The race at Pembrey proved to me that Gordon was not just competitive but that he was ‘almost there’ - certainly capable of regular rostrums. Having some more work done to the forks since by Steve Jordan I was looking forward to Donington’s fast curves.

Gordon visited his Uncle Mark Hill’s dyno and was pleased with his power curve; and Steve McNichol and I had race prepped Gordon - but had not tested him beforehand. As it was only a one day event we would only have one chance to get things right. There was an 8 minute untimed session and an 8 minute timed session before the 12 lap race - so everyone had their fingers crossed.

The untimed session went very well, we had to share our session with the timed Pro Bike class but I was the quickest Single by some way, and more to the point it was good to feel Gordon handling much better than Pembrey.

There were loads of Gordon’s supporters in the garage and the atmosphere was fantastic before the timed session, the rain clouds that were forecast had not developed and Gordon seemed to be on form. I had a new rear tyre and was confident on a front row position so as soon as we were out on the track I quickly got up to pace.

However as I started my second lap (first flying lap) the gear linkage started to feel strange; as I changed down going into the Old Hairpin the linkage broke and the lever dropped away, thankfully it was in fourth gear so I could keep up a reasonable speed down the straights but was very slow exiting the corners.

I managed to limp round to complete the lap and record at least one timed lap to qualify, and amazingly it left me in 5^th place, on the grid that was just behind pole position!

There was not much time to repair the bike before the race so Steve and I ran round asking several teams had they a spare drop lever that we could borrow; luckily a team in the next garage running Hornets had just the thing, thanks guys, and after twenty or so minutes Gordon was up and running again.

Before we knew it they were calling for us to come to the warm up area for our race, everyone wished us well and off we went. On arrival at the holding area the marshals asked me to do a noise test, not what I wanted that’s for sure! But I knew Gordon’s MHP exhaust was not over the limit so I didn’t panic too much, they gave me the thumbs up with a 103 db reading - great.

We formed on the grid ready for the warm up lap and I was right up behind Glen English on pole, I knew that the minimono would out drag me to turn one, but I should be with him, with any luck that is if I could get Gordon off the line cleanly.

Warm up lap completed, red lights on, then off we went.

Gordon made a great job off the line and I was right up behind mark Lawes as we exited Redgate for the first time with Glen English leading - I pushed hard (as always) and run under Mark into the Old Hairpin.

Following Glen up through Macleans and Copse I was in a perfect place to get a tow down under the Dunlop bridge into the chicane for the first time, a bit of mega death braking and I passed Glen to take the lead.

On the run to Redgate Mark came along side as we reached the braking point but I managed to hold him off and led going down the Craner Curves for the second time.

All action photos by
Paul and Linda.
 

Click here to visit the PLJPhoto site:

Eventhough Gordon’s handling was much better than before – remember, he is still after all a 133kg road bike and I was right on the limit, with both wheels sliding on the drop down through Hollywell before the left.

I love this section of the track, but I know Glen’s bike, that I developed and raced for the last two years could go flat out all the way down the hill without shutting off.

He would be much quicker here I thought, as he came by on the left before the hairpin, brave move, but I would have done the same in his shoes.

This is how the race went for the next seven or eight laps, the lead changing corner after corner, out braking each other swapping lines and trying to make the best from back markers.

Coming to the end of lap nine I was in third place in Mark’s slipstream as we came to the chicane, in front were several backmarkers all caught up in their own race.

Glen and Mark managed to drop under the group just before the corner, then the group tried to get out of the way - but invariably managed to get in the way.

It’s part of racing, some times you win and some you don’t, this time I came out the worst off and lost some 50 yards.

With only two laps to go I pushed harder than ever to close the gap, once again I was caught up some traffic and decided to settle for a safe third place.

However, on the last lap Mark and Glen got all tangled up coming out of the Old hairpin and Mark went down very heavily bringing out the red flags, not the best way to end the race but the officials called it and gave the win to Glen, with me and Gordon second and Nick Chadwick a distant third.

Thankfully Mark was OK all be it a little battered and bruised.

The crowd had been treated to probably the best supermono race of the year so far, the times were good and no one was injured too badly.

Gordon ran almost faultlessly apart for breathing a little oil into the air box but this was caused through slightly overfilling him before the race.

Come on everyone get your hand in your pockets, we need a few more £60 sponsor memberships to see us through to the last races of the season – don’t forget by sponsoring Gordon, you will then be in with a chance of winning him, can’t be bad!

See you all at Mallory on the 9^th of September. I will not be racing but Gordon will be there and member sponsorships will be available right up to the prize giving after the race. Come along and say ‘Hi’.

You can visit Gordon's personal site by clicking here:

or visit the blog by clicking here:

www.no1bloke.blogspot.com