The team and I worked hard to get consistent fast times, resulting in 2nd place in the privateer.
After having two 2nd places at the first round at Brands Hatch I was keen to carry on my good form and hopefully get my first privateer win at Oulton Park. The weather was great for the practise day and I was fairly happy with the set up of the bike from the first session. The team and I worked hard to get consistent fast times and I ended up the day in 20th overall and 2nd privateer.Day 2 was qualifying and our intention was to make the second part of qualifying which would mean I would be in the top 20 for the grid. The first part of the session went well and I made it into Q2
and set a time of 1.38.666 which put me 20th and 3rd privateer. I was happy enough with this and was confident ahead of the race.
Race day saw the weather take a change and the morning warm up was wet but I had a good set up for the rain so it was not a problem. The track was not completely dry for the first race but everybody was on slick tyres. I had a good start and was away with the group I wanted to stay with the whole race but I just couldn’t match the times they were doing but I was a fair bit quicker than the guys behind me so I had a very long lonely race and ended up 2nd privateer and just outside the points in 16th overall.
The team made some small changes for the next race but I didn’t have a good start and had to overtake some other cup competitors. When I got past Hickman I was catching Johnson and had a good battle with
him and finished the race 13th overall and 2nd again. Mason has been riding well so it was always going to be hard to catch him but I will certainly be trying again in a couple of weeks at Donington
Park.
Hope to see you there
PTJ #40
