington Park over the weekend of 1st and 2nd October. I was confident heading to the Midlands venue for the season finale, unfortunately, again a mixed weather forecast.
Friday’s practice saw me take p6 in FP1 and FP2 was cancelled due to torrential rain.
Race 1 saw the newly crowned champion missing from the grid due to a qualifying crash, this clearly fired up the rest of the riders as they fought for remaining positions. “I had a good start in race 1 and found myself on the back of the front 3, I was feeling fast and was pulling away from the rest of the field when I made a mistake heading into Goddards. I hit a bump as I was braking for the tight left hander and this caused me to run wide. I lost the tow of the lead trio and then the rain came back. I decided to back off as the points were going to help my position in the championship and I didn’t want to risk losing them, due to this I maintained my position, finishing in 4th”.
Race 2 saw me starting from 10th on the grid due to lap times set in Race 1. “I had some work to do right from the start and I knew I had ground to gain. I managed to fight my way up to 5th in the first couple of laps, setting the fastest lap and settling into the front group. This was my best race of the season, fighting for position at the front battling for the lead”.
Unfortunately a crash on Craner Curves meant that the race was cut short by a red flag and I finished in 5th, 1 second behind the winner”.
Two more solid races enabled me to climb the championship table once more, finishing my season in 5th place out of 36 riders. The only rider to finish every race in the points, only two races out of the top ten.
“I was desperate for a podium finish to round the season off. I know I have the pace to run at the front and my confidence has continued to grow, now when I think of the podium; it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when”.
This season would not have been possible without amazing the support of my sponsors, team and family.