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Round 02
08/10 April 2005
Thruxton
After a disappointing first round at Brands I was desperate to stay on the bike and get some points.
Friday practise went well in some ways and very bad in others. I was second in the first session and fifth in the second session. A crash in the second session left me with only one bike for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday's qualifying was ok. We had a few bike problems in both sessions and I managed only a dozen laps in both sessions. I managed to do one fast lap which put me seventh on the grid which was good enough to earn me a second row grid position.
I got off to a decent start and stayed in seventh place on the first lap. A rider rode off track at the chicane and decided to come back on right in front of me which held me up a little. The leading group of four started to break away from the rest of the pack on lap three. It was then that I knew I didn't have enough tyre grip to stay with them.
After fighting my way through from seventh to fifth I had clear track in front of me, which I used to my advantage and started to break away from the pack behind me. Three riders followed and two dropped off. On lap ten of the race I was experiencing great tyre difficulties and just had to hold on the best I could. The tyre was moving and spinning a lot which let two riders past. I stuck on the back of them and batted as much as I could to stay with them.
On lap fifteen we had nearly caught fourth place, Craig Jones my team-mate. I could see from the way he was dropping he was experiencing some tyre problems as well. With two laps to go the race was red flagged due to an accident. I was very disappointed that it got red flagged as I knew I was capable of getting to front of the group by the end of the race and maybe taking fourth.
I was pleased to come away with some points, and on the right track to start challenging for podium positions and wins.
I'm really looking forward to Mallory next weekend!
Cal |
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