Oulton Park 24/10/09

First practice

The last round of the season had come, at what a place to have it at none other than Oulton Park. Unfortunately I woke to find it miserably wet, but it wasn't to cold so that was an upside. I went out for the first practice building my pace slowly and it felt goo except for the back end stepping out and a unnerving chatter when I applied the front brake. I was happy with the information I had gained and therefore we made some adjustment for the qualifier.

Qualifier

On the warm up lap I noticed that the heat had dropped to about 40 degrees, I was a little worried and tried to get some heat back in the engine on the line. I started from third and got a great start straight into second position and felt good all over the back of the leader, when going through shell oils the red flag came out. I thought this could be a good opportunity to get some tape on the radiator but the marshals would not let us return as we were being at lodge corner because of an incident on the start line. I had to ignore the problem and we restarted the race and again I got a good start, behind the leader but was very ragged and missed my braking marker at Hislops, nearly tucking the front. It went all downhill from there realy, I kept making mistake after mistake and had to settle for second after losing the toe. We wheeled the bike back and made some final adjustments for the final, in an attempt to close the gap on the leader.

The final

I was happy with my result in the first race so was confident for the final. I got a great start straight into the lead, although this was not to last. Coming out of shell oils I lost the back end in a huge slide thinking I was off it but I held on best I could. After taking to the grass I came back into seventh and began making up the ground I lost. I got through into second and after seeing that one of my rivals for third place in the championship go down, I just had to hold my place. That lack of concentration and a back marker just put me on the wrong line at druids and the front tucked mid corner sending me and the bike cart wheeling into the gravel. It was when the marshals said that bike had flipped in the gravel when I looked to see it totally wrecked at the side of the track.

Despite the bad end to the season it has been one of my favourites, and would just like to thank everyone who has helped, supported, watched and read these reports. It has been great fun and I have learnt a lot, I hope to see you all next year. It has not been decided yet to which bike we will be running ( I hope a 600 )but I will keep you all updated.

Thanks

Christian peck