Ryans race reports (page 2)

Round 7 & 8 Snetterton
Well I never thought this championship would be easy but staring down the barrel of a 64 point deficit at the start of the Snetterton race weekend it would be fair to say that I was beginning to feel the pressure for the first time this season . I knew it was very unlikely that I could take the championship lead at this round but I really felt that I had to make a dent on it as I would soon be looking at an almost impossible task if I picked up any more DNFs , so not only did I feel the pressure of having to win but I also had to stay on , no more safe points scoring for me . The 2 races on Saturday couldn't have gone on any better.

A close first race with a real battle for the win with championship leader Dave Higgins went down to the wire but with the help of those extra 998s horses I managed to take first place on the final drag race to the line .
Race 2 came a little easier with a good start under my belt it wasn't long before I was seeing plus 8 seconds on my pit board and the finish line in sight. 10 points regained but it was hard work under those hot Norfolk skies and still 54 points to go phew this is looking like a long slog.

Sunday looked like being a carbon copy of Saturday , the sun was out again and again I was starting from pole position on the grid with the Suzuki TL1000 of Dave Higgins breathing down my neck, if I could take another 10 points out of him today I could ask I no more. race one felt like race two from Sunday plus 8 seconds again and the chequered flag again the only deference being that I put in a faster lap , smashing , well smashing for me and also for Dave higgins as he had crashed out at the chicane on the last lap. he was unhurt but was looking at a back row start for race 2 and we had taken a whole 25 points back thankyou very much.

Race 2 another win but only 5th place for Dave , so the lead was back to 14 points and game on for brands hatch.

Round 9 & 10 Brands Hatch GP circuit
With the championship closing up at Snetterton I felt allot more comfortable going into this weekend of racing , I felt I could take points now without having to take to many chances I also had a feeling it wasn't going to be quite as easy as snetterton .

Saturday and Dave and I took a win each swapping the lead through both races with each other and the now fast charging Chad Hashmi, a motor tune on his Aprilia mille giving him the horse power required to run with the Suzuki TL and the embarrassingly fast pro twins 998s.

Sunday proved to be a carbon copy of snetterton results wise but race wise it was quite different , a huge dog fight between myself , Chad and Dave went down to the penultimate lap where I finally put a pass on Chad that stuck and took the lead , I really pulled the pin on that last lap breaking the lap record in the process. I knew that either one would be past at my slightest hesitation ,so you can imagine my surprise on taking the flag to look behind to see nobody there. It turns out that they had come together on the last lap and both gone down .

2 points behind now. race 2 and with both Chad and Dave off the back row as a result of their DNFs I took the win by 10 seconds whilst Dave struggled to a 5th place and Chad took 2nd. With a 27 point lead in the chanpionship from Dave and about 180 on Chad I left brands rather happy but still knowing Dave higgins was far from beaten.

Round 11 Pembrey (Wales)
My second visit to Wales in less than a week but on my return for the supertwins championship I took with me a very sore leg , and other bits but boy does the leg still hurt . How did I hurt my leg you ask ? Crashing Bretts mint husaburg 650 supermoto at around 80mph on a slag heap in Wales doing a hill climb with fellow pro twins owner rob ( who took a faultless win against some far faster 750s etc on his identically mint 650 ) , yes it serves me right for going but its the first time I have ever fallen off a bike in a straight line , I think ? anyway I managed to get it into a huge tank slapper and it spat me off and then jumped on top of me , if you see this bike at pro twins don't under any circumstances go near it , it will bite you and don't be fooled by its " I look great fun to ride looks " because it will suck you in like it did to me and then cast a crashing spell on you.

Pembrey , practise and I crash , not to painful this time as I lose the front end on a tarmac change on the cool left side of the tyre. I end up falling mainly on the grass. Race day and its raining stair rods , Dave higgins rain dance is paying off again having won the powerbike open 1000cc class at cadwell park in cyclone conditions he has proved himself a master of the wet but I felt up for the challenge having split the wet weather wins with him 2 apiece to date , but come the race he is nowhere to be seen and I mean nowhere not on the grid not at pembrey at all.

it turns out he has broken his hand mountainbiking and is out for the rest of the year. so that's it all I have to do now is turn up and take some points as Chad is about 180 points behind . I cant manage this though and fall off in race one dicing with Chad. race 2 back off the grid care of dnf in race one and I come home in 6th place one behind Chad in 5th .my worst race day of the year but we still lead the championship but it all feels a little hollow without Dave but Chad is going really well so I can see some huge battles between now and the end of the year , next stop Brands Hatch.

Round 12 Brands Hatch
Race one.
Rain , drying , no rain again , drying , slicks or wets , wets no definitely slicks err.... wrong again I thought as the brand new rear wet I had put on chewed its self to destruction on the exit of Clearways by lap 3 . I could feel the money falling out my pockets each time a opened the throttle but hey that was to be the least of my problems as I was soon off the circuit and enjoying some grass tracking at the bottom of graham hill bend after a very firm move from Chad Hasmi put me off the dry line at full lean going into the corner. I was faced with either turning in harder on the wet track or saving my self and the bike and running off , experience told me the later. It was going to require too much lean to make it round and the front would have folded for sure . I got back on the track and finished 6th .hmmn.

Race two.
Got up to forth by turn one but really struggled to get by the Darren Jones and another on their mille's , those bike are pretty fast. Every time I went by I ran deep and they came back. I got by on lap four and made it stick but Hashmi was well gone so I cruised home in second. Good points for the championship and all but it hurt taking that defeat , I love Brands and think of it as my home track .

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