We attend the fourth and final round of the NORA92 British Cup Championship at Gossington Moto Parc with the rest of the NORA CRS Development Team. Yet again the setup was on point and the track was looking really good on Friday evening so our Team Coach Joe Clayton decided to take us on the track walk that evening.
Not long before my qualifying session the heavens decided to open and gradually made the track almost impossible to ride, by the third lap which was the first lap of timed qualifying it was carnage with multiple riders on the floor including myself and some not even completing a lap. I managed to do two complete laps but fell off twice on each lap but somehow still managed to get 17th. So that was my gate pic for the weekend.
By the time my first race started the track was still quite wet so my dad rolled the dice putting a paddle tyre on and aggressive gearing which helped at the start. As the track started to dry out the advantage of the paddle tyre and gearing became a disadvantage. I was stuck behind 4th as the track became much faster the dryer it got. My final position was 5th but I knew I could be higher than that.
For race 2 my dad changed my tyre and gearing which gave me a much better start and I got into the lead on the second corner. I held the lead for a couple of laps and took the pressure well but I just couldn’t hold off a much faster bike. My laps times were almost identical lap after lap finishing a comfortable second which I was very happy with.
Day two and I was still buzzing from the second race yesterday. I was feeling confident, happy and couldn’t wait to get back out on the track and hoping the rain holds off until the racing finishes.
Third race of the weekend my start was ok 5th around the first corner. I managed to make some good fast passes and got into second before the first lap finished. The track was in really good condition and I was really enjoying it which showed in my riding finishing the race in second
Final race of the weekend and my start was much the same this is something I need to work more on. I managed to make my way into second quite quickly but the leader had just checked out as he got the holeshot. Again my lap times were very close throughout the race, finishing second.
Gossington is a new track on the racing calender and it didn’t disappoint. It had plenty of jumps, a whoop section and the couple of split sections on the track really made a difference. I really enjoyed it and can see it becoming one of my favourite tracks. Carl Benjamin and his team should be very proud of the track and the Championship. Its got to be the best Championship about at the moment not only from this year’s tracks but the way it is ran. It’s so nice having a Championship that gives more than a trophy to the kids.
My results for the weekend were P5, P2, P2 and P2 giving me P2 overall and in the Championship I got 4th overall just 3 point off of a podium finish.
