Not bad, not bad at all!

Last month I found myself at Mallory Park again this time on an ACU Wednesday with RSR racing for a test. All this still being new to me I was as usual quite nervous and seeing most of the British superstock setups next to us in the garages didn't help.

After passing the initial trial the aim was to get down to a 1 minute dead lap consistently and anything beyond that would be fantastic. However first session out came close to a nightmare. I was put into the faster of the two groups and I couldn't help but feel a little bit out of my depth. Superstock riders came past me like I was on stop and I started asking myself, "what am I doing here?".

It wasn't long before I found myself riding my luck more than the bike as I came out of the last corner well and truly out of the seat. Coming out of the tight chicane and down the hill I hooked third gear as the rear was fighting for grip, however the kick up to third was not hard enough and the R6 slipped out and back into second.

I have only high sided once before on circuit and that was at Donington park due to a wasted rear tyre and my ignorance in coming in to get it changed got myself a one way ticket to the gravel trap that day. So here I was at Mallory Park and thinking here we go again but the R6 relented and let me back into the saddle for another chance.

I got back to the pits disappointed, angry and with my confidence shot. After a prep talk from my team boss Roger Stuart and a good kick up the backside from my dad I was ready for session two. I had met my target of a 1 minute dead lap in session one but I done a good job of nearly ending the day early at the same time. Plenty of room for improvement then.

Second session went well as I got more confident and conversant with the Yamaha. Knee planted around Gerrards always gives you confidence and from there on I didn't look back all day. I ended up lapping consistently in the 59's which was fantastic. Best thing of all I was passing a few people which I didn't think would be happening that often.

Overall it was a big learning curve but I learnt more there in one day than I would learn in a year of trackdays. The ACU Wednesday give me a good perception of what is expected of me next season and from January onwards my training regime is going to get serious. I have another test coming up shortly and yes, I am nervous!