Race Reports

 

British Masters @ Landrake

Phil Mercer Report 2008

Going onto the start-line for the first race I almost had to remind myself how to do this, Winter seems to have gone on forever due to cancelled races and so here we are mid-may doing our first actual race. Qualifying happily in 10th position after not being able to get to grips with the circuit and tie in a quick lap I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to provide the goods and get the season off to a good start.

To my (and everybody else’s) amazement I jumped out the gate and swept in front of Gregory to take the early-race lead by a few bike lengths. A holeshot!!! Excitement may have got the better of me as after completing the first lap in the lead I eventually let Gregory past, and by the end of the 2nd lap I’d dropped to 5th letting Whatley, Bradshaw, Jones and Dark past. With Herandez and Greedy closing arm-pump had set in and was using all my concentration. After making a few silly mistakes and losing out on another position I regained my focus and re-passed Carless to gain 9th where I was to finish the race. On looking at my result I was happy to be the first and only top 10 amca finisher mixing it up with top 10 British championship lads who have been racing now for the best part of 3months….and the main thing was we got a race!!

After such a good race 1, pressure was on to see if this was going to be the way of the season, and to my delight I found myself sat in 5th off the start, not a holey but still good enough for me. With no real pressure from behind I sat in 5th for the most part of the race until disaster struck 23mins into the 25min+1 race and I made a mistake in a corner. The front end washed-out, leaving me with a hot, dead kwacker. I eventually got her started and found myself a lap down in 26th spot. I managed to recapture 2 places on the last ½ a lap but it wasn’t enough to get me back into the top 20. Although gutted at my misfortune I was real pleased with how the race had started, again mixing it with lads from the top 10 in the British champs and holding my own, plus none of the 1st race arm pump to contend with…result!!

So now…..on with the training until Cleobury Mortimer for the first champs round as the Nations cup has been pulled by the AMCA. About time it all kicked off and we can’t wait!!

Big thanks to Mr Brown for all his help once again, couldn’t find a better spanner man if I tried J And thanks to the other part of my support team, the Mrs. Definitely wouldn’t be possible without the pair of you….here’s to a good season.

Ferret

 

 

Cleobury Mortimer

Amca 125 Championship 2007

Race 1.

Leading on from a successful round at the superb Wymeswold last weekend I was going onto the startline for the first race at cleobury after qualifying fastest & with a 13 point lead over 2nd in the championship. The holeshot that was hoped for didn’t happen and I was laying about 5th into lap one. After putting a few quick moves on 4th and a wounded Hooley who was in 3rd within the next few laps, I set my sights on 2nd place man and within another five laps I’d caught and passed Jamie to continue my chase for another win. With brownie telling me that I was catching Porter quickly & that there were only 3laps to go I got my head down and managed to close the gap to 2 seconds going into the last lap. About 3 corners into that lap I passed Porter and lead the race to the chequered flag.

Race 2.

I managed to get a better start in this one, gating about 4th and by the end of the lap I’d managed to pass Porter again for 3rd. The chase was on then for the first time since the beginning of the season, at the same track it was going to be just me & brad battling it out for the win with Nixon fading fast. Brad & myself passed Nixon on the 3rd lap leaving us wide open to race it out. I quickly worked through Brad’s time advantage and was on his tail going into the bottom end of the track where I passed him, only for him to regain the lead in the next corner…the tussling had commenced!! Unfortunately though it was not to last as soon after I passed Brad for the second time his bike stopped. This left me to lead the race to the finish, allowing me to pull another 25 points on Brad costing him 2nd in the championship to Lee.

Race 3.

So into race 3 we went, with Lee Payne now the closest championship contender. I was desperate to get my second holeshot of the season, but once again I missed the opportunity as Porter cut infront of the entire field to take his usual 10 second lead, leaving me fannying around in 6th by the end of the first lap. It wasn’t until early in the second lap I passed 5th position and pulled a gap immediately whilst closing down on the leaders. Knowing I had to finish a maximum of 6 points behind porter to take the overall I tramped on comfortably on Brownie’s instruction to eventually pass Matt to get 3rd position. I had done enough work to maintain a healthy points gap on the two leaders of the race and contenders for the championship, Brad and Lee. I crossed the line after a lap in the best seat in the house, just a few seconds behind the two of them watching them scrap it out for the lead. I was more than content in 3rd position, crossing the line for the overall.