Snetterton was going to be hard work, I had new front suspension to test and a rear shock to set up as well so I booked the Saturday practice day.

I wanted to get as much testing done as possible so I went out in the morning session, and after having the tyre warmers on for an hour I was confident I had grip from the off.

The first few laps I resisted going too hard out of the chicane as it is the only left hander on the circuit and is renowned for catching out the unwary.

My son Dale and his friend Matt came along to Snetterton to check out the racing; Dale was on hand in the pit lane with a screwdriver for suspension adjustments.

I had the odd slip but after several laps it felt like I had the grip, unfortunately I hadn’t.

The strange thing was I was a long way out the corner on the gas for the straight and thought I had it bagged but then he spun round and spat me off, then it was all ground - sky - ground - pain....

Not content with that he then cartwheeled 4 or 5 times before finally coming to rest.

I knew straight away it was a big one as I could see several parts of him scattered across the grass; then as I crawled off the track towards him I could see the damage he had incurred.

I had to have a quick visit to the medical centre for a once over and then returned to the garage to see just what was left I had to work with.

In short not a lot.

Poor Gordon didn’t come off too well after the crash, both exhausts were ripped off, the sub frame destroyed, both wheels were flatted and buckled, the front fairing mounting bracket and instruments snapped off and all the fibreglass was scrap….not a good day!

It was clear the weekend was over!

Glen English fiddling with the my minimono from last year - I'm only a little bit envious of him - he's an excellent rider, racing the bike to a well deserved win.

Leroy and Joe - are a top double act, sponsoring, spannering, cooking and entertaining us all weekend, top blokes!

As we were down there for the weekend and I wasn’t racing I had loads of time to strip all the ‘damage’ away from Gordon’s battered body. Amazingly both handle bars, levers, and footrests were almost untouched!

And on the up side I've got 5 weeks before the next British Championship round at Pembrey but it doesn't mean I can hang around!

 I'll be on the phone ordering parts and arranging for various work to be carried out...."Gordon's Special Friends" to the rescue.

Another plus being the motor was feeling really good and strong, and by not actually doing practice, qualifying and two races - it's saved approximately some 100 miles!

Sharing the other side of the garage was Susie Grayson, from 'Feisty Racing'.

Susie was riding her R6 Yamaha in the Supersport races and asked for a bit of advice - we went through some handling issues and some suspension details.

Click here for the Fiesty Racing Site:

Another fine Sliptream tuned machine, and it's really, really shiny - Andy Driver's MuZ.

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

or visit the blog by clicking here:

www.no1bloke.blogspot.com