Round 7 - Oulton Park International

This was the penultimate weekend of the season. Each year at Oulton Park, the club only runs 1 race day with double points on offer for the top 10 finishers. 

On Friday, I attended the test day, which for the most part was a successful day of testing. It was all going well and I had a good feel for the track until the last session where, unfortunately, the bike (R1) broke down. With this happening in the last session, there was no time to get back out and fully investigate what had happened. We spend the evening trying to figure out what it was and thought it might be low fuel. We would not truly know what the problem was until the Qualifying session the next day. 

On Saturday morning I first went out on the R1 (GP1 classic) with my fingers crossed it was only a lack of fuel problem and the bike would hold out. I had a successful qualifying session and was able to put the bike on the pole position on the starting grid. Next came the qualifying session for the R6 (Pre-National 600) This was a good qualifying session with no problems. I was able to keep putting in personal bests as the session went on and finally resulted in 3rd position on the starting grid. 

Once qualifying was over it was time to get racing. My first race of the day was on the R1. I got a good start and lead the pack around the first corner. The first few laps were filled with an intense battle with my main championship rival which saw multiple changes in the leader. Halfway through the race, I suffered a gearbox issue causing me to quickly lose pace and drop down the pack. The problem from Friday was back again. Fortunately, with it being a double-point weekend I was able to nurse the bike to the finish line whilst stuck in 3rd gear.  I finished 2nd in my class, which considering the bike issue I was happy with. 

The next two races were much the same story as the rest of the season with back-to-back races. The first being the R6 race. I started this race from 3rd on the grid, another good getaway at lights out and I took the lead for the first 2 thirds of the lap. I lost the lead of the race but had to work hard to try and keep 2nd position with a 3-way battle for 2nd, each time coming over the line with less than a 1-second gap between the 3 of us. On the last lap, we came up to back marker traffic and unfortunately, I lost out and lost a position. Not wanting to give up on 2nd position I tried a risky move at the end of the lap, which did not pay off. I ran wide and causing me to finish in 7th position. Risky moves don’t always pay off but in racing, you have to give it everything you have got. After this race, I had to quickly jump off of the R6 and run across to the holding paddock to jump straight on the R1. This race was another enjoyable race with those watching left guessing who will cross the finish line first each time. It was anyone’s guess with the leader changing each lap and multiple times throughout the laps. In the end, I finished in 2nd position. 

The last race of the day was on the R6, this was another enjoyable race. I got a good start a held 1st position for the majority of the first lap, it wasn’t long before the battle for the second position was on with another 3-way fight. In the end, I was able to hold my position and finish in 2nd place.