|
2004 Season Review |
Well, the 2004 season has now come to a close and thankfully I'm still in one piece! However, anybody who has been following the 2004 Race Results and Reports during the season will know that it didn't get off to a great start and it had its moments!
A new bike with extra power and some cold conditions led to pre-season crashes at Oulton Park in February (click here to read) and during practice at the first meeting in March (click here to read), the latter meaning no points scored in the Formula 400 at the first round of the 2004 NG Championship. However, I was fairly quickly able to put these mishaps behind me and move on to score points fairly consistently at all the NG rounds I competed in, as well as with other clubs. In fact, in the races where I didn't record a DNS or DNF I was only out of the points on a two occasions, being the MRO round at Cadwell in August (finished 25th) and the first race at Donington with Derby Phoenix in October (finished 17th) when ironically I went on to get my best result of 2nd later in the day!
The idea at the outset of the 2004 season was to gain experience by entering as many races as possible with a number of clubs, whilst always competing in each round of the NG Open 400 and Formula 400 championships. Well, taking part in 70 races over 16 weekends with 3 different clubs certainly did give me a lot of experience and I learned a lot, even if it was a little hectic at times running around the country and prepping the bike between meetings! Thankfully, the very generous sponsorship and support of my employer, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, enabled me to do this.
Highlight of the year has to be the 2nd place finish at Donington (click here to read) with Derby Phoenix, which was a fantastic result and shows how much my riding has developed in the wet. Also, the 15th place finish in the MRO at Oulton Park was another high point and is the meeting that demonstrated to me just how fast you can go in the wet without falling off! But in fairness I've had a lot of good moments throughout the season and on the whole, to finish the majority of the races in the top 10 is a fantastic feeling. Most of the time I've crossed the line very happy with myself, albeit I have been a little bit disappointed on occasions that I didn't do a bit better.......but then that's just me putting pressure on myself to try harder!
Low points have to be the two crashes early season and the incident with Rich Bearcroft at Keevil in August, the latter being purely down to my over zealous riding and a momentary lack of judgement. With hindsight, the crashes might have cost me money, but at least I was hardly injured in any of them. Another low point was the MRO round at Cadwell, which was a huge disappointment in many ways and I came away from there completely pissed off. Not only did I finish down in 25th place, but my best laptime was still short of the Derby Phoenix round there 3 months before and I just didn't feel as though I was making progress. Reality is that Cadwell is a track where I need to dig deep and find at least 4-5 seconds if I'm going to compete, but then I could do with improving at so many other circuits as well.
So, putting the early season disasters aside (and the nonsense off at Keevil) and a bit of a shit time at the Cadwell MRO round, I've had a good season all told. I rarely finished outside of the top 10 and got some good top 6 finishes with NGRRC to finally place me 5th in both their Open 400 and Formula 400 championships (click here for tables), so at least my ambition of a top 6 championship standing has been realised and I also managed to achieve my other ambition of a podium finish in a Formula 400 race with the 2nd place at Donington. Unfortunately, the top 10 MRO finish didn't happen.......boy, those guys are quick!
Ambitions for the 2005 season? Well I'd really like to win a race so that's top of the list, but I guess it's more of the same again and to go a little bit quicker than 2004 at all the circuits. I still feel I can compete at the very front, so hopefully a bit more work on the bike and a bit more focus from me and we'll get there! Oh, and I'd like to not crash as well.......
Finally, I'd like to say a huge thank you with love and kisses to Lesley, who has had to put up with me all season and fulfill the role of Catering & Facilities Manager, Tyre Warmer Putteronner, Wheel Changer, Assistant Mechanic, General Runaround and of course, my girlfriend! I certainly would not have been able to cope without you and I'm very appreciative of everything you do. Roll on next season!