Round 8... The UK weather has arrived
We have all been very fortunate this year with most if not all of our rounds being in the dry. There have been some wet FP but qualifying and races have all been dry....until this weekend at Snetterton. We arrived Thursday to a dry track and had our usual track walk and debriefing with the BTC crew. The Microlise crew had our pits all set up and I hung out with Scarlett prior to heading to bed that night.
Friday came around and the weather had no idea on what it wanted to do. It made it very difficult to find settings cause each time I went out something different occurred. For FP1, its straight pouring before we headed out, so we mounted the rains on and 10mins into the session the track completely dried up. Since the Queen had passed away, everything was shortened also, there wasn't enough time to come in and change to dry settings so I ended the session struggling on the wets. For FP2, the complete opposite happened. Bone dry and headed out in the dry set up. 10-12 mins in, the clouds open up and it pours. I was having a tough time getting into my rhythm and now I had to head into Qualifying on Saturday morning, not knowing how to setup the bike for who knows what condition.
Saturday qualifying came up and we headed out on a dry track. It started to rain on one side of the track and dry on the other. I was not comfortable on the bike and mentally I struggled with trusting myself in the mixed conditions. I did not qualify very well. I started Race 1 in P18 and I knew I had quite the battle in front of me. On top of the weather issues, I had a really good shot at moving up in the championship and getting closer to my goal of ending the season Top5. Well, Race 1 didn't go so well either. I had a really tough time turning the bike. No feel in the front end and just hard to ride. I bounced around from P22 to P17 most of the race and ended P17, which means out of the points and allowing those behind me in the championship to inch closer. I needed to get with the team and make some changes for Sunday.
Sunday was a much better day for me. I removed all the expectations I had set for myself out of mind and just wanted to ride for fun on Sunday. I knew Saturday some of the issue was the bike but majority of it was my mind and I. I wanted to not only take advantage of the riders not being there but I wanted to give my Little brother a podium for his birthday. As I continued to miss my marks it just made it that much harder to recover. So I spoke with the team and my plan for Sunday was to ride just for the sake of riding and enjoying it. I started the race in P19 and worked my way up to finish the race in P14. Had some great battles with this second group and had a blast doing it. Sure, a top10 or top5 finish would of been awesome, but that wasn't in the cards this weekend.
I want to thank my MIcrolise Cresswell team for another hard working weekend. We had a lot to try and figure out and we did just that. Jay Dexter as always for getting me to these events. I am looking forward to the last round which will be at Donington park. I have raced there already and have a pretty good knowledge of the track. Going to end the season on a strong note and hope to climb back into the Top10 for the season championship.
FULL SEND!
