A Perfect Weekend ? Almost ?

Last weekend we made the trip down to Brands Hatch for round 6 of the ThundersportGB GP2 Championship. Having just returned from Hong Kong the day before I was feeling the effects of jetlag a bit, but hoped that a good night’s sleep would sort it out. Well that is what I hoped for, still laying there wide awake at 4am I knew this was not going to be the case.
Saturday morning came and the rest of our competitors took the opportunity to do some practice sessions whilst I tried to catch up on some much needed sleep. Our tactics surprisingly appeared to work as I woke up 40 minutes before qualifying was due to start at 2:30pm, leathers on and off I set down pit lane. Within 3 laps I had managed to post a time that was quick enough to qualify for the front row and by the end of the session I had posted a time of 50.7 seconds which secured us pole position. This was also around 0.5 second under the lap record. We were also nearly a second quicker than second place man Connor Tagg on his Aprilia 450 with our championship rival Alex Heaton on the Knight Road Racing Ducati in third place. So it just goes to show, like your mother always said, ‘you do need your sleep’.
Second qualifying was held on Sunday morning and we were reasonably confident that no one would beat our time from the day before. This proved to be the case and the only improver was Heaton who manage to improve into 2nd on the grid.
We all lined up on the grid for race 1 and as the lights went out I made a pretty good start to slot in to 2nd place around Paddock Hill bend, this soon changed as I out-braked Heaton going into Druids and took the lead. Over the next few laps I managed to set a new lap record of 50.8 seconds, this pulled me clear of the chasing bunch and I took the chequered flag to win the race by a clear 6 seconds. A good start to the weekends races that was made even better when Heaton was deemed to have jumped the start and was docked 10 seconds relegating him down to 5th place.
As race 2 approached the heavens opened and some heavy rain soaked the track. After our dominance in the dry this was not what the doctor ordered. The wet tyres were fitted to the bike and off to the grid we went. Another good start saw me take the lead into Paddock Hill and once again I pushed for some good laps. Out in front and with the track conditions changing every lap it was difficult to judge how hard to push, but after 5 laps I had managed to pull out a 4 second lead over the guys behind. This was good enough for me and I settled down to some consistent laps to claim another win by 3.5 seconds. If only all racing days were like this?
Bank holiday morning came around and we were greeted with glorious sunshine. This is exactly what we wanted for race 3 of the weekend. On to the grid, lights out and off we went. As in race one I managed to clear off at the front of the pack. With no one to challenge us I rolled off a little for the last few laps and took the chequered flag with a clears 6 second advantage over 2nd place. Another win, I was starting to enjoy this!
With our 100% record for the weekend so far, we went into the last race in a confident mood. I knew if pushed I could lap in the low 50 second lap bracket and I was pretty sure that the rest of the guys would not be able to match that pace. I had another great start and led going into the first corner, brilliant, just what I needed, the chance to get my head down and put in some quick laps. The plan was working well until coming out of Clearways on the second lap the bike lost all power. I knew this wasn’t something that would rectify itself so I cruised to the side of the track and parked up against the Armco opposite my pit board. At least the team could see what had happened and that I was ok, but it was a disappointing end to what had been a highly successful weekend. To rub salt into the wound Heaton won the race and taking the 25 points to boot.
We now lead the GP2 Championship by 34 points with 421 points to Heaton’s 387. With 3 rounds to go it means there is still a possible 300 points still up for grabs so it is still all to play for.
The races from Brands Hatch can be seen on MotorsTV on Sky in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out for them.
The next round is at Anglesey in Wales on the 18th/19th September. I am looking forward to this as it is a track I have never raced at before but I am told the circuit is awesome to ride.