Silkolene British 2 Stroke Championship blogs

Round 5 - Whitby 21 June 2009

It was a long trek to Whitby but well worth the effort, the track was fantastic, very fast with some massive jumps and overlooking the sea.  Light drizzle on Saturday afternoon and evening provided a perfect pre race watering which made the surface perfect for qualifying and racing on a lovely sunny Sunday.

Qualifying. Tom had a fantastic qualifying session, starting off well on the first timed lap and improving every lap to qualify 10th in his session – a fantastic result for him, especially as he’d never seen the track before. Obviously we were delighted.

Race 1. As he has been steadily improving we decided it was time for Tom to get stuck in from the start and really try right from the drop of the gate and fight it out in the first corners.  A fairly average start saw Tom mid pack around the first corner but the encouraging thing is that he fought for his place and held it – he was in 20th the first time past the timing point, about three corners in to the race.  Not exactly the hole-shot but at least he’s getting the confidence to fight it out.  Over the next few laps he was passed by a few slow starting fast boys and passed a few fast starting slower riders.  I don’t know what happened but at one point he dropped to about 27th but put in a good effort to pass a few in the second part of the race – passing three riders on the last corner to finish 13th.  We were really pleased with that, a much better result than we could have hoped for to be honest but he rode so well, especially in the latter part of the race when he had a bit of space around him.

Race 2. saw a better start with Tom towards the front of the middle.  He’s still intimidated and more than a little apprehensive with other riders so close but he toughed it out and crossed the timing point in 16th.  Again there were a few changes of position in the first few laps before things settled.  Tom was in a great dice with another rider for a few laps and they changed position several times a lap before Tom eventually pulled away.  The last two laps were really exciting as he raced hard with another rider (one of his mates), both were absolutely determined to beat each other and there was some great elbow to elbow racing but all very clean (just the sort of thing you and I enjoy Simon).  Tom crossed the line about a wheel in front of the other lad, both of them totally exhausted from the effort. A fantastic race to finish 10th.

Race 3. The last race start wasn’t quite so good, crossing the timing line in 26th place but a bit of confidence and some determined riding saw Tom up to 20th by the end of lap 1.  Unfortunately there was a bit of a coming together on the second lap (out of my sight) and Tom was back to last – a long way behind the others and the clutch leaver pointing skywards and effectively useless.  I thought he might catch 1 or 2 if he kept going and salvage a few points.  He took a lap to settle in to a rhythm and then really started to motor – probably one of the best rides I’ve seen from Tom.  It took about 5 or 6 laps to catch the next person but then he went straight past.  He caught and passed quite a few – showing real determination and signs of aggression in his passing, I was quite impressed.  Tom kept passing right to the end and finished a very creditable 16th. 

All in all we had a great weekend and Tom put in 4 fantastic rides to finish the day 12th over all – an outstanding result all things considered, especially the lack of riding time - he only rides in a Sunday.  Lets hope he maintains his confidence and standard of riding at the next round at Canada Heights, near Brands Hatch.