Round 5 - Cadwell Park

This weekend was a great one. The Cadwell curse has finally been lifted, after the last time there resulting in my unique record of being the last man to fall at Thundersport (Thanks Keith for not letting me forget) I saw the chequered flag at the end of every race. 

Saturday morning got off with a good start with 2 successful qualifying sessions. The first being on the GSXR where I secure pole position and the second was on the R6 where I qualified P4. 

After qualifying was completed it was time for the first Thunderbike Ultra race. When the lights went out I got a great start and was able to put some good distance between myself and the rider in second place. As the race went on I was able to keep pushing to further extend my lead bringing it home with a gap of 7.750 seconds to second place (Stacey Killworth).  Stacey got the fastest lap on the final lap meaning I would start P2 on the grid for the next race. 

The first race on the R6 got off to a good start. It wasn’t long before the BSB riders were stretched out ahead and my battle for 4th place began. The remainder of the race saw a close 3-way battle for 4th place, with me eventually bringing it home in 5th with a lap PB of 1.34.778. 

Next up was the second Thunderbike Ultra race. Stacey, Chad and I were back occupying the front row. This race was set to be a much closer one. A good start off of the line meant I lead the pack into Coppice. Stacey and I managed to pull a gap between us and the rest of the field. It was a tough battle all the way through but in the end, I crossed the line in P1 with a gap of 0.130 seconds. This was another lap PB of 1.36.405. 

The final race of the day was the DART MRO 600 race. Again, I got a good start but this race was much the same story as the previous race. This time bringing it home in P4.

Onto Sunday, my first race was the Thunderbike Ultra race, I got a good start but the race was red-flagged after the first lap. On the restart, I was able to again get a good start from P2 on the grid and the battle between myself and Stacey recommenced. The top 5 in this race were much closer with 1.7 seconds separating us. After some close battles, I gained the hat-trick of 3/3 wins. 

Due to a serious red flag incident, pausing racing for a considerable amount of time, the decision was made to run my next race (MRO 600) as 1 longer race of 12 laps rather than 2, 8-lap races and the final Thunderbike ultra race to be reduced to 6 laps. 

A good start again on the R6 saw me again battling for 4th position. However, the fatigue of racing in 2 classes and the longer lap race soon kicked in and my legs were feeling it. This race was pretty uneventful and I brought it home in 7th position. 

The last race of the day was the Thunderbike Ultra race. This was much the same story as the previous races. I got another good start but it wasn’t long before Kieran made his pass, I felt I didn’t have the pace to keep with him and my race was really with Stacey for championship points. Another close race brought it home in 2nd position with a gap of 0.128 seconds. 

Myself and the team wish those injured this weekend a speedy recovery.