Midwest H&H 30 Nov 2008 Round 8

Midwest results and photos on their site www.mwmcc.co.uk

Steve Ruck and I went down to the last round off the Midwest championship at Black Dog Woods, Chapmanslade, Frome. The track was 6 mile and ran for 3 hrs and we were told it was all in woods. It started at 10:00 and at 9:59 Steve came over to me to tell me that they changed the rules for the last race, which was that there was no outside help allowed at all!, not even in the pits.

Talking to Steve, I missed the start flag and had a bad start, I was running about 15th I think, but after the 2nd lap I was 9th, according to steve, so I was catching them up at least.

The whole day started bad really, the heater packed up in the van and I also forgot to bring my energy food and my camelback. On the 3rd lap there was a bad accident near the start and they slowed us down and also redirected the track while they got the ambulance in. I found out after the race that it was my friend Derry Milling and he'd broken his leg in 4 places after hitting a tree at high speed, apparently, he was chasing Darren Wheeler for the lead. If Derry would have beaten him he would have won the championship. I also found out that the marshals held him in the transponder tent for a few min's because there was a problem with his wristbands perhaps they shouldn't have held him there for so long and he wouldn't have pushed so hard and come off, I don't know. I've spoke to Derry and he is really pissed off about it all. He was doing really well all season, just beating me at the Chicken Run if you remember, but I know Derry and he will be back even stronger and on his new BMW, which he was picking up the day after the race, he is fed up with his 09 KTM boiling over all the time and so are a lot others.

The track got messed up and got very tiring, it was one long rut all the way round. I pulled in for fuel after 1.5 hrs and Neil Thomas followed me in. I've been battling with Neil all season in the Mercian rounds and came second to him in the championship but later in the season I've pulled away from him. We'd swapped positions for about 2 laps but I got the better of him when he got stuck in a bog and I pulled away but the results say he beat me, hmmm! I've got my doubts about these transponders, I've had three times now where my results have been wrong and so has Guy Mansfield-Smith as well. Lets go back to the old system, can't beat it. (Jeez Steve! Hold on, I've only just weedled my way out of using the laptop and eyes to do them! ed.) From now on I'll get my spanner man to count laps and watch positions.

With not having any energy food or water I was really suffering towards the end but I had one final battle, with Dave Nuttall, Midwest sponsored rider, but I later found out I was lapping him not catching him, never mind, it was a good race and I managed a 5th overall and 9th overall in the championship and I missed 2 rounds as well.

A big well done to the club for some real good tracks this year, I look forward to next year. Tom Sagar and Ollie Moyce have signed up with Midwest to ride the new Husaberg so should be good. I saw Guy (Mansfield-Smith) and Gavin (Bailey) there, Guy won his class again, well done.

Season round up and a Sponsorship opportunity

I've had a good season really, 9th in Midwest, 2nd in Mercian, 1st at Blackrock, 1st at Foxwell, 1st at Colstey, 3rd at Ceri. But its been a hard season with the weather, I think I've done 35 races and only 3 dry ones, I will try and do better next year, a few of my mates I ride with say I should try and get a sponsor, it is costing me a bloody fortune, but I don't think I would get one. (Anyone wanting to get visibility of their products would be stupid to ignore Steve's stats and this boy knows how to test a bike. Surely someone could use the advertising space he could give! ed.)

Having a break now and rebuilding the bike. Next race will be the Colstey 4hr then I might be riding The Tough One on Derry's entry, don't know yet, then it's the Snowrun.