NGRRC Racer Otter Continues Campaign at Cadwell Park

“We arrived at Cadwell Park late Wednesday evening for a track day, booked with MSV, for the following day attempting to gain more track time. This quickly went pear shaped on the Thursday morning when going to a noise test found that I could only select first gear! So, the morning was lost as we got down and replaced the gearbox, managing only the three afternoon sessions!

“With the weather set fair for the weekend according to the forecast, we were looking forward to some good action and to getting more laps under my belt to help erase the memory of the Spanish crash.”

Testing

“Testing was just that: testing! My times wouldn’t come, with my best lap of the day from the five sessions on circuit being some four seconds from my PB, leaving me frustrated.”

Saturday (Race Day)

“Early morning warm up, continued the theme of disappointing lap times. Just goes to show how important confidence is in this sport!

“We went out in qualifying with spits of rain, this soon turned into a light shower, soaking most of the circuit and the session was red flagged, and we were given time to change to wets.

“Going back out in the knowledge that not everyone would have had the time and/or the luxury of wet tyres on wheels ready to go, I envisaged this would give me an opportunity to get up the grid. However, I quickly found that I had a significant vibration at 100mph which was very unsettling, resulting in only a P22 start.”

Race 1 (Saturday)

“Compounding my misery, I had an awful start in the first race with a number of riders passing me before Turn 1. I had the task of getting past some of those slower riders in the subsequent laps. After doing so I found the gap to the pack was too great for me to bridge, I did try in vain and crossed the line P24 – P11 in class.”

Race 2 (Sunday)

“Starting P24 was not where I anticipated to be starting at any point over the weekend! The start was better but yet again struggled to match the pace of those in front of me, and finished P23 – P11 in class. Was gifted a place however after Kallum Bedwell on his R6 passed me on park straight on the last lap, struggling to keep with him, he unfortunately (for him), binned it at the penultimate corner.”

Race 3 (Sunday)

“With the starting position dictated by Race 2’s finishing position we set off on the warm-up lap on what was becoming an ever increasingly cooler day, with two riders falling with cold tyre temps!

“We set off, with a decent start but conscious of the tyre temperatures on the first lap, where upon we saw yet another two riders fall by the wayside. After finding some space on circuit, I came under attack and was passed by Kallum again. This only served to fire me up and we swapped places three more times in the following lap. Riding defensively for the next two laps, I managed to cross the line in front with a P16 – P8 in class with my fastest laps of the weekend to boot.

“In summary, a difficult weekend at my favourite circuit, but did mange to finish on a little high and as always left the circuit with a smile on my face.

“These result mean that I stand 9^th in the Clubman 600 championship, moving onto Pembrey in six weeks’ time, and the hope that we can improve our performances in South Wales.”