| Jolley, the A-Neil-ator
Well, after breaking my belly pan on Neal's head at Cadwell I wanted a nice easy, smooth weekend. All didn't start well, when 400yds into the first practice session, Neil fell off in the first chicane and I ran over his foot (as evidenced by the big black boot rubber streak down my belly pan). Fortunately there are no more Neil/Neals in the Championship, so hopefully Oulton will be my smooth quiet weekend?!
I had reasonably high hopes, because last year at Castle Combe I managed Pole and a 2nd/3rd (trying to stay out of the way of the 2 Matts). However, previous form seems to mean nothing in Class B this year, so I wasn't counting on anything. Warm-up felt good, but I had a tinted visor that steamed up by the 3rd corner, so I only did 5 laps and came in before I ran into something I couldn't see. Qualifying went well, as I got out front early and put in 4 or 5 good laps before I started to catch some backmarkers (and a yellow flag on one lap) which was just stopping me from finding the perfect lap. Still, I managed to grab Pole by 0.015s from an ever improving Mr Jenkins. However, the good news was that we were both 1.5s clear of anyone else, so I was confident for the race (and could afford to let Dave go if I felt he was too fast for me). The real shocks were that Hugh was in 3rd in only his second session on the track, and that Kev, Phil and Bradders all seemed to be struggling for pace.
Race 1 I got off to a shocking start. Alan, Kev, Phil, Hugh and Dave all got past me by the first corner, but I managed to get back up to second by the end of the first lap. Here is the next big surprise..... Alan was leading. Alan has plenty of pace and is probably one of the smoothest riders out there, but today there was a bit more hunger in him and he really seemed to be going for it. I think I passed him on the second lap, and then lead for most of the rest of the race. Alan came past me into the first corner near the end of the race, but I thought I would take my time to find a safe easy spot to re-pass him.... but stupid old me hadn't seen the last lap flag. But fair play to Alan, he has the pace, made the move at the right time, and managed most of the last lap with his fairing hanging off. However, if I had realised I would get a parade lap with 4 grid girls, I might have tried harder!!! Plus, Alan needed the prize money more than me to keep Summer in shoes.
Race 2 started much better and I think only Kev and Phil had passed me. I managed to get Kev in the fist chicane, and then passed Phil as he was held up into the Right hander after that chicane. From that point on I stuck my head down and just went for it. I had Kev Ellis ahead of me and started chasing him down. I caught up after a few laps and was desperate to pass because I thought I had a gaggle of Class B bikes behind me and didn't want Alan sneaking past for a second win. Unfortunately for me, Mr Ellis seems to have found his mojo again, and was putting in some really quick laps (with hindsight, this helped me, but at the time I thought it was hindering me). I think I only managed to pass him on the last lap, when he was a little more polite to Nog and Mr Vespa than I was prepared to be. I did get the shock of my life after I passed the finish line and looked back though.... no Dave, No Alan, No Kev or Phil.... just a 16 second gap back to Hugh.
So, we head to Oulton with me leading Kev by 19 points and Phil by 26. By no means a safe lead, but better +19 than -19. Is there any chance we can adopt a Tour de France style end to the season, where you all follow me the the chequered flag at the final round?!!.....  | 
05-Sep-2011, 15:42 
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