Last weekend was Round 1 of the NG Road Racing Championship down at Brands Hatch on the Castings Technology Motorsport YAMAHA R6.

After not riding since last October, Friday’s test day was just getting back to be familiar with the bike and getting myself back up to speed.

The lap times were consistent throughout each session and I was only a few tenths off my PB on last year’s scrub tyres by the end of the day.

SATURDAY

Saturday soon came around and fresh rubber went on.  I went out in free practice just to scrub the tyres in for qualifying and went in to the thigh 51’s without trying.

Qualifying was all about one good lap and not using up too much rubber before the races.  After a few yellow flags and some traffic I could only stick in a time good enough for P11.

Race 1

Starting P11 we had two false starts due to a problem with the lights.

So, for the first time, since I started racing we had a flag drop for the race start.

I got a good start and managed to just the row ahead before turn one and settled into a good rhythm early on.

After a race long battle for 7th with four other riders, I miscounted my lap counter on the dash and missed the last lap flag, coming home 8th overall and 5th in class and really fortunate not to dip into the 50s lap but with a 51 flat and a new PB.

SUNDAY

Race 2

Race 2 Sunday morning was a few degrees cooler than the previous race, but starting from P8 I felt another good start and I could get pulled along with the leaders.

The start was perfect and ater a good move round the outside at turn 1 and then again taking the long way round turn 2 I was into 6th and away with the front lads.

I managed to hang in for 5 laps until I was overtaken into turn 1.

I made a rash move to try and take the place back and ran wide at turn 2, letting another rider through in the process.  

I got myself tucked back in and hung in for the remaining laps keeping my lines clean to come home 8th overall and, again, 5th in class.

The whole race my lap times were in the 50s bracket, with a new PB of 50.5… so super chuffed and two seconds quicker than last season.

Race 3

The final race of the weekend saw me start again in P8.

Another good start and away with the leaders once more.

I felt comfortable for the first 4 laps until my rear tyre started to lose grip after a few slides out of the final turn, I lost a couple of places into turn 1.

Again, trying my best to be smooth the tyre just wasn’t coming back to me, with a good gap behind I settled for another 6th in class and 6th overall.

I had some great battles over the weekend and felt I still had more pace to give on another day.

Solid points to start the season off.

A huge thanks to everyone who makes this happen because without them I’d be sat on the sidelines.

• Castings Technology
• GR Motorsport
• Titek
• BSD Performance
• Clarity Window Cleaning Services
• Moto Central
• Charnwood Paint Specialists Ltd
• Burch MAS Ltd
• VOOT Telecom
• Uptime Solutions
• Principal Power Tools
• Performance Parts Ltd