Last sunday saw the last round of flat track race season for this year at Eastbourne Speedway, going in I was in a good mood, my riding has been pretty strong recently and was confident I'd be able to run around the business end of the pack.
Racing at speedway tracks this year the racing has been split between morning at afternoon sessions due to getting all the riders into the small pits at speedway at tracks. My classes of Thunderbike and Restricted were in the afternoon so we had a chilled start to the day watching mornings racing and catching up with a few of the racers.
We got the bike unloaded and set up our pit track side to keep and eye of how the race lines developed. The track at Eastbourne is a lot shorter with tighter turns than any other track we'd raced at this year. It took a couple sessions to full getting into the swing of things, practice I thought I was off the pace.
Track side pits
Getting race ready
Getting into the first heat race I was very focussed on getting a good drop from the middle row to give myself the best possible chance. I was pretty surprised to be in pace with the majority of the pack with Birtwistle disappearing from every body. I was pretty happy with my improvements throughout the day, getting in the finals of Thunderbike and Restricted classes, both mid-row starts. Think I came away with a 5th place finish in the Thunderbike class which I was real happy with considering how the day started.
In the Restricted final we got held for a long time at the start waiting for the starter to turn the light to green and unfortunately my clutch boiled it self and the race was shot.
This racing the DTRA flat track series and been a real eye opener, I've had to push myself to learn how to deal with the speedway tracks and also how to deal with a 6 lap race, having to go flat out as soon as the flag drops. It's been one my favourite years racing a motorbike. Everybody at the races has a great attitude and are willing to help you out whenever they can.
We can't wait for next season!