First time ever at Preston Docks this weekend and it didn’t disappoint! The track was in really good condition considering all the rain we had over the weekend.
Saturday
Race1- I chose the middle start gate as I had a really poor peg pick. Didn’t know the breaking distances into the 1st corner, so got bunched up by a 250 rider. Came round in 10th place and had to work hard to make my way through the pack, finishing in 4th place.
Race 2 – I went further over to the left hand side of the start to open up the corner and gated 2nd. 3 laps in, the race was red flagged because my mate, Freddie Gardiner went down hard.
For the re-run, I went back to the same start position and realised I could go harder into the first corner and got the hole shot. I made a couple of mistakes on the 1st lap, causing me to go off the track and allowing the first 2 riders to go past me and I lost the tow. Rode round for a steady third
Race 3 – gated 2nd. Made a mistake again on the first lap and my goggles steamed up, making it very hard to see where I was going, so I rode cautiously and cruised round to finish in 3rd again
Finished in 3rd overall on the day
Learning from Saturday- Starts were great today. Need to minimise mistakes on the first lap, ride a higher intensity through choppy sections and carry more momentum into tight corners.
Sunday started really well. Again I had a poor starting peg pick but I managed to get 2nd off the gate and was in 3rd place when my bike started spluttering. Unfortunately, the bike started to drop out of gear and then it died.
After kicking it over for some time, it managed to fire up so I could get it back to the pits.
And that was my racing done for the weekend!
All in all, the weekend was a real success. Every race was consistent and my starts were good after selecting the right gate. Now I’m really looking forward to the end of the month when all the championships start.
