Round 5 - Cadwell Park

Saturday

The Great British Weather played a part in this weekend’s race format.  Due to the expectant rain, the decision was taken on Friday evening that Saturday’s races would convert to 1 long race (12 laps) for each class with points taken after 6 laps and again at the chequered flag. Sunday’s races would then run as 2, 6 lap races for each class.

The first qualifying session of the day was for the Thunderbike Ultra. The track was wet, so I went out on full wet tyres. I managed to put a decent few laps in bringing the time down to a 1.50.44 putting me on pole. Next up was the Clubman 1000 qualifying. The track had begun to dry a little. I only had the choice of slicks or wets, so I went out for a single lap on wet tyres putting it on 7th. Any more laps would have destroyed the tyres.

After qualifying the game of how quickly you can swap between wheels began for the weekend.

First up was the Thunderbike Ultra race. The race was quickly red-flagged. On the restart, I didn’t get a good start dropping back to 4th after the first lap. The next few laps were spent moving back through the field taking the lead on lap 6 in time for full points for the first half. The second half of the race saw some tight battles with Donovan until lap 11 when a challenge for the lead resulted in a coming together unfortunately Donovan went down, I managed to stop on with a bit of moto crossing across the wet grass before re-entering the track still in the lead and finishing P1.

The last race of Saturday was the Clubman 1000 race. With the track still wet we went out on full wet tyres. This race didn’t last long as after 3 laps the track was contaminated with oil. Due to how long it would of taken the circuit crew to clean the track plus the rain. Racing finished for the day. This race was carried over to the Sunday as an 8 lap race (points after 4 and at the chequered flag).

Sunday

The first race of the day was the Clubman 1000 race. This was the first dry race of the weekend. I started this race P7.  I got a good start but got boxed in so wasn’t able to make as much use of it as I would of liked. I was able to keep with the leading pack for the first half of the race scoring 20 points for the first half. The second half I was able to move my way up the pack finishing P2 on the circuit, P1 in class with the fastest lap time of 1.34.68.

The next race was the Thunderbike Ultra race. I started this race on pole. We were back to another wet race. I got a good start and led for the majority of the race. Throughout the race I didn’t feel comfortable with the suspension setting on the rear which caused a loss of grip through the gooseneck. On the final lap Donovan was able to pass me going through the gooseneck section I tried to pull it back but crossed the line in P2 with a gap of 0.074.

Onto the next Clubman 1000 race, by now the track had dried so myself and all but 1 of the grid went out on slick tyres. It quickly became apparent that the sun was not sticking around and by the time we had got half way around the warm up lap the rain was quickly coming down. As riders we decided it would not be safe to start this race on slicks. Due to a tight timetable, this race and the next for this class was converted into 1 longer 8 lap race later in the day.

By the time it was the next Thunderbike Ultra race the sun had made an appearance again. The track was quickly drying but as I couldn’t be sure how wet it would be through the woodland section or if it would rain again, I rolled the dice and went out on inters. I wasn’t 100% sure if this was the right choice. I started this race P3 on the grid but got a good start and was leading by the first corner. The remainder of the race was spent battling for lead position on track with Ashby. In the end bringing it home P2 on the track, P1 in class.

The last race of the day was the Clubman 1000 race. As the earlier race was abandoned this was again a longer race. By now we were back to dry tyres and thankfully the weather held off this time. I started this race in pole. I got a good start but the lead of the race was short lived. Stone passed me in Charlie’s and I hung to the back of him with no opportunity to pass him for the remainder of the race. I finished this race P2 on track P1 in class.

My next round will at Snetterton on the 31st August/1st September.