Well after the previous week at Mallory and winning my first trophy i was full of confidence and couldn't wait to get on track. I'd done a few afternoons at Donington on the National circuit and i was pretty confident of doing well.
The last time i rode with North Gloucester was at Thruxton and i remember how quick some of those lads were.
We went out for practice and i didnt feel too confident, i kept getting caught in traffic and never had a clear lap, i really didn't feel confident and i kept getting passed on the back straight and to be honest i was pretty concerned.
I came in after practice and looked at the times, I'd done a 1 min 27secs and was 24th overall out of 43.
Not too bad as i know i didn't push to hard, but my gearing was wrong for the back straight and knew the race was going to be a struggle......
On the grid for the 1st race and i was 20th and what seemed to be a long long way to the front. Anyhow the lights were off and we were away, i didn't get too bad a start but still seemed to get swamped, upto Redgate and it was madness there were bikes on either side, were were nearly bashing fairings into the first corner and off down into Craner (the joys of club racing) and i was slowly gaining on people in front, i'd listened to Alec from SMT Honda (BSB Team) and after he'd showed me the lines round Donington i was keen to put it into practice.
So after the first few laps i knew where i was strong and where i was struggling, i was getting better and better on the brakes but out and out top speed i was struggling on the back straight.
I got into a bit of a battle and was swapping places every other corner, i was quick through the last chicane, good on the brakes through Redgate, down through Craner curves and the Old hairpin. The only place i was losing out on really was coming out of Coppice and the back straight.
I thought i was doing ok, but again i was out dragged on the straight but managed to pass them back on the brakes and the outside of the chicane i was back through.
Onto the last lap i was into Redgate and upto about 14th or 13th, then through Craner and the Old Hairpin, soon as we got on the straight i was passed by 2 bikes, i was gutted, and i couldn't get back at them.
I'd finished 16th and knew i could do better, but i suppose i had to settle for it and learn from the first race.
I had done a 1min 23.13s and i knew i could go quicker as my times were quicker than the guys in front..
