10th April 2010. Oulton Park.

FRIDAY

A half day off on Friday has got to be the best way (except a full day of course) of starting off, what promised to be a cracking weekend in Oulton.

Ady and Matt set off early, tent, generator and BBQ on board; their task to find a suitable pitch and do all the hard work before the rest of us arrived.

Myself, Dan, Iest and Steff turned up about 2pm looking forward to a sausage bap but the advance party had hit a few problems. With the regulator for the gas bottle mysteriously missing, the cord snapped on the Geni and no water we weren’t going to get fat in that tent. Not to worry the Café would sort us out….at 6pm when it opened!!

Bob arrived about 3.30pm with the bikes, so there was nothing left to do other than to bid farewell to Bob, Ady and Matt and head into Chester to meet Andrew, Dave, Joe and Beth for the evening. What happened over the next 10 hours is a bit of a blur but there were defiantly a few pubs, an Indian meal and a few bottles of wine, I also seem to remember a mad Scotsman somewhere too!!

SATURDAY

With practise out of the way on the G50 and the Honda, the weather was great and we were really looking forward to our first “real” competitive race, following Anglesey’s tyre disaster last time out.

Bob was first out at 12:15 on the Honda and lined up somewhere around midfield on the grid. What happened over the next 9 and a bit minutes Bob described as a disaster as he just couldn’t get the bike to respond and found himself dropping position after position finishing 22nd and very very unhappy with himself.

The first race on the G50, at 15:09, saw Bob returning to a more familiar place with a great 4th place which was set to put him on the front row for the later championship race, alas, as will become clear things didn’t quite pan out that way.

Away from the racing, a great turn out again, considering we were in Oulton and once again your support is very much appreciated, so I’m sure no one will mind if I thank Steff, Kev, AP, Joe, Beth, Dave, Iest, Matt, Ady, Dan and Elwyn for coming along to support us and Just a Quick mention to Gary who certainly would have been there other than important family commitments.

The weather was fantastic and sitting around in the sun with a beer seemed to be to everyone’s liking.

Race 11 at 16:25 saw Bob back out on the Honda and a much better race, simply looking more comfortable than earlier and returning much happier with a 9th position.

Last race of the day, 6pm and back out on the G50 where Bob was looking forward to a front row grid start, however there had been a problem with his transponder on the first race and although finishing fourth he was awarded 21st and that result gave him the same position on the grid. With no time to argue the toss the race was under way and Bob made up a fantastic 17 places to yet another 4th place finish.

So a swift pack up and we were back in the Bull by 7.30

There we are; another weekend racing and another review, hope you all enjoyed it and hope to see you all again in May.