Round 4 - Donington Park National

After successful qualifying sessions, the first race was the MRO 600 race. This race was fairly uneventful. Around halfway through the race, I was pushed wide over the rumble strip on the exit of Redgate by another rider. This compromised my race causing me to lose a couple of places but managed to regain them by the end of the race and finished P6. 

The next race was the first of the Thunderbike Ultra races I started in pole position and lead the entire race with the exception of the pit straight where my main competition of the weekend outran me. I was quickly able to regain my position by the end of the first corner and bring it home in 1st position. 

Next up was the 2nd MRO 600 race. I got a good start gaining a couple of positions but sadly that was the most eventful part of the race as I wasn’t able to make any more moves bringing it home in 6th position. 

The last race of the day was the second Thunderbike Ultra race. I started in second position and got a fantastic start. This was a race of many battles but I was able to keep out in front. On the 4th lap, the race was red-flagged. The decision was made to rerun the entire race. The restart was much of the same story until lap 4 when James Fearn passed me for the lead and started to pull away. On the last couple of laps I managed to regroup and close the gap but unfortunately, it was too little too late I gained the fastest lap but came home in 2nd position by 0.054 seconds. 

The first race of Sunday was the MRO 600 I got a good start and was able to stay with the leading pack. I wasn’t able to make any moved but I did set a new lap PB of 1:11.901. I came home in P6. 

The next race was the first Thunderbike Ultra of the day. I started in pole position I got a good start but P2 out braked me into Redgate and gain he gained the lead. He then caught me out by braking earlier than expected at the Old Hairpin allowing Stacey Killworth to pass both of us. For the first 3 laps of the race I was stuck in P3 as the front 2 were switching back and forth between themselves blocking me from making any moves. On lap 4 I managed to overtake P2 going up Swanch at the end of lap 4 I got the run out of the chicane to regain the lead which was very short-lived when I arrived at turn 1 forgetting which bike I was on and hit the brakes at my 600 marked point which was way too late going straight on to the run-off stopping just short of the gravel. This put me back into 5th position. I got my head down and began the task of trying to recover the places I lost. Eventually bringing it home in 2nd position. 

The next race was the last MRO 600 race of the weekend. This proved to be another eventful race. When I arrived at Parc Ferme, I noticed a clonking noise coming from the front of the bike and looked down to see my right caliper was barely attached. I made a dash back to camp to steal a bolt from my other bike and made a quick return to the track. Fortunately, I was able to join the race, but as I had missed the warm-up lap I had to start from the back of the grid. It was time to really get my head down and make a brave move wherever there was a gap bringing myself into 9th position when the red flags were brought out at half-race distance. For once this worked in my favour and I was able to take my original grid position for the restart. On the restart, I made a good start and got my elbows out to hold position into the apex. Eventually, I brought it home in another 6th position. 

It was then time for the last race of the day. I started this race in P2, but this time I didn’t get a good start which worked in my favour as 1st and 3rd made contact into turn 1 causing them both to run wide. I managed to come out of Redgate in P2. It took me 3 laps to get into the lead and kept it for the remainder of the race despite a few attempts from the rider in P2, and gained my second win of the weekend.