(pic by Debbie Tucker)
It was off up to Wiltshire for another round of the Midwest series. So far I’ve done ok but there’s still been too many fields for my liking in their races although this was just about to change!
Left home early and with no traffic problems, got there with plenty of time, got signed on, had a chat with Jesse Say who I hadn’t seen for ages since my ORE days and went back to get changed.
The weather wasn’t too bad today, mild, overcast so perfect for racing although yet again with the rain everybody’s had this week I wondered what state the woods would be in, but after the last 2 events being tough, then I’d happily take whatever was coming up.
Onto the start then and I made a good ‘un’ as I blasted along the short straight and into the first corner in 2nd, another short straight followed before we entered the woods were I lost a place.
For the next mile or so I went 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 1st as places constantly changed between us all, but I settled in 3rd as we finally got sorted out after the initial mad rush of it all. Pretty soon it was evident what kind of race this was going to be as I caught up with the riders that started a minute before me only to find queues and carnage lying in wait! The deep muddy ruts and super slippery climbs were causing havoc even with it being so early in the race as well. A couple of horrendously deep muddy water crossings didn’t help matters and you really just had to ’pin it’ and hope you wouldn’t sink and get stuck which some people did. With the slippery wooded trails as well this was another tough event and right up my street, and with only a couple of small fields to finish the lap off, the conditions were going to be a great leveler. A small lap of 5-6 miles, but a good one and the best track so far on the Midwest calendar.
As lap after lap went by more carnage with riders getting stuck on the hills made things really difficult to pass the back markers, and with the woods getting cut up more and the ruts getting deeper and deeper you had to start ’paddling’ in order to get through them. There were 2 really tricky climbs that latter got cut out due to the chaos they were causing, but I only got stuck just the once and I was I quickly on my way due to the marshals. Just as last week and as I went to overtake a back marker, they had me off! I went down a bank and came off the bike, luckily it wasn’t to steep and I managed to pick the bike up and get back on (whilst mumbling some choice words at him as he rode off into the distance) and got going again without wasting to much time.
With the little ’gasser’ being pinned a lot through the claggy peaty soiled ruts I made the choice to pit a bit earlier than usual to top up on fuel, check the coolant level, clean the sh*t out of the rad shrouds and change my gloves, so a slightly longer stop than usual but better to be safe than sorry especially after last weeks race when I boiled her dry on my last lap. By this time I’d made my way up to 1st place so every second counted and I had one eye on the riders that were going past the pits hoping that none in my class would go by.
It was sods law that just as I was coming out of the pits I got overtaken and was now in 2nd again, but with the leader in my sights and feeling really confident I snatched the lead again as he got stuck on a root. From there on in I went like crazy and didn’t want to give up the lead, but with bikes littered about in front of you at every muddy rut that you came across, you had to pick your lines very carefully and not get stuck behind anybody, if I did, I might lose that 1st place again.
I could see that riders were getting really tired, a lot had stopped, a lot were getting stuck and a lot were going slow, but with my current stamina levels being good due to all this bloody racing I’m doing, I felt superb. I was so pleased to get another lap in with 2 mins to go and unbelievably I won with a lap in hand.
Another great result today and being in the vets class meant that I was up against all the different bikes, 250 & 300 2 strokes, and all the big 4 strokes, but my little 125 came through with flying colours and did the business for me.
That’s 3 tough events in 3 weeks, good job I ain’t racing next weekend, chance to give my body a rest!
Finishing position: 1/25 (Vets)
