Cadwell Park, 2nd September 2006

I had never been to Cadwell Park which is located in Lincolnshire, but everyone that knew the place told me two things; it was very dangerous, and it was allot of fun, both of which I can now confirm. Set in a parkland, the circuit has two very different characteristics, fast curves and swooping elevation changes set in the rolling countryside, and the daunting 'mountain section' that winds through blind apex corners surrounded by old oak trees. The common denominator being the lack of run off should things go wrong, as it had for a British Super bike rider a week earlier who tragically lost his life.

Qualifying was in the dry and I posted a time of 1'31'' to secure a very important front row start, next to Jeremy Timms who was on pole, with a record breaking time one and a half seconds quicker than mine. Championship leader Mark Harrison was back in 6th place having suffered from brake fade.

Not long after qualifying the heavens opened up and we had the expected deluge of rain. The mechanics worked hard to change the car to a full wet set up and mount the wet weather tyres. In the meantime I watched television highlights of the Super Bike race from the previous weekend, hoping for some inspiration.

At the start of the race I attacked Jeremy Timms into turn one, but he held his line and just sneaked ahead. I was on his tail for the first two laps but his car control through the Mountain section was awesome, and he gradually pulled away. Behind me both Geoff Fern and Mark Harrison were cutting through the field to try and mount a challenge, but in the end it was a simple race to the end, making sure that I drove an error free race to finish second.

With Jeremy Timms winning and Mark Harrison finishing only 4th it is now a 3 way fight to win the championship with Mark still in the lead, me second, and Jeremy third. The next race is in three weeks at Croft so it’s all to play for as we come down to the final 4 races.