Sad Day at Cadwell

Cadwell Park BSB 27-29 August
Bank Holiday weekends at Cadwell Park are always well attended and from the amount of spectators filling the grass banks this weekend was to be no exception. Over 50,000 people attended on race day with more than half of them around for the practice days as well. It is when you have numbers like this that it makes you realise you are part of something special, it is a good feeling to have!
It was nice to be back at a circuit that I know well as the last few meetings have been at circuits that I have not raced on for a number of years so it felt as if we had been on the back foot a little. But at Cadwell there would be no such excuses as I have done many laps around here over the previous years and were therefore confident we could put on a good show.
Free Practice
It was good to be back out on the Cadwell circuit and I immediately felt at home. We quickly put in some reasonable lap times to find ourselves in 7th position. I was amazed that even on the big Harley's we were still managing to 'get some air' over the mountain, it does make it fun!
Qualifying
We made some changes to the bike for qualifying which mainly centred on raising the rear of the bike in an attempt to get the XR1200 to hold a line around the corners rather than running wide. This had the desired effect as it was immediately easier to ride. About hafway through the session we were in P3 and I was hopeful of a front row start but towards the end of the session I was pipped by two more people and therefire finished the session in 5th place. Still 5th on the grid was not a bad place to start, middle of the second row due to there only being 3 per row at Cadwell as opposed to the usual 4.
Warm Up
We were pretty happy with our set up on the bike and therefore we just went out to get myself up to speed ready for the afternoon’s race. I followed Torquil Paterson around for the duration of the session and set a lap time not too far away from our qualifying time so it looked liked we would be in good shape come the start of the race.
Race
At 3pm we headed down to the holding area awaiting our turn to be let out onto the track ready for our race. As time ticked by we began to realise something was amiss and after approximately fifteen minutes we were sent back to the Harley Davidson marquee to await further instructions. After what seemed like an age the news came through that young Ben Gautrey had been killed in the Superstock 600 race and proceedings would be halted for an indefinite period of time. As you will appreciate this was shocking news and I had come to know Ben quite well as we had raced together a lot during 2010 in the Thundersport Championship. He was a very likeable lad who was very dedicated to his chosen sport but at only 18 years of age he still had a lot of living to do. This goes to remind us that motorsport is and can be very dangerous, but that is probably why it gives us the ultimate buzz that it does. RIP Ben, god speed.

Ben doing what he loved.

Our race was eventually cancelled and this will now be held at Donington on the 10th/11th September where we will now have a double-header.

For further info check out the series website at http://xr1200trophy.harley-davidson.co.uk/

The next meeting is at Donington Park on the 10th-11th September, so if you can make it, please come along and offer your support, if not you can catch the races live on Eurosport or check the live timing at TSL Timing (http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2011&series=BSB&event=races)

Lastly a big thanks to all our sponsors that enable us to be out there competing.