The Penultimate round of the CRMC championship was at Snetterton, not my favourite circuit but there we must ride. The weather forecast however looked particularly grim with heavy rain due from early Saturday afternoon, just what we all needed!

Vanni wanted to do the Friday practice day but I declined; and popped over to Preston to collect Andy Molnar’s race truck and drive it down instead. This would give us chance to get the awning up on Friday in daylight as Andy was unable to travel until late Friday evening.

As normal there was limited practice of about 6 laps for each machine and a busy race programme of 4 races on the Saturday and potentially 7 races for the Sunday to contend with, it was going to be a difficult weekend especially with the weather forecast.

 It was dry for practice and both bikes performed well - so before we knew it we were lining up for race one the day first 500.

Lea lead off the line with me in a close second place but as we went down the back straight Olli Linsdell on his Paton came roaring passed, there was going to be no catching him, so Lea and I diced for a few laps but Lea’s machine was quicker at the top end and all I could do was to hang in there for a third place.

 Next up was the 350, it was down to Lea and me again battling it out form the lead but Lea’s machine was just too quick so I settled for a safe second with Mike Cooper a distant third.

At this point in the day there was a sidecar incident resulting in a very long delay while they cleared up the mess including oil being spread round almost half of the circuit, there was nothing to do but wait.

For the second 500 race Lea lead form the start but just like the first race Olli on the Paton came storming passed us both. The conditions were very challenging with damp patches all round the track interspersed with the odd dry section. As a result Lea and I were able to keep in touch with Olli. However Lea was desperate to beat Olli and as a result kept pushing too hard, first he almost high sided coming out the Bomb hole and then lost the front coming into the chicane.

He stayed upright but ran across the grass and gravel, offering me second place. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth I went on to take it!

A combination of clearing up after the side car and terrible weather meant the race programme was set back resulting in several races being postponed until Sunday, the 2^nd 350 race being one of them.

By now the rain had started to fall again and very quickly there was lots of lying water, it was going to be a lottery to see who was going to take the victory. Betty shot of the line like a bullet and I arrived at the first corner with a small lead from guess who? Down the back straight Lea came storming past but I managed to outbrake him into the essess.

Richard started his career as a camerman over the weekend.

I held the lead all the way round lap one but once again Lea passed me down the back straight. Like lap one I outbraked him again to take the lead, but as we tipped into the bomb hole I lost the front in some lying water crashing out of the race.

There appeared to be very little damage to Betty; but a quick look in the carb and I could see soil so there was no point in trying to restart and potentially damage the engine.

The rest of the days races became a blur - all six of them were similar to the races on Saturday, me chasing Lea; but although I pushed very hard I simply could not match the speed of Lea’s machine down the long straights.

I could pull up behind him but as soon as I pulled out of the tow I would go backwards.

I managed to get several 2^nd places and a fourth in the 500 National; that proved to be a belting race with Olli, Lea, Luke and myself all constantly swapping places.

For the last race on Sunday the 350 singles race Lea did not start so it was down to Vanni and me to put on a show. Winning was not going to be a problem, but deliberately stayed only a small distance in front of Vanni to show him some lines; and to demonstrate his bikes lapping as a pair - crossing the line only a second apart with Vanni getting the quickest lap.

Overall not a bad weekends racing, a little disappointing results wise but that’s what tends to happen at Snetterton.

Next round is the Championships finale at Brands Hatch Indy circuit, looking forward to that one, see you there….

Thanks Andy, the doughnuts were delicious...