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Right then i had nothing to lose, i was against bigger,faster bikes and more experienced riders but i didn't care i knew if i could get a decent start i could keep with a few of them for a lap at least!
The red light came on and then off, it was go! i made a mess yet again of my start, and within a blink of an eye i was dead last....bugger! Oh well i thought id just get my head down and see what i could do, round Gerrards and down to Edwina's, id been getting faster through there in practice and felt i was holding a good line and good speed, so through i went and through the Esses and up to the hairpin, i was hard on the brakes and took about 40 foot out of the guy in front on what looked like a Fireblade, i was gaining slightly on him, down the straight then round Gerrards again and up to Edwina's, where the two guys in front must have had a bit of an incident cos one of the 2 went straight on at Edwina's and i wasn't last anymore....well for now anyway.
Through the bus stop and down the start finish and I'd not been passed...i thought the guy behind must have had a problem with his bike because he'd not passed me on the straight. Through the next lap and still no one had passed then me thinking he was in the pits he passed me going up to Edwina's on the brakes.....it was inevitable but i battled on all the same. Now was the time i knew the guys winning would be coming up to lap me so i had one eye on the Marshall's waiting for the blue flags to come out when on the start finish 2 bikes passed me at warp speed, so i decided to try and learn a bit from them, their lines etc, i was equally fast going through Edwina's but an R1 with 170 or so bhp is going to leave me for dead on the power, so a few more past going up to the hairpin, i looked over my shoulder and took a wide line round the hairpin trying not to get caught up with any faster bikes. One thing i did learn is as i was riding round the bus stop, you could see the faster guys powering on as soon as you flick it right.
Now it was all about getting track time, so i felt i was getting faster when as i rounded Gerrards for the 10th time (these were 12 lap races) someone had gone down and it was red flagged, i had been lapped twice but id enjoyed the track and learnt something so i was really confident for my next race which would be a lot more even. I had finished last but my fastest time wasn't that far off the guy in front who was on a 1000cc bike. Roll on race 2!!
