2010 - The story so far

After the first two rounds of the 2010 season, I have finally managed to pull myself together enough to update you all with our progress. In the worst possible start to the season we managed to replicate last season’s start by coming away with no points, a lot of damage (mainly to me) and a lot of long faces! This year we managed to qualify and even made the race however setup problems caused me severe grip issues from the off and it was only a matter of time before frustration and eagerness to perform well got the better of me and a huge ‘Highside’ out of the final corner (Clearways) has left me with a torn muscle in the left shoulder and some further damage to go with it!

Against the advice of many we arrived at the second round where I was informed that I would have to pass a stern medical procedure should I wish to compete throughout the weekend as the felt the injury I sustained not a fortnight previous would need a lot longer to heal. As experts they are most definitely correct in their analysis, however last year I was forced to miss Round Two with the broken forearm/wrist, where as this year it is mainly muscular damage causing the discomfort and so through gritted teeth I passed all test and was clear to ride.

There was no pressure from the team for this round, Thruxton circuit is a fast and bumpy place, and the mindset was that a few points from this weekend could perhaps be the deciding factor come the end of the season? Well racing is racing and if you are out there you may as well try as hard as possible, not matter the pain, which is of course what I did.

When your racing a Two stroke machine which produces a much power as these things do there are always issues and nothing is ever straight forward but that’s what a team is all about and after an engine seizure in first qualifying Brian and the team produced a strong show in the afternoon and cemented their place on the front row of the grid for Sundays race, an extremely good result all things considered.

Conditions were perfect for the race and although we knew that a points finish was the priority I was sure I could run with the front guys over the 14 laps. From a good start I settled into a steady pace and sat comfortably mid pack in the group of 6 riders for the lead. After the engine seizure in qualifying we had decide to place on the safe side to ensure the engine lasted the race and instantly it was clear that we were lacking some straight line speed but I was doing my upmost to not loose my position in the group. With James lodge at the front it was Deane Brown, myself then James Ford who made a break. With Lodge trying to pull a gap I passed Brown as I knew I could go with him, but Brown had different ideas and outbraked me into the final chicane, overcooking it and then crashing dramatically inches infront of me. Having to avoid his gymnastic roll it gave Lodge a break of around 2 seconds from me and no matter what I tried I was only able to get the gap down to around half a second. Entering the last lap I made two small mistakes in the complex and decided to settle for second with a 5 second gap back to third place Ford. Crossing the line I was satisfied but equally disappointed that I should have been able to win the race. 20 Points is a good haul and we all hope that I’m stronger when we visit Oulton Park for Round Three on the first May Bank holiday weekend so we can push for the win!

I must thank all those who firstly have been good enough to support us financially this season as without them we wouldn’t be racing, you guys know who you are and I am  very grateful! Also to those who made the journey down to Hampshire when expectations for the weekend weren’t high and it could easily have been a wasted journey, thanks moral support is priceless, especially you guys in the ‘Wimblebury Wonder’ T-shirts! Well hopefully this is the first trophy of a dozen this year so fingers crossed and I’ll see you at Oulton!

Have we told you everything you want to know? Did it make sense, do you want to be a part of it, or you would prefer to no longer find out, drop us a line with your thoughts brian@brian-clark.co.uk